Prowlers in the Night: Part 4

The less seriously injured guards quickly filled us in on how they got taken out. The first group was approaching the tower in order to check for enemies. The Chevalier, who had picked it as his hiding spot, ambushed them with a fireball. The second group quickly came to investigate and ran into the enemy inside the doorway, where they couldn’t leverage their numbers to their advantage and were cut down. The knight then ran off in an unknown direction.

A few of the servants came down from their posts on the walls to take care of the wounded, and we followed a set of shallow footprints in the dirt. A short distance away, the footprints disappeared into a hedge maze to our left. Annabel prepared to try and track him down with a divination spell, but a sound of gunshots solved that problem for us, alongside someone shouting, “He’s heading for the palace!”

So that was his game. Wait until his pursuers have dispersed over a large area, inflict casualties to lower morale and cause fear and confusion, then make his way to the main palace again. It was by no means left unguarded, but it would be feasible for someone as skilled as the Chevalier to break into it now that everyone was moving towards a state of panic. It had been years, after all, since the war, and a lot of the younger recruits had never seen combat. All the training in the world couldn’t ensure they would keep their cool.

And the obvious target he was going for was the King. If the Chevalier managed to finish the Princess off, it would be a nice bonus. But the obvious purpose of this strategy – including the overtly brazen approach, letting himself be seen – was to cause His Majesty’s paternal instincts to kick in and make him act in a predictable fashion.

I requisitioned a rifle and some ammunition from one of the injured soldiers, and we made our way towards the central building. The guards posted in front of the main entrance were alive and well, meaning our enemy didn’t infiltrate the palace that way.

“Annabel and I will be going ahead”, I addressed the soldiers accompanying us, “You secure the main hallway”. Even though I didn’t have any authority over them (on the contrary, I was technically a prisoner), they obeyed, glad to get a relatively safe job. I had my reasons for splitting the group. In the enclosed space, all of us jumbled together would make for a juicy target for a fireball, and, given what I had seen from the Chevalier so far, I felt the two of us had a decent chance if we ran into him. Unlike in the gardens, the numbers wouldn’t bring us much of an advantage.

We were informed that His Majesty was already inside, and made our way towards the room where the Princess was recuperating. When we arrived, we found the King rearranging the furniture – the bed was dragged to the safest-seeming corner, and an armoire was placed to block the window. Only a couple of the soldiers were stationed in the room itself, with the rest staying in the corridor.

The unfortunate truth, however, was that there was no way to guarantee safety. If the Cheavalier managed to lay another ambush, his chances of success were not insignificant. The guards were spread out through the surrounding corridors, so they could pile up should the knight arrive from any direction, and they couldn’t be taken out en masse by a single spell. Their morale, however, was low, and the invading enemy began to feel like an unkillable monster in their mind. They were about as likely to lose their cool and run away as to gang up on the invader.

Some of us at least would have to proactively hunt the Chevalier down, and it would have to be those with actual combat experience, who were less likely to panic in the face of the enemy. We wouldn’t be searching completely blindly, as the court sorceress Claudia was conducting a divination ritual to try and narrow down his location.

“That window... it wasn’t broken before. Yes, I know where he entered. And these doors, left open or slightly ajar... no, some of these were opened by our own men, if I remember correctly. Let’s see... Yes, he probably went this way. He’s in the great dining hall, if I’m not mistaken”.

“Then we shall get him before he goes somewhere else! Men, after me!” the King shouted and stormed out of the room, a furious madness in his eyes. The heavy injuries his daughter sustained had a dramatic effect on His Majesty’s behavior. Barely a trace was left of the calm, collected, wise leader he was known as, now driven merely by a desire to crush those who had dared assault him and his family.

A group of soldiers followed him immediately, Annabel and I among them. More followed a bit later, snapped out of a confused stupor by their officers, but they wouldn’t get a chance to join the action later. As we were running down a corridor, we could hear Claudia shout after us, “Look up! He is going to be above you!”

“That’s Mistress for you”, remarked Annabel, “Such a detailed divination in so little time. It must have helped, though, that barely anyone knows the palace layout as well as she. He’s likely to be hiding on one of the large chandeliers. Not a bad ambush spot – if your enemy doesn’t know you’re there”.

The King and two of the guards were the first to reach the dining room. As instructed, the soldiers lifted their guns and opened fire at the chandeliers. A single bullet came as a response, hitting one of the attackers in the arm, and a familiar armored figure dropped from the ceiling. Chevalier discarded his gun and drew his sword, cutting down the uninjured soldier and charging at His Majesty. The monarch swung the Twice-Enchanted Blade, activating its magic. The elongated blade of pure light hummed through the air, but the Chevalier dodged, evading most of the damage. Even the glancing blow was enough to cut through his thick chest armor and make a deep cut in his chest.

The injury didn’t seem to slow the knight down much, and he began a relentless assault. The King was beyond his prime and was overpowered in seconds, stumbling and falling to the ground. I was closing in on the room at this point and finally had a clear shot at the Chevalier. Before he could strike a coup de grâce, I shot at him several times, one of the bullets penetrating the armor on his left arm and wounding him. He retreated once again, and Annabel and I sprinted after him, not willing to let him get away now that we had him on the ropes. Other soldiers stayed behind to check up on the King and their wounded comrades.

Following a clear trail of blood, we went into the maze of palace corridors.