The Archmage Unbound (24 page)

The man closest to her, Samuel was his
name, answered first, “I don’t think that’s what Sir Dorian had in mind when he
left.” He might have said more but a dagger appeared, lodged in his left eye.
It happened so suddenly almost no one reacted for the first few seconds, aside
from Penelope.

Penny no longer had the superior speed
and strength she had possessed while she had been Mordecai’s Anath’Meridum, but
she had been trained by one of the most skilled warriors in all of Lothion, and
she had already known a good deal of what would happen. As the first dagger
flew toward Samuel’s head she was already drawing a long bladed knife from her skirt
and though she was too far to save him she managed to bat a second blade from
the air before it reached one of her other guards.

The room grew still for a moment as
Samuel slowly collapsed to the floor, twitching as he died. The other guard,
Cole, had just begun to register the fact that a similar blade had almost
reached him as well. The strange woman looked at Penny appraisingly, “Not bad,
I see Cyhan did a good job with you.”

The other woman’s patronizing tone got
under Penny’s skin immediately and she wanted nothing more than to teach her a
lesson, but she kept her wits about her. “This is a mistake. No one else
needs to die if you’ll just let me explain,” she said.

The dark haired woman drew two long
knives, each with a blade almost eighteen inches in length and advanced. “I’m
afraid the time for talking is over sweetheart,” she replied.

To their credit the two guards that
remained never wavered in their resolve. Cole drew his sword as the woman
stepped forward, as did the man beside him, but they never stood a chance.
Their opponent feinted toward Penny and Cole took the bait, lunging sideways to
protect his ward and the woman cut his throat wide as she swept back in the
other direction. Ducking a swing from the second guard she moved in closely
and slashed at his midsection.

That move was purely a distraction
however, his breastplate made it impossible for her blade to hurt him there,
but he flinched and drew back reflexively… or at least he attempted to do so,
but she had pinned his left foot under her own. With a small push she sent him
falling backward and followed him downward, using his weight to start a
tumbling roll. Penny had stepped over Cole and her own blade narrowly missed
the woman’s back as she rolled away.

The stranger came up and into a crouch
several feet away, but the man she had tripped didn’t rise. One of the two
long knives was lodged under his chin and a pool of blood was already spreading
underneath him. Penny stared at him in shock, she hadn’t seen the attack that
killed him, or even expected it. All three of her guards were now dead and she
assumed that the one outside the room was gone as well. The fight was
effectively over, unless she intended to take the intruder on singlehandedly.

Given her condition that seemed
foolish. The woman before her was more deadly than anyone she had ever seen,
except perhaps Cyhan. Without the extra speed and strength she had had as
Mort’s Anath’Meridum there was no way she could hope to overcome her. That
didn’t mean she was ready to surrender however.
What is it that Mort’s
always saying? Stupid never dies. I guess that describes me as well,
she
thought to herself.
If there’s no way to overpower her directly perhaps I
can make her underestimate me.

Penelope began edging sideways around the
room, backing further from the woman as she moved, until she had reached the
place she started. Cole’s now still form lay on the ground behind her, but
before she could begin her opponent spoke. “I’m not here to kill you,” the
other woman said.

Penny knew this already but she feigned
ignorance. “Who are you?” she asked.

The woman laughed, “Ruth is my name. If
you put the dagger down I won’t hurt you.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then I might put my knee right in the
middle of that big belly of yours,” Ruth replied with an evil sneer. “You
wouldn’t want to endanger the baby would you?” she said with mock sympathy.

Penny decided to risk some of her
information on a bluff, “The king would be very displeased if something
happened to me or my child.”

Ruth stepped forward without bothering
to reply. As she did Penny stepped sideways but her foot came down awkwardly
on Cole’s body, causing her to trip. Ruth lunged thinking Penny vulnerable but
her eyes widened in surprise when Penny sank gracefully to one knee instead,
bringing her dagger up and in-line with Ruth’s mid-section. Twisting like a
cat she narrowly avoided being gutted and the sharp edge slid over the outside
of her ribs, ripping a deep cut through her leathers and scoring deeply into
the skin beneath. The motion threw her completely off balance and she fell
awkwardly beside the pregnant woman.

Penny cursed as her thrust failed to
eviscerate Ruth but she followed through, trying to make the most of her opportunity.
As Ruth fell Penny leaned to her left and drove her left elbow into her
attacker’s side. If she had been more limber she could have tried for a better
target but her belly was hampering her movements. She felt as much as heard
the grunt of pain that escaped her attacker’s lips as the blow connected.
Bringing her right hand around she wasted no time, trying to catch Ruth with
her blade before she could recover.

Ruth was moving already though, she
rolled to the side before Penny could connect with the dagger and lashing out
with her leg she caught her solidly in the side of the head. Penny was thrown
sideways by the blow, crashing into the wooden doorframe between the two
rooms. Struggling to clear her vision Penny tried to get up, when a second
blow she failed to see knocked her down again.

A moment later she was caught. Ruth’s
long legs were wrapped around her waist and one arm was around her neck. With
crushing pressure Penny felt Ruth’s forearm cutting into her neck, choking off
her air supply and making her head feel as though it were about to explode.
“You’re going to pay for that cut bitch,” came Ruth’s voice next to her ear.
“You’ve got me so worked up I might just choke you to death.”

Penny wanted to reply, but she couldn’t,
the pressure on her throat was too great. She was unable to even croak and she
knew her face must be blood red… the world was starting to go dark.

Then the bedroom door flew open and
Miriam entered the fray. The older woman had been searching the bedroom for weapons
and not finding any had finally settle upon the only workable item in the room,
a slender wooden chair that had been used with the writing desk. Swinging the
chair wildly at Ruth’s back she charged. “Get your hands off my daughter!” Unfortunately
her approach was far from stealthy.

