Early in the predawn light of the day after Thel ‘Vadamee’s ascension to kaidon of his keep, he woke to the faint scratching sound of three pairs of feet.
	They were on the roof outside his window, moving quickly and getting ready to vault the lip of his windowsill into his room. Thel wasted no time getting up from the chair that he had sat in all night, waiting for this.
	As the first assassin broke through the window, Thel pressed the button on the thick bar of metal in his hand that had been lying casually by his side. The energy sword flicked into being with a crack of ionized air from the handle as the twin half ovals of blue plasma appeared.
	The first swipe of the angry-sounding sword dug deep into the assassin’s chest, spearing him on the tip of the concentrated plasma. To his credit the assassin did not scream.
	Thel barely had time to duck, though, as the next two assassins bearing energy swords of their own hit the floor in front of him. Their crackling energy weapons just barely missed Thel’s head. But their overeager swings doomed them. Even as their energy swords passed by him, Thel was coming back up to a full stand, slicing the sword arm of the nearest assassin clear off his body.
	The last assassin backpedaled, looking for room to defend himself, realizing that this was not a simple job anymore.
There was a lot of space in the master room. The assassin stepped back over the large stone slabs of the room’s floor, his eyes darting from door to door, wondering whether he could make a run for it. Or at least, how he might use the space to his advantage.
	Thel remained in front of the window, watching the assassin. To be honest he had expected more than this.
...
	The assassin tested the first door, and found it locked. The four-inch-thick kafel wood would not break easily, and the assassin had to have known that with just a glance. The second door was just as locked and solid.
	Now he turned and looked at Thel, realizing that he was as good as dead, and ran straight for the window where Thel stood. A last stand.
	Thel pulled a plasma pistol out of his holster and shot the assassin straight through the head. The assassin tumbled to the floor right in front of Thel’s feet.
...
	“My blood,” Thel said, as he walked to the head of the table. “You voted me for kaidon, and yet it seems one of you did not believe in his vote, and did not believe in me, for three assassins broke into the High Room just minutes ago.”
	With that said, Thel shrugged his own cloak off, and stood naked before them. “Kaidon . . .” one of them whispered, shocked.
	“As you can all see with your own eyes, they failed to even scratch my body.” Thel glared at them all as one of his personal guard rushed to his side to pull the cloak back on.