the poor man said, obviously shaken. “We were all on watch, three of us on the outside of the carriage and Mori inside, sittin’ right across from the Viscount. One second we were rumblin’ along Wyvern Street, then we rounded the corner onto East Run, and out of nowhere this thin shape comes leapin’ out of the shadows and right through the carriage window without even touching the casement. By the time Mori even got his dagger out, the deed was done and the culprit out the other side window! Says he never seen nobody move that fast! All he saw was a blur of black.”“The assassin came through that window?” the Captain asked skeptically, inspecting the small square portal in the carriage’s door. It was no more than twice the width of his outstretched hand. “And the carriage was moving?”“Yes, Sir! Not fast, but we were movin’ along at a jog, I’d say.”“Have you been chewing lotus, Corporal? Nobody could get through that window at a run!”“I wouldn’t have thought so either, Sir, but that’s what happened. Truth be told, Clem was the only one to see the culprit comin’. Didn’t see nothin’ but a black shape, thin, maybe an elf. The feller just took three runnin’ steps from where he was hidin’, and dove right through. The carriage lurched when he hit the far wall inside, but by the time anyone could even so much as yell, he was out the other side and the Viscount was-- well, like you see him, Sir.”“Blast!” The captain released the man and wrenched open the door of the carriage. The young Viscount sat there, his head pinned to the back of the carriage seat by a long stiletto, a tightly rolled note secured to the hilt with a black ribbon. “I can’t believe this! And the bastard told us!”“Sir?” The corporal’s confused shock begged for an explanation. Norwood wasn’t usually inclined to offering information to his guardsmen, but the man had been through a lot, and deserved something.“Three days ago the Count’s wife was murdered in their bed while he slept next to her. Same method. Same note. The assassin is telling us who’s next and when. There have been four more killings between then and now, two each night, and different notes and dates with each telling when the next person in that particular noble family will be killed. Two barons, another count and the Duke himself have lost family members. Now the assassin’s making good his promises, and it looks like there’s nothing we can do to stop him.”“Holy Gods! Er...
