Chapter 24 – When Swords Speak in the Darkness of Night
"It's a trap!" shouted Balibey.In that instant, time froze.Even the steam rising from the goose meat and the spilled water seemed to hang in mid-air.Murad sprang to his feet, his right hand going to his sword as he turned sharply:
"Kasım! Stay behind us!"
Cafer felt it — the same sinister tremor in the air that he had come to recognize.He looked up at the balcony.There…Sabbah.And beside him — his student.Shadows wrapped around them, as if light itself had been pulled from their bodies.
Murad turned his gaze toward them.His eyes locked onto Sabbah's.
"Master of betrayal…" he growled,"You stand before me again!"
Sabbah replied with a cold smile:"Wolf pup…Tonight will be your end.Tonight... your story ends."
Then, without turning his head, he gave the command:
"Kill them."
Several of the quiet "customers" seated below suddenly rose to their feet —as if a curtain had been lifted to reveal the true stage.Some drew daggers from their belts,others pulled shortbows from their backs,some unsheathed rusted blades with a hunger that had long been waiting.Ten, maybe twelve of them.
But their eyes were empty.These weren't warriors — they were shadows sent to kill by command.
The fight erupted.
Clashing steel, overturned chairs, breaking glass,and the shouts of battle mixed with shadow.
Cafer backed against a pillar.He pulled Tomris' bow from his shoulder and scanned the battlefield like a predator.
A brief moment of clarity —two enemies aligned.
He raised the bow.Held his breath.And…
"Fwip—THUNK!"
A single arrow pierced through two throats at once.The first fell immediately, the second staggered a few steps, then collapsed.
Cafer had already locked onto the next target.
In the center of the chaos, Balibey turned just as an enemy charged.He swung his sword once —the torso split.The head rose.And the body walked two steps before falling to the ground.
Balibey narrowed his eyes, tracking three more enemies moving toward him.
At the same time, Murad slashed his palm with the back of his right hand.Blood trickled from his fingers as he smeared it onto Fatih's Sword.The blade…
Sizzled.
It shimmered with a flash of blue.It recognized its master's blood.A fire ignited within the blade,reflected in Murad's eyes.
His pupils shrank.His vision sharpened.He could hear footsteps,feel the enemy's breathing like notes in a dark melody.
A single droplet of water spilled from a broken jug.
"Drip…"Murad heard it.
He slashed.
A spear shattered in an enemy's hands.Another attacker was thrown back.He caught an arrow mid-air and drove it into the floor.Now his eyes gleamed with the gaze of a hunter.
His breath, his posture, his movement — no longer just a Sultan,but a predator.
The journey that had begun on the stone roads of Kritiniahad reached its fiery, bloody, shadow-filled crescendoin the heart of a tavern turned battleground.
The tables were overturned.The hearth's fire scattered.Screams and burning iron filled the air.
Cafer, after dropping two foes with a single arrow, slung his bow back and reached for his daggers.His eyes scanned the battle like a hawk.And then —a shadow descended from above.
"Whfff..."
A pair of boots landed lightly on a table with a gust of air.Dust rose.
Cafer instinctively leapt back.Standing before him — Sabbah's student.Dressed in pitch-black.Lean, agile.Eyes glinting like glass in the darkness.In one hand, a curved dagger.In the other, a chain that hung like a snake.
Cafer narrowed his gaze.
"So… you're the master's shadow."
The student didn't reply.He lunged forward.
"CLASH!"
The dagger slashed from the right.Cafer dodged and countered.Steel met steel — sparks flew.
"CLANK! SHRRIP!"
The chain whipped forward, grazing Cafer's shoulder.He dodged left, dropped low, and aimed a counterstrike at the opponent's leg.The student leapt into the air, twisted,pushed off a chair behind him, and attacked again.
They moved with equal speed.A silent dance began in the tavern between two shadows.
One had no name.The other was whispered: Cafer.
They darted between tables, leaping over chairs,steel and shadow clashing with every breath.Neither could gain the upper hand.Both were flawless.Both had been forged in death.
Time seemed to slow for them.But the rest of the fight was still raging.
Cafer vaulted from one table to another,clashing dagger to chain,fighting breath to breath.
But the rhythm of the fight had shifted.
Murad scanned the room.Enemies still fought all around.His sword still shimmered with blue sparks.
Then he looked to Balibey.
"Balibey," he called firmly,"Can you handle the rest? I'm going after Sabbah."
Balibey smiled slightly, raised his sword onto his shoulder, and stood tall.
"Leave them to me, my Sultan…their blades won't reach me."
Murad gave a brief smile in return —but his face quickly hardened again with resolve.
His eyes turned upward —to the balcony where Sabbah stood.
"Wait for me, Sabbah…""I'm coming."
He launched forward like an arrow.
Bounding over tables,dodging chairs without breaking stride,he grabbed the wooden beams leading to the balcony and climbed like a cat.
Sabbah had seen him coming.He smiled.
"Come, little wolf...I've been waiting."
But before he could even finish the thought,Murad was already in the air.
He brought his sword down from above.
"CRAAAASH!"
Sabbah barely crossed his daggers in time to block.The force knocked him back two steps.The blue sparks from the blade flashed in his eyes.
"So the sword has awakened…"
Murad struck again.Sabbah dodged, countered.The blades collided.Sparks exploded in the shadows like stars.
Sabbah narrowed his eyes.He could feel the power of the blade.And he realized —this place was too tight for him.
"This fight doesn't suit me…"
He tilted his head slightly.Shadows swirled around him.And he vanished.
Murad lunged forward.
"You won't escape!"
Sabbah leapt from the balcony into the alleyways.Murad followed.
Moonlight swept across the stone wallsas Sabbah fled through narrow streets,throwing daggers behind him.
"SHHH! TING!"
Murad shattered them mid-air with his sword.Footsteps echoed across the stones.It was a pursuit —a song of war between two souls.
Eventually…Sabbah disappeared around a corner.Murad turned after him.
Before him —a ruin.Surrounded by crumbling stone walls.An open space.And… silence.
Sabbah was gone.Only shadows remained.Cold, dense.
Murad stopped.Raised his hand.Lowered his sword.Closed his eyes.
He gave his full attention to his ears.He did not breathe.Did not even flex his ankle.
A drop of sweat from a hidden enemy.The rustle of cloth.The quiver of breath.
He had to hear it all.
Now Fatih's Sword was more than steel —it was a key to the senses.
Sultan Murad,with his eyes closed but his senses open…listened to the dark.