Back Alley of "The Gilded Toad" Auction House. Blackhold City – 02:00 AM.
"Hand over the draft," the Assassin repeated. His voice sounded like two rough stones grinding together. In his hand, a curved dagger dripped with thick green liquid. Neurotoxin.
Sir Riven didn't answer. He simply took one step forward.
A heavy step. THUD.
The stone floor of the narrow alley cracked beneath the iron sole of his boot.
"Van, there are five," Rhea whispered behind him, her eyes warily scanning the rooftops on either side. "Two in front, two on the roof, one behind Roland."
"Roland, get on the coachman's seat," Riven ordered calmly. Too calmly. "Start the engine—I mean, ready the horses."
"But..."
"GET ON!" Riven barked.
Roland jumped onto the carriage's driver seat. His hands trembled as he gripped the cold leather reins. Sir Roland's memories taught him the basics of horse handling, but he had never done it in a life-or-death situation.
Shing!
The first Assassin lunged. His speed was inhuman. He aimed for Riven's neck.
But Riven was not an easy target.
Instead of dodging, Riven caught the Assassin's wrist in mid-air with his left hand, clad in a steel gauntlet.
Crack.
The sound of breaking bone was crisp.
"Aaarggh!" the Assassin screamed, dropping his dagger.
"Too light," Riven grumbled. With a single jerking motion, he slammed the Assassin's body into the brick wall beside him like slamming a rag doll. THUD. The man slumped down, unconscious (or dead).
The remaining four Assassins didn't flinch. They were professionals.
"Kill the big one! Take the one in the carriage!"
Two jumped from the roof targeting Rhea.
One sprinted around toward Roland.
"Land! Go!" Rhea shouted.
Rhea parried with lightning speed. Clang! Clang! Her rapier moved like a steel fan, holding back two enemy short swords. She lost in raw power, but won in reach.
Roland saw an Assassin sprinting toward him with a drawn knife.
"Hey! Don't come any closer!" Roland panicked.
He had no weapon. But he had a horse.
Roland pulled the left rein with all his might, causing the black horse on the left to whinny in surprise and kick out sideways.
WHACK!
The horse's hind leg slammed squarely into the Assassin's chest. The man was sent flying into a trash bin.
"Eat that!" Roland yelled. "HYAH! GO!"
Roland snapped the reins. The two massive black horses surged forward. The carriage jerked, its tires screeching on the stones.
"RIVEN! RHEA! JUMP!"
Riven swung his greatsword horizontally—forcing the enemies back—then grabbed Rhea by the waist with one arm.
They leaped onto the back of the accelerating carriage.
"After them!" shouted the remaining Assassins.
Blackhold City Main Street.
The carriage sped madly through the thinning night market.
Roland stood half-crouched on the coachman's seat. The wind slapped his face.
"Move! Move out of the way!" he shouted at a drunkard blocking the road.
The horses were running at 60 km/h. On the slippery dirt road, the carriage shook like it was about to disintegrate.
"Land! Watch the corner!" Rhea shouted from inside the cabin, her head poking out the window.
Ahead was a sharp 90-degree turn. If Roland didn't slow down, the carriage would flip. But if he slowed down, the Assassins chasing them (now on stolen horses) would catch up.
Roland remembered his youth in Bandung. Illegal racing on the streets of Upper Dago.
Drifting.
"Hold on tight!" Roland screamed.
He didn't pull the brake. Instead, he whipped the outer horse to run faster than the inner horse, while slamming the reins to the side.
The inner wheels lifted.
The carriage wood groaned painfully. Creaaaak!
The carriage drifted. Its rear end swept through a fruit stall on the roadside. Apples and watermelons flew and shattered.
CRASH!
But they made the turn without flipping.
"Wuhuuu! Local wisdom Tokyo Drift!" Roland cheered hysterically. His adrenaline exploded.
However, the celebration was short-lived.
Thump! Thump!
Footsteps landed on the carriage roof.
"We have a guest upstairs!" Riven shouted from inside the cabin.