The pressure on Penny’s throat abruptly
vanished as Ruth released her and leapt aside. Miriam struggled to stop her
swing before she hit Penny but only partially succeeded and Penny felt fresh
pain as the heavy wood struck her legs. Ruth was smiling now, with a new blade
in hand as she approached Miriam, like a cat that has found a new mouse to play
with. “I don’t really have to keep both of you alive.”

Penny felt fresh horror sweep over her
as Ruth prepared to attack Miriam.
No! This isn’t what’s supposed to
happen!
She thought to herself while her body stubbornly refused to listen
to her commands. She couldn’t get up, and there was no way she could reach
Miriam in time to save her.

Dorian was troubled by a nagging doubt
as he walked. Something about the guard that had come to summon him bothered
him, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He was halfway to the duke’s family
suites before it came to him.

He hadn’t recognized the guard… at all.
Having been raised in Lancaster, as well as trained there amongst its guards,
he should have known him. At the very least the man’s face should have been
familiar. There was always the possibility that he was new to the duke’s
service, but unlike Washbrook, Lancaster hadn’t had a large influx of new
settlers, so the chances of that were small.

I’d better go back,
he thought, and turning he began to walk back the way he had
come. The further he went the more urgent it felt and before he had gone twenty
feet he was running.
Keep your visor down,
she had said.
Damnitt
Penny! You knew!
A minute later and he was rounding the corner of the
hallway their room was on, and as soon as he saw the men in the hallway his
fears were confirmed. There was no reason for four strange guards to be
standing outside her room.

Despite his conversation with Mordecai
previously Dorian still didn’t have an enchanted great sword yet, and for once
he was glad of it, the hallway would have been an awkward place to use such a
large weapon. Roaring he drew his long sword and dagger, charging down the
corridor at the men he knew must be there for the women he was sworn to protect.

The guards started at his appearance and
drew their weapons. They bore only swords and truncheons, but many of them
wished for a shield when they saw Dorian bearing down upon them. Raising their
weapons they prepared to face him.

They might as well have laid down their
arms, for all the good their weapons did them. Dorian ignored their attacks
completely, trusting to his armor to protect him. Instead he focused his
attention on his own weapons and within a span of seconds four of his opponents
were down, dead or mortally wounded. Two others had entered Penny’s room, bolting
the door behind them. Apparently they weren’t ready to be part of the
massacre.

He reached the door in a panic, knowing
Penny and Miriam were inside, presumably unguarded now. Naturally the door
resisted his first attempt to open it. In frustration he struck the heavy oak
with his gauntleted fist, sending splinters and shards of wood flying. The
door shook in its frame as if a battering ram had been used upon it. Dorian
stepped back and threw himself, shoulder first against the wooden barrier. Impossibly
some of the wooden timbers snapped and the door nearly collapsed in on itself.
A blade shot forth through one of the gaps, attempting to wound him, but it
skittered harmlessly from his breastplate.

Raising his sword he began chopping away
the remaining wood, the enchanted steel cutting through the damaged wood as
easily as a knife through bread, within seconds he would be inside. He was so
focused on getting to Penny and Miriam that he failed to notice the balding man
fading into view ten feet down the hallway, nor did he pay any heed when the
man began speaking in a foreign tongue.

Through the gaps in the wood Dorian
could see dead bodies scattered across the floor. Blood was everywhere and
Penny was being carefully bound by a woman with dark hair. He thought he could
see a glimpse of Miriam on the floor to one side, lying utterly still. The two
men inside were busy piling furniture against the rapidly disintegrating door.

Still unnoticed the man in the hallway
gave Dorian a strange stare, for his words had had no noticeable effect upon
him. Biting his lip he tried something different and lightning streaked across
the distance between him and the armored warrior.

Dorian’s body convulsed momentarily as
electricity coursed over his armor. Despite being encased in metal armor he
still lived, for Mordecai’s enchantments somehow absorbed much of the strike. Still
twitching he looked over his shoulder, spotting the man who had tried to kill
him. Not daring to waste time he threw his dagger at the stranger, hoping to
distract the man while he finished cutting his way through the door.

Oddly enough the balding man never
wavered or ducked and he seemed strangely surprised when the blade lodged
solidly in his shoulder. Letting out a cry of pain and frustration he fell
backward, clutching at the wound. Dorian continued tearing a path through the
ruined furniture and debris that still blocked his path. The woman had
finished binding Penny and stood behind the two male warriors, berating them in
their attempts to keep him out of the room.

Not satisfied with how the situation was
resolving she searched about for a moment before finding a heavy table leg and…
as Dorian finally forced his way in, she struck. Her blow was not the more
usual swing, but rather a thrust, as one might use a spear. Normally such a
strike would carry enormous force, having the weight of the wielder’s body
behind a small point of impact. She struck so rapidly and with such force that
Dorian was unable to duck, being still entangled in broken furniture, and the
end of the table leg slammed into the face of his helm.

The blow would have killed him outright
if he had not had his visor down. Even protected as he was it still sent him
stumbling to fall backward over the broken wood behind him. The two fighters
with the woman wasted no time, and following her directions they each lifted
one of their captives and bore them quickly from the room.

Dorian struggled to rise but Ruth gave
him no room, she had leapt through the doorway and now circled him, using the
table leg as a cudgel. She struck madly, at his legs, arms, and head, making
sure he was unable to regain his balance. She was grinning and sweating as she
attacked him but even in her frenzy she was looking for vulnerabilities. Her
blows seemed to have little effect on the massive warrior, besides keeping him
from regaining his feet. His armor showed no signs of denting, or even being
scratched.