The crack of a breaking branch was the only warning.
Before the sound could even echo through the fog, I dropped low, sweeping my leg out to kick the legs out from under the hooded Silver Crest infiltrator who had lunged from the brush. He hit the mud with a heavy grunt, but before he could raise his dagger, I drove the pommel of my weapon square into his jaw, knocking him out cold.
"Behind you!" Diego cried out.
I ducked instinctively as a black-feathered crossbow bolt whistled an inch above my head, embedding itself deep into the tree trunk behind me. I spun on my heel, pulling two throwing daggers from my belt, but Diego was already there.
Moving with the supernatural speed of the Alpha wolf he was, he caught the second assassin by the throat, slamming him violently against the rock
