City of Daggers (The Iron Teeth Book 2)

by Scott Straughan

  “Why-ss the act?” Blacknail asked suspiciously. He really didn’t like this turn of events.

  The black-cloaked assassin grinned and shrugged. “It was fun. There’s nothing I like more than a battle of wits. Locking blades pales in comparison to matching minds. We’re assassins, so a duel between us should be about trickery and wits, not straightforward swordplay. Where would the fun be in just cutting you down without first proving myself superior?”

  “You didn’t look like you were having fun.”

  “Oh, but I was. It was a very interesting fight, and besides, I wanted to figure you out before I killed you. However, I must admit I still have no idea who you are. You’re a very… odd man.” The assassin titled his head to the side and gave Blacknail an inquisitive look.

  The hobgoblin chuckled in response. Apparently, Malthus wasn’t the only good actor here. In fact, Blacknail was obviously by far the better actor; he was pretending to be a completely different species.

  “Wrong, you’re very wrong,” he replied cheerfully.

  The assassin frowned when Blacknail spoke, and he looked him over again. “I don’t care what you say, you’re not a woman.”

  Blacknail laughed again. If it was the assassin’s curiosity that was keeping him from attacking, then Blacknail was going to give him a mystery. Malthus had been a dangerous opponent even when he’d been acting like an idiot.

  “No, not a woman, not a man, nor a child pink of flesh,” the hobgoblin sang out tauntingly.

  “But you can’t deny being weird,” Malthus replied as his eyes narrowed and he continued to look Blacknail over. He appeared to be deep in thought for a few seconds. “Fine, you win. I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I should probably stop letting you stall. I can always figure it out after I’ve killed you and stripped that mask off your face.” He brought his blade back up and stepped toward Blacknail.

  The hobgoblin had much preferred it when the man had acted like an idiot. He needed a new plan, and he was running out of time. He had to somehow escape and do it without getting a knife in his back. Just then, there was a creaking noise as the door behind Malthus opened. Both the combatants slowed as they waited to see who was about to enter the room.

  “Horse stink,” Blacknail cursed when three more assassins entered the room.

  The black-cloaked figures swiftly started fanning out in an attempt to surround him. It wouldn’t take them very long to navigate through the furniture that filled the library.

  “This is still a one-on-one fight,” the hobgoblin remarked.

  “And it will still be one, as long as you don’t try to run,” Malthus replied.

  Yep, that was what Blacknail had expected. It was time to leave. He didn’t really have anywhere to go, but he couldn’t stay here. He had a plan, but it was terrible and was most likely going to get him killed. If he stayed here though, he was definitely going to die. Life was full of crap choices.

  “Surround the intruder but don’t interfere,” Malthus yelled at his newly arrived companions.

  Blacknail used this brief distraction to quickly grab another chair and throw it at Malthus. Before the assassin could finish throwing another knife, Blacknail hurled a stone from his pouch at him. Instinctively, the assassin dodged it, which ruined his throw. The knife sailed harmlessly across the room and nowhere near Blacknail. The hobgoblin wasted no time in making a mad dash for the nearest window. He sheathed his blade so he could concentrate on running.

  Normally, Blacknail would have made a run for the windows earlier, but these ones were barred. Apparently, this Najget man didn’t want anyone accidentally walking off with any of his books through a window.

  The assassins behind Blacknail started shouting and chasing Blacknail as he raced toward the window, but there was no way a bunch of humans were going to catch up to him now that he had a head start. Blacknail just really hoped he was going to fit through those bars. If he didn’t, the last few moments of his life were going to be very embarrassing. The hobgoblin suddenly ducked as something whizzed by his head, and then a knife ricocheted off the wall in front of him.

  “Damn,” Malthus cursed from behind Blacknail. “I want you all to spread out and make sure he can’t double back. Those windows are barred, so he can’t go out that way, but he might have a trick up his sleeve. He’s a cunning bastard.”

  Good, the humans didn’t think he would be able to escape through the window, so they weren’t chasing him too quickly. He hoped they were wrong.

