The Dagger and the Crown

It was midnight outside and Sir Alan and a small group of his men were patrolling outside of the guardhouse. “Keep an eye out,” Alan says to his men. “There’s no doubt that the Hidden Blades will try to rescue their friend. Considering how good they are at sneaking around undetected, you will have to be extra careful not to miss them.”

“Yes sir.” One of the guards says.

“Good, now spread out.” The guards then do as they are told.

Not far from them, a dark figure is jumping across the rooftops, concealed by the shadows. The figure stops by a chimney spout, pulls down his mask, and looks over the area. “Alright, so I’ve got five regular guards and a knight to deal with. No problem at all.” He then looks over at the knight and recognizes him. “Damn it, Sir Alan’s here. Can’t let him catch or see me or else I’ll be in big trouble.” Azazel then shakes his head and tries to figure out a plan. “ Let’s see, I can’t kill Alan or anyone else, Lillian would never trust me again. And I can’t let myself be caught and put into the cell because Alan would recognize me and never let Lillian see me. I could always knock them out one by one and then sneak in but who knows how many guards are inside guarding Canis. Guess I’ll just have to do this the old fashioned way.” Azazel then pulls out his climbing hooks and extends his foot spikes and jumps towards the guardhouse and his spikes and hooks catches. He then begins to climb up towards the roof. Once he reaches the top he peaks over the guardrails to see if there are any guards. Fortunately for him, there isn’t. He then pulls himself up, locates the trapdoor leading inside, and enters it. Once inside, it was a simple matter of hiding in the shadows and evading the guards. “These guards are such idiots. Hell, all I pretty much have to do is walk to the dungeon and they wouldn’t even bat an eyelash.” Azazel thinks to himself. Once he passed the guards, he finds the dungeons and begins looking for Canis. After a few minutes of looking, he finds the older assassin sleeping in the last cell on the right. “Hey, Canis. Wake up.”

Canis stirs from his sleep and, upon seeing Azazel, lets out a sigh of relief and says, “Oh Daemon, am I glad to see you. Has Dominus sent you to get me out?”

“Not exactly. The reason he sent me was to get the information you gathered about some rival guild. Getting you out alive is a bonus. Now then, the information, if you would please.”

Canis simply grunts and says, “Fine, but how about we make a deal?”
Azazel simply groans, rubs the bridge of his nose, and says, “What kind of deal are we talking about?”
“Well,” Canis begins. “I will tell you half of what I know now and then the other half if you get me out of here. How does that sound?”
Azazel snarls at Canis before saying, “Fine, tell me half of what you know now and I will try to get you out of here.”
Canis grins at Azazel before saying, “Sounds fair enough. All right, here is what I heard; there is a new assassin’s guild trying to make a name for themselves. I think they call themselves “The Demons’ or something like that. Probably naming themselves after the Shadow Demons or something. Not very creative, huh? Anyways, they are desperately trying to gain a foothold in this city and then move on to the rest of the country, trying to usurp us.”
“And where are they stationed? Where is their main base of operations?“
“Nuh uh uh, that is the second part, the part I wont tell until after you get me out of here.”
Azazel snarls at him again and simply says, “Very well. I will see if I can get you out of here. Now wait until I find a key. Would you happen to have any idea where I might find one?”
“As far as I know, there are at least two keys to the cell doors. One on the guard captain and one on that knight I see walking around every now and then. You will have to take out one of them to get the key.”
“Well, I can not kill the knight, he is a friend of a friend of mine. Do you have any idea where the captain is?”
“Well, he usually hides in his office. He’s a bit of a coward, usually letting his lackeys handle riots or breakouts. Hell, all you probably have to do is just show up and demand the key, he’ll probably hand it over.”
Canis then begins laughing while Azazel simply grips the bridge of his nose in exasperation and demands, “Just tell me where his office is.”
Canis smirks and tells him that his office is at the end of a corridor. Azazel nods and begins heading that way. As he is walking, he comes across a door but before he could open it, he hears a very familiar voice. “Shit!” he thinks to himself. “It’s Alan! I can’t let him catch me.” Azazel then begins to look around, trying to find a place to hide. He then looks up and notices the rafters. “Those should do.” He says to himself, grinning.

The door opens and Sir Alan and the guard captain exit the rom and begin walking together down the hall, not even noticing Azazel hiding just above them. As they are walking, Azazel follows them on the rafters. “So, you are absolutely positive that no one can break in, or out, of this prison?” Alan asks the captain.

