His hand shot out, fist aimed for my chest, but I dodged away from it, feeling my body move more quickly now that I’d fed some of those [Attribute Points] into the System. I stumbled as my foot came down faster than I’d expected, and his follow-up attack met the right side of my body, the pommel of his sword thudding against the leather of my jerkin.
The thick material vibrated with the hit, and I felt pain spread across my chest.
“That’s going to leave a bruise,” I chided the man. Then I moved again.
This time my dagger flicked out, jabbing right for his face.
He moved to counter—his sword waving up through the air but I pivoted at the last second, counting on my increased [Dexterity] and my skill with [Short Blades] to make the difference between my speed and his. Luckily I had made a safe bet, and my dagger shifted in the air, passing beneath his sword as he tried to meet me.
His eyes widened in shock a moment before the blade punctured the side of his throat.
A gasp erupted from one of the other guardsmen, and I ripped the dagger free, blood dripping down the slender blade as I met the eyes of the next man, his comrade in arms falling to the cobblestones before me.
“Come on, boys, I thought you wanted to play?” I flashed them my best smile as Will stepped past me, his hand clashing with the sword hand of one of the other guardsmen. I didn’t get to spare much attention for his plight, though, as one of the other men rushed forward, a sneer on his face.
I tucked to the right as he brought his sword arm down, the blade singing through the air a hand’s length from my shoulder. His movement brought him forward, stumbling across the cobblestones in front of me, and I used the moment to my advantage, kicking out a foot and catching him at the ankle.
He went down hard, iron clanging against the stones as he let go of his sword to brace his fall, open palms smacking into the street. I pressed a boot down onto his back, forcing him down against the street with a soft thud. It wouldn’t take much for him to get back up, but for the moment he was down.
Next to me, Will slammed a fist into another man’s face, blood and teeth flying through the air from the impact. He grabbed the man by the shoulders and near the waist and then picked him up like he was a small child. He tossed him toward two of the others, their bodies all crashing together into a heap as they hit the ground.
The third man to come at me didn’t wait for me to finish his friend off. Instead, he rushed forward, throwing something large and round out at me as he moved.
I dodged the projectile—which was moving far too fast for me to make out what it was—and brought up my dagger to meet his iron blade. A new symphony of battle filled the evening air as we clashed.
He was faster than the other two had been, his attacks forcing me backwards, away from where Will stood taking on one of the others. I backpedaled as he shoved his shoulder forward, sword coming up from below.
I shoved myself sideways, out of the way, and then put some more space between us with a backward leap. I came down a little too hard on my ankle and felt a stab of pain—a remnant of the sprain I’d picked up chasing Ophelia a few days ago.
I tried not to let it show as I brought my dagger up, the blade still gleaming red. Luckily it didn’t feel like I’d re-sprained it and the System hadn’t hit me with another [Debuff] warning. Even if I had, I didn’t have time to think about it right now.
My attacker moved forward, completely cutting me off from Will. The big man would just have to take care of himself. It was fitting, in a way, since he was the reason we’d ended up in this situation anyway. My eyes shot to the body of the shipmaster where Will had discarded him.
Bad move.
The guardsman’s sword came down hard, the blade biting into my jerkin near the shoulder. I expected pain, a flash of iron against bone. But the blade struck the jerkin like it had smacked against solid rock, and the blade vibrated as he pulled it back with a groan of his own.
I flashed him a smile even as confusion spread through me. The old woman had said something about the jerkin keeping me alive. I guess she had meant it.
I shoved his sword arm aside and jabbed at him with the point of the dagger. But he was still too fast. He brought his other hand up, knocking the blade away deftly, his fingers closing around my wrist.
He started to squeeze and pain flared up my arm.
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“Everyone has a weakness.” The words rushed out of his lips like a hiss. “All I have to do is find yours.”
His grip tightened and panic rushed to the forefront of my mind. My weakness wouldn't be hard to find.
He was larger than I was. And he was faster. The main strength I had was my size and speed. If he could keep up with me, then how in the hells was I supposed to take him down?
I scrambled through my mind for an idea—any thread of hope—and settled on a memory. One of the first I had of the System’s generous rewards.
[Swift Strike.]
The words echoed through my mind like a scream of relief in a vast cavern. Without any insistence from me, my empty hand rushed up, the fingers curling into a fist, my knuckles finding the space between his leather chest piece and his helmet.
His panting turned to choking as my fist made contact, and his grip on my wrist loosened enough for me to yank my dagger hand free. I took full advantage of the moment and jammed the blade into the slit in his helmet where his eyes stared out at me, the irises widening with fear even as the blade cut through the soft meat.