  Blacknail was now only a few feet from the bars, and his feet were carrying him rapidly closer. He really didn’t like how close together they looked; it was going to be a tight fit. Swiftly, the hobgoblin took off his mask and rearranged his pouches.

  Before he hit the bars headfirst, Blacknail grabbed them and pulled himself up. He then swung his legs and feet forward. Momentuem pushed them through without a problem, but next came his chest. Blacknail’s ribs compressed painfully and pushed all the air from his lungs as they slid through the opening, but he didn’t get stuck. Blacknail felt relieved as he slid outside, but then the back of his head smashed into the bottom of the windowsill. He collapsed bonelessly onto the ground outside. His eyes fluttered, and he twitched as he lay in a twisted heap.

  “Hells, how the fuck did he manage that,” a surprised Malthus swore as he lost sight of the hobgoblin.

  Blacknail gave himself several seconds to recover and then picked himself up. He groaned and rubbed the back of his head until the shiny little stars had disappeared from his vision. He was very thankful he wasn’t fat like a human and his bones were so bendy. They were supposed to be like that right?

  Blacknail shook his head to clear it and tried to focus. He was far from safe outside. Malthus and the other assassins couldn’t follow him, but the hobgoblin knew they had ordered most the men to watch the perimeter of the building, and that was where he was now. The yard outside this part of the structure wasn’t all that wide and was bordered by a line of shrubs. The plants themselves were there to conceal the dirty wall of the building next door. Really, it was just a pretty alley.

  There was nowhere for him to hide out here. Autumn had stripped most of the leaves from the bushes. Most importantly, the hobgoblin could already hear footsteps approaching. What was he going to do now?

  “There he is!” a large man yelled as he turned a corner and came into sight. Several other people were right behind him, and all of them were armed.

  The hobgoblin hissed in aggravation as he saw enemies begin to approach from the other side of the narrow yard as well. He was faced with walls on two sides and hostile humans on the other two. He’d known there would be lots of enemies outside but had been hoping to spot an escape route through them. There wasn’t one though, and that left him with only one option.

  Blacknail sprinted away from the window he’d come out of and then turned around and sprinted back toward it. Right before hitting the wall, he flared his Elixir and jumped as high as he could. His outstretched claws found purchase, and he managed to catch hold of a second-story windowsill. He had nowhere else to go but back inside. Blacknail smiled smugly as he pulled himself and began to climb up the wall. There was no way any of the big fat pink humans below would be able to follow him, so he was safe for a little while.

  That was when a crossbow bolt slammed into the wood beside his head. The stunned hobgoblin stared wide-eyed at the vibrating projectile for a split second before his gaze automatically turned toward the shooter. Below him, a purple-vested guardsman was reloading a crossbow as other human thugs gathered around him.

  “Damnation, you missed. Quick, reload. The slippery bastard is getting away,” one of them yelled.

  Blacknail gasped in shock. "Uh-oh."

  If that human hadn't had such terrible aim, Blacknail could have died! It was time to leave. With panic and Elixir lending him strength, Blacknail quickly flipped himself up and over the windowsill and back into the building. Hopefully his second trip
inside today went a lot better than his first.

  Chapter 26

  The cloaked hobgoblin found himself in another bedroom that was a smaller version of Luphera’s, and he wasn’t alone. A blonde woman in a lacy red shift was standing not too far from the window. She was deathly pale and staring at him in horror. Blacknail slowly looked up and met her gaze. Her only reaction was a slight shiver; she seemed too scared to move. He had absolutely no interest in this woman, and she obviously wasn’t dangerous, so maybe he could ignore her? The hobgoblin took one slow step forward.

  Instantly, the blonde started screaming shrilly. The long, high-pitched sound ripped into Blacknail’s sensitive ears. He winced in pain as a sharp ache developed in the back of his skull. Not only would the woman’s screams attract too much unwanted attention, but it also was really annoying. He had to get her to stop.

