Chapter 16 – The Dance of Shadow and Steel
As the ship rocked gently on the waves, inching closer to dawn,
time itself seemed to hold its breath within the cabin.
Hasan Sabbah's shadowed silhouette stood like a ghost,
half-formed in the flickering candlelight.
The Sultan, hand gripping the hilt of Fatih's sword,
never once looked away from the being before him.
"Your master…" the Sultan said, voice deep and resonant.
"…is it Leonardo?"
Sabbah's face twitched.
But then he tilted his head slightly, a faint smile curling on his lips.
"You think I would call a rat like him 'master'?"
"No... My master is someone far greater.
But you need not know him.
You won't know anything, in fact—
not by the end of this scene."
And then—
The shadows hissed.
From the four corners of the cabin,
blades shot forth like black wind.
Fsshh—chzzt!
Fshhh!
Thud! Thud!
But the Sultan was no longer standing still.
With the reflex of a wolf, he turned—
and Fatih's sword flashed like lightning.
Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!
Four daggers—
All redirected.
One pierced the map.
Another split the compass in two.
The Sultan raised his left palm—blood trickling from a fresh cut.
Then—
he let that blood fall upon the blade.
The sword shimmered.
As though fire ignited within its steel.
Fatih's will fused with Murad's fury.
"If anything shall be taken here…" the Sultan growled,
"…it will be your master's name.
And then—your life."
He stepped forward.
His blade struck the shadows.
Sabbah responded in kind.
The darkness peeled from his body,
revealing twin curved swords in his hands.
And then—
the clash began.
Steel didn't just strike steel—
It struck will against will,
Darkness against resolve,
Treachery against honor.
The cabin's walls became too small for the force they unleashed.
The sound of their blades echoed like a storm.
It wasn't just the ship that trembled.
It was history.