by K. J. Nessly
"And when she felt like there weren't any viable options, she came up with one of her own," Luke surmised.
Matt couldn't stop from grinning slightly. "She can protest all she wants. She loves us."
Chapter 37
As the first stars appeared in the night sky and the last of the sun's light disappeared from the land, the Dragons carefully crept toward the southern servant's entrance. David left his sword sheathed, but kept one hand on the hilt in case Tyler's suspicions had been right and Lea had betrayed them.
When the door opened, revealing a lone Lea standing in the shadows, David let out a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Silently the Dragons entered the castle.
"Lord Tanner is on the fifth floor," Lea whispered as she closed the door.
David nodded his thanks. "You might want to get out of sight," he advised. "If Lord Tanner's guards get jumpy they might just kill you and the other servants."
Lea's face paled. "Can I warn the others?"
"Only after our presence has become obvious to the guards," he ordered sternly. "Any sooner and you risk revealing our presence too soon."
While Lea clearly wasn't happy she agreed and disappeared down the corridor after pointing them in the correct direction.
David led the way as they made their way through the silent castle.
"Lea wasn't kidding about the smell," Natalie gagged. "What could possibly smell this bad?"
"You really want to know?" Tyler muttered in disbelief.
"Quiet," David growled. The cobbled floor was looking more worn and he suspected that the area they were entering was more commonly used. "Stay alert," he ordered quietly. He drew his sword and heard the quiet wisps that indicated that the others had followed his example.
They passed through the servant’s passages into one of the main corridors and the sudden brightness of the large number of torches along the wall temporarily blinded David. After a brief moment his eyes and mask readjusted for the brighter light and he glanced around. So far there was nothing to indicate that any living person, guard or servant, was anywhere in the vicinity.
David wondered if, that in staffing the castle with people loyal to him, Lord Tanner had been forced to reduce the number of servants and guards that would normally be found in a castle this size. It was one possible explanation for the lack of servants and guards in such a well-used hallway, but so was the time of the night. He put the thought out of his mind. Guardians were trained to expect worst case scenarios so that's what he mentally prepared himself for.
While crossing the first floor the Guardians leapfrogged in teams of two or three from one niche or alcove to another rather than marching directly in formation. The overly cautious movement mimicked those of assassins rather than an assault force. After the rescue of Princess Roseanna, Kathryn had begun to work in siege exercises and ambush scenarios into her training sessions. It had been the family’s first introduction to the concept of hidden movement and Kathryn had taken to drilling the basics of the methods and techniques as an integral part of their training. Fortunately, after three months, the basics were second nature to them. They reached the first set of stairs.
Wide and straight they were made out of a blue veined stone with a bright purple carpet running down the middle. "We go in pairs up each side." David nodded for Luke and Natalie to take one side and motioned for Amy to join him. He'd known going in that keeping Amy from the forefront of the fighting was going to be impossible so he might as well keep her at his side. He signaled the remaining Guardians to wait and blend into the shadows.
Taking each step one at a time, and keeping his back to the railing while keeping Luke and Natalie directly opposite him and Amy, David cautiously made his way up the stairs. It wasn't a long staircase, but the slow speed that David led them up made them seem infinitely long.
Warily, David eased his head above the last stair. Still no guards or servants. Looking back to where the rest of the Dragons waited he motioned them forward. He waited until they were all on the landing before proceeding again. As much as he hated to keep them grouped together, he felt that it would be safer in the long run...at least until they ran into trouble. Both the wind and Daniel's gift would alert him if they were walking into an ambush or a patrol.
The second floor proceeded much like the first. They were halfway to the second staircase when David felt a sudden touch on his arm. At the same time he felt the breeze warn him about an approaching servant. Glancing back he nodded at Daniel who released his hand from David's elbow. Silently David waved his hand, motioning the Dragons to find cover. Luke, Cassandra, Elizabeth, Tyler, Rachel, and Leia were on the other side of the corridor and he watched as they melted into the shadows of the door frames.
David pressed his own back against the frame of one such door and waited. Footsteps sounded in the hallway and for a moment his heartbeat quickened. He forced himself to relax as his ears recognized the sound of a single pair of light footsteps. Most likely a female servant, he reasoned. He relaxed even further as the footsteps began to fade. Slowly he eased out of the shadows and began to proceed forward again. The others noiselessly followed his lead.
They met the first real resistance on the third floor. As David and Amy were waiting for the rest of the Dragons to finish climbing the stairs an eddy in the air gave David a brief warning.
"Patrol!" he hissed, barely making it behind an ornate statue before he heard the sounds of feet walking in unison. The unity surprised him. Most people who had fought Guardians before were criminals with no discipline. Perhaps Lord Tanner had taken it upon himself to instill order in those under his command.
"What do we do?" Amy whispered from her position on the stairs. Behind her the rest of the group had fallen into crouched positions that still enabled them to move quickly if needed.
David thought hard and fast. They were already halfway to Kathryn's room and while he wished that he could have made it to the fourth floor before running into trouble, he knew that they had been extremely fortunate to have come as far as they had without running into a patrol. He felt his grip tighten on the hilt of his sword and forced himself to relax. He smiled at Amy. "I think it is time we announced ourselves."