  “Shut up!” he yelled at her angrily.

  She didn’t stop, and Blacknail groaned. This called for desperate measures. The hobgoblin took a step forward and grabbed the woman. He drew his knife and waved it in front of her face.

  “Quiet or I’ll stab-ss you!” he hissed in her ear. Amazingly enough, this actually caused her to scream louder, which Blacknail hadn’t thought possible. This human was too stupid and annoying to live. Why wouldn’t she just shut up!

  The hobgoblin couldn’t take the noise any longer; something had to be done. He sheathed his knife, tightened his grip on the woman, and pulled. A second later, the woman was flying out the window, and much to the hobgoblin’s relief, the screams finally stopped. There was a thud and a grunt of pain from outside. Blacknail giggled in satisfaction and amusement. It sounded like she’d hit one of the men standing out there on the way down. Hopefully, it had been the crossbowman.

  Blacknail knew he didn’t have a lot of time, so he hurriedly dashed out of the room and into another hallway. He’d lost his pursuit for now but probably not for much longer. He needed to find this Najget man and kill him quickly. Then, hopefully all his problems would go away.

  However, before Blacknail could even figure out which way to go, he heard footsteps quickly approaching from both directions. He was cut off; there was nowhere to run.

  “Cheese weevils,” Blacknail swore viciously.

  He really should have run back to Herad instead of going to see Luphera. She was nothing but trouble and lots of it. Especially her long legs…

  Blacknail smacked himself along the side of his head to clear his thoughts. He couldn’t think of anything else to do, so he dashed up to a random door and silently opened the door a crack. Maybe he could find somewhere to hide until everyone stopped looking for him, or maybe Najget would walk by so Blacknail could kill him. That would certainly simplify things.

  The hobgoblin peeked through the door and into the room on the other side. The chamber wasn’t empty; there were two women inside. A scantily clad woman, similar to the others Blacknail had run across, was cowering behind a more muscular woman who was holding a sword. The swordswoman looked like she’d dressed in a hurry; she’d thrown on a jacket but wasn’t wearing a shirt beneath it. Both of them were focused on the door, one in fear and the other with determination. Blacknail didn’t think it was a good idea to go in there, unless he wanted to get stabbed or screamed at again, so he hurriedly moved on to the next door.

  The hobgoblin was unsurprised to discover it led into another bedroom. This one was thankfully empty though, so Blacknail quickly slipped inside. Seconds later, he heard a large group of people stomp out into the hallway. Why did this place have so many beds? Did people come here just to sleep? That didn’t make much sense to him.

  Other than the large, four-post bed with white hanging curtains, there were several other pieces of furniture in the room. A large, heavy clothes drawer stood against one wall, and a small side table had been placed beside the bed. There was also a closet and another window, but Blacknail didn’t think it was a good idea to try and go back outside right now.

  The sound of doors being opened and closed as men searched the nearby rooms reminded the hobgoblin he didn’t have a lot of time. He couldn’t see any better options, so he rushed over to the closet and pulled the door open. He was tempted to try hiding under the bed, but that hadn’t really worked out all that well for him last time.

  It was small and cramped inside, but Blacknail dove inside and closed the closet door behind himself anyway. Most of the space was taken up by clothes that were hanging from a rod. The majority of the clothes were dresses, but there were a lot of smaller, more frilly bits as well. There was also a large brown sack lying on the floor. Blacknail opened the sack and found it full of dirty clothes that smelled strongly of human sweat. He frowned at them and looked around the rest of the closet. There were no good hiding spots in sight. With a disgusted sneer, Blacknail reached up under his mask and pinched his nose shut before climbing into the sack. It would hide him for a few more seconds anyway.

  As soon as he was discovered, Blacknail planned on jumping the closest human and making a dash for the window. Since so many men were now searching for him inside the house, there were probably fewer humans guarding the perimeter. The longer he hid, the more likely it became that he could slip through the remaining guards and escape.

