---Carson's POV---

"And?"

He shook his head, already confirming my suspicions. "Not a peep. The men are growing wary Carson. He was here before us, we know that. So its extremely odd he hasn't made a move towards the Sheik yet."

I nodded, sighing as I placed my drink aside and leaned forwards. My fingers twisted and entangled underneath my chin as I looked at the different reports splayed out in front of me. Not a single sign for the past few days..."

Footsteps approached the tent, both Mord'u and I looking up as the front was tossed open, a ragged looking Gale panted as he skidded to a pause. "He's-" He coughed, placing his palm on his chest as he tried to catch his breath again.

"He's been sighted. Riding out of town."

I frowned at that bit of information, standing up quickly. "The Sheik?" Gale shook his head, taking a few deep breaths before calming down. "He's fine, no contact has been made except for the market place. I think we might've scared him off." Gale added hopefully.

For some reason, I couldn't believe that. If this former slave had managed to keep a grudge against his former masters after all these years, he wouldn't give up that easily. He'd find another way.

"Have him followed out of the city. I want to know his exact location, his every move." I spoke sharply, casting a stern glare towards Gale. "Stay out of sight and make him believe he lost us."

Gale nodded, rushing through the flaps as Mord'u raised a black eyebrow questioningly. "You think he's up to something?" 

I scoffed before heading towards the exit, motioning for Mord'u to follow me. "Of course he's up to something. I doubt he'd give up so quickly and if our sources are correct, this Sheik is his next former master, thus his next target."

Mord'u agreed silently before glancing at the palace, shaking his head. "Still, he's heading out of town as we speak. Why are we still here then?" I rubbed over my face, groaning slightly. Honestly, I didn't have the slightest clue what the boy was up to.

"If the Sheik is indeed his intended target, he might be trying to lure us away from him so he can loop around and kill him in the first place." Mord'u snorted at my reply, muttering something alike of "And that would be bad why?"

Pausing, I tilted my head to the sky and thought about it. We didn't really see much of the Sheik, as he was always holed up in his private quarters but if he was anything like the Assassin's previous owners, he had it coming to him.

"Its odd, you know." I murmured, gaining my best friend's attention as he silently turned to me, resting his back against the nearest building when I came to a halt and crossed his arms. "In a weird way, I don't want to stop him after finding out what kind of monsters Akif and Saemus were."

Mord'u nodded before sighing, "But we're being paid to defend the Sheiks... and doing very poorly at it too." He chuckled, just like I not caring about the bad advertising that would create. Word would spread about the circumstances the Sheiks were found in and people would know exactly why we weren't upset with our failures.

A feminine scream pierced the night, alarming everyone and jolting us into action. People popped their heads out of their windows, trying to see what the cause of the ruckus was and I felt my heart skip as I realized it was coming from the Sheik's personal quarters.

Several guards were already flooding the room, a few trying to rouse the man from his immobile state but I just knew he was already dead. Quite possible for a few days now. Judging from his yellowish skin and the small veins that had popped in his eyes, it had been a slow and possibly extremely painful death.

"Well...shit. Now we know why he's already out of the city..." Mord'u murmured, scratching at the back of his head in awe. How exactly did the Assassin get to the Sheik? The only thing we saw was the Sheik backhanding him after getting-

Eyes widening, I lowered down, pulling the fabric of my sleeve down over my hand before slowly grasping the Sheik's hand and turned the palm up.

There wasn't that big of a wound; just a small pinprick in the center of his palm but the deep purple discoloration underneath it and the dark red webbings towards his wrist were proof enough.

"He's been poisoned. And already deceased." I added after feeling for a pulse but finding none. The guards cursed, murder in their eyes as they went about to search the room. They wouldn't find him of course; I already had my men trailing our intriguing assassin as we helped them look around.

After all, you never knew what we could find in the Sheik's room.

----

I wish I'd say I never saw it coming but... My fists clenched at the row of cages hidden deep in the Sheik's laboratory. A few of the slaves in it were still alive, some on the verge of death. The worst part was the young and pregnant female slave whom looked very pale and sick.

Sharing a look with my right hand, he nodded, knowing what I wanted. These people needed to be freed this instant, the families of the deceased informed and compensated for the abuse of their relatives. 

Most of all, news needed to be spread about the true nature of this...monster. I knew that the servants were already busy wagging their tongues and spreading word about the death of their beloved Sheik. To them, he had been a good man that paid them royally for their services.

Scratching at the starting stubble on my jaw, I wondered what to do about this whole ordeal. I've already sent out several of my men to dig into our Assassin's past and come up with any and all information of our prime target while others were being spread out to keep an eye on his movements.

