The Silver Crown

30.

I spun to my right to see several men slink out of the shadows of an alley. They surrounded us, pushing us back. They herded us into the alley soundlessly.

I flexed my fingers, my blood humming for a fight. I situated it so that a wall was at our back. Axius dropped the guard he had been carrying and drew his sword, ready to swing.

"Axius," I said, and he froze.

"So the girl's in charge," Said one of the men. His black hair was long and messy.

"That's right. I'm in charge," I said. "So what do you want?"

"Three pretty girls in nice dresses," One of the other men said. "I think you can guess what we want."

"And I think that you don't know what you have gotten yourself into," I said.

"We know exactly what we have gotten ourselves into. That man behind you can't stand against all five of us," the first man said.

"You two," I gestured toward Arabelle and Cynthia, not wanting to say their names just incase these men put two and two together. "Go stand behind Axius."

I palmed two daggers and waited for the idiots to attack. I had been here in this same position, although a different alley, six years ago and I was not going to let it end that same way. I would slit all of their throats before I let them lay a hand on me or the two girls behind me.

The two men in front came for me and I kicked one in the groin before he even realized what happened. He keeled over with a groan. I slashed at the other one. The darkness left me half blind and reliant on my reflexes.

The man ducked and came at me again. I crouched and lunged. His knife met my arm but my knife sunk hilt deep into his stomach. Warm blood ran onto my hand. He fell back, taking my knife with him.

I punched a new guy in the face, my knuckles splitting painfully on impact. The grunt as he stumbled back was worth it though. Within seconds I had a new knife gripped in my bloody fingers.

I zeroed in on my surroundings. One man down, another limping. Cynthia and Arabelle safe behind Axius and Axius safe behind me.

I lunged for the closest man. Fending off his strikes with ones of my own. I managed to trip him and conk him on the head with my knife on the way down. He was out cold.

My hair was sticking to my sweaty face. I push it away with the back of my hand, leaving a bloody streak across my face.

I heard a shriek from behind me. I spun to see one of the men sparring with Axius. The young guard was bleeding from a cut on his arm. A grim-faced Arabelle had Cynthia behind her and the knife I had given her in her hand. Her fingers were turning white on the hilt.

I threw my knife as hard as I could. A grunt escaped my lips from the effort. It sailed smoothly into the man's thigh. He stumbled and yelled. Axius slammed his sword hilt into the man's temple, knocking him out. I wanted to kill as few of these men as possible. I didn't want Arabelle and Cynthia to see me a murderer. I also supposed that Axius would prefer to render them unconscious and report them to provost than kill them.

I directed my attention back to the two men still standing. One had just had his fingers on the throat of the first man, whom I had killed. He stood up with a snarl on his lips, his eyes flashing in the meager light leaking in from the street to his left. "Derek's dead."

Both men approached me slowly, anger overtaking the lust in their eyes. I crouched again, trying to keep an eye on both men, but they split to either side of me. I might have toyed with them but I actually had something behind me to protect. I attacked the man on my left, slashing at his dominant arm. He leaped back but then came at me. I ducked. He leaped. I slashed. He rolled. It was a careful dance that I would have enjoyed had I not been so worried about the man behind me. My breath pounded in my lungs.