  He was beginning to think Luphera had tricked him and that he hadn’t imagined sensing some hostility from her after all. He wasn’t sure why she would be angry at him though. He’d done nothing but help her out. Even if a man name Najget existed, she must have known Blacknail wouldn’t be able to get to him nearly as easily as she’d said he would. If she had tricked him, she was going to regret it. He might have to flee for now, but someday soon when she least expected it, he’d be back to get his revenge.

  The hobgoblin had already drawn his knife, but for now, all he could do was wait and hope the humans looking for him were even stupider than normal. The clothes inside the sack really smelled bad. What had the woman been doing when she wore them that had gotten them so smelly?

  The hobgoblin’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the room’s door bursting open. Several sets of footsteps rushed inside. Blacknail instantly went still and quieted his breathing. He’d been hoping there would be fewer of them; it would be difficult to get past so many.

  “I got the bed, you check the closet,” someone said from the other side of the closet door.

  There was a ruckus and more than a few thuds as the men tore the room apart looking for Blacknail. Then the floorboards creaked as someone approached the closet. There was another creaking noise when the door was pulled open, and a flood of light illuminated the closet. Blacknail could make it out even from inside the sack.

  “Anything in there?” one of the men asked.

  “A lot of woman’s clothes,” the man by the closet answered as he looked around.

  “Let’s get going then. We got a lot of rooms to search.”

  “One second, I should check this sack.”

  The man’s shadow blocked the light as he reached toward the sack. From within his hiding spot, Blacknail tightened his grip on his knife. The second the man looked in the sack, he was going to get a knife in his eye and an angry hobgoblin in his face.

  “You think the Faceless Assassin is hiding in a whore’s laundry sack? He’s probably on the other side of the building by now,” the second man chuckled in amusement.

  The first man paused. His hand was hovering only inches from Blacknail. The hobgoblin’s heart started pounding as he readied himself to attack.

  “Malthus told us to be thorough and check everywhere,” the closer man told his companion.

  “Fine, whatever, just make it quick, you disgusting pervert.”

  The man began to reach toward the top of the sack again. Blacknail tensed and held his breath. If he could take the first human out before he could make any noise, then he should be able to make his escape.

  “Stop! Everyone who is not an employee is to leave the premises immediately. All house gu
ards are to stop searching and escort them out,” a familiar female voice suddenly commanded from out in the hallway. Luphera projected her voice loud enough that it echoed through the hallway outside the room Blacknail was in and through all the adjacent chambers as well.

  “What’s this?” the man reaching toward Blacknail’s hiding spot said as he froze again.

  A moment later, he stepped back and away from the concealed hobgoblin. Blacknail was more than a little confused as well. What was Luphera doing? He hadn’t killed the Najget person yet. Had she betrayed him and come to finish Blacknail off herself?

  “What do you think you’re doing? Stop interfering in my search!” Malthus yelled from another room. There was then the sound of heavy footsteps as he stomped out to confront the woman.

  “There is no more search, and your services are no longer required,” Luphera answered disdainfully a few seconds later.

  “What? That hell-begotten assassin is still running around this place! There’s no way Najget cancelled our contract now. You’re going to be in a lot of trouble when he finds out about this foolishness, woman.”

  “What Najget wants also no longer matters to anyone but the gods. Your men failed to protect him, and now he’s dead,” Luphera calmly explained.

  “That’s impossible! I had two of my best men guarding him, and Herad’s knifeman never went anywhere near them,” Malthus replied with obvious shock.

  Blacknail carefully nodded to himself. The annoying human assassin was right; he hadn’t even seen anyone who looked anything like the man Luphera had described.

  “Nonetheless, all three of them are now dead. I don’t know how he did it, but this Faceless Assassin has made you and your guild look like fools, again. I understand this isn’t the first time he’s sneaked right past you and killed a man under your protection,” Luphera pointed out.

  “No, I refuse to believe the bastard escaped me. He must have had an accomplice that struck at Najget while he distracted us. That means he’s still here somewhere, and I intend to find him,” Malthus replied angrily.