Brave Men Die: Part 2 Read Online Free

flew from her hand and took one man in the shoulder, as the rest of them closed in, driving their blades into her perfectly toned body. Madeline tried desperately to drive her short sword into one man’s chest but her strength failed and could only manage to drop the point and spear him through the thigh. Blood gurgled from her lips as she collapsed.
    The surviving harem girls stood huddled in the corner of the room. They looked at the knight-general, pleaded with him, but he simply shook his head and signalled for the guards to finish them. The soldiers moved in with caution, slowly closed the gap, and brought their blades to bear.
    The apartment was silent in the early hours of the morning. Even after all he had done there was not a murmur of alarm. The moonlight filtered into the darkened corridors as Thom made his way silently through the shadows. He made his way to the master bedroom around the corner from the children’s to find it empty and signs that only one body had been sleeping in the bed.
    The possibility that one had been on top of the other flickered through his mind, but was easily dismissed as other telltale signs were missing. The blankets and sheets were too orderly, neatly pushed to one side as the occupant climbed out.
    Leaving the bedroom, he systematically searched every other room on the top floor, only to find disappointment. The rooms were empty, even the study which he thought might occupy the Prince in these late hours. The large desk that sat in the middle of the room was awash with moonlight streaming in from the large bay windows behind it. Glancing over the papers on the desk, there was nothing of note that he could use and send back to the Empire.
    The stairs posed a problem as they left him completely exposed as he traversed down them. Thom kept his back pressed firmly against the wall as step by step he went down, testing his weight on the wooden planks before planting his foot fully so there would be no sudden creaks.
    A figure emerged from the doorway on the left and walked right in front of the stairs, the young serving girl moved with her head down and straight in the direction of the kitchen. Releasing the breath he was holding, all caution gone, he hurried down the last few steps and followed the girl. He couldn’t leave her alive when he had the rest of the apartment to explore.
    The kitchen was dark and the evening light that came through the tiny window in front of the large sinks did little to reveal the features. The girl stood in her shift with her back to him. Thom could see the shape of her figure through it and smiled at the thoughts running through his head. He pushed the thoughts aside for later, took his knife and stepped closer. The girl was cutting bread and cheese on the bench, her own knife larger than his and he hesitated for a second.
    Thom’s hand came up too quickly, smothering her mouth and any chances of crying out, long before his knife hand was ready to slide across her neck. The girl’s eyes went wide with fright and she started thrusting the blade in her hand back toward him. Thom’s head went dodging to the side to avoid taking it through the eye and plunged his knife into her neck. The bread knife came up one final time, scratching him across the back of the hand and he grimaced in pain but did not murmur a sound. The girl collapsed and he gently lowered the body to the ground in silence.
    Looking at his hand, he noted the scratch wasn’t deep and he wouldn’t bleed to death. He hurriedly got about his business searching for the Prince. There was not another living body in the building and he had made sure he searched every nook and cranny. The Prince was not here tonight, or maybe he had never been here. Thom would be paying a visit to the information merchant and informing him of such. At least the others had still been here, the Princess and her daughters all dead by his hand. The Kingdom would tremble at the fact that someone had murdered their