Moonflower

Chapter 33: The Brave Soul and the Bully

They had backed Jungkook into a corner. There were two of them. He wasn't afraid. He had felled two men at once before. Still, he was being cautious.

"We just want an audience with the king," sneered the taller one.

"You do not," Jungkook breathed. "You want to hurt the king. I heard you say so."

"There are more of us. And they're on their way. Even if you slow us down, you won't stop us," the shorter one taunted him.

Jungkook rolled his eyes. "Why does evil always think it has the upper hand?"

He measured both of them with his gaze. He could take the taller one easily. Slender as a willow, he would be easy to fell. But the shorter one was quite burly. He could use his weight to clear advantage if he knew what he was doing.

As Jungkook was weighing his options, a girl suddenly appeared behind the two men. Jungkook's eyes widened fractionally as he noticed her.

Go away! You could truly complicate things!

He tried to speak to her telepathically. But clearly, it wasn't working. She disappeared for a moment, giving him hope, but then she returned with a broom. What was she going to do? Sweep them away?

Jungkook did his best to ignore her. He was afraid that if he looked at her, they would notice and grab her to use against him. Finally, she backed away. He decided to lunge towards the tall one first. Hopefully, he would dispatch him quickly. And then have time to deal with the short one.

Jungkook's sword had slashed the tall one across the cheek. As the willowy man fell back, the portly one barreled towards Jungkook. He would have tackled him. But for one thing.

A timely placed broomstick suddenly tripped the round man. As he fell, he wondered who had left a cleaning implement in the hallway. And how he hadn't noticed it before. His sword went flying across the hallway to bounce off the wall. Jungkook took advantage of the moment to dispatch the tall guard. He ran his sword through him. Then he grunted as he reclaimed it from the man's slim flesh.

Jungkook turned quickly to deal with the portly one. But he needn't have worried. He moved just in time to see the girl smack the fat man over the head with the broomstick. Lying sprawled on the floor, the man attempted to cover his aching head with his hands. Jungkook rushed to her side. He stuck the tip of his sword against the back of the man's fat neck.

"Put your hands behind your back. Unless you'd like to be speared like your friend there," Jungkook threatened with a lethal tone.

Jina stared up at him. She was sighing with relief. She'd been terrified when she'd seen him trapped between the corner and those two armed men.

He didn't even spare her a glance.

Just as she'd expected. Perhaps she truly was invisible.

Suddenly, Jungkook hissed at her. "Come, hold my sword against his throat. If he even dares to breathe, lean into it."

His hand reached for hers and set hers on top of his sword hilt directing her fingers until she was holding it steady. Then, he knelt on the man's back and began to bind his wrists with a cord he'd pulled from his pocket. A few moments later, when the man was well and truly bound, Jungkook stood up and retrieved his sword. Then he bent over the dead man to make sure he was good and dead. Jungkook found no pulse. He was satisfied the man would not rise to dispatch them all.

Finally, he turned towards the girl. His eyes raked her from the top of her head to her toes and back up again until his gaze found her face.

She was quite plain. A slender girl - the kingdom was full of those. With long, midnight hair. Again, nothing special there. Her countenance was rather dull. Tan skin. Once again, no oddity. Pale pink lips of average length and depth. A rather normal nose. Eyebrows that barely arched. Nothing in her face to draw his attention.