When James enters the room, Cassie is there in tears. She looks to James and cries, “I’m sorry!”

“It’s okay,” he assures her, though in his own mind he’s not nearly as forgiving.

Tinok is standing at the passage entrance, listening for pursuit. He turns and says, “They’re coming.” Suddenly two knives flash into his hands as he stands ready. Jiron takes up position next to him and two knives appear like magic in his hands as well, flashing in the reflected candle light.

He looks to Tinok and says, “You ready?”

“Yeah,” Tinok replies with an evil grin. “Let’s get it on!”

They stand there to either side of the doorway, James and the girls stand a little ways back from them.

Suddenly an enemy soldier comes into the room, sword out, and Tinok closes with him. The soldier sees him and strikes with his sword. Tinok easily deflects the blade with one knife while following through with a thrust with the other, piercing the man’s chest and puncturing his heart. The soldier slides lifelessly off his blade to the floor as another soldier comes through the doorway, into the room.

Jiron takes this one and almost as fast as Tinok, dispatches him.

“You’re getting slow, Jiron,” Tinok says as he closes with the next one to come in. Knives flash and another body sinks to the floor.

The next soldier to come through is carrying a shield along with a sword and closes with Jiron. Jiron deflects the thrust of the sword with one knife as the shield comes and crashes into his chest, pushing him back further into the room. The soldier advances on him when all of a sudden one of his legs goes out and he crashes to the floor. Tinok had hamstrung him from behind as the soldier was closing in on Jiron. Jiron presses the soldier as he lies there on the ground, blocking a cut from the sword and avoiding the shield. He gets inside the man’s defenses and slits his throat. He looks up to see Tinok battling another one.