She pulled the pin, and the courtyard vanished into a grey haze. When the mist cleared, the guards found nothing but an empty hallway and a single, small footprint in the mud, leading toward the throne room where the final choice awaited.
The objective was simple: the King’s throat. The path was anything but. A massive wooden crane loomed over the plaza, holding a crate of heavy iron ore. To the guards below, it was part of the scenery. To Shadwen, it was a physics-defying guillotine.
"Stay in the shadows," Shadwen whispered, her voice like grinding stone. "If they see you, I can't guarantee you'll see tomorrow." Shadwen Download PC Game
Shadwen paused, looking at the girl’s wide, questioning eyes. She could tell her the truth—that the King was a tyrant, that blood must pay for blood. Or she could keep the girl’s hands clean for one more night.
Shadwen didn't want a companion. A regicide is best performed in silence, alone. But the girl had seen her slip past the first perimeter, and now, their fates were knotted together like a tangled winch. She pulled the pin, and the courtyard vanished
"Why are we here?" Lily whispered as they neared the high walls of the inner sanctum.
The guards rushed toward the debris, their lanterns swinging wildly. Shadwen moved. She wasn't a blur; she was a ghost. She blinked from the top of a fruit stall to a stone balcony, her movements dictated by a strange, flickering sense of time—as long as she remained still, the world stood frozen with her. It was a curse of the profession, or perhaps a gift from the very darkness she inhabited. The path was anything but
The rain in Rivandell didn’t just fall; it wept, slicking the cobblestones and masking the heavy footfalls of the Iron Guard. In the heart of the city's crumbling district, Shadwen adjusted her grip on the frayed rope of her grappling hook. Beside her, huddled under a moth-eaten shawl, was Lily—a child whose innocence was the only thing heavier than the blade at Shadwen’s hip.