Night of Shadows

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Chapter One
The shadows hid the cloaked messenger as he stepped up onto the wall. Isamu waited without so much as a blink of movement.
“Go,” a voice rasped. “Do the bidding of your masters.”
Isamu stepped back, crouched, and then performed a perfect backflip.
But there was nothing to land on, and he plummeted downward, face first.
The sheer rock face of the cliff sped by, and his eyes watered.
The ground rose to greet him. He spun in the air and landed with no more noise than the rustling of a leaf. His legs wide and a hand out to steady him, he lifted his head.
Behind him, he heard his partner hit the ground. He glanced over his shoulder and looked at her, her black clothing blending into the dark rock of the cliff, with only starlight reflecting off her eyes.
His eyes wandered up the cliff and rested on the Dark Keep. “Amaya?” he said softly, his voice almost too low to be heard.
“We will not fail, Isamu. I am ready.”
By her silhouette, he saw her adjust her katana strapped securely across her back.
Without another word, he stood and started walking, but quickly and silently. He picked up speed until he was in a steady run, his strides stretching far. He heard Amaya as she ran slightly behind him. More sensed than heard, he silently corrected. He reached up and adjusted the tenugui draped around his neck. This would be a long run.
They ran across meadows, through forests, over hills and lone mountains, and forged rivers before arriving at their destination.
Isamu looked down on Varyon. The city looked cold and forbidding. No wonder people called it “the scum house of the world,” he thought, after scanning the walls. Up against the large stone fortifications were many hovels, most barely standing from what he could tell. “Looks … cozy,” he said.
Amaya laughed softly. “Very,” she agreed sarcastically.
“He is here?”
“Yes.”
“For sure?”
“The source,” Amaya assured him, “was not about to lie to one of us.”
He glanced at her, and her eyes sparkled. Her face was completely covered by her tenugui, and her hair was hidden in her hood. But her eyes fully showed her amusement as she thought of the source. “Good,” he finally said.
He jumped forward and grabbed the branch of an overhanging tree. He swung out and released, catapulting into the air. He pulled his legs up into his chest and spun in the air. He landed on the balls of his feet and rolled forward. He came up and looked at the thirty-foot drop.
Amaya came off the small precipice, not bothering with the branch, and landed on the balls of her feet, rocking forward. He ignored the twinkle in her eyes and headed toward Varyon.
He didn’t know what Lord Aker Gavronis had done to get someone to hire assassins, but he didn’t care. After tonight, he and Amaya would return to the Dark Keep and be accepted as fully fledged shadow knights. Shinobi. Ninja.
Or they would be executed for failure.
The sun was still below the horizon, but faint rays were beginning to light up the land. Isamu and Amaya moved quickly across the narrow plain surrounding Varyon and then through the city of hovels to Varyon’s walls.
Isamu looked left and right up the wall. His gloved hand brushed over the stone blocks. His fingers found the hold he sought. He reached up with his other hand and carefully but quickly began to scale the twenty-foot wall of rock. His hands grabbed the top, and in one swift motion, he somersaulted over the parapet. He looked for guards and watchmen but saw none.
Amaya jumped up beside him.
“Where is the palace?” he whispered.
“North end.”
He nodded. He had studied the land they would have to travel and Gavronis’s bodyguards. Amaya had learned everything there was to know about Varyon. Amaya pointed at one of the houses closest to the wall. Isamu ran forward and sprang into the air. He landed with a light thud. He was instantly on the move again and leaping to the next housetop, headed north across the roofs of the city. Amaya came behind him.
Death had entered this city.
Lord Aker Gavronis simply didn’t know it yet.