Lockwood & Co. The Secret Of Penelope Fittes

Chapter Three

Let me explain what happened so you can imagine the scene. The scream must have come from Holly, because one of the men who had passed us before, pushed her into the corner with a rapier on her throat. When I searched for George and Kipps, I couldn't believe my eyes at first. They worked together as a team and fought against the other two guys! The tallest of them is probably the leader, because he fought with the biggest rapier I had ever seen.
"You help Holly, I'm going over to George and Kipps!" whispered Lockwood in my ear.
I nodded and ran to help Holly. Because of the element of surprise, I was able to catch the attacker off guard for a moment. But that didn't take long. He was able to compose himself seconds later and raced towards me with a mad grin and, damn, he fought well. At the corner of my eye I could see that Lockwood was up against two opponents. George had collapsed on the spot and Kipps' arm was situated in an angle it probably shouldn't. He also whimpered softly.
Lockwood fought fantastically, but he is also only human and slash after slash he became more tired. His evasive manoeuvres were not as smooth and his shots were no longer as powerful as they should be. I couldn't blame him. I had all my hands full with one opponent who, if I may mention it briefly, had me pushed against a wall. Wonderful, now I could use some help, but I didn't know where Holly was (I just hoped she wasn't hurt), George was out cold and Kipps had a broken arm. I tried to fight back but suddenly my rapier was gone. I stared at the man in horror.
"Yeah, what yer look at, lass?! Not only yer agents can handle a rapier," he said with a confident smile on his face and I realized that this guy had to be the leader.
"Mah instructions were clear! A'm suppose to murder a lassie with dark locks"  He leaned in closer, rapier ready at my throat. "Looks like ah found myself a prize!"
I was shocked still. That lunatic wanted to kill me? A person, a human living being, not a dead one, wanted to kill me.
I don't know how you would handle such a situation but believe me, murder threads tend to give you a little boost to fight back even if you're out of any breath. But suddenly he lifted the rapier and put it on my neck. Frightened, I retreated and hit my back against a wall. I wanted to scream for help, but I couldn't get a word out. But luckily for me, George apparently wasn't so out cold as he seemed to be, "Lockwood: LUCY!", and pointed at me. Lockwood turned around and froze with terror. This short moment was all the attackers needed: One tore his rapier over and made one big slash... right in the center of Lockwoods chest. He grimaced in pain but didn't collapse. He rushed over his opponents with a tremendous jump and landed light-footed behind them. With a quick movement, he knocked their feet off the ground. The men collapsed with a dull impact and were unconscious immediately.
But my opponent didn't notice much of it. His sword was coming closer and closer.
Suddenly he tore the rapier back and wanted to push it through my stomach..., but at that very moment I felt a violent push and landed hard on the ground, unharmed.
When I turned to see what had pushed me around, I felt sick. Lockwood was standing right where I'd been just a few seconds ago. In his center was the rapier of the leader...