Chapter 21 – Steps Within the Shadows
As the fierce winds swept over the stone roads of Rhodes' eastern coast,two figures advanced with a slow, limping rhythm.At the front, Sabbah — his black cloak torn at the edges,and behind him, his young-faced but sharp-eyed apprentice,whose silent steps had already seen too much of the world.
Neither had spoken a word along the way.Their boots struck the dry earth with dull echoes,and far in the distance, a small town rose up: Enos.A place known only to farmers and fishermen,with its narrow stone alleys and unguarded walls.
After a long while, the apprentice finally turned his head and asked in a hushed voice:"Master… do you think… they're dead?"
Sabbah continued walking without answering.
The apprentice hesitated, then pressed on:"And if… the sword has sunk to the bottom of the sea with Murad's body?Won't the Great Master be furious when he finds out?"
At last, Sabbah halted.He slowly turned around,his shadowed face casting a heavy darkness over his student.
"I do not believe they are dead," he said calmly."If they were so easily slain,the Great Master would already hold the sword in his grasp."
He stepped closer, narrowing his eyes:"They are stubborn — like their ancestors.Especially that one… the wolf-eyed boy."
Without another word, he resumed walking.Soon they reached the narrow streets of Enos.Old stone houses, shaded courtyards, and rusted iron doors…A sleepy place.But the shadows here were deeper.
After a quick survey of the area, Sabbah turned toward an unassuming inn at the corner.Its door bore no name,its facade hidden behind withered ivy like a forgotten memory.
They opened the door.Inside, the innkeeper — silent and disinterested — asked no questions.
Sabbah spoke only one sentence:"A room. The quietest you have."
Receiving the key, they climbed the wooden stairs quietly.At the end of a dim hallway, they entered their room and closed the door behind them.
As his apprentice sat down heavily on the bed,Sabbah opened a small wooden chest.From it, he withdrew bandages, small glass vials, and a soft black cloth.
He exposed the wound on his leg —not deep, but one that would leave a scar —and began tending to it silently.
The room's lone window allowed in a muted veil of moonlight,and over the town, an ominous calm hovered.
In that silence, only one word spun inside Sabbah's mind:"The Sword..."
As he carefully wrapped the bandage around his leg,suddenly—everything stopped.
The flickering flame froze.The breeze at the window stilled.The very light from the moon became motionless against the glass.
His apprentice's hand, mid-movement, was frozen in place.His breath ceased,his eyes locked forward, trapped in time.
Sabbah slowly straightened.He whispered under his breath:"It's coming..."
He knew this feeling.He had lived it countless times before.But he could never grow accustomed to it.
Time itself had halted.But he could move.Only him — and It.
The shadows deepened, growing even heavier over the existing darkness.Sabbah struggled to breathe.There was a knot in his throat,an aching emptiness in his gut,a hollow roar in his ears —as if something from beyond the edges of the world was trying to pull him in,to tear him apart.
Yet all the physical sensations were nothingcompared to the terror the entity summoned.
Suddenly—The darkness ripped open.
A face emerged.No —not a face.Something without a true name or form,an existence so absolute that even the soul recoiled from it.
A voice —colder than death, cutting through Sabbah's mind like a blade:"Sabbah...Have you secured the sword?"
Sabbah dropped to his knees.His voice cracked under the pressure:"Not yet, my lord...But I wounded him.I know where they are.I have many men across this island.Tonight...Tonight, I will bring you the sword."
The words barely escaped his lips when the presence roared like a thunderclap:"ENOUGH!"
The room trembled violently.Sabbah collapsed, pinned to the floor by an invisible, crushing force,as though the weight of a thousand worlds was pressing down on him.
The silhouette spoke again — this time, sharp and final:"Tonight...end it."
And then —it was gone.
The darkness recoiled.Time resumed its flow.
The apprentice's hand moved again, his eyes blinking in confusion.He turned and saw his master sprawled on the floor."Master?Are you alright?What happened?"
Sabbah steadied his breath,pressed his hand against the floor, and rose slowly.His eyes were bloodshot,his voice a guttural whisper:"Tonight...that cursed sword will be torn from the wolf's cub."
And in the suffocating silence of the room,the shadows seemed to deepen once more.