An unexpected encounter

It is well past midnight before you leave the Great Hall, when only half the guests remain - but those who do remain are the young and energetic crowd! Under other circumstances you might also have continued the revelry, but the dawn will break early on the morrow, and you must be at least somewhat rested.

Although you had suggested that Captain Navarre join in the celebrations, he insisted that he would do so only after you had retired to your bedchamber, and so you bid him goodnight in your parlor. Your valet had been dismissed hours before, so you must go through the arduous task of removing the ceremonial breast plate and other garments which really had not been designed to be taken off without assistance.

The breast-plate falls to the floor with a clatter as you finally manage to release the buckle which held it in place - and as you bend over to retrieve it, a hand in a steel gauntlet comes down heavily on the back of your neck!

"Don't move. Don't call for help," a whispered voice says, and you feel the cold steel of a dagger's blade pressed behind your left ear and under the jawbone.

You feel the quickening pulse in the major artery which runs through your neck, just beneath where the edge of the knife lies. All it would take to open your throat with a mortal wound would be a single, quick jerk; whoever is threatening you knows exactly what he is doing! Still, you are not dead yet, and you would have been if this were simply an assassin.