The King And The Swordsman

Part One

The King's Court was filled with guards, a Swordsman just strolled in,
He was followed by a Crossbowman, the other man was his kin,
Two heavily armoured guards stepped in, crossed their swords to block their way,
The King looked over these two men, why had they come today.

The King's spokesman stood up and bowed, and said "Greetings to you",
The Swordsman slightly bowed as well, "Greeting to you too",
"Why have you come on this fine day, whatever is the trouble?"
The King's taxes have increased a lot, now he is asking us for double.

The spokesman explained it's to feed the war, to keep his men supplied,
The Swordsman asked to have them reduced, but this request was denied,
The Swordsman tapped his sword twice, and left the King and Court behind,
The King knew that next time they met, the Swordsman wouldn't be so kind.

The King turned to the spokesman, "Get Aidan in here now!",
But before the spokesman moved an inch, Aidan appeared somehow,
"I want you to go to the Swordsman's house and into their room you'll creep,
And extinguish their lives without a sound, you're to kill them in their sleep.

Twenty miles away in the Dark Woods, a shadow moved tree to tree,
And approached the Swordsman's house, with barely enough light to see,
Aidan picked the lock and entered the house, and proceeded to a bed,
And hacked away ferociously, until the body was dead.

Aidan's eyes started seeing double, as a sharp pain gripped his head,
When he regained consciousness, "You're a dead man" a voice had said,
He tried to wriggle free, but found himself hogtied to a chair,
Then he turned to see the Swordsman and Crossbowman there.

"Congratulations, you killed my wife, anger is now beyond me,
This is a day that you'll soon forget, and you're never going to be free",
Aidan thought a minute to weigh his options, in chess this would be check mate,
He composed himself just like an assassin, ready to meet his fate.

"You're the King's pet, there is no doubt, I'm sure he sent your skills,
But instead of carrying out two orders, you've only had one kill",
He signalled to his brother, the Crossbowman, pointed to Aidan's legs, there and there,
As two arrow bolts hurled across the room, and pinned his legs to the chair.

Aidan let out a whimper, as he felt the blood run down to the floor,
The Crossbowman reloaded came back up on aim and waited to fire some more,
The Swordsman's emotions got the better of him, much to Aidan's surprise,
He produced two daggers from his sleeve, and rammed them into Aidan's eyes.

Aidan screamed and struggled in his ropes, turning his head but couldn't see,
This was the start of more pain, the Swordsman wouldn't let it be,
The Swordsman knew that killing an assassin wasn't a major crime,
He moved to the back of Aidan, and hacked off his fingers one at a time.

Finally with Aidan dead, they took him outside to chop up this thing,
The Swordsman placed the dismembered corpse in a box, and sent it to the King,
Now the King will know that I knew, he sent that guy for me,
What will he do next, send more men, we will have to wait and see.