The Lady Justice

Chapter XVII: To Thank, And Be Thanked

Lady Katherine Harrington of Johanne

12 October, Year 1 of Sebastian VI, Emperor of the Longbournian Nations' reign

Longbourne Military Academy for Women, Amöneburg

The Longbournian Nations

"Holy shit."

I turned around to see where the Princess was looking. A group of another eight, masked men stood at the entrance of the stables. They took one look at Prince Heinrich's corpse, and began to storm their way towards us.

"My, my, my, Mistress Harrington," the Princess murmured next to me, "I do believe we are sorely outnumbered." She gave me a side-glance.

I knew what she was expecting me to say. Just as Corporal Johnson had wanted me to, the Princess was waiting for me to tell her that we must flee the area instead of fighting our enemies - for her safety.

However, she was a trained Archery Mistress in her own right, as was I. If she truly wished to fight, why should I force her to turn away from battle merely because she was a Princess?

A wry smile played about my lips. "Now, has that ever stopped you, Mistress Hohenstaufen?"

Her sea-green eyes twinkled in approval. "I knew I was right about you," she beamed, "come, let us make them wish they were never born."

With that, we confidently strode forward towards them.

The condescending pricks did not even take out their swords from their sheaths. Instead, they attempted to catch hold of us, mayhap because the both of us were shorter than them, and they assumed it would be less tiring to simply tie us up rather than fight us.

They were mistaken, and very much so.

One of the men lunged towards me with his arms wide. I crouched before his arms could come around me, and punched him hard in the stomach, causing him to fall back like a ton of rocks.

When I looked up, I found that the Princess, was so focused on blocking the blows of the man in front of her, had apparently not noticed the one who was about to grab her from behind.

"Princess, duck!"

She obeyed at once. The both of them had not expected her to crouch, and hit out at each other instead. They both staggered back, wincing.

Hearing movement behind me, I backhanded a fist at the man who was about to grab me from behind, hearing the satisfying crack as my fist made contact with his nose.

"Mistress Harrington, watch out!"

She caught hold of another man's arm that was about to strike my face from the side, and twisted it behind his back. Muttering a thanks to her, I took over and aimed a well-deserved kick behind his knees, forcing him to the ground. For good measure, she also sprinted and latched herself onto the man behind him before he could reach us. Even as he struggled to be rid of her, she wrapped her legs tightly around his middle, and rained blow after blow to his head, his face, his chest.

In the meanwhile, another man's arms had grabbed me by my middle, and lifted me up. I elbowed him repeatedly, and thrashed around for all it was worth, trying to injure him sufficiently to release me. However, he simply grunted and tightened his hold on me, shouting out instructions to his comrades to get some rope to subdue me.

"Mistress Harrington, kick him!"

"I am trying!"

"Nay, I mean kick him," the Princess yelled at me, "kick him where it hurts the most!"