The Forsaken Arts

Chapter 34: Under Attack

The meeting had just come to a close and Lord Kashif returned to his chambers while Naitosai and Dai went to check on Curran and Cavell.

In Cavell and Curran's room, Jasmine stood staring at both of them confused as she pondered... It just doesn't make sense. Shaking her head, she barely noticed Evenharth who had just walked into the room. He placed a hand on her shoulder asking, "Something wrong?"

Jumping back surprised, she turned to see Evenharth smiling. "Ugh, my goodness! You almost scared the life right out of me!"

Trying not to laugh, "Sorry sorry, but you should have seen yourself!" His laughter then erupted till he felt a thud on his shoulder.

Looking at Jasmine, chuckling lightly he said, "You... you actually hit me."

Jasmine was breathing heavily with one hand on her chest, still recovering from behind startled. Gradually her breathing returned to normal. "Shouldn't have laughed." she said with a wink.

She then redirected her attention to her patients, "But since you're here, maybe you can make sense of this. I just don't get it.. I mean there's blood on their clothing and body.. but I can't seem to find any wounds."

"Oh yeah, sorry about that. We should have said something earlier." he replied grabbing her shoulders playfully from behind.

Jasmine slightly turned her head as he continued. "Silvannas specializes in Restorative Arts; she has the ability to mend wounds."

"Ah okay... that makes sense because with the amount of blood on them, they would died from blood loss by now." she said with a sigh of relief.

As soon as she finished her statement, Dai and Naitosai had arrived.

"If that's the case then she'll prove to be more than useful in battles to come." the dragon knight chimed in while leaning against the wall.

"I may want to look into these magical arts, at this rate I'll be out of a job soon." Jasmine jokingly replied.

Removing his hands from her shoulders, Evenharth turned around to greet them, "Oh hey guys, meeting over I take it?"

"Yeah, a few things make sense now, but we still don't know why Cheyk was waiting for us." Dai said as he sat down in the chair closets to Cavell.

"Yeah... that's odd, how would they even know you were coming. This being a covert team and all." Evenharth replied.

Suddenly sirens started to blare on the intercoms scattered throughout Faxon:

"We are under attack, I repeat we are under attack. All hands pick up arms and intercept the enemy at the east wing and main entrance of the palace!"

The announcement continued to repeat as footsteps of various speeds, loud thuds and bangs, yelling and screaming of soldiers and servants rang from all corners of the palace.

"What the hell?!" Dai said as he bolted out into the hallway.

Naitosai and Evenhearth quickly followed behind, Jasmine closed the doors, locking herself inside with Cavell and Curran as procedure dictated. Evenharth ran over to the nearest window and looked up to the sky.

Dai bumped into soldiers as they ran in the opposite direction making their way to the east wing and main entrance. He continued to push his way through the crowd to get down the hall so he could check on Mikhail, Guru and Osyrus with Naitosai lagging behind. Dai dashed into the room as the doors shut behind him.

Finally arriving, Naitosai reached for the doors but stopped and slowly backed away as a bright purple light emanated through the cracks and around the edges of the door. Suddenly Dai came crashing through the doors, breaking them from their hinges. His body slid across the sleek palace floor till his back hit the opposite wall.

Naitosai ran to check on him, as he knelt down, Dai looked up at Naitosai and whispered, "He...l...p him....."

Naitosai, in shock heard footstep from behind him, he then turned to figure out what Dai was talking about. He saw Silvannas walk out first, then Guru appeared with Mikhail draped over his shoulder.

Slowly, Naitosai stood while speaking firmly yet softly as his eyes began to glow brightly. "I'll say this once and only once, put... my... brother... down."

Guru grinned as Silvannas stepped forward to seductively taunt him. "As much as I would love to give you what you want, and believe me, I really would love to give it to you." she said while slowly outlining her curves with her hands. "However, master Krinx has special plans for your brother and his will is never questioned."

"Good, everyone is here. Get ready guys, we got a lot of unwanted company on the way." yelled Evenharth as he ran up to them. As he got closer, he noticed Dai on the ground, Naitosai glaring at Silvannas and Guru, and Mikhail hung over Guru's shoulder.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

"Krinx's will" a familiar voice from behind them calmly replied.

Naitosai kept his eyes on his brother paying no attention to the voice that came from his blindside. Dai, who had pulled himself off the ground and Evenharth turned in awe at the sight of Lord Kashif who stood before them with glowing eyes and wearing a smug grin.