The assassin crouched in a shadow, his black skin and clothes almost invisible in the night. Even the night watchman with the sharpest eyesight could not see through this shadow in the darkness. Only the assassin's looming blood-red eyes, opened and closed, could make people look at the empty corner reflexively. But when you look carefully, you find nothing.
The assassin counted secretly, and found that the steps of the night guard were indeed as stated in the message, one hundred and fifty steps, no more, no less. She smiled. The assassin slowly followed the wall, taking advantage of the cover of shadows and dark corners, avoiding all firelight, and slipped past the guards as silently as a ghost. Close to the target area.
She stood there quietly, her keen ears trying to catch the possible alarm and the sound of approaching footsteps.
But nothing was heard.
She could not help but laugh at their meticulous but ineffective vigilance.
But soon, she lost her smile again. She moved toward the most heavily guarded room in the fortress. There were two guards standing next to the dormitory, which had only one door.
The guards each carried a lantern, which made her task even more difficult. Two beams of light shot out from the burning wick and shone to the other end of the clearing. All other guards patrolling here could clearly see them from a distance. If there is anything unusual about these lights - like a lantern suddenly going out, even for a brief moment, someone will come to see what happened.
The assassin stood motionless in a shadow less than ten steps from the entrance to the room where his target was. She was thinking about how to eliminate the two guards without alerting the entire fortress.
Finally, she gently took out two thin needles stuck with down from her belt, and then took out a small crystal bottle from another hidden pocket. She uncorked the bottle and carefully dipped the tip of each needle into the clear liquid inside. She placed one of the thin needles in her open palm, being very careful not to let it break her skin. Then she put her hand to her lips, breathed out softly, and the small poison dart immediately flew towards the nearest guard.
She exhaled again, and the second dart hit another target with equal accuracy. The assassin waited for a few seconds. After estimating that the drug had taken effect, she got out of the shadow that enveloped her and quickly rushed to the door.
She was sure no one could see her, but she stopped and listened.
There were no exclamations or shouts of 'catch the thief'. It seemed that no one noticed that a slender figure had sneaked into the fortress - on this point, the assassin had to praise the employer for doing a good job in this regard. They allowed her to have other The man managed to sneak into the fortress that was supposed to be heavily guarded without arousing any suspicion.
The assassin turned his face with confidence to the two guards beside him who looked like clay and wood sculptures. From this close she could see the darts on their necks. She quickly took the two small hidden weapons off the paralyzed guard and put them back into her belt.
The two guards' eyes were following her every move, but no other muscles in their bodies could move. Their half-stretched arms still held the lanterns, their unresponsive fingers gripping the handles tightly. Soon, the toxin on the hidden weapon will penetrate into their heart and lungs. This is an improvement made by the assassins themselves on a sleeping toxin commonly used by their clan. By that time, the muscles that carry blood and oxygen throughout the body will become as stiff as the rest of the guards' muscles.
So they could only stand like this and suffocate to death, unable to call for help, and even after death they would not fall down. From previous experience, the Assassin knew that people would have to cut their fingers to remove the lantern, otherwise the lantern would be buried with their bodies.
Such a terrifying sight made the assassin couldn't help but smile. She quietly passed over the two mortal guards, drew out her dagger, and touched the door with the soft halo of the torch exuding from the bottom.
The assassin approached the door to listen for the movement inside, and her keen ears heard a vague and turbid breathing. The assassin gently opened the door with an grace unimaginable to others.
The orange light of the torch prevented the dark elf from looking straight ahead, but before she turned her head, she still saw the target lying on the goose down cushion in the center of the room. The assassin narrowed his eyes, crept over and extinguished the torch. Now only darkness remains.
Hofdi suddenly woke up from his sleep, almost out of breath. He felt like he was surrounded by darkness, but the warm and soft goose down mattress beneath him could not let him feel any warmth. He just wanted to get up - this was a very difficult task for him. The wars and various turmoils in the city during this period had consumed too much of his energy, but his already weak body He may fall at any time - he knows that many people are waiting for this day, but as long as he is breathing, the empire's southwestmost territory in Skyrim will always be firmly in the hands of the Andor family.
Panting rapidly, Hofdi found that the originally warm fire had turned completely cold, and the backup lighting torch had also gone out. There was nothing in the room but darkness.
A certain kind of uneasiness occupied the heart of the real owner of Shixia Fortress. He was having a nightmare just now, and he could only remember so much. As for what was in the dream, he couldn't remember.
"Fire." He said to himself, and suddenly he remembered that most of the contents of the dream were fire, fire that devoured everything.
The old man shook his head, trying to dispel the dark vision and adjust his eyes to the darkness of the room. Finally, he got up and tried to call the guard at the door.
Suddenly, his body froze.
There is another person in the room.
Hovdi heard no sound, and indeed there was no sound around him that he could hear. But he could feel someone looking at him with interest. He could feel the burning gaze and the greed in those eyes. For a moment, the faces of his son Igmund and the head of the Silver-blood family, who made him feel a little uneasy, appeared in front of his eyes. It seemed that they were hiding in the darkness with evil intentions, watching him!
"Who is there?" the old man asked in a low voice. At this moment, Hovdi suddenly felt that his originally turbid breathing like a bellows had calmed down.
"Don't be afraid." A deep female voice sounded next to him, "You won't feel any pain."
There was an eerie silence in the room.
Suddenly, the old man who had held the authority of the Frontier Territory for decades smiled. "Igmund or Harald Silverblood?"
"No, it won't be Igmund."
Perhaps he was already aware of his next fate. At this moment, the old man's increasingly dull and groggy thinking once again regained the alertness of his youth. He said to himself, "He doesn't have the courage..."
