The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

              Before he could lay down the corpses without making any noise, Drannor picked the keys of the gate that one of them had in their waist. Once he did that, he opened the gate without making any noise… Zaos never imagined that Drannor has that kind of skill. It was even harder to believe in that since he didn't have the personality or the characteristic of someone stealthy.

                  Regardless, Erean approached and then gave the sign for Drannor to open the door of the building. Zaos's crossbow was already ready to be used, and then he pulled the trigger when the door opened, and he felt the moments of the two inside it. Even without seeing them, Zaos managed to hit their necks. The two agonized for a few seconds and then fell dead.

                Erean gave the sign for the second group to approach, and then Ameria and Noemi entered the building. Once that happened, he gave the sign to Drannor and Zaos to stay at the entrance in the same positions the two guards were once before. They needed to let things look the same as before in order to avoid raising suspicions. They didn't see a single living soul walking around the port at that time, but they needed to be careful.

              At some point, Drannor touched Zaos on the shoulder, and then he pointed toward the side of a certain building. It seemed like a bar since all the lights inside were still up and running, but that wasn't what he was pointing at. It was a carriage. If they get their hands on that, they will return to the mines faster and even bring more things from the Ojala family's mansion.

              Zaos nodded at him. A carriage would help a lot since everyone's legs were sore after all that walking. In the end, Zaos broke into a cold sweat soon after he sighed in relief when a rave finally left the building. They finally sent the first message, but then the damn raven squeaked, and the sound echoed through the port. Few people knew that ravens weren't being used, but those who knew were all enemies.

                  Suddenly, the door of the bar opened, and several individuals looked toward Zaos and Drannor. Although Drannor had some good stealthy skills, he was the same airhead as always. In the end, he waved toward the people in the bar.

"What the hell are you doing?" Zaos whispered.

"Just follow my lead," Drannor said. "Don't do anything until they are close enough to see us."

              The group of five men walked toward them, and Zaos had a hard time controlling the urge to pull the trigger of his crossbow. That was just too dangerous for the plan, and while they succeeded in the first goal, which was to send a message to home, it was far from the ideal.

                Once the five men got close enough, Zaos aimed his crossbow at them and fired enhanced bolts. Three of the five men fell with bolts on their hands, but the other reacted in time and blocked them with the swords, the same swords the assassins used. Fortunately, the bolt destroyed their weapons, and Drannor dashed toward them. Drannor cut their throats with a single strike, even though they jumped back with all their might to escape the attack.

"Cover me, I am going to get that carriage," Drannor said.

            It seemed a bit too soon to secure the carriage, but then Zaos noticed that Erean and the others were taking their time sending other ravens. They probably decided to send all of them at the sand time in order to avoid alerting the whole town several times in a row… still, that means that they were going to make a lot of noise once they used all the ravens.

                In the blink of an eye, Drannor secured the carriage, probably because those five men were the ones who were using it. Despite that, he didn't bring the carriage. He was also planning to make a lot of noise, but without giving the enemies the chance to react.

                After several minutes, dozens of ravens left the building and then made a lot of noise while squeaking. At the same time, Drannor brought the carriage to the entrance. He arrived just in time when Erean's group left in a hurry. Before long, the whole town was awake, but at the same time, Zaos and the others were already leaving with the carriage.

"Thieves! Thieves and assassins!" Someone shouted.

              Zaos assumed that who shouted that probably wasn't one of those who worked for Ferdinand. Thanks to that, Zaos couldn't help but wonder if they shouldn't have warned the common folk of the port town. In the end, he shook his head… that would never work. Normal people would never fight to help rich merchants, not to mention, they would never try to be against those who had the balls to plan so many assassinations in a single night. Since things were so quiet, it wouldn't be weird that Ferdinand might have bought the silence of all people in town. Be with money or by promising a not so swift death.

              While Zaos was thinking about that, they suddenly heard the sound of horses approaching in the distance. After a couple of seconds, several riders showed up, and they were ready to fight.

"Oh, shit…" Drannor said once he realized what was going on. "You will have to deal with them, guys. "This carriage can't run much faster than this. The horses probably have some stamina left, but they can only do so much while carrying so many people."

              As soon as he finished his sentence, Drannor heard the sound of the back of the carriage breaking. He thought the enemies had already caught up, but Zaos was the one who broke it by using his sword.

"You get the ones on the right side and I will get the ones on the left side," Zaos told Ameria. "Got it?"

"Yeah," Ameria said, trying to keep her nerves under control.

              In the end, Erean did the right thing in letting Ameria come. Not only he and the other guards were bad at using crossbows, but they were also even worse inside a carriage, moving at high speeds. Regardless, Zaos and Ameria began to pull the triggers.