Prologue
“Listen, although you are the leader there are many people who are more intelligent and stronger than you. You were chosen for your leadership skills and the fact that you have a cruel mind yet you are completely sane. You are inexperienced and require a lot of knowledge to complete this task, so listen carefully. I will explain the history of this cult and the reason why you must annihilate the heir of this kingdom, the kingdom of Vespers and its surrounds. We used to help the kingdoms as the royal protectors fighting for justice ending criminal activity and recruiting the once notorious criminals. We did not know that they used our services of protectors of the kingdoms.
We fought for them and protected them from anything that came their way. We were the best there was. One day the leader of our merry band: Charles Henderson saved us from humiliation; he found out that we were nothing, nothing more than the king’s slaves. So he turned against them. All our forces fought and eventually killed the King of the land. That is why there is no king of all the lands combined. Just separate unions with their own king. We disappeared; no one could track us. We became a shadow. The Shadow Cult.
During this time of isolation we planned an attack. We thought we could take on the whole of the armies combined. We tried but failed and so we have decided to assassinate all the heirs of the kingdoms.
You are now our new leader and we need you to lead us as we kill the heirs of the kingdoms. Why use the leader to kill the heirs you may ask? We need you to do it, to kill them all; we can’t use a normal bandit or brigand because they leave too many traces. Traces lead to discoveries and they will get us all executed. This is the last heir we must kill the heir of Vespers. We strike first on Dawnstar that was the plan.” A man named Ezio Auditore explained.
Ezio was a friend of the long gone leader of the Shadow Cult who had fallen off a cliff after encountering some of the king’s guard. Ezio was not a leader, he was a scholar, a philosopher he was everything but a leader. He read and devoured dictionaries, encyclopaedias and academic records. But he had one secret he was an assassin and created weapons used by the shadow cult. Although he was forty-five years old he was as fast and fit as a twenty year old. He could assassinate anyone or anything.
“Alright then when and where do we attack the heir of Vespers,” the man replied.
That very evening the man started his mission. Stealthily pacing across the cobbled pathway he walked into the inn, where he spent most Saturday evenings drinking mead. As he waited for the time to come he joked and talked with other men although he hated the one named Jim, the well-known son of the famous Jack Brown more commonly known as Farmer Brown. He was jealous of this boy’s family and his confident, easy life.
Almost five hours passed since he had last heard from the captain, who briefed him on his mission. He was already prepared for the worst to come.
The moonbeam was seen overhead. The drips of rain softly pattered along the path. There was nobody about, the best night for a murder. The man crept through the cobbled path making almost no sound at all. He approached the gate of the twin towers that stood menacingly over the lake of Harphinger. “All right I have to take these guards out,” he thought with some regret of what he was going to do to these men.
“Why do you approach the castle at this ungodly hour of this quiet and peaceful night? Not planning trouble, I hope. Are you a man or woman? I cannot see you in this dark night,” commented the guard.
“I am a male and am here to deliver some bricks to the royal stonemason’s house to build an extension to the lake manor for his children.”
“Okay good sir, sorry but you will have to wait ‘till at least six o’clock in the morning. You can stay inside the guardhouse adjacent to the gate. As we do not want you late, for an early start. You can have it for free, consider it a favour!”
