Assassin Chapter 4

It seems my pc will allow me to post by now, so here's the new chapter, ready for long time and so I added something more. Enjoy:

ASSASSIN CHAPTER 4: TROUBLES

“Are you tense?” asked me Caleb.
“I’m not” I answered “Not tense” I repeated looking at the horizons “I’m quiet”
“You’re always quiet!” replied incensed him “But this time it’s not: you’re… tense!”
“I’m not”
“Yeah, you are”
“I’m telling you I’m not!”
“As you wish” Caleb snorted, standing up “This cart is really boring: you’re enjoying more your horse for sure”
“Wanna try?”
The earl ordered us to be the new rivals of those strange merchants. Caleb was to be the new trader anxious to make money, having me as a guard. The cart was full of food that we had to sell down market, in order to make our rivals irritate. There a collaborator working as a smith was waiting for us, selling weapons at lower price to own that trade. At that point we should have make the merchants enough pissed to be warned or even scolded. We wanted to use it to find out something about the situation. To help us, the earl ordered one of his minions in the city garrison just if numbers were too bad. I didn’t worry for something like that, but it’s better to never say never, they say.
“Relax” he suggested me, jumping from the cart “There’s no need to be like that. The real party hasn’t started yet, and your fun… you’ll have it for sure”
Ten minutes later he was still talking, while I tied the reins on the bridge house.
“Wait, what are you doing?” he asked suddenly.
Slowly and methodically I drawn all my blades cleaning and polishing them. It lasted for half an hour, keeping my mind busy during the journey.
“Tell me why” said intrigued Caleb “A good blade is what you need to work, as I always say. However you bring with you an entire arsenal of stings that are worth killing a lame dog and a hypochondriac hag”
I simply smiled, picking up my twin knives, my longest weapons.
“Look: these two are awesome for slashing beard for breakfast, or butter” said the round “But what about a man?”
“There are less than eight millimetres between your throat and the larynx” I explained quietly “My shortest knife is well enough for that”
“For the love of all gods, you can’t kill every single opponent with a hit on his throat!”
“I have my throwing knife too” I smiled “I use them to wound my opponent in non vital spots, to make an opening, or I can throw them directly”
“You are a beast” Caleb laughed “But we’ll see if you’ll be so cold against a real man”
“You don’t have to wait that much” I murmured “We have guests”
“How can you say that?” asked him, looking at the two horsemen approaching us “They can be travellers just like us”
“They’ve been after us for three whole hours” I replied “Give me back that horse”
“Why? We can at least…”
“No we can’t” I interrupt him “You are a merchant, remember?”
Caleb snorted and got back to the cart, leaving me the animal. After a while, the horsemen were in front of us, staring and blocking the path.
“Who are you?” asked the first, most likely weak minded “You are not from this country”
“Let me tell you” began Caleb, jumping down the cart “I’m Caleb the Round, Cazoo for my friends!” he bowed “And who are you? There are here some bandits? So many to have guards hired? Well if you wanna help, my friend here, he is good at fighting! Or maybe…”
The two horsemen stood stunning, surprised and overwhelmed by that endless river of words, looking each other tensely.
“As you said yourself” replied the second one as Caleb had to breath “This is not a friendly country. So you’ll better go away”
“What are you talking about?” started again the friend of mine “That’s not true! I have a friend here and he didn’t told me about it! He only tell me about the food, which is delicious…”
“I don’t give a crap about your friends!” bawled the first one “Here there’s nothing for you, and you’ll re-gret it if you’ll…”
He never ended the sentence. In a quick move I took one of my knives from my belt and got the eye of his horse. Slowly I dismounted and approached him.
“It’s really hot, here” I whispered “Can we move forward now?”
“You should have been wiser” said Caleb sitting quietly, looking at the horsemen running away.
“No one died: I’ve been wise”
“Sure” snorted “Now we are officially people-to-kill-immediately, and we’ll never be able to investigate”
“It’s better to investigate with knives than doing it with our ears only” I replied “They’ll most likely charge to us, and we’ll use their mercenaries to understand something”
“Don’t overdo it” Caleb warned me “You’re here to learn, not to make the blood rain”
“And what do you wanna teach me?”
“Good manners are the best” answered him smiling “Don’t be so reckless and you’ll have your fun, kid”
“Being patient”
“Exactly: act patiently and use your brain, hide in the dark. If someone believe you’re an assassin, then nod, laugh and toast to your assassin job, so no one will believe you. If you’re in trouble, use the violence quickly and hide everything, and yourself too. An assassin act in the dark, but to have a great shadow hiding the assassin, the man have to be under a great light, over every guess”
“I wondered why you are the earl’s adviser” I replied “I guess that’s the answer”
“Of course, it’s a good way to talk with him face to face and to be known around. Only the earl’s advisers know we’re assassin, and they swear not to tell. And besides, no one else could believe a fat man like me to be the Royal assassin”
“The royal assassin? Aren’t you overdoing it?”
“You see” Caleb smiled “The earl was the royal assassin when he was young, and now I’m the earl’s as-sassin… it’s hard to believe it, but you’re a royal assassin too. You’re a little inexperienced, but time will do it”
“So we’re royal assassins… so we can’t be taken into custody?”
“Wrong, newbie” answered Caleb “We’re out of the law, we’re not wanted cause they don’t even know about us. If they find out… think yourself”
“So I have to hide?”
“Wrong” he corrected me “The same as before: let everyone see you, but no one to see the assassin”

