Knightess

Prolouge

The young woman in the blood-stained armor panted as she ran up the spiraling stairway.

She heard a sound that made her ears hurt—a sword scraping across the cobblestone floor. She missed a step and tripped. Without thinking she wrapped an arm over the two sleeping newborns' heads. Her cheek smacked across a step and she winced as her teeth bit down on her tongue and a metallic taste filled her mouth. She spat out the blood and scrambled to her feet.

The newborns wailed, startled from waking up and hitting the ground without warning. The woman grabbed the sword she dropped and continued to run. The sound was growing closer, but so was the top of the stairs. She continued to spit out blood as she ran. The deep cuts she had gotten spurted up blood, sprinkling the stairs. The woman tasted bile in the back of her throat.

One of the babies—a small girl with a head full of blonde hair—screeched, tears flowing down her splotchy cheeks. The woman hugged the two babies closer to her chest and pumped her legs. Her lungs and legs burned. She gasped as a stitch in her side grew.

But she continued on because she had felt worse pain. This was nothing.

Finally, she saw a single wooden door at the top of the stairs. She placed the sword into the sheath at her side and grabbed the handle, yanking it open.

She slammed the door closed and put her sword through the handle, locking it. She sank to the ground, hugging her children close. Before she could blink, nine swords were unsheathed and pointed directly at her. "Knightess! I'm a Knightess!" she gasped loud enough for all to hear.

One stepped into the moonlight glinting off the woman's armor. She was a beautiful woman, with ebony skin, boy-short hair, and a wide, strong nose. She lowered her sword when she saw the woman. "Palma. After an entire year..." she trailed off as she saw the two newborns cradled in the woman's arms and glared at them.

"Keva, an assassin. Where's the Queen?" Palma asked between pants.

"I'm here," a powerful voice said.

The nine women backed away as a tall woman with slanted eyes and brown hair stepped forward. She wore a dress of maroon silk. A golden crown was perched on her head. "Your majesty, it's not safe—" Palma began to say as she scrambled up, but nausea from loss of blood made her collapse into the arms of the nearest Knightess.

"I'm aware that it's not safe, but who is here and why?"

"An assassin. It's a woman, who exactly I don't recognize, but I caught her when you were walking in the garden. She was about to put an arrow in your back." Another newborn, this one with puffs of soft brown hair, whimpered slightly. Palma patted him lightly on the back.

"Impossible. All of us were with the Queen at that time. I'm sure we would have seen the assassin sooner or later," the Knightess that had caught Palma retorted.

Keva opened her mouth to say something, but a loud sound of sword against stone boomed through the dark room. Soon a heavy pounding against the door followed. Keva grabbed the Queen's wrist. "Come with us, your majesty."

The Knightess helped Palma against a wall and hurried to Keva. Just as they turned and ran to the open window, an ax sliced through the door, sending chips of wood flying. "I'll go first," a young Knightess volunteered.

She swung her legs over the ledge of the window, armor making sounds like wood chimes against wind. Soon all Palma could see was dirt-stained hands clutching onto the ledge, before that disappeared. "Cut your dress; you'll never be able to climb down with that long a skirt," Keva instructed the Queen.

Keva took out a dagger and cut hastily at the hems of the Queen's dress. The ax cut against wood again, this time leaving a gap. "Hurry!" Palma shouted and grabbed onto the stone wall next to her. She pulled herself up.

She hobbled over to Keva, who had just finished cutting up the Queen's dress to her knees. "Take them."

Keva frowned. "Who?"

"My twins. Take them to Gwinave of Sunvale, a tiny village in the north. She's my mother. She'll raise them."

Keva took the girl from Palma. "And you...?" she asked, though she knew the answer.

Palma pursed her lips as she gave the boy to another Knightess near her. Keva bowed her head. "The kingdom and Queen thanks you for sacrificing your life."

"Even if you're a traitor," a Knightess near the window hissed. Keva turned to catch who said it, but the Knightess quickly covered it up with a cough.

Palma turned away and walked toward the door. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Keva giving the girl to a Knightess climbing down from the window. She watched Keva swing her legs over the ledge. Just before Keva disappeared, she met Palma's eyes. She nodded and threw herself over the side. Palma bit her lip and stared straight ahead. She walked up to the door and took the sword away from the handle.

She opened it.

There she was, the assassin. Her hand was still clutched on the ax, but she slowly let it go. It clattered to the floor. For a while they both stood there, looking into each other's eyes.

Looking into her murderer's eyes. Looking into her victim's eyes.

A gust of wind blew black curly locks of hair into Palma's eyes, and she reached up to remove it. That was her mistake.

Before she could blink, the assassin's fist connected with her jaw and she stumbled back, falling onto the ground. A kick connected into her ribs, followed by another and another. She groaned and clutched her ribs, rolling onto her back. She propped herself up onto her elbows and glared at the assassin. Blood fell from her mouth down her pale chin. She knew this was a fight she would not win. "What are you going to do now? Kill me?" she dared to raise her voice.

The assassin laughed, her head tipped back. Her hood fell down and her fingers were quick to pull it back over her head before Palma could clearly see her. "Of course I am. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to do it."

The assassin looked around the room, giving Palma the perfect time to slowly inch towards Keva's abandoned dagger that had slipped from her sheath. Her fingers closed around the freezing handle. Just as the assassin realized what she was doing, Palma thrusted the dagger into the calf of her left leg. The assassin screamed and punched Palma.

The assassin clamped her hands over the wound and shrieked. Palma laid unconscious a few feet away, the punch her last straw. The assassin hissed through her teeth and grabbed her sword. She held the tip of the sword over Palma's heart. She thrust it down. She never found out if she killed her or not.

"No!" a voice screamed and tackled the assassin.

Keva punched the assassin multiple times to the face. The assassin blocked most of her punches, but most connected with her nose, her face. She grabbed a dagger beside her and slashed it at Keva. She cried out and fell off of the assassin, her hands over her face. The assassin struck again, slashing across Keva's face again. The assassin kicked her in the gut. Keva groaned, one hand clutching her face, the other her stomach. Desperate, she grabbed her sword from its sheath. She couldn't see anything, however, when she took her hand away from her face. She was blinded. With a shout, she swung the sword with both her hands. It struck the assassin in the arm, leaving a deep cut. The sword clattered loudly to the ground. The assassin cried out and dropped the dagger.

The assassin clutched her arm and Keva felt the ground until she found the fallen dagger. She thrust the dagger into the heart of the assassin.

She stood and kicked the assassin one final time. The assassin gasped and crumpled to the floor. Keva, her face and eyes pouring blood, searched blindly for her fallen friend. "Palma," she said and searched the floor for her. She felt Palma's curls in her hands and a disgusting wet stickiness. She gasped.

The assassin had found a chink in Palma's armor and stabbed her. She was dead.