A collective gasp rolled out of the assembled crowd.

Kaden, like a statue of marble, stood with his arm outstretched. Frozen.

After discarding his Rohs Fang without any knowledge of what he was doing, he held firm in his fisted hand the shaft of a black arrow fletched with equally black feathers. The heavy arrow came to an abrupt stop at the insistence of his strong fingers.

The Karo Shar traced the path the arrow would have followed through the air, and it led, best he could tell, right to Prince Relastin's heart. The jagged tip of the war arrow would have easily ripped through the steel of the prince's breastplate had it found its mark. And while Kaden couldn't be certain he had saved the prince's life, it certainly looked that way.

The prince, for his part in the drama, kept an impassive and approving stare up at his Karo Shar and the heroic feat that had been accomplished. If there was any worry, the prince showed no signs.

Kaden, despite being there and holding the arrow, had a problem believing what he'd just pulled off.

While everyone else was in awe, the prince ripped a finger upward to call out the location of the attacker. "There! Guards, seize that man!"

Kaden turned and followed the direction the prince indicated. Atop the roof of the arena, standing with the suns to its back, was a sleek, black silhouette that quickly vanished beyond the edge of the roofline.

Prince Relastin did not wait for anyone to follow his orders before springing into action. The prince bounded forward, leaping like a feline and catching the floor of the second level of the arena with his fingers. His biceps flexed and hauled his royal highness up onto the next platform and did the same to the third, fourth, and so on. Until he reached the roof and began his own pursuit of the assassin.

Like a true leader would.

"Damn," Kaden mumbled at the performance. Knowing he was expected to follow, Kaden cast the arrow down and recovered his Rohs Fang.

He didn't take the same direct route as the prince did. Instead, Kaden rushed for the first set of stairs. With each level the Karo Shar ascended, he blew past anyone in his way as they moved from his path. A final flight brought him to the roof, along with a half dozen soldiers, two of which were his men, who had followed him without being asked.

Kaden gained his bearings and fell into the role of a military commander. A role he had never really trained for, and one he'd only practiced once during his time in the Abyss during the ceremonial wedding hunt for Koronai. Considering he was the only survivor of his entire troop, Kaden considered that experience an utter failure for him.

"Follow me!" he called to the men and began traversing the treacherously loose tiles of baked mud on the roof.

The soldiers did not hesitate, following the Karo Shar as he tried to catch up to the prince, who Kaden caught sight of quickly. Prince Relastin followed the assassin ahead of them on the roof of another part of the palace. His pursuit was fast, the prince's footing adroit, but the assassin was just as fast and nimble.

The black-clad figure was slender, but not womanly. It was definitely a man.

Arriving at the end of the roof of the arena, and not hesitating, Kaden lept into the air in full stride towards the lower roof of the adjacent part of the building. Once in midair, his legs still churning as though there was ground beneath them, Kaden realized he had literally taken a leap of faith with no real plan.

Seconds later, Kaden hit the next portion of tiled roof once more, rolled, and found his legs under him. All on instinct. Without checking that he'd been followed, Kaden heard the feet of other men landing behind him and weapons in hand clattering while continuing to follow him.

At that moment, the assassin swerved right and slid down the sloped roof. Hand dragging behind him to slow his descent, some of the tiles were wrested free and sacrificed for the cause.

The prince followed in kind, gaining only minimal ground.

They were both down to the next roof before Kaden and his men arrived at the site of their descent. They followed as well, taking an angel to help close the distance.

In what seemed to be an impossible feat, the assassin, while still in full stride, leaped, turned, knocked an arrow, drew it back and launched the projectile towards the prince. The man who ruled Ison swatted it aside with his sword, not once breaking his own stride. The assassin continued, twisting fully around, and running as though his feet had never left the roof.

Twice more, the assassin lobbed wicked black arrows towards the prince, each time in a similar manner, and each time equally thwarted. The furious chase continued across the entire length of the prince's sprawling palace. But, in the end, the assassin ran out of room to run.

Kaden was sure it was over when the black figure slid to a halt at the roof's edge. The nearest rooftop adjacent was fifty feet away, and the prince was closing fast. Kaden and his men were also gaining ground.

And that is when an even more unthinkable act happened. Without so much as a running start, the assassin sprang off the edge.

The prince, obviously stunned by the performance, halted, skidding towards the edge of the roof himself. All while the assassin spun, twisted, and somersaulted across the gap as though he were wind itself.

Even with Rage, to do so from a dead stop was highly improbable.

As Kaden bore down on the edge of the roof, and the precipitous fall awaiting him, he chose a course of boldness. He punched at his chest, breaking one of the Rage and Courage mixtures beneath his breastplate. His heart pumping fast drew in the essences quicker than normal. And he prayed he'd timed the whole thing right.

Ten steps before certain doom, Kaden felt his muscles strengthen and his fear of falling melted away. A single foot planted and propelled him off and into the sky.

The assassin landed on his target with a light foot followed by the other and continued to flee while catching a glimpse of his lone pursuer.

Kaden didn't need to look back to know no one else had followed his lead. But the other thing he soon realized, after it was too late, was that he was going to come up a tad bit short of his target.

There was no denying the reality of it.

As the Karo Shar began to descend from the top of his arc, the only question was by how much. Kaden lost track of everything else except the target before him. His feet dropped below the level of the of the building he sought to land on, did not let him panic. Kaden reached out with one hand while holding his Rohs Fang in the other and his fingers clamped like a vice on the lip of the roof with all the strength the Rage within him granted his body.

A second later, his chest slammed into the side of the building like a bull fucking a heifer. Kaden's teeth shook as the metal tube in his chest rammed itself in deeper than it should have and was hitting parts of his insides it shouldn't.

Despite the fiery pain attempting to consume him, Kaden fought to bring himself up onto the roof with a struggling pull. When he finally did, the assassin was gone.

He turned and looked back at the prince and the others. Then off in the direction the assassin had gone. His shoulders slumped in defeat, the burgeoning warrior emerging from deep within him, disappointed at his failure.