One Assassin had managed to jump from a citizen's balcony onto the roof of the moving carriage. He crawled forward, knife ready to stab Roland in the back as he drove.
Roland saw the shadow above him. "I'm dead."
BAM!
Suddenly, the wooden roof above Roland's head burst open.
A giant armored hand punched through the wood from inside the cabin, grabbing the Assassin's leg.
It was Riven's hand.
"Get down here, you bastard!" Riven growled from inside.
Riven yanked the leg down with full force.
The Assassin was forcibly pulled through the fragile wooden roof, falling into the carriage cabin, right in front of Riven and Rhea.
In that cramped, shaking space, the Assassin's fate was sealed.
Rhea drove her dagger straight into his heart. Riven threw the corpse out the back door.
"Keep going, Lan! City gate ahead!"
Blackhold South Gate.
Big problem.
Madam Vernazza had given the order. The giant iron gate was slowly lowering.
The gate guards pointed their spears at the speeding carriage.
"HALT! BY ORDER OF THE CITY RULER!"
Distance: 200 meters.
The gate gap was only half a meter from the ground. Not enough to pass.
"Lan! The gate is closing!" Rhea shouted in panic. "We're gonna crash!"
Roland looked around. His brain spun fast. He saw a mound of wooden planks beside the guard post—leftovers from road repairs. A makeshift Ramp.
And he saw the gate wasn't solid, but an iron portcullis. The upper part was still wide open.
A crazy idea emerged.
"I'm not braking," Roland muttered.
He steered the horses toward the wooden mound.
"LAN! ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Riven shouted.
"YOLO, BANG! YOLO!"
The carriage hit the wooden mound.
The horses jumped.
The carriage wheels lifted off the ground.
The carriage flew.
Time seemed to slow down.
The gate guards looked up with jaws dropped.
The horse carriage soared over the spear barricade, over the heads of the guards, and landed hard on the grassy ground outside the city walls.
THUD!
CRACK!
The rear axle snapped. One of the wheels rolled off.
The carriage skidded on the ground for ten meters with sparks flying before coming to a complete stop at the edge of the forest.
Silence.
Only the sound of the horses' heavy breathing and night crickets.
Slowly, the tilted cabin door opened.
Riven stepped out, staggered, and then vomited onto the ground. His motion sickness had peaked.
Rhea crawled out, hair messy, but she was laughing. The hysterical laughter of someone who cheated death.
Roland still sat on the tilted driver's seat. His hands stiffly gripped the reins. His eyes bulged, staring at the starry night sky.
"We..." Roland swallowed. "We're still alive?"
Rhea limped toward Roland, then slapped her brother's cheek hard. Smack.
"Ouch!"
"It hurts, right? That means you're alive," Rhea grinned widely. "You're crazy, Lan. I swear, crazy. If Mom knew you drove like that, your license would be revoked for life."
Riven wiped his mouth, then walked to the horses to check the cargo. He felt under Roland's robe.
The draft paper was still there. Safe.
50,000 Gold Coins.
Riven looked back at the Blackhold city gate, now tightly shut. Guard torches could be seen moving frantically atop the walls.
"We have to walk into the forest," Riven said, his military instincts returning. "Carriage is totaled. They'll send cavalry soon. Captain Thorne is waiting at Rendezvous Point B, two kilometers from here."
Riven squatted in front of Roland.
"Get on my back, Lan. You must be weak."
Roland didn't refuse. His legs felt like jelly. He climbed onto his big brother's broad back.
"Bang..." Roland whispered as they began walking into the dark forest.
"Hm?"
"Next time... I'll just sell on Shopee. Cash on Delivery like this isn't healthy for the heart."
Riven chuckled softly. A laugh that rarely came out.
"Welcome to the real world, Brother. Welcome to House Sudrath."
That night, under the pale moon, the three siblings disappeared into the forest.
They returned carrying a treasure that would change their family's fate forever.
However, they were unaware that their crazy stunt tonight had attracted the attention of other spies. The name of the "Masked Lord" who sold the Void Chalice began to spread across the continent.