NOVEL NEXT 151- Assassination Attempt.
At first, I'm disoriented.
I should be dead.
But I'm not.
I remember the necklace they gave me for being the first to clear the slime dungeon—the one with major protection that said when damage would reduce my HP to zero, it would protect me and keep me at five points while the source of damage continued.
The assassin knocked me to the ground, flat on my back. I open my eyes. I see my bodyguard fighting two of them and my would-be killer going after Mary. Two small birds, the kind you typically see in fields and even in the city, are going for his eyes, trying to protect my friend. Mary screams my name and seems to be in shock.
So am I.
I should react.
I bring my hand to my throat. It's not completely severed like I thought. There's blood, yes, but it's not a second mouth gaping open. I cast a healing spell on myself.
Though I feel a bit better—some of the weakness and dizziness that had overtaken me fades—it's a mistake.
The assassin has managed to grab the birds, crushed them with the hand not holding the knife, and is going after Mary.
Stone control.
Something small, something that won't take too much concentration time. I picture in my mind a stake forming quickly from the cobblestones and impaling him.
But he's already bringing his weapon down to stab Mary and I'm still shaping my spell in my mind.
Then a wonderful arc of light, a shield, appears between her and the blade.
Now yes, my stake bursts with force from the cobblestones, between the legs of the man dressed in black cloth. And it rises. And breaks bone and flesh. It pierces through. Emerges at chest height, merciless.
I just murdered a person and I feel nothing.
I think I'm still in shock.
Or not.
I don't know.
But that son of a bitch would have completely slashed my throat if not for the necklace and left me for dead.
Mary says nothing. She's still there, behind her shield, watching the now-corpse of the assassin without moving. Her chest heaves rapidly, shaking her school uniform jacket. The attackers also have their faces and heads covered with dark cloth. I imagine they approached us with some kind of stealth ability.
The bodyguard is wounded and in trouble.
I should say something like the queen mother's sword doesn't leave my side even when I go shopping in the city. But that's not the case. I'm wearing a dress and was going to try on another one, so I'm unarmed. I wish there were a magic inventory in this world.
That's why I lunge at the grotesquely impaled assassin and snatch the knife covered in my own blood from his hands. I apply stone channeling to my body. I hope no one can see the faint glow, but if they do, I don't care. I'm not dying by stabbing now that I don't have the necklace's safeguard, and I go to help the bodyguard.
I don't know how to fight with a knife.
Doesn't matter. It's a weapon. I'll do something, even if it's just a measly point of damage, or two if I land a crit.
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I go for the back of one of them, who can't dodge in time because his opponent, my ally, spots me and attacks the other enemy, leaving an open flank that the assassin I'm lunging at is ready to exploit. It's like bait so I can strike him cleanly from behind.
Dangerous.
But effective.
The knife sinks into the assassin's kidneys. I stab and twist. He turns and slashes at me with his own blade. I can't parry it and the extra defense from channeling doesn't fully block it either. It reduces some of the damage, but the slash opens a wound in my side.
The bodyguard is now fighting only one assassin, whose main advantage, I hope, was stealth and backstabbing. I trust he will win without any problems.
I smile with rabid satisfaction at those brown eyes looking at me through the cloth concealing his face.
What did he expect? A dead girl or a frightened victim?
I'm neither. And I can tell the pup is stirring inside my handbag.
"Stay," I tell him.
I don't want his help.
For a moment, I see bewilderment in the assassin's eyes. He reacts quickly and lunges at me. I no longer have access to the knife, since my opponent turned when he slashed at me, a movement that caused the handle to slip from my grip.
I cover my face, where his stab is aimed. My forearms block it and immediately I cast stone bullets.
These are fast.
They hit him.
I push forward and try to throw him to the ground. He doesn't defend himself. The stone bullets at point-blank range must have smashed his face and chest. I get him off me. I see that yes, he's covered in bruises and even has one of the small stones embedded in his eye.
Ugh.
Now yes, earth control. I make him a fucking prison with the earth beneath the cobblestones, with minimal holes so he can breathe. This one's going to have to explain to the guard why they wanted to assassinate me.
The bodyguard, who has finished off his opponent, approaches me.
"Are you all right?"
Mary, who seems to have managed to react, also comes over, crying, and hurries to cast a healing spell on me that's much more effective than mine and also affects the bodyguard.
"Yes, thanks."
"I am sorry, Lady L'Crom, I failed to protect you."
He looks really worried and downcast.
"I'm still alive. Don't worry, I'm tougher than I look."
"The wound on your neck..."
I stare at him. He understands. Any explanation he has to give will be to his superior.
Meanwhile, there were other people on the street. I imagine they've called the guard. It's certainly taking them a while to arrive.
Mary is hugging me and crying. Poor thing, she's still terrified.
"It's okay, everything's fine now."
When the girl lets me go, I approach those birds. One of them is still moving a little despite being crushed and with its guts exposed.
"Thank you for your service," I whisper to it, and I really can't stand the poor thing's pain.
But does it suffer?
It's one of Ronan's zombies.
He uses birds for surveillance. This must be one of his ways of ensuring neither Mary nor I are alone. I bet we each had one. Luckily Ronan is far away, not within range of the zombie's mental alerts, or I can already picture him crossing kilometers mounted on some creature to get here as fast as possible.
The little head, which is intact, doesn't seem to be suffering.
I take out a handkerchief and wrap it.
Mary has approached and is watching.
"My healing would hurt it, right?"
"Yes."
"It saved me, gave me time to recover and cast the shield. Do you think Ronan will be able to heal it?"
I know Ronan won't be able to heal it. But I don't have the heart to kill the poor creature and, if it's not suffering, I'm going to keep it and give it to Ronan so he can take care of it. Maybe he can raise it again, whole and looking like a normal little bird. He just has to use more mana.
"Ronan will take care of him. Now I'm going to put you away, I'll look after you until your master comes," I tell the poor creature and put it in my handbag.
When I open it, the pup jumps onto my arm.
He's in his tiny size.
I was carrying him locked in the handbag and I don't doubt he's capable of breaking it and getting out, but the attack must have caught him as off-guard as it did me. In there, in the darkness, he wouldn't have known what was happening either. And when he started stirring, I ordered him not to come out.
The guards arrive.
I remove the wall so they can arrest him.
For a moment, I fear he might have been able to commit suicide to avoid interrogation. But he's still there; in fact, he's unconscious.
Great, because the bodyguard's attacker is dead, same as the impaled one.
Now it's time to give explanations to the guard, return to the academy under escort, speak with the rector and, curiously, with Duskmere as well. It seems they've also assigned him the case.
The suspicions? From what they tell me, someone from a neighboring kingdom wants me dead.
The why? No idea.
Well, I can think of a few theories, but nothing they should know.
According to the rector, it might be an attempt to see if the sword becomes unbound so they can steal it, or maybe just to make sure no one from this kingdom gets to keep it.