Raided

Footsteps and unobtrusive chatter from the behind the walls caused the lady to awake from her beauty sleep. It was still dark, way too dark that she could hardly see the outlines of the room. She stretched her arms with a grunt then sat up from where she laid. The room was gloomy, but lights can be seen from the little gap beneath the door. Curious, she made her way to the door barefoot. The footsteps from outside were muffled and the whispers can be barely heard. There were a dozen men outside judging from the footsteps. She slightly opened the door to take a peek. The lobby was illuminated like earlier. From her view, the counter can be seen, but the barkeep wasn't present, so was the source of the noise. She yawned silently, drowsiness still getting the best of her. A sudden thump from the unseen farside of the lobby shook her sleepiness in seconds as it was followed by a voice.

"Since you put it that way, we'll just have to kill everyone in this inn since you won't help us."

It seemed that the man who spoke didn't get a reply from the one he threatened.

"Fine, you leave us no choice."

The same voice issued an order to kill everyone in the building. Well aware of the current situation, the lady swiftly locked the door and readied herself for an escape.

….

There were loud noises outside, the cries of men and women to the sounds of the ruthless cuts made by blades. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, the lady had already tied her boots, along with her coat wrapped around her shoulders. A sudden bump made her face the door's direction, some of the men were already at her doorstep banging the door with the handle of their weapons. She looked at the window where the weakest moonlight entered, mercenaries were already patroling around the tavern, eliminating the ones who escaped through their windows. "Shit." she mumbled, the door was kicked down.

~

Two men rushed inside the room, their weapons already drawn. The room they entered was much wider than the others, more blindspots within the darkness, it gave off an eerie vibe. They marched slowly pushing deeper inside the room, hoping to find their target. Then from the shadows behind them, a figure stepped in, slicing the throat of the first one then nimbly pulling his knife from the chest sheathe and threw it aimed for the second one's head. In just a flash, both men fell to the ground lifeless, given swift and painless death.

~

"Witch hunters from the capital city, paid to hunt a human target. Hmph, Typical."

After giving the short inspection to the bodies, the lady walked to the door and peeked outside. The lobby was caught a blaze, the men must've loosened one of the lanterns. The other rooms were being scoured by witch hunters and mercenaries alike, the hallway was clear for an escape. Through the embers of the fiery building she ran towards the lobby. There were corpses that laid scattered across the lobby, waiting to be consumed by the spreading fire, it was a disturbing sight. Some of the mercs were still fighting with other armed customers on the other end of the lobby.

"Hey you!"

A voice caught the lady's attention. She looked at the stairs behind the counter where the voice came from, it was the innkeep from earlier with blood all over his vest. Unlike before, he seemed more eager than formal.

"Come quickly! We can escape through the back window!"

With no hesitation, she followed.

On the second floor, there were no signs of fighting, but there were bodies of mercs on the stairways, probably killed by the innkeep. Both trod quietly through the hallways.

The lady looked at the innkeeper's bloodied vest, "You're wounded." she said, breaking the silence between them.

"The blood isn't mine." He replied.

They stopped at the farthest doorstep on the gloomy hallway, he knocked.

"It's me, open up." The door slightly opened a second after, unable to open further, bounded by the door's chain lock.

"Ah shit." the man from the other side hissed in slight annoyance. He closed the door once more to unlock it.

Inside, there were a few survivors already desperately trying to escape through the back window. The lady sat at the bed looking back at the two men that stood by the door, the one who unlocked the door was the bard from earlier, they seem to know each other for a while.

"Only one?" the bard asked.

"Yeah, I was too late. At least she's better than nothing." the innkeeper replied, locking the door. "…way better than nothing." he added.

"Right. We should barricade the door."

"This'll be enough." the keeper positioned himself beside the huge cabinet at the corner just to the left of the door. "…a little help? This thing's quite heavy."

Both men slammed the cabinet towards the door, barricading the it from the other side.

"Now, we wait for our turn."

~

After searching each hallway in the first level, both parties regrouped at the fiery lobby.

"Did you find her?" The bruiser asked.

"No luck." the witch slayer answered.

"Tch. Come men we shall join the the fight upstairs!"

Just when other witch hunters were about to follow, their commanding officer, the witch slayer stopped them.

"Leave the brute. We can't afford anymore unnecessary deaths in this fiery tavern. The Crown Killer must've already escaped if we still haven't found her."

The mercenaries pushed on as the rest of the witch hunters took their leave.

The bruiser had hopes that his skilled fighters who went ahead had already caught the The Crown Killer, but to his surprise he found the stairways bathed in their blood.

"We better hurry up if we don't want to burn alive."

~

Standing behind her, both men watched the lady as she steps outside through the small window. When it's finally their turn to come out to the ledge outside, "They're here!" the harrowing voice from below rang through their ears, they've been compromised. A pause occurred, the two looked at each other before deciding what to do next.

"Run!" the keeper shouted as they jumped down from the roof to the grass below. Panicked, the staff and patrons ran towards the rainforest ahead, begging to live another day.