A Dragon's Bite - Part V

14th March

Old Settlement, Artemis, Freehold territory

Yohn and myself went to a warehouse, formerly used by the first twenty in the old days, where we were keeping Mr Jianmin as a prisoner. Once we were inside the warehouse, however, it became clear that things weren't quite as they seemed.

The lights turn off, and I hear a struggle next to me. The light from outside the warehouse is still coming in from windows along the roof, which is enough to make out shadows and the like, but not much else. I can see that there's two men just beside me. I can see the glint of knives, but one of the two looks limp, and I realize that he's already dead. I can't tell who, whether it's the assassin or my security guard, so I run away from whoever's still standing.

It's too dark to run to the sides, and try to hide behind the water containers. I don't know if there might be more of them hiding there. So instead, I run straight down the middle towards Yohn and the other security guard, yelling. I can hear the chilling, scraping noise of metal on metal ahead of me. Looking up, I can make out two silhouettes fighting with their blades. There's another one, maybe two, on the ground. At least one of them is still alive, moaning. I can tell that Yohn is still alive and fighting, I would recognise him anywhere, but I don't know about the rest. Who's my ally? Who's my enemy?

Yohn's opponent collapses, with Yohn's blade still stuck deep into his gut. Yohn staggers to the floor. I can't tell if he's injured, or just exhausted. The guards outside must've heard me yell, or the clang of blades, because they're banging on the doors. It seems like they can't get in. That means they've barred the doors somehow since we walked in. I made the right decision to run earlier then, I realise. That body by the door must belong to my security guard. There's at least one of them still out there. Yohn and the others don't look like they can move, so it's all up to me. I reach down to pick up the blade of one of my security guards. I notice the blades of the fallen assassins' are shorter and thicker than the one I just picked up. More like a shiv than a knife.

My head is pumping, making it hard to think. Calm down, I need to work it all through in my head. There's two assassins at my feet. Both dead or dying. These two attacked Yohn and the security guard with him. Only one attacked me and the security guard with him. Only one attacked me at the door. If there had been more than one there, I would be dead already. No, there could be more. Someone must've turned the lights off. The lights are located right by the door, so it's possible the one who attacked us by the door also turned the lights off. Did he come from the right direction? Was there enough of a delay for that to be possible? I don't know.

That means there's either one or two assassins left. I don't know much about wielding blades, I've never had to in my life. I'm screwed if there's two of them. Calm down. I just need to think this through, and I'll be able to work it out. There's a way. There's always a way when you're prepared to sacrifice anything and everything. Even then, if I push myself beyond my limits, a complete amateur like me can't beat two professionals. So, I have to hope there was only the three of them. If that's the case, I'm sure there's something I can do to beat him. To win. From my position in the middle of the warehouse, I'll either hear or see him coming for sure. If I remain calm. If I remain calm, I can win.

Even though I'm doing my best to remain calm, to focus, to control myself, I can barely stand. My legs feel the same as when you first step on land after being at sea. I can see my opponent. He's coming at me almost straight on. And why wouldn't he? He has no reason to believe I can beat him. But that also confirms there's only one of them left. There wouldn't be any reason for them to still be hiding in the shadows now. All they have to do is finish me off, which means I can still win.

The assassin comes to a stop just a few metres in front of me. He's holding his blade in his right hand. I move mine over to my right. The assassin cocks his head, as if asking what I'm up to. I'm shaking so badly that I can't even respond in any way. A few seconds pass in silence. The two of us just staring at each other. It isn't bright enough for me to make out his eyes, but I can roughly see the outline of his face. I think he's smiling.

All of a sudden, the assassin lunges at frightening speed. His blade is going to slice straight through my neck at a speed I could never hope to match even if I was twenty years younger. But I was expecting that. This time I smiled, as I raised my left arm up just in time to block the blade. The blade's sharp as expected, and the momentum carries it straight through my forearm, all the way to the hilt. And that puts the assassin exactly where I want him. With a roar of fury, I bring my knife down, and bury it into the assassin's neck. I don't mean to, but I look into the assassin's face as I do it. I don't know if I had been avoiding it on purpose, but I definitely didn't want to look. Now that I was close enough to look, the only thing I could see were eyes. His eyes, which were wide with terror. It felt as if everything slowed down, as if everything moved at a snail's pace. I could see even the individual red lines on his eyeballs. And then I pulled the knife out, and thrusted it down again. And again. And again. And again. Until my vision turned red.