The guard’s body crumpled to the ground as Will finished off another, his big hands sandwiching the man’s face as he twisted at his neck. The only reason I hadn’t heard the bone crack was because the scream of another dying guard had drowned it out.
The two of us locked eyes and then lowered down to the second guard I’d taken on—the one I’d left laying on the cobblestones. He was starting to push himself up, finally having recovered from his fall.
His eyes locked on me and then his gaze danced around to the bodies of his fallen comrades around him. Eight bodies, not including the shipmasters. And I had only killed two of them and incapacitated one. Will had taken care of the other five. I looked at him with a newfound respect.
Being so willing to kill a city official like the shipmaster and take on these guards, all while relying on the assistance of someone you had never actually seen in a fight. It was either extremely brave or downright stupid. Maybe a mix of both.
“Please,” the guard’s voice trembled, his hands raising in front of his helmeted face. “I won’t say anything.”
“I agree,” Will said beside him, then he shoved his foot down onto his back, pushing the man back to the ground. “You want the honors?” He asked, flashing me a look.
I swallowed hard. I had just killed two men. But like the thugs before, they had been trying to kill me. It had been me or them. My survival had been on the line.
The arguments rushed through my mind. Thoughts about the end justifying the steps taken on the journey. How one soul was nothing compared to the entirety of a species which the [Hero] would destroy.
Excuses. Every reason I could think of for why I was justified in what I had done. But none of them truly mattered. I had killed tonight because I had chosen to. Nobody had forced me to draw my dagger. Or to go searching for Will in the first place.
I had made those choices myself. Just as I had to make this one myself.
I took a step forward, carefully rounding the body of the last guard I’d killed. I didn’t look down at his corpse, or any of the other corpses for that matter.
I knew if I did, that I might not be able to do what I needed to do next. And I needed to do it. If for no other reason than to prove to myself that I could.
The part of me that had spent thousands of years warring, bubbled up at the prospect of being so weak that I couldn’t look at my own kill. At the thought that maybe I should just let Will handle this last one… The other part of me—perhaps the part that remained of whoever this body had belonged to before the System had stuffed me into it—found the entire idea of murdering someone in cold blood revolting.
Bile threatened to push its way up my throat and I felt a sinking feeling in my gut. I forced the bile back down, refusing to give into that weaker side of who I was now.
I could kill.
I had to. I would do whatever it took to ensure I was ready when the [Hero] arrived. Even if that meant leaving another family without a father. Another wife without a husband.
Those thoughts came unbidden and they were almost my undoing. I stumbled to a stop before the man. Will’s eyes lighting on me, watching me. Waiting for me to falter.
Just like the [Hero] will. I argued with myself. If you cannot do what must be done, then you are not worthy of leading your people.
Why was I thinking these things? Just moments before this man had been trying to kill me.
He had wanted me dead. Finishing the job was the only way to secure my freedom. My safety. I couldn’t save my people if I was locked away in the dungeon or executed for murder.
That meant I couldn’t be caught.
I forced the thoughts away and nodded. “I’ll take care of him,” I managed a moment later, my steps bringing me right before him.
I leaned down, and fumbled with the helmet, pulling it off, revealing thick, black curly hair beneath. I dug my fingers into the curls, twisting into them as I pulled the man’s head up so his eyes could meet mine.
It was only right that I should look into his eyes as he died. He deserved that much respect.
Fear. Unapologetic and undeniable fear stared back at me. His lips quivered, mumbling out a prayer I recognized. One of the many prayers to the Seven. Likely asking for salvation or guidance into the life that followed.
“May the Seven bless your next life.” The words were soft as they left my lips.
Then I dragged the edge of the dagger across his throat, blood erupting onto the cobblestones beneath him as I let his head slip from my fingers.
“That was messy business,” Will said, standing above me.
I forced my eyes away from the growing pool of blood at my feet and watched the big man for a long moment.
“Death is always messy,” I said, finally finding my words. I wiped my dagger clean on the body before me, pushing all the emotions that kept threatening to well up back down inside myself.
I stood and tucked the weapon back into my belt and let the System’s golden window wash over me, drowning out the warring feelings within.
Quest Complete: Shipmaster Woes You interrogated the Shipmaster and survived his ambush!
Rewards: 1000XP
Congratulations. You have reached Level 4.
+3 Attribute Points.
The worlds flashed, another box appearing beside them.
New Quest Detected: On the Run
Quest Objective: Don’t let the city guards catch you before your meeting with Aurelion and the others.
Accept?
“Seven hells,” I muttered, accepting the quest.
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