“Absolutely. There is no way that those murderers can break into here,” the captain replies.

“’Murderers?’” Azazel thinks to himself. “We are not simple killers, we are professionals.”

“I beg to differ captain,” Sir Alan says. This surprises Azazel. “These are no simple killers. They are one of the best assassin’s on the continent. And you’ll be damned if one is ever contracted to take you out.”

“Ha!” The captain exclaims. “If one of them ever shows up here, I know that he wont stand a chance against me. They are nothing but a bunch of cutthroats and I am captain of the guard. ”
Azazel has to use almost all of his mental strength to resist the temptation to drop down on the captain and kill him after his little remark. “You are so lucky that Alan is here or else you’d be dead right now.” Azazel thinks to himself. “Still, how am I going to get the key now? Both of them are together and if I take out one, the other will return the favor.”

Then, as if by miracle, the guard captain says to Alan, “Damn, I forgot something back in my office. I’ll be right back.”

The guard captain then heads back to his office, leaving Alan to stand there, thinking to himself, “I swear, I have to get a new captain for the guard and for this prison. He is useless. And why can’t I shake this feeling? It’s like someone with murderous intent is here, in this building.” Alan then just shakes his head and continues his patrol, not realizing that Azazel is now following the captain.

The captain eventually makes it to his office and begins rummaging through his belongings until he pulls out a bottle of special Mitternacht Rum, rum so strong, it can literally knock first timers off of their feet after their first sip. He uncorks it and says to himself, “Ah, nothing like a fresh bottle of rum. If Sir Alan were to find this, he’d kill me.”

“Not before I kill you first.”

The captains eyes grow wide as he turns around and sees Azazel standing beside him, no more than 2 feet away. The captain instinctively reaches for his sword on the table but Azazel, being much more faster, having greater reflexes, and better trained than the captain, pulls his dagger out and pins the captains arm to the table by stabbing his sleeve. “Please! Please, don’t kill me! PLEASE!!!”

“You really are a cowardly man, aren’t you? I am not going to kill you, provided you do what I tell you.”

“Yes, anything. Whatever you want.”

“First, I want your keys to Canis’ cell door. Second, you are going to stay here and behave. Third, if the knight asks about the hole in your sleeve, say you got it caught on something. A nail, drawer, I don’t care. Fourth, You never saw me. Got it?”

“Y-yes sir. Whatever you say.”

“Good. Now then, the keys.”

The guard pulls the keys out of his coat pocket with his free hand and drops them into Azazel’s open, waiting hand.

“Good, thank you. Now then, remember our deal and I will let you live. For now at least.” Azazel then pulls his dagger out of the table and takes off. The guard then slumps back in his seat, grabs the bottle of rum, and takes a swig.

Azazel is now going throughout the prison, trying to find the cell that Canis is in when he rounds a corner and bumps into none other than Sir Alan. The two men simply stand there, staring at each other for at least a minute, too confused to really do anything, until Azazel turns tail and runs the other direction, prompting Alan to give chase. “Get back here assassin!” Alan yells out. “You can not hide from me!”
“Want to bet, tin can?” Azazel mentally laughs at his rather childish joke until he remembers that he is being chased. As Alan is chasing him, Azazel wonders to himself “How the hell is he so damn fast? Especially with all that armor?” Eventually, he rounds a tight corner and jumps up to the rafters as Alan runs underneath and pass, not noticing him at all. Azazel grins silently to himself and jumps back down. He then turns around and quickly and quietly makes his way back to Canis’ cell. Once he gets there, he says, “Oi, Canis, you there?”

Canis slowly gets up and says with some annoyance, “Yeah, I’m here. Who’s asking?”

“Daemon, you moron,” Azazel hisses, obviously annoyed. “I have the key. Now to let you out.”

“Finally! It’s about time. You have no idea how boring it is in here. Now hurry up.”

Azazel has to bite his tongue to prevent himself from saying anything terrible to Canis as he takes the key out of his pocket and opens up Canis’ cell door. The cell door opens up and Canis steps out. They both nod to each other and they proceed to run to the exit, avoiding the various guards, including the captain and Alan, the latter who is furious at the former for screwing up and literally handing the key to Azazel, all while Azazel and Canis are escaping back to their headquarters.