Prowlers in the Night: Part 3

Chevalier de Foix proved to be the most fearsome opponent I had fought until that point. Similar to Rhombus, he was incredibly skilled, his swordsmanship nurtured from a young age. In addition to that, he had the advantage of a stronger, artificial body, meaning I couldn’t hope to overpower him with sheer strength either.

Initially, I attempted an aggressive approach. My goal, once again, wasn’t to win, but to hold out until reinforcements – who I knew were coming this time – arrived. Giving the knight no opportunity to attack seemed like the best choice.

I started by making a feint with my dagger, before attempting an actual attack with my sword. My heavily-armored enemy ignored the shorter blade altogether, parrying my actual swing and chaining into a thrust of his own with a singular motion. I quickly moved my head to the left, and the longsword narrowly missed me, only managing a shallow cut on my cheek. My attempted onslaught cut short, I was forced to parry a swift series of sword swings coming at me from all angles.

While I didn’t get a single opening to attack from that moment on, I managed to survive as long as was necessary. Multiple sets of boots could be heard coming in our direction. This briefly distracted the Chevalier, who knew anyone this loud couldn’t be his ally, and he checked the new threat out. I used this to swipe my dagger towards his face, which he dodged, taking a few steps back. I immediately retreated, creating as much space between us as possible. Multiple rifles opened fire, and some shots hit their mark. The armor managed to lessen the impact, and the Chevalier didn’t seem to be seriously injured, but he was forced to retreat.

“Be careful, he’s a mage!” I shouted at the group of guardsmen who were coming my way. I wouldn’t let him send any more surprise fireballs our way. The knight didn’t seem to like his chances, though, and was jumping from cover to cover, deciding to retreat temporarily.

Two of the guards loaded Odelia onto a stretcher, while the rest covered them, and they all started retreating towards the keep. “You’re coming with us”, a sergeant said to me, and I obliged. We entered the palace proper, and the princess was taken to a nearby bedroom. Several healers and the court sorceress were already there, and in less than a minute, a panicked-stricken King Philoctetes barged in, shouting, “How is she? Will she make it?” He was half-dressed, with a cloak hastily draped over his nightgown, and was carrying the Twice-Enchanted blade.

Most of us remained waiting in the corridor. Aside from me, there was a group of guards, as well as Annabel, who had arrived in the meantime.

“What’s the situation?” I asked her.

“Pretty bad. We took out seven assassins, and lost five men total, I think. One of them we captured alive, but he bit his own tongue, so we couldn’t interrogate him. It’s obvious where they’re coming from, but we have no hard proof”.

“For what it’s worth, the man I was fighting explicitly mentioned being sent by Arthacyros”, I replied, “and he had an artificial body similar to my own”.

In a minute, the King went out of the room, visibly furious but much calmer. The Princess, it seemed, was in stable condition.

“No one enters or leaves the palace grounds”, he ordered, “We will sweep the place and hunt these assassins down to the last man. I shall lead the search personally”.

Multiple officers attempted to dissuade him from this idea, trying to get him to at least direct the hunt from a safe position, but it was in vain. His Majesty remained steadfast in his decision, pausing just enough to put on a suit of chainmail.

The walls were lined with torch and lantern-bearing servants, helped by the occasional soldier. This was intended to make it impossible for any remaining assassins to escape unnoticed. The guards were then separated into five-man squads, except for the King’s group, which was ten-man strong. There was no need for any stealth. We were to loudly and brashly sweep the palace grounds, building by building, garden by garden, constantly vocally communicating our status to the nearby groups.

The search began with the main palace building. We discovered nothing, as all the invaders who had made it this far had been dispatched or retreating. One assassin was found hiding in a privy, where he committed suicide by stabbing himself in the neck with his dagger before he could be captured. Annabel sensed another hiding in a tree by divination, and he got shot down from there. A third attempted to leap at the King from the top of a gate, and got sliced to ribbons by the Twice-Enchanted Blade for his trouble.

The more time passed, the more worried I became about our inability to find Chevalier de Foix. “I don’t like this one bit”, I whispered to Annabel, “He’s biding his time, waiting for our concentration to slip”.

She nodded. “If he’s still here, he knows he’s trapped. He’ll try to make as much damage as possible before he’s taken down”.

“Will he now?” I asked, “How do these spells work anyway? He said he cannot reject Arthacyros’s orders, yet still retains his rational mind. Wouldn’t he try to accomplish his objective as quietly as possible if these orders went against his moral compass?”

“It depends”, Annabel answered, “There is a large number of geas-type spells, of varying power, which may leave their victims with more or less autonomy. A particularly strong magic – which we should expect, given the caster – might force him to pursue the course of action he perceives as the most likely to lead him to his goal. And if he thinks a bloodbath is his best bet –“

She was cut off by a loud detonation. It was relatively close to us, and we ran in its general direction. Annabel’s assumption was correct. The Chevalier had found an opportunity to strike and used it to sow panic among our ranks.

It turned out we were not the closest squad to the explosion. One group of soldiers was lying scattered around a charred patch of grass; another was near the entrance to a tower, both inside and out. Out of the ten guards, four were killed, but none of them was in good enough shape to continue with the hunt.

“Two squads down! The mage is on the prowl!” I shouted and, after counting the rifles scattered around the courtyard and coming one short, added “He’s got a gun!”