Her eyes widened in surprise but after a moment she grinned at him. "We'll wait for your signal."
"What signal?" Luke whispered as the sound of the patrol grew louder. He had taken up the same position as David, using a large statue for cover.
"Don't worry," David assured him. "You won't be able to miss it."
Closing his eyes, David listened intently. The patrol was close enough that he could make out the sounds of the guards voices.
Closer, he urged them.
The voices grew louder still.
Come on, he encouraged them in his mind, just a little closer.
Stretching out with his senses, he listened to the breeze as it relayed the patrol's progress to him. He waited until they were within a few meters of the stairs. If they got too close they would see the rest of the Dragons crouched on the steps and then surprise would be lost.
"She's sure a pretty thing don't you think, Jorg?" One of the guards was saying.
Releasing his breath, David stepped around the statue and into the light. In one smooth motion he crossed to the nearest guard and swung his sword. In his periphery he could see Luke, mere seconds behind him, doing the same thing.
The first two guards never recognized the danger. The second two were caught off guard by Natalie and Amy as the two girls leapt up from the stairs and came at them, knives whirling. The last two guards were fortunate enough to have been a meter or two back from their companions and watched in horror as their patrol was cut down in a moment of time.
David cursed as they drew their swords, raising the alarm at the same time. He and Luke quickly cut off their shouts but the damage had been done. David could hear the sounds of doors opening and the pounding of feet.
Quiet the castle may have been, but now on
high alert the noise was approaching that of a rathskeller on a holiday weekend. The rest of the Dragons had made it to the landing. "What now?" Daniel asked, elevating his voice to be heard over the sound or rushing feet.
David had already made up his mind. "Luke, Jenna, you're with me. We're going to find Kathryn. The rest of you keep the guards busy."
He could tell that Amy wanted to protest but he didn't give her the option. With Luke and Jenna behind him he moved quickly along the length of the hall. When the breeze warned him that a large wave of guards was approaching he opened the nearest door and stepped inside.
Tyler took command as soon as David, Luke, and Jenna left. He split the group in two. "Matt, Cass, Leia, Amy, and Natalie I want you to flank us," he nodded to the rest of the Dragons. "I'm certain that Lord Tanner will have stationed guards on every floor so we can expect resistance from both directions."
The groups divided up as directed and prepared themselves for a two front assault.
They didn't have long to wait.
Lord Tanner may have been a lot of things, but sloppy in his security wasn't one of them. A wave of twenty or so guards appeared at the end of the corridor and stopped short.
So we still have the element of surprise, Tyler thought grimly. At least that's something. "Release!"
At his command Daniel, Rachel, Lindsey, and Elizabeth released the arrows that they had drawn. Behind him, he could hear Amy order the others in her group to release their own arrows.
So it begins, Tyler thought as he signaled for another wave of arrows to be released. Time to show these people what happens when you mess with a Guardian family.
The knights’ advance faltered at the sudden barrage of arrows that came at them. But they didn't stop. Quickly regrouping, they doggedly made their way down the corridor using their shields to protect themselves from the arrows. Tyler commanded loudly, “Legs!”— and within seconds the Dragon’s arrows began tearing into calves, knees, and feet. The throng quickly realized their vulnerability and crouched while advancing so that their bucklers and shields covered their entire body. Tyler finally called a halt to the arrow barrage and brandished his sword. He sensed Daniel come up behind him to stand at his shoulder.
Seeing that the bows had been put away, the knights charged.
Tyler and Daniel raced forward to meet them, putting as much distance between them and the girls as possible. In such close quarters Tyler and Daniel could rely on brute strength to overcome the knights but Rachel, Lindsey, and Elizabeth, as women, would need to rely on agility and speed. By spreading out as far as possible, the two boys gave them the room they would need to deal with the knights in their own way.
Dropping his knees and center of balance at the last second, Tyler rammed his shoulder into the first knight's stomach. They collided with a bone jarring smack. Tyler heard a loud whoosh as all the air left the knight's lungs. The Guardian didn't waste another second. Bringing up his free hand he thrust the dagger he had pulled from his belt up under the knight's armor and into his chest. With a grunt that knight fell to the ground, completely out of the fight.
A second knight was in the process of bringing his sword down in a devastating chop. Shifting all of his weight to his left foot, Tyler sprang forward and upward, catching the knight's blow on his sword before it had reached its apex, lessening the power behind it. Shifting to the right, Tyler used his dagger to force the knight's right arm into his own body. In a sweeping motion he switched the positions of both hands and brought the dagger up under the knight's helmet, severing his throat. Turning he braced himself and allowed his training to take over as the small army of knights overwhelmed the Dragons.
Let your anger inspire you, but don't let it control you. Kathryn's advice was in the forefront of Amy's mind as she faced the first knight to make it up the stairs. He glared down at her as he raised his sword. She let a seductive smile break across her face.
Utter confusion crossed his face and his strike faltered long enough for Amy to dart forward and draw her dagger across his throat.