What we needed though was some plan of attack. It was clear that we couldn't keep up with him... so we needed to get one step ahead of our target. We knew what he was up to and whom he'd pick now.

All we needed to do, was lay out a trap that wasn't too obvious. The Assassin was tricky and smart but so were we. A smirk slid on my lips, fingers tapping over the table as I started to craft a plan that hopefully, would end with the Assassin securely in my hold.

Because I was very, very  interested to have a chat with the handsome stranger that had managed to make a fool of me.

---Nadir's POV---

Thunder rolled through the air, making me jump slightly before rolling over in my bed. I had managed to set up camp, so I was relatively safe from the weather but still. I quickly peeked out of the tent to make sure that Tahir was safe.

The clouds above were an unsettling purple, growing darker with the second. Already I could see Tahir dancing on the spot, tossing his head up in the air nervously. Even though I just made up camp, I felt a lot better with breaking everything up again and get Tahir in the safety of a city's stables.

A good thing that I listened to my instincts ; five minutes after I had everything packed up and ready to go, lightning forked its way through the air and zapped a nearby tree. Tahir instantly reared up on his hind legs, pawing at the air while letting out a shrill shriek.

"Easy boy, whoa!" I quickly grabbed his reins and jumped on his back the second his hooves touched the ground again. Steering him towards the city, I bent over his back and let him run, knowing there was no way of calming him down until he was safely in the stables.

Another crack of lightning resounded and illuminated the darkening landscape before the heavens opened up. It seemed as if the sky was attempting to wash away the earth as a downpour clattered down noisily, drenching me to the bone in seconds.

Vapor circled from both our breathing and Tahir's heated body as he raced for the horizon, whinnying and bucking when the thunder rumbled threateningly. Luckily I could already see the city in the distance, guards patrolling the gateway and quickly opening up the doors when they spotted the runaway horse.

They jumped to the side to avoid being trambled before running after us, knowing I'd need help to reign in Tahir and calm him down. Tahir skidded to a halt when the stable boy noticed us and jumped in the way with spread arms before tossing me off of his back.

I landed on the floor with a grunt, mud instantly coating my face before I jolted forwards when I saw Tahir's reins skitter over the floor in front of me. He yanked his head back just as I managed to get a hold of the rope, the rope burning sharply in my palms as I held on tight.

"OPEN THE STABLES, HURRY!" I shouted over the roar of the thunderstorm overhead, ignoring the pain in my hands as I held onto the rope for dear life. If I lost hold and Tahir fled, I wouldn't be able to find him.

The second the stables were open, one of the guards smacked Tahir on the rump as I quickly moved to the side. A sigh of relief escaped me when my horse dashed forwards and disappeared into the safety of the stables, where I knew he'd calm down soon enough.

Still, I only took a moment to get a breather before walking in and found Tahir standing in one of the vacant stables, shivering all over and panting heavily. After receiving a towel that was most likely meant for myself, I slowly went to my faithful old friend, announcing my presence by speaking in a low and soothing tone.

I took the time to dry him off, patting him reassuringly and removing his halter, even though my body was aching, my hands were shivering uncontrollably as blisters were already starting to form.

By the time Tahir had managed to calm down enough to venture to his feeding trough, the stable boy was already standing beside me to lead me inside. The owner of the inn quickly pushed me down in front of the fire, his wife prepared with a basin of hot water and cloths to clean out my wounds.

I smiled and accepted the kindness, silently cursing as my plans were set back for at least a few days, especially after I saw the rope burns on my hands. The skin had come off in several places, pushed up like the covers on a bed and I hissed between my clenched teeth when the woman gently dabbed the wounds.

The salve she applied stung terribly and I had to bite my cheek to prevent myself from cursing out loud. Her husband seemed to understand and poured me a shot of their best drink as his wife cleaned out my wounds before advising me to come back down as soon as I had taken a bath.

It would be rather unwise to bandage the wounds up when I was still covered in mud and filth. One of the owner's sons actually went up with me and proceeded to help me bathe on his father's orders, as I was unable to use my hands.

It was several hours later that I was sitting in front of the crackling fireplace with a cup of steaming tea, refreshed, bandaged and wrapped in several layers to warm up once more. I sighed and glanced down at my wrapped hands, knowing that I had to stay in town longer than I wanted to, giving Carson and his men more time to catch up.

And all I could do was try my best to blend in and not get noticed by the mercenaries that were soon heading my way.

Well... Shit.