The castle stood on a hill, its crumbling towers pointed up to the full wintersky. The night was completely still, which suited the assassin fine. He crawledthrough the undergrowth, cursing silently as he clambered through thick,spiky bramble bushes. He felt his quiver of arrows reassuringly across hisback and his bow across his chest. There was a poison-tipped dagger in asheath strapped against his thigh. He paused, looking up to see where hewas in relation to the castle. He smiled to himself, continuing his way. The king was in a murderous rage, and it really was murderous. He hadalready ordered the deaths of 2 jesters and a prison guard. He yelled at hiscourt for a few more minutes before declaring that he was going to bed andthat the rest of the court should do the same. He stormed into his bedroombefore throwing himself into his bed. A gentle breeze was coming steadilythrough the glass-less window. “Why” he thought to himself, “can’t we haveglass for our windows?” The assassin was sweating. He had just gone past the point of no return, inother words, the perimeter of the castle grounds. He had been allowed 48hours for his task to be completed and after that, it would be considered afail, even if he did succeed eventually. He was, of course, being paid for whathe did best, assassinating people. It was his job, and he was good at it too.His instructions were simple: kill everyone in the castle because if even oneperson got away to the town, his identity would be known. It was not his dutyto know why he was to assassinate the king, he just cared about the money.Good feelings for an assassin. He always kept his identity secret from hisemployers, with the aid of a mask he created, and only revealed his identityto his victims when he was sure they would not survive.Dawn came quickly for the king. It seemed like no time had passed andsunlight was streaming through the window. He was pleased that the day hadcome, for he had important guests coming for dinner to make him evenricher. Little did he know, that by 10 o’clock that night, he would be dead. Hegot up and remembered the night before. How 2 of his jesters and 1 of hisguards were dead. The assassin was crawling through shrub land and swatting away themosquitoes. He could not go any faster than a crawl but he knew he couldnot have any delays because if he killed the king after the deadline he wouldnot receive payment. He paused, glancing up at the guards who were onlyabout twenty meters away. He crouched on one knee, took aim with his bowand fired two shots in quick succession. Two direct hits. Straight through theneck, which he favored because that meant minimal blood. The assassin reached the castle by sundown. He pulled the castle plan,courtesy of his employer, out of his pocket. After a quick glance, he knew thatthe king’s bedroom was on the west wing of the castle in the third room. Healso knew that the king had a bedroom window facing outwards into the area
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