Rebirth: Star Witch Lilian

Chapter 25: run and hide

"C'mout c'mout whe'ever ye are little princess." I heard the assassin say as I saw him brandishing a knife from behind the bookshelf.

Honestly calling him an assassin seemed like a compliment. He seemed more like a slightly intelligent bandit. Though I suppose I should be grateful since that was the only reason I was able to stay hidden with Lyric.

Unfortunately this guy wasn't the only one to attack. I knew there had to be two or three others.

After the initial attack there was another explosion over the castle causing a part of the ceiling to come down cutting us off from each other.

I remember hearing the sound of a fight on the other side of a wall so at least one attacker was held up with the guards in the castle.

As for the others well a cloaked man was in front of Lyric and I after the dust debris cleared. He brought his staff up to strike us. We braced for an impact that never came as I opened my eyes to see Sophie with her daggers drawn blocking the staff and slashing away the cloaked man.

Without looking back she simply yelled "GO LILY!" and I grabbed Lyric by the wrist as we ran making our way to one of the castle rooms I wasn't familiar with but it appeared to be the royal library.

So here we were attempting to quietly make our way around the library while avoiding an assailant.

"I hope Tia's ok" Lyric whispered to me. Part of me wanted to say we should worry about ourselves first but I didn't want to discourage him.

So I whispered back to him "she'll be fine. You saw Tia use fusion magic didn't you? That means she's strong. Don't worry we just have to keep our spirits up and we'll get through this."

Honestly I was trying to convince myself of that as well. I hope we all make it out of this but that would take a miracle.

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"You're not bad Gehnan. Sorry to say in terms of swordsmanship you're just too slow. And magic won't work on me either. I can see what spell you're gonna cast in your eyes." The attacker mocked.

"I'll let you in on a little secret. We're here to take your princess. Her power to raise the dead will give us an immortal army able to conquer the world."

He thought I was Gehnan huh? Well I could make use of that. In truth I held no love for this country. I wouldn't shed a tear if it was burnt to the ground. But I was chosen by the princess to be her Knight so I shall do what I must to keep her safe.

Not wanting to give me more time the think the attacker lunged towards me with his Rapier. I deflected with my long sword and attempted to knock him over but he dodged back before I could manage.

Deciding to call his magic bluff I threw out a weak fire spell towards him. He seemed surprised but managed to catch the spell with his Rapier igniting it.

"What'd I tell you. I can counter any magic you use." He taunted but I could faintly heat under his breath. "That's weird his eyes didn't change color. Isn't he the princess' personal knight?"

He attempted more thrusts with his now flaming rapier that I guarded with my gauntlet but I could tell the heat was intense so I kicked him away.

I decided to use an water element spell on my long sword holding it in my left hand I went in for a slash that he blocked with his flaming rapier.

The clash of blades caused steam to erupt around the room limiting visibility. I decided to use some earth magic and loosen once of the marble tiles. Now we wait for him to come to me.

As if on cue he came out of the fog. Sword drawn preparing a thrust. I knew I'd have only one shot at this.

I loosely brought up my long sword faking a deflection attempt. Successfully baiting him into knocking my sword out of my left hand but also taking his rapier off line. I used the temporary distracted state to deliver a punch to his gut with my right hand before grabbing the wrist of his sword hand and squeezing as tight as I could so he'd drop the weapon.