Smiling at your enemy, especially as a woman, can confuse them. Kathryn had encouraged Amy, and later Jenna and the rest of the girls, to use their femininity to confuse and distract their opponents. Amy smiled grimly as the next knight appeared in her line of vision. Men's minds tended to go blank when a beautiful woman smiled suggestively at them. Of course it was something taught at Guardian school, but Kathryn had encouraged Amy to take the practice to a whole new level. You can't just smile at them, she had told Amy once. You have to look like you mean it. Most men can tell when you're forcing yourself to look like that. You have to make sure that they're stopped in their tracks otherwise you'll be taken off guard when your ploy doesn't work. It doesn’t matter if you’re masked or not. They can see your eyes and they can see your mouth, their minds will imagine the rest.
The second knight didn't even make it to the top of the landing before Matt leapt forward and engaged him. Amy turned her attention to where Tyler and his group were facing a horde of knights and were threatening to be overwhelmed. Taking a deep breath she concentrated her focus on where the line of Dragons stopped.
Before she could do anything, however, Destiny swooped over her head and barreled into the neck of one of the knights attacking Daniel. The knight's helmet went flying and the man dropped like a rock to the floor, his sword clattering lamely from his grip-less hand. Soaring upward into the gallery, Destiny let out a victorious call before diving down into the fray again. Another helmet went flying and crashed against the wall as a second knight succumbed to the bird's fury.
David waited until he heard the rest of the Dragons engage the first wave of knights before leaving the room and hurrying to the end of the corridor. They didn't get far. A second battalion of knights appeared in the hallway, halted for a brief second before brandishing their swords, and charged.
Irritated at the possibility of a delay, David tapped deep into his power and gathered a large orb of compressed air in his left hand. Everything in order tries to sink into chaos, his mentor's words echoed in his mind. With a grunt, he threw his hand forward and released the energy. The tapestries on the walls were torn from their hangings as David's self-created wind vortex flung itself down the hall in an attempt to release the pressure and order David had created while keeping it captive in his hand.
The knights either suspected something, or the whirling tapestries gave them enough warning, that they dropped to their knees and braced their shields before them. The wind hit them like a heard of stampeding horses, knocking several knights flat on their backs. Unfortunately it only served to slow them down and make them angry.
“Blast them!” David cursed as he readied his sword and moved forward. The knights had recovered from his attack and raced toward him. The Guardian met the first knight's strike with a sweeping block that allowed him to completely bypass the startled knight. Leaving the knight alone, David focused instead on the second knight, knowing that Luke would handle the one he had ignored. The second knight swung at David's ribcage, he blocked and returned with a strike at the man's knee, aiming for the joint in his armor. Leaping back, the knight avoided his blow and brought his own sword down for cleaving strike at David's collarbone.
Stupid, David thought as he swept the blow aside. Steel and bone doesn't mix and only damages your own sword. One of eighty drill rubrics from his basic training, he recalled. Its meaning was all too simple. Aim for flesh, not for bone. As he easily swept his opponent's sword to the side, he flicked his wrist in an upward circle and brought his own sword across his opponent's lower abdomen. He felt the sudden resistance that the man's chainmail and flesh presented to his blade, but he also felt the momentum that carried his sword all the way through. The knight dropped and David turned his attention to the next enemy that wished to challenge him.
There were plenty. Ten knights were arrayed around the three Guardians. David felt his eyes narrowing and his gut clenching. The number wasn't
a problem, but the time that they would need to dispatch them was frustrating. Not wasting another second, David attacked the knight closest to him. Methodically he and Luke worked their way from one end of the knights to the middle while Jenna used her bow to shoot at the gaps in the knights’ armor and helmets. Three of the knights dropped before either Luke or David could reach them, blood running out of their eyes from the arrow that had made it through the eye slits.
As Luke dealt with the last knight, David was already sprinting up the spiral staircase that led to the fourth floor. Most stairwells in a castle turret rotated to the right making the defenders more effective since most men are right handed. A right-handed attacker moving upwards would be forced to expose more of his body to wield his sword than the defenders would. Trained as a Guardian, David was just as proficient with his left hand as his right. Switching his sword to his left hand he ascended quickly. After only a few strides up the stairs he ran into another contingent of guards.
These guards were well armed and trained compared to the earlier knights. These were the guards who clearly had experience in dealing with Guardians. And they had learned those lessons well, David had to admit that. But he was more stubborn and wiser than he had been a few months ago and unlike that first patrol almost a year ago where he had been surprised when the bandits hadn't fought like bandits, David was prepared for the techniques the guards used. He once again took the brunt of the attack, leaving Luke to deal with anyone, or weapon, that managed to get past him. Jenna maintained a rear guard and protected their backs with her knives and bow.
As to the knights, they had been warned to expect swordsmen whose skills appeared almost unnatural coupled together with the speed and agility that made the guardians famous. The women, they were warned, were faster and more agile than a cat, and the men strong as a battle horse. Their own previous experience with Guardians had seemingly made this warning unnecessary. However the knights had previously fought Guardians who were on the verge of retiring, not fresh, young warriors whose attacks were fueled by an ice-cold determination to rescue their friend.