“What a beautiful place”
I looked around, looking at the windy roads.
“Shouldn’t you sell your food to someone?” I asked “If so, you’ll have to low your price, or not even a mouse will buy it”
“Relax” said Caleb “We’re only in the first village, the city where to sell is far away from here”
“Sure” I unsheathed half of a knife “Here we’ll sell only steel: here’s a welcoming committee”
“How many of them?” asked him, without moving.
“I saw five of them” I answered looking discretely around us “They’re hiding between the houses, so can be far more that that. I don’t like it”
“Bandits don’t do something like that” nodded Caleb “It seems that’s how they set things here”
“So rivals don’t even approach the city”
“And no hearsays to deal with”
“So how could we have a hearsay?”
“Who knows?” wondered Caleb “Maybe it was a trap”
“Can I go?”
“If you want it that much” he smiled “Do as you wish: somehow, we have to pass”
I pushed my horse and picked up a small street. Finally hiding in the shadow, I waited silently, listening. Steps. I could hear it clearly. I walked to my right side.
Only two men, both armed to the teeth, were walking from shadow to shadow. Good, let’s begin. I jumped on a barrel, climbing up to a cornice, hiding in the shadow. Like a cat, I moved onto another cornice, looking at the two mercenaries. They were good, but not enough.
I hit the first one behind his neck, falling from higher. He didn’t even screamed, simply flopped down, fal-ling on the ground. The sound of his corpse hurting the soil made the other one aware of me. That one un-sheathed his sword and charged at me. In an instant, my two knives were in my hands, and I began the dance of death. His attacks stopped against my hilts, I jumped and moved around him, surprising him with a double fake, and finally cut his throat. I skipped back, avoiding the blood.
Two troubles gone.
After a few minutes I was on a roof. Under my place, the windy road was the only witness of a bizarre me-et: smiling quietly form the cart, Caleb was facing about ten horsemen, and I recognised the two that tried to stop us before. They were talking each other, while Cazoo was coming slowly, without looking at them. That stupid jerk didn’t want to blood his hands!
“Stop right now, you trader” said the boss, drawing his sword “You can’t pass: turn back and go away”
“Why?” asked Caleb, still smiling “I’m a straightforward merchant, I go where I wish”
Damn how I hated him: I was wrong, he wasn’t trying to avoid the blood. He couldn’t wait to kill, that bas-tard, just like me! I knew that flash of his eyes that well! Smiling, I took the short bow from my back.
“You have to be lost” said the horseman “The road stop here”
Suddenly, my horse went on, waddling to the cart. That stupid stallion! Every single eye focused on that beast. Angry for that outcome, the boss signed his minions to fan out.
“Now don’t cry and go away, fatty” other blades were unsheathed with a hiss “I promise you, you won’t pass through. Even if you’re really a straightforward merchant”
“How rude” I whispered.
“DON’T WASTE TIME AND SHOOT” said the voice.