25: Assault on the Priory

The road to Weynon Priory was short and quiet, as neither Martin nor I had said anything since our last conversation. A feeling of dread crept into my mind, but I simply dismissed it as being an aftershock from the terror of Kvatch. Nevertheless, I was wary as we approached Weyon Priory, and I stretched out my hands in case I would have need of them.

The outside was mostly quiet when we arrived; a few people were standing around and chatting but nothing else. They were wearing very familiar robes, but I couldn’t quite place them. The old man from the Priory who had given me the horse stepped out of the Weynon House and approached the small group of men in the robes. He began speaking to them, and Martin and I proceeded indoors. Suddenly, I remembered where I had seen the robes before: They were worn by the people who assassinated the Emperor!

I spun around, but I did not want to alert them to my intentions, so I walked casually towards them. As I passed Martin I told him to get inside and wait for me. I watched the four men in the robes very carefully, looking for any sign of attack they might make. Very soon, I perceived a small gesture one of the men made, and instantly I launched a fireball at them. It caught one of them men in the side, igniting his robe and knocking him over. I pulled out my axe and charged at them, and I knew they would not be defenseless for much longer. I was not surprised when strange weapons appeared in their hands and armor suddenly coated their skin, and brought my axe up to smash down upon the nearest assassin. He was quick, and the conjured weapon weighed nothing for him, but I outsmarted him. He had brought his mace up to block an overhead attack, so I shifted my weight ever so slightly and twisted around to bring the axe to his side. I heard ribs crack and the assassin crumpled to the ground. A burst of flame was all that was needed to finish him off. I turned towards the other two assassins and found that they had murdered the old man and run off into the Weynon House. I ran after them, sounding an alarm as I went. I hoped Martin could hold them off; we could not afford to lose either him or the Amulet of Kings.

I burst into the Priory House and received a mace to the chest. I was thrown backwards, out into the yard again. I healed myself and opened the door again, this time holding back a bit in case the assassin had another mace for me. He did, but I stepped away from the blow and counter-attacked. He soon lay in a crumpled heap by the door, and I started to make my way up the stairs when several more assassins came in through the door behind me. I spun and found myself face to face with 4 more assassins. Wasting no time, I launched a fireball and simultaneously swung at the head of the nearest assassin. He was knocked back into the expanding flame, but the other three were largely unharmed. I backed off a bit, knowing I couldn’t take all three of them at the same time. Luckily for me, Jauffre appeared behind the assassins and brought a huge Dai-katana down onto their unsuspecting backs. I attacked at the same time as he did, and the confused assassins were soon cut to pieces.

“The Amulet! We must protect it!” Jauffre was bounding up the stairs before I could even catch my breath, and yet I followed after him. Suddenly, Martin was thrown out of a small room I had not noticed before. He fell to the ground and groaned, and just then an assassin stepped out of the same room that martin came from. He was clutching the Amulet of Kings, and when he saw both me and Jauffre waiting to stop him, he turned to a large window and jumped out through it! I looked down from the window and saw the crumpled form of the assassin lying on the ground, but he was soon surrounded by several other assassins who pried the amulet from his grip and ran off.

Jauffre slammed the table with his fist, obviously furious that they had escaped with the amulet. I went over to Martin, hoping he was still alright. He groaned a little, but a few healing spells later he was back on his feet. Jauffre came over and shook his hand.

“So you must be Martin. I am Jauffre, Grandmaster of the Blades.”

“Pleasure to meet you Jauffre, but please, can we talk about this whole heir to the throne thing?”

“Not now, we need to get to a safer place. Will, would you like to help out some more?”

“It would be my pleasure.” I replied, eager to atone for my past sins against the Empire. “Where do you have in mind?”

“Cloud Ruler Temple, it has been the Blades’ fortress for many years now, there Martin will be safe.”

“Isn’t that up north of Bruma? In the mountains?” I thought I had heard of it before, but I had never seen it.

“That is correct, now come, it is a long ride.”

The three of us went down to the stables, and I found that my friend had indeed found his way home. I mounted him, and when Martin and Jauffre were on their respective horses we set off for Cloud Ruler Temple.