Unspeakable Secrets The Alchemist Series (A Dark Medieval Progression Fantasy)

Chapter 29 Fugitives

The three men rushed Connor. He sidestepped, putting Bvorn's desk between them and him.

Bvorn's guards came around either side of the desk and swung at him with their shortswords.

Connor parried the one on the left and spun, twisting his body out of the way of the other without even looking. He continued the spin and lashed out, kicking the man on the left side in the stomach.

Breath whooshed out of the man's lungs, and he tumbled backward. The other man slashed at Connor's head in the split second his back was turned.

The blade whistled in the air, singing where it would land to Connor's enhanced ears.

He parried again before he'd even finished turning to face his attacker.

The clash of steel on steel rang out, and Connor grabbed the man's sword arm, keeping the blade away from him as he stabbed upward.

His rapier pierced the soft flesh under the man's jaw and continued upward... skewering his brain.

The other man rushed him and swung at his exposed back.

Connor pulled his blade free, dropped to the floor and rolled backward behind the man. He stabbed his rapier into the man's kidneys in quick thrusts. The man collapsed, and blood pooled on the ground beneath him.

Bvorn gritted his teeth and glared at Connor even as Vadik drew his scimitar.

"I want him alive," Connor said.

Bvorn frowned. "Who are you—?"

Vadik held the edge of his scimitar against Bvorn's throat.

Bvorn swallowed hard. "Traitorous bastard! I should've known better than to trust you," he said.

"I get that a lot," Vadik said, "drop your sword."

Bvorn dropped his sword. The blade clattered on the floor.

Footsteps clambered toward them from below. Moving fast.

Connor stuck his head out the doorway. Sure enough, a sea of thieves was heading straight for them.

The key was still in the door. Connor pulled it out, slammed the door and locked it. Half a breath later, a wave of thieves slammed into the door like a tidal wave.

It shuddered violently but held. No doubt thanks to all the wards.

They couldn't pick the lock the way he had, but how much longer would it hold up against the beating it was taking, even with the enchantments?

The door rattled continuously, and Bvorn stood still with Vadik's blade at his throat.

"So... now what?" Vadik asked.

"I'm working on it," Connor said. He opened the safe, and a cloud of smoke poured out. He coughed and peered inside.

Even with him smothering the flames as quickly as he had, most of the documents inside were little more than ash.

He sighed and tenderly brushed what little remained into his bottomless bag. Ash and all. Maybe they'd find something useful. He doubted it.

The door shuddered.

With the contents of the safe ruined, their best and possibly only lead now was Bvorn himself.

"We're taking him with us," Connor said.

"We're what?" Vadik said, "in case you haven't noticed there's an army outside that door. I don't think they'll just let us stroll out of here. Hostage or not."