The old man looked into the darkness, "It's silver blood!"
There was no fear or resentment in the old man's words, just a tired sense of fate. He didn't expect that he would end up like this, but he was ready to face whatever fate would bring to her.
It was the voice's turn in the darkness to be silent.
But Hofdi had an almost intuitive feeling that the other party was getting closer.
Hofdi hesitated for a moment, and his fingers silently grasped something soft on the pillow. It was a magic scroll with a very powerful spell sealed inside. But he doubted, could he really use it in front of the assassin who made him deeply uneasy?
Or, he could yell and yell. But he soon rejected the idea himself. Even if his voice could be heard through the thick stone walls, could they arrive in time to save his life? The answer is no.
Thinking of this, Hovdi's beating heart slowly calmed down.
Suddenly, without giving any warning or shouting, he suddenly pulled out the magic scroll from under his pillow.
"Ah, I'm sorry." The hoarse voice laughed, "I can't let you do that."
"You won't gain anything by killing me." Hovdi's fingers almost touched the seal of the powerful spell scroll written by a certain magic master in the empire. "Maybe we can..."
"Stop struggling, my lord. It will only make things more troublesome..." The voice sounded as if it was right next to his ear. Hovdi swore he could almost feel the hot breath from the killer's mouth blowing against his skin.
"The Brotherhood has foreseen this!"
The old man's eyes widened. The fingers that were almost about to tear open the magic scroll in his hand could never exert even a trace of strength.
"And this is just the beginning."
The assassin approached Hovdi and inserted the sharp blade in his right hand into his back, cutting open his heart. The sharp blade in his left hand mercifully cut off his trachea, so the old man's screams were only the sound of suffocated swallows and the sound of bloody tears.
The last thing Hofdi Anduo saw was a pair of cold blood-red eyes.
***
"Sir, the master orders you to go to his bedroom." A servant stopped the captain of the guard.
"Now?"
The captain of the guard was a little surprised. He frowned and looked at the unfamiliar servant. I saw this guy wearing an old but neat servant's uniform, with his hands clasped in front of him, standing respectfully and restrained on the side of the corridor.
Since the old Hovdi Andor had already given up the position of lord and earl to his son Igmund Andor, everyone in the fortress called the former Lord of Markas as the master, and called Igmund Andor as the master. Mond is the Lord. And because old Hofdi was weak and sick, he had more servants around him than Igmund. Maybe it's just one of them.
The captain of the guard shook his head, "What's the matter?" This man, who was stronger and taller than the average Nord, had brown hair, and always carried a huge two-handed sword and a full set of steel armor asked roughly. , "I'm about to go to the weapons room for inspection. Can't you wait until I finish the inspection?"
"Master didn't say that," the servant said softly. She had a typical Nord face, plump yet tall figure, firm thighs, and her beautiful long golden hair was deftly braided by her master. Big braid, "He just ordered you to go immediately. Alone." The strange servant emphasized.
The captain of the guard frowned. He always felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what it was. Finally, the captain of the guard turned to the two guards following him and said, "You guys wait here."
The loyal guard didn't think much, but respectfully stood aside and moved out of the way.
The corridors of Shixia Fortress are deep and quiet, except for the crackling of the flames in the brazier, there is no sound.
Looking at the beautiful but quiet servant walking in front, the captain of the guard felt very uneasy.
Lord Igmund is not a strong monarch. Rather than planning wars and maneuvering, eating, drinking and having fun are more in line with his preferences.
Now, the war has plunged this fortress, which was always full of singing, dancing and banquets, into an atmosphere of panic and despair. Now every night, except for patrolling guards, no one dares to walk through these corridors.
All the young lord could do was to order the captain of the guard to strengthen the defense of the castle, while he hid in a tight basement and lived in fear all day long.
wrong.
The captain of the guard, who was oppressed by some strong uneasiness, finally noticed something. It was so quiet around here.
But before he could say what it was, the strange servant who was supposed to be walking in front suddenly disappeared after turning the last corner, as if he had never appeared.
The captain of the guard's eyes widened. He thought he was dazzled, but when he saw the guard standing motionless in front of the old Hovdy's house, his uneasiness became a reality.
"you……"
The captain of the guard was speechless because he discovered that the guards who were supposed to guard the old lord were already dead, and what stood in front of him were just two stiff corpses.
He quickly drew his weapon and slammed open the door.
The room was pitch black. But what hit his nose was a strong smell of blood.
The captain of the guard lit the candle in horror, only to find that Hovdi Anduo had already died on his comfortable and warm bed. There was a dagger stuck in his heart, his throat was cut open, and the blood stained the white goose down cushions and the coat made of bearskin and mink into a dazzling dark red.
"grown ups--"
The captain of the guard tremblingly stretched out his hand to detect the breath of the former Lord of Markas, but heard a scream suddenly rang out from the silent fortress. The scream was so shrill, like a bull being pierced through the heart, and like a bull being pierced through the heart. It was the scream of a dying person, which directly shocked countless people.
The guard withdrew his hand like a snake bite, but heard a rapid whistle, which was an alarm from the guard.
Then countless chaotic and heavy footsteps rushed straight towards the palace of Hovdi Andor, the former Lord of Markas, who was now dying miserably on the bed.
In fact, when people broke into the palace of the former Lord of Markarth, what they saw was the 'murderer' look of the captain of the guard with blood in his hand and a sword in the other.
then.
"Don't move, my lord!"
The guards rushed up and surrounded the head guard, looking frightened and confused.
The captain of the guard looked at the guard, then at the old man who died tragically on the bed, and closed his eyes.
He thought of the strange maid.
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