Getting Cornered

"Try to follow my moves this time." James said as he lunged his sword forward. After performing several moves with his sword he turned around to look at the recruits. "Now it is up to you to do the same. It is important to know the center of balance of the sword. The sword should act as an extension of you and not just as a weapon."

At that command, all the recruits tried to follow his moves. However not everyone had the flexibility that James had. Therefore the majority failed to mimic the moves. Yet there were some that were able to make the same moves.

"Impressive. There are a few in you lot that is able to follow my moves. Now let us make it a bit more interesting." With those words, James started to showcase harder moves to the recruits. Turning around he watched the recruits try and perform the same moves.

Before the recruits were able to finish their turn, a voice interrupted the training, "Sir James. Someone is calling you at the gate. She said that her name was Loraine."

Upon hearing this, James turned around to look at the recruits and ordered them to train the previously showcased moves. With that he turned around and followed the servant to the gate.

Arriving at the gate, James saw that it was not only Loraine that was waiting for him, but Alice had accompanied her as well. They had both a worried look on their face. "What are you two doing here?" James asked with curiosity. However he did not expect that the two of them would react rather worried.

"Didn't you hear the news?" Loraine was the one that responded. "My family, they have tracked us down to the city and are now with a convoy searching the city. We have to either get away from here or at least hide until it calms down for a moment."

Hearing the news, James froze at his spot. He did not expect that they would be traced back this quick. Moreover, they brought a small army with them, which meant that they would be soon upon them. Especially now, as Loraine started to become more recognizable in the city. Understanding the situation James directly turned around to the servant and said that he would be leaving for an emergency. With that he exited the mansion floor and followed both Loraine and Alice.

They rushed to the house where Loraine and James stayed. However the road to that place took longer than normal as they had to avoid the patrols of the Bloom family. During their journey back, James froze as he recognized one of the knights that was looking around. It was the traitorous guy called Edgar. If he was here, it meant that he was planning on something dangerous.

Arriving at their house they quickly picked up several small items before making their way to the door. Alice decided to keep watch in the mean time.

Making their way outside, they had to be careful. The patrols were getting tighter every second that passed. Alice came up with a solution, "Follow me, I know a save way to my place. You can hide in there for a moment. I hope that by then this chaos has subsided."

Following her, they made their way through several alleyways that looked as if they were dead ends. In the end, they were at the backdoor to her place. Looking one more time around to make sure that the coast was clear, they entered the house quickly.

Not having even sat for a moment to take a breather, they could hear banning on the door. Alice was the one that went to the door. Shouts could be heard from downstairs.

"They are not here! I don't even know who they are!" Alice shouted to the knights that were outside of her door. "Now can you leave me be? I am tired from a day's work and want to rest." Alice started to make up stuff just to get the knights away from her place.

Yet this did not seem to work as the knights insisted on checking out the house. One of the knights even made a move to enter the room, just to be welcomed by a loud scream of Alice. Upon hearing that, the older knight stopped him, but did not take his eyes of Alice.

Compared to the other one, the older knight did not hide the fact that they knew that Loraine was together with Alice. Apparently someone of the patrols noticed that both Loraine and James were together with Alice. After inquiring some information about her, they found out where Alice lived. That is why they were now standing in front of her door.

Yet Alice kept on denying this. Hearing that, the knights turned around. It was clear they would soon return back with a larger number. Upon that, Alice would be powerless to hold them back.

At that point, the couple was cornered and had nowhere to go.

…