For his mate

"Edward!" Adelia screamed and attempted to lurch forward.

The Knight's agonized bellow cut across the eerily empty street, his knees buckled from the searing pain and he nearly fell but he managed to hold himself.

Barely keeping himself on his feet, with gritted teeth, he whirled on the assassin behind him and cut through. A ghastly wound made its way from the top of the assailant's shoulder, all the way down to his abdomen.

The man stumbled, his sword slipped out of his grip and as his eyes lost their light, he fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Another one was dead.

Adelia gulped and her feet stood rooted to the ground in sheer terror. Her stomach was churning rapidly, she felt like the tea she had taken earlier was about to leave her stomach but she forced herself to look.

Edward was doing just fine, he was keeping them at bay just fine, but now that he was injured…

The Knight managed to parry another sword strike, his arms barely holding up. The wound on his back was excruciating. For the moment, the only thing keeping him on his feet was his sheer willpower.

But that did not determine how much longer his physical strength was going to last. His movements were slowing, his arms had become heavier than they were supposed to be and his legs were begging to give way.

He was losing blood, too much blood.

Adelia watched, panicked. If things continued like this, Edward was going to die.

'No!' She screamed inwardly. She would never let it happen, her Knight was going to die over her dead body.

She had to do something… something!

But she could barely even move, her limbs had become unusually heavy. Her Knight was giving his life for her and she couldn't do a single thing in return!

All her life, Adelia had never felt so… useless.

"Run, my lady!" Edward bellowed, snapping her back to her senses. She looked up at him with moistened eyes.

She would have to run, but it would be so cowardly, not to mention that her legs refused to move. Run, she couldn't even bring herself to do just that.

Adelia gnawed at her lower lip in frustration; she hated this, she hated how terrified she was, how utterly helpless…

She took another deep breath to steady herself and cast a spell but her hand shook so much, she couldn't aim properly.

She didn't want to hit Edward by mistake. It would be disastrous.

Two of the assassin's were now pushing the knight into a corner but he continued to fight, and another two lay dead on the floor.

'What…?' Adelia asked uncertainly as she swallowed. Hard. Where… where were the other two?

Her question didn't remain unanswered for long. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted one of them sprinting towards her at the same speed she had seen earlier.

Her eyes widened.

He lowered his center of gravity, ready to strike up at her. The blade of his dagger was dangerously close, almost too close.

Adelia's body tensed, both in fear and surprise and if her eyes could widen even more, they did.

Her hands moved instinctively, with speed she didn't even know she possessed.

She lifted the ceramic jar in her grasp and forcefully smashed it onto her attacker's head with all her strength, shattering it and sending shards flying.

Adelia staggered back, her breath coming out in heavy gasps, her body trembling intensely as she watched the assassin crumple to the ground.

Her eyes remained wide; she stumbled as she stared at the crumpled heap that was the assassin and her body began to shake more violently.

Was he dead? Had she killed him?

But before she could fully process what she had done, another one of them appeared in front of her, his blade raised menacingly, eyes glinting with malice.

Before she could register the situation enough to react or even let out a scream, she was jerked back violently. Air seemed to vanish from her lungs and the world around her momentarily blurred.

Only a second later, she had managed to regain ground and herself, breathing heavily, she now faced a towering man with his back to her.

His thick mane of black hair flowed down to his waist, and thick blood dripped from his right hand.

Finally, finally, Adelia's legs gave out and she fell to the ground, still shaking. She looked up at the stranger with a mixture of relief, fear and curiosity.

Who was he?

He had taken the blade for her? Why?

"Don't move." She heard him say quietly, and the voice was awfully familiar, so familiar but her mind wasn't in a right enough state to recognize it at the moment.

Adelia merely gulped and nodded in spite of herself, not like he could see her. But she could barely process anything at the moment.

But it was like he had seen her, or felt her even, because immediately she gave her response, he moved with a speed that dwarfed the one of the assassins.

He picked up a stray blade and began to cut what was left of their attackers down. He was a blur and the sword in his hand moved brutally, quickly; slicing, stabbing and beheading.

Her stomach began to churn again as she watched him and as the strange man cut his blade across the last of their necks, the assassin's head fell to the floor with a sickening thump and rolled a few paces before it came to a stop.

Adelia had finally had enough of the bloodshed and she quickly turned her face away to empty her stomach violently, her body quivering all over.

She wiped at her mouth with a trembling hand and turned to scan the gruesome scene, her gaze finding her Knight among the litter of bodies.

For a moment, she couldn't process what she was seeing. "No…" she mumbled in disbelief and like the heavens sensed her sadness, a flash of lightning cut across the sky and it began to pour.

"Edward!"

****

Azel had run like a mad man.

His initial reluctance was completely forgotten as he found his way around the visibly empty street, following his mate's terrified scent to its source.

His mate…

She was in danger and it was instinct to find her, to protect her. His entire body had jolted violently at the smell of her fear, of blood. If anything were to happen to her…

'Fool!' He berated himself as he ran. 'Look what your cowardice has caused.'

He darted past alleyways and decrepit shops, and he arrived at the scene just in time to see the delicate looking… girl, smash a ceramic jar into one of the attacker's heads.

Azel's lips slightly twitched, despite the grave situation, he marveled. 'Oh?'

But he didn't have much time to dwell on her actions, because almost instantly, another one of those murderers materialized in front of her with his blade raised.

Azel moved instinctively; luckily he was quick enough to pull her back and out of the attacker's range, but he had taken the edge of the blade to his left arm, what was supposed to be her injury.

*~*~*~*~*~*

The nasty gash still oozed blood as he threw down the sword he had picked earlier, he stared at the wound in a daze and his brow furrowed.

'Poison.' He thought, deeping his fingers into the lengthy cut and lifting it up to examine the blood. 'And it works fast.'

But this was hardly something to be worried about; he would heal, just like he always did, but before that…

Suddenly, rain began to pour and he looked up at the sky in mild exasperation as his eyes squinted.

"Of all the times…" he mumbled with a wry smile.

A panicked cry echoed across the sound of the pouring rain and Azel quickly whipped his head around to determine its source, only to find the petite noble lady struggling to her feet.

He dashed to her side quickly and just as she was about to stagger, he caught her.

Her body tensed at first but it soon relaxed, yet her eyes trailed the litter of bodies before her.

"My… my Knight," she stuttered, almost to tears. "Please… please, I need to get to him, he's… he's…"

She was shaking so much in his grasp and her skin looked paler than it was supposed to be. He furrowed his brows in concern, the rain didn't seem to make things any better.

"First we need to find shade," he told her calmly. "When we do, then we can come back for your Knight."

From where Azel stood, he couldn't tell if the Knight was still breathing or not, but it didn't matter, the only one he cared about was her.

"What?!" She exclaimed suddenly and managed to tear her gaze away from the sprawl of dead bodies to look up at him. "How could you say such—"

Adelia froze and Azel rose a brow, then her eyes widened despite the rain. "...You!"