(Part Two)

Port Melantha was shrouded in fog and the darkness of night when the two dark-haired men made their way to the ship the younger had docked earlier that day. The eldest wore his hair pulled back into a pony-tail, giving a clear view of the black eye-patch worn over his left eye. The other eye, blue as the sky after a storm, scanned each shadow with a precise knowledge of what he was looking for. The youngest was dark of both hair and eyes, but his face was marred by the scars of violent wounds, starting under his left eye, and running jaggedly down his cheek, spreading in small threads of white down his jaw. He too looked carefully at every turn and bucket, until finally they stood before the ship, speaking in hurried, hushed tones.
"You must go, brother. They want me more than her, I am sure of it"
"But she doesn’t know me. How should she trust me"
"She remembers you from the ship. If she still has doubt..." he paused for a moment, then looked up. "Tell her you are the only one who may call me Dreivan the Raven." There was a soft chuckle.
"You told her about that"
"The Vanc did, but she remembers what I said in reply." The elder man clapped the other on the shoulder.
"I will go, and I will protect this woman you favor. But Dreivan...do not be gone for long. And if you let them kill you, so help me, I will skin you alive"
"Right. That makes sense, Johdian." The eldest ruffled the others hair, then looked around before slipping aboard the boat, and casting it off. Drei waved, then stayed within the shadows until the boat had faded into the night without sound. When all was silent, and empty, he finally moved, keeping his eyes and ears especially alert. Things had not gone so smoothly as he had thought, and now, he must break his promise to Elis, and stay far away from Leontine. Small matter, once Johdian explained, she’d be able to rest at ease, or as much as she could, under the situation. Until then...Drei moved silently and only within the shadows. He had not gone far along the pier, when a low voice chuckled from the nearest empty doorway. Immediately, he froze, though he didn’t bother to pull his weapon. Not yet.
"You don’t really think your crippled brother is going to stop the Lett, do you?"Anger rippled along his skin, but he shoved it down, and spat his reply back to the hidden enemy.
"He is not crippled"
"I call a one-eyed warrior, who cannot even throw a knife straight, crippled"
"And I call a simpering fool who hides in shadow, and insults my brother, dead!" The man melted from the door, a red-and-black clad man with eyes like a snakes. Drei sneered. "So this is what the assassins of Effoi look like, do they"
"Take a good look, you will not live long to see anymore"
"Spare me the pompous speech, you Lett scum." He smiled cruelly, and attacked, obliging the demand. Drei flicked out his knife, swiping at the man in a lunge, but failed, as his opponent slipped back, then spun and tried to stab Drei in the chest. Expecting something of that nature, Drei grabbed the mans hand, twisted, and snatched the knife away. The Lett hooked a foot around Drei’s leg, and brought him down, cursing violently, to the wet wooden planks of the pier. The knife was a victim of battle between them, as they fought for dominance of whose throat the assassins knife was headed for. Drei’s own knife lay forgotten beside him, as both his hands became occupied with protecting his neck.
"Not so lethal now, are you, Raven?" Drei freed his left hand long enough to punch the man, throwing him off for a moment, long enough to regain control of the knife. However, deprived of his, the Lett went for Drei’s, and very quickly, both men were up and circling each other with each others blades. Drei knew his opportunity was small. The weight of the knives would be alien to each other, but unlike the Lett, he was used to alien weapons. By the detailed hilt upon the mans blade he held in his own hand, he used one, and only one blade. So Drei took a chance, knowing the consequences, and snapped his wrist, flinging the blade at the Lett. The mans eyes widened in surprise at the knife impaled his chest, but he still had enough control to copy Drei, throwing Drei’s own knife at him, catching him in the chest as well. The Lett fell first, a sick smile upon his face as he toppled to the ground.
"I’m taking you with me, Raven..." And he died, his eyes glazing and staring sightlessly at Drei, who clutched the hilt and the wound with both hands. Blood seemed to pour from the wound like a stream, staining his clothes a dark crimson, and weakening him quicker than he would have thought possible. Pain seared through his chest, and with a few unsteady steps, he fell like a sack of rocks, into the choppy waves below. He made one half-hearted effort to rise, but when he sank below the lapping waves, he did not rise again. Long minutes passed, too long for any live man to resurface, but still they waited. He never came back up. The men watching from afar looked at one another, and nodded.
"Pity about Warrel," one commented. "But at least he did his job"
"Yes. This will make the new High Lord very pleased"
"Dreivan the Raven dead? Of course it will. I wish we had been able to get the brother as well"
"He is still ours, after all. At least those bloody pirates managed to do something useful for once"
"The eye"
"Yes. Now, we wait for Oralie"
"Highly amusing"
"Very much. Still"
"Yes. But we have Oralie"
"Yes! She will succeed. No more of this ‘Ex-Effoi’ rubbish"
"Everything is going...perfectly." They left the pier, and the dead body of their assassin, and soon, only the slapping of waves against ship hulls, and the quiet murmur of far off noise broke the silence of the inky night.