Seon Hong Pyo waited until nightfall.

The stars overhead were obscured by a blanket of spent storm clouds that still grumbled with thunder in the distance, like a tired, cranky child protesting bedtime. The resulting darkness was fortunate for Hong Pyo, as it allowed him to peek out from the door of his room without the guards seeing.

The darkness was unfortunate for the guards, however, as it prevented them from seeing the assassins and not getting killed.

It was only after the second arrow had hit its mark that the guards finally managed to raise the alarm.

"Invaders! We're under atta—" the third guard's voice was silenced with another arrow, and the fourth guard was taken down not long after.

Shouting and the clanking of weaponry could be heard at the other end of the fort as the other guards hurried to assist, but three figures cloaked in black were already dropping down from the nearest wall and approaching Hong Pyo.

The nobleman stood up and stepped outside, adjusting the brim of his gat and smoothing down the wrinkles in his clothes.

"I thought you'd make me wait a few more days, at least," he said to the first shadowy figure that approached.

"You have time-sensitive information that we need," the tall man replied in a deep voice, clipped with a Japanese accent.

"Well, I'm not giving it to you here," Hong Pyo objected. "You have to help me escape first."

Scuffling footsteps sounded in the courtyard on the other side of the building. They were running out of time.

The figure in front of Hong Pyo tossed him a black cloak in reply.

"Put that on," the man snapped. "Your white clothes stand out like a torch in this darkness."

"It wasn't like I was given much choice in what to wear," Hong Pyo retorted, tossing the silky fabric across his shoulders and fastening the tie at his throat. "If your side hadn't messed up in the first place, I wouldn't be in this situation."

"Funny, we could say the same for you," the other man growled.

"Just get me out of here," Hong Pyo hissed. He was painfully aware of the approach of the guards that grew louder with each second.

Four more guards rounded the corner and ran towards them, and Hong Pyo cursed under his breath. They must have been the men stationed nearby at that insufferable Woo Sung's quarters.

He was getting ready to run in the other direction when a hand on his arm stopped him—it was the smallest of the three men in black, a man whose grip suggested that he had far more strength than what his slender frame implied. The man simply gave Hong Pyo a single, silent shake of the head, while his two companions rushed forward to meet the four additional guards. Within less than a minute, the last of the opposition was cut down with a strangled gurgle, and Hong Pyo was again left alone in the courtyard with his murderous rescuers.

The tall man turned back to face them, bloodied sword at his side, and jerked his head to the left. "This way. Hurry."

Hong Pyo didn't need to be told twice. He followed after the man, while the other two accomplices trailed behind, weapons raised and on the alert for any more guards.

As they passed the slain guards, Hong Pyo accidentally stumbled over an outstretched arm. When he looked down, a small shudder coursed through him at meeting the glassy-eyed gaze of the dead man. Blood, only visible in the dim light as an obsidian stain, had flowed from the arrow wound and across the surrounding grass. Hong Pyo belatedly realized he was standing in some of the mess, and hastily stepped over the arm and continued after his rescuer, careful to wipe the soles of his shoes in the grass as he walked.

"We'll help you over the wall here," the shortest of the three said. "There are some horses waiting for us down the road, and a ship in the harbor to get us off the island. Then—"

"Let's just focus on getting over the wall first, shall we?" Hong Pyo interrupted, scowling up at the obstacle before them. "If we don't get out of this courtyard, it won't matter what you had planned afterwards."

The man grew silent, the lack of sound as sudden as the slice of a blade. For a moment, Hong Pyo wondered if he had been too hasty in his words and had offended the man. But just as he was about to open his mouth to correct himself, the soldier moved. Hong Pyo watched in awe as the man took a single step back before jumping forward, kicking up from the middle of the wall in front of them, and landing on top in a graceful crouch. His graceful moves, combines with the loose black fabric of his clothes, almost made him look like he had wings.

Turning, the man looked down to Hong Pyo and reached out a hand.

Hong Pyo sucked in an apprehensive breath.

It took pushing and shoving from the two other men behind him, in addition to the first man pulling him up, in order for Hong Pyo to make it over the wall. When he finally did, he tumbled over to the other side in an ungraceful heap.

The three men in black dropped down beside him, all landing on their feet, of course. Hong Pyo's mood went from bad to worse.

"This way," the tall one said. Shocked exclamations from within the fort told of the guards' arrival at last to the courtyard—they had probably just discovered the bodies.

Hong Pyo followed the three men through the trees, away from the noise and the memory of the dead men. Impulsively, he wiped his sweaty hands against his sides, as the memory had the moisture on his skin feeling more like blood than sweat.

Everything's okay now, he told himself, taking in a deep breath to calm his nerves.

He might have been right, if it hadn't been for the fifth figure that crawled over the wall a few moments later.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I was originally considering titling this chapter "In the Dark of the Night", but then I couldn't get the Anastasia song out of my head so I had to change it.  XD  Let me know what you think!

I present the lovely Park Bo Gum in a gat.  I didn't have Moon Sun explain it this time because 1.) she hates repeating her explanations and 2.) at least this time it's introduced, it's obvious that it's a type of hat.  I think in Ballad, the name was just mentioned without context so there was no way of knowing what it was.

Guess who's in the next chapter? *wiggles eyebrows*