As we arrived back at the embassy, we received a message from Celestia. It was simply three words.
"Go to sleep."
I passed the message to Ando and shrugged.
"An odd message." remarked the gryphon.
"Yes, but not unexpected. I asked the princesses to keep an eye on me. I'm tired and they want me to have my full faculties tomorrow morning." I replied.
"Even so."
"It's late anyway so it isn't like it is a bad idea."
"Very well. I will have to tell the general about this."
"That I have to be babysat by the rulers of my country?"
Ando laughed a little.
"I suppose that it does seem to weaken you, but I will still have to tell him."
"How much do gryphons know about the duties of the princesses?"
"Well, we know about raising the sun and the moon. Other than that, they just rule the country."
I laughed convincingly.
"Sounds like the full bit. With this kind of scope, I thought that they would do more too."
"True."
Ando smiled at me and I smiled back. We started a friendship based around half-truths and deception. Meanwhile, my two silent guards were following us as we walked up to the rooms that we had been assigned. One of the embassy staff members caught up to us and directed Ando off to his room. Midnight and Night Raven started to head off to their room, but I stopped them.
"There will be an assassination attempt tonight."
They looked at me with scornful expressions on their faces.
"We know. You fucking invited them in."
"Of course. Those assassins will tell me more about the state of this country's readiness more than a hundred meetings and interviews."
"They are trained to resist interrogation."
"That will not matter. For now, I have a meeting to attend."
They looked at me questioningly.
"A meeting with my bed and with some pleasant lunar dreams."
Their looks barely changed, but I knew that they understood. I turned to my room and laid down on my bed. It took me a short while to get to sleep, but I managed it.
I seemed to wake up lying on a beach under the night sky. An aurora was dancing overhead and the moon was extremely bright, illuminating the waves. It was ideal.
"A wonderful reception." said Luna as she glided from the sky and embraced me.
"It is brilliant to see you." I said, returning the hug. She kissed my cheek and then we parted.
"You are taking too many risks with your life." she stated, almost emotionlessly. It pained me to hear her talk like that. A bench appeared on the sand beside us and I guided her to it. We sat down together and looked up at the sky.
"Better to risk my life than Equestria. I am not doing it without an aim in mind though. The assassins will be able to tell me a lot simply by showing up. I will know if something is approaching me thanks to the spell that I had Midnight cast on me. An assassin will not be able to get close enough, even in my sleep."
"And if they try to shoot you? Gryphons make the most skilled archers." she replied, a small catch in her voice.
"Trust me. If they try to shoot me, it means that their army is assembled and ready to march. From what I have seen, they aren't that ready for war. It is more likely that traps will be installed in my office or a poison in my food. My office is magically locked. Did you get my letter about poisons?"
"Yes. There isn't one to make you aware of poisons around you, but there is one to make you aware of poisons within you. I can cast another that will allow you to expel poisons from your body in your saliva. It makes the poison dormant until contact with air. It is a very useful skill."
"They sound perfect. How will they be applied?"
"I already did that before coming into your mind. Are you sure that you will be okay?"
"Yes Luna. I will. I promise you that I will come back alive and well, without letting a war start, even if I have to play unfairly."
"This isn't a game, Josh. Think of it like that and you will die."
"But it is Luna," I answered, an unnerving quality to my voice. "It is a game of the most deadly kind. Now, I have to go. An assassin is in my room and has started creeping towards my bed. Thankfully, as I am in a dream, time passes differently. As such," I stood up and turned, extending my hand to her. She took it and we stood together on the sand. "I have time to say goodbye."
I kissed her gently, holding her close to me. Luna returned the gestures and my affection before disappearing. Then, so did the dream world.
The Gryphon was moving from the window over to a figure on the bed. I could feel it coming closer to my position and slowly started to untie the knots that were holding me up near the ceiling. The figure on the bed gently tossed and turned. Thin wires were connecting it to the cocoon like hammock that had been gently put into a long trench in the ceiling. While this wasn't a trick that had been used before, it appeared to be working. The assassin steadily crept forwards, choosing each footfall carefully. It was dressed in black and had a few visible weapons on it's back and shoulders. I would have to kill it almost instantly with a surprise attack then.
The gryphon approached my bed and reached into a pouch. It was bringing it's hand out again when my foot caught it in the spine. The creature's whole body snapped forwards and sprawled across the bed. I dropped three feet to the floor and pulled out a short six inch blade, trying to rush in and thrust it between the ribs of my target. Instead, it rolled over the bed and off the other side, flipping itself onto it's feet in the process. It drew both it's hands back, glints of metal in both fists. It wasn't extending from the top though, but from the middle. I almost laughed. Punch daggers.
Even in an experts hand they were a weapon for an idiot. A twisting punch that would deal the most damage normally would only hinder the cut, albeit doing more damage, but a parry or block at the right time and in the right place with the right amount of force could easily break the wielder's fingers, rendering the daggers all but useless. They looked cool, but for the most part, they were scrap metal. I was wielding a short tanto style blade that was perfect for precision cuts.
The assassin danced towards me and tried to deliver a quick double strike to my stomach. I read the movements and slapped away the first hand with my left hand before blocking the other strike with my knife. A common weakness shared by most punch daggers is that they defend the immediately adjacent fingers while leaving the pinkie and index finger and the gaps to those fingers completely undefended. The gryphon punched forwards, forcing the gap between it's pinkie and ring fingers straight onto my blade. It cut perfectly between the bones of the hand. I slid my body sideways, between the hands of my would-be assassin and fully into it's guard.
It tried a feeble knee strike, but that simply allowed me to over balance it backwards. It landed on the floor arms out. I landed on top of it, my blade slicing across it's bicep. I quickly pinned it's other arm and broke it, dislocating it at the same time. I quickly bandaged it's hand and destroyed bicep before tying it to the bed. In lieu of a rapid kill, I decided to take a prisoner. It was wearing a balaclava. I pulled it off to reveal a feminine face. It was unfamiliar to me and for that, I was grateful. At least it wasn't Gilda. That would have been problematic. As it was, she looked me in the eyes with a strange detachment. Her eyes were becoming glassy and unfocused.
Poison.
I leant down and kissed her, rapidly flicking my tongue into her mouth and scooping out some saliva. I let my mind, augmented by the spell cast by Luna, analyze the poison and then spat on to the carpet off to the right. Then I tied her to the bed quickly. I ran out of the door and into Midnight and Night Raven's room. I shook them out of bed gently and gave them a list of materials to attain. Night Raven ran towards the kitchen while Midnight ran to the infirmary. They were both back at my room in five minutes. I knelt over my prisoner and looked her in the eyes once more. They were worse than before. I was running out of time. Midnight started changing the bandages and then set the broken arm and shoulder before splinting them. Night Raven mixed up a concoction and forced it into the gryphon's mouth, massaging her throat so that she would swallow it.
We sat back and admired my handiwork of the night as the, now gagged, female gryphon started to try and yell in pain, only to be sedated by Midnight.
"Good job." said Night Raven.
"Indeed. You appear able to handle yourself." appended Midnight.
"Thank you. Do you trust me yet?"
"No." replied Night Raven with a grin.