Rahn POV
Half an hour prior
"Hey guys..." Rahn said in a voice that sounded pained and weak.
"Hey." The smaller of the two guards at the door responded.
"I think..." Rahn made herself stagger slightly to the left, away from the direction she had just come.
"You all right?" The smaller guard asked.
"I think I'm..." She staggered several steps, getting past the open doorway, and shook her head as if trying to clear off dizziness. She brought her hand up and rubbed her forehead, as she staggered another step down the hallway that was the opposite direction from where Ashima was hiding.
"You don't look so good." She could hear the guard taking a step towards her.
"You know,... I don't feel so good all of a sudden. But I was trying to warn..."
Rahn held her breath as she made herself fall, flat on her face without catching herself.
The younger guard came and caught her just in time. She let out a sigh of relief. That was going to hurt.
"Thank you. I'm assuming I was drugged... But I have to warn them...." She rolled her eyes toward the back of her head and closed them, jerking her body as if having some kind of episode.
"A little help here?" She heard him yell at the other guard. "She said she was drugged."
Oh, bless you, you fool. She thought to herself.
When she heard the other guards footsteps approaching as well, she shook her head again as if trying to clear it and coming back to her senses. When he knelt as well, she reached out and put her hand on his forearm.
She took a deep breath as if even that was a struggle. Did Ashima have enough time to get in place yet? How long would it take her to get in position before I start a ruckus?
"Must've been a poison dagger, from the fight. I got a few scrapes."
"Fight?" The young one questioned as the larger, obviously more experienced guard, helped her to stand. She could tell he was getting nervous. This would have to be enough time for Ashima.
"Yes..." She drew in a breath. "There's been an assassination attempt on the general."
"Where." The larger guard demanded.
She shook her head. "No time to explain, we must warn...." She coughed for a long moment then drew in a deep breath before continuing. "They plan to assassinate the premier, we must warn them." She went to stand as if jumping into action to do just that. The younger man caught her as she swayed, but the other man took off away from her in a sprint. Directly into the event hall.
She stood up straight, all pretenses of sickness gone. Turning to the other guard, she said, "Don't let anyone inside the doors, even if they're Qarthan guards."
"Yes, ma'am." He said, standing back at the door on high alert. She smirked as she ran into the room,
Following the larger guard, she thought of how nice it was that he was parting the crowd for her. Excitement of the chase running through her veins.
Before they could reach The Premier's table, shouts started to ring out through the hall. Too slow, she thought to herself. We're too slow.
As the large guard kept running ahead, she veered slightly, looking around him.
She cursed as she saw Ashima on the ground, being held down.
Rahn just hoped the alien was telling the truth and had stopped the assassination, and not that Ashima had tried to assassinate them herself and got caught. If she was lying, then Rahn's mention of the general getting attacked earlier would be hard to explain.
She ducked around to the side, getting a vantage point of everything and assessing the situation. It seemed Ashima was still sticking to her story of someone trying to poison the family. She watched as one of the Royal sons forcefully removed the guard off of Ashima.
That's curious.. She said to herself. No wonder Ashima was so desperate to save them, there was something going on between those two.
She tapped her finger on her arm and forced the rest of her body to remain still as the action unfolded in front of her. She would remain a spectator until she was needed. Keeping her eyes open to the rest of the commotion. She was sure all of the other guards would be watching Ashima. But she was watching for any other dangers lurking. The problem is, she didn't know who had joined Zein in his insane attempt.
Rahn didn't know who she could trust. She had never really found friends among the guards, always preferring solo missions. Perhaps that was an oversight on her part, given this current situation.
But something in her gut told her she could trust this alien woman. At least for this situation. The general's crest was certainly a big help. Not everyone knew about those, he would only have given it to someone he trusted. Not that it wouldn't be impossible to take it from him under duress. But did the small alien female have it in her?
She took a few steps forward as a guard held a knife to Ashima's throat in front of the king and queen. That is a mistake, she scolded the guard from inside of her head. You don't kill first, ask questions later. Even if she were guilty, you question to find out who she is working with. This guard was either a fool, or a traitor. Probably both.
While everyone else was shouting, she was stealthily making her way to the elevated platform. Her eyes zeroed in on a cloaked figure approaching the table. No one else was paying attention. She would have to bring that up in training, she thought as she sprinted towards the figure.
Faster, she told herself. She cursed as she realized she wasn't going to make it in time. The figure pulled a blade out from the cloak and held it up. She was about to lunge for the figure, knowing full well she wouldn't make it in time, when someone small tackled him to the ground instead. Ashima?
I knew it. Always trust the gut. She smirked inwardly.
The movement of the man's dagger coming downward was exaggerated when Ashima tackled into him, the momentum causing it to come down hard into Ashima's back.
While everyone else was shouting, she finished her lunge at the man, pulling him away from Ashima and twisting his neck in the right motion to knock him out without killing him. She looked up just in time to see another man raising his fist behind the queen.
"Barlo!" She yelled, catching his attention enough to halt his motion and catch him off guard. She jumped onto the man, wrapping her legs around his neck and flipping her body back to use the momentum to bring him down.
Geez this guy is stout, she thought to herself as she exerted all of her knowledge on physics to use her body's momentum to pull him down. She let out a sad sigh when he quickly maneuvered himself into a crouching position immediately after he was down. She had sparred with him before in training and she knew a serious fight was ahead of her. But she would never back down from a challenge.
His fist flew directly toward her face but she easily blocked it, twisting to the side as she slid her legs forward, gliding across the floor beside him and jumping up to wrap her arms around his neck. The move she used on Zein wouldn't work on this brute. She'd have to do this the old fashioned way. She squeezed with all of her might but his large muscles were practically laughing at her thin frame. He hoisted them up and she wrapped her legs around his torso, refusing to let go of him.
He slammed her back into the wall and she let out a string of curses as she strongly reconsidered her stance on keeping him alive for questioning. While re-filling her lungs with air through a desperate gasp, she squeezed his neck again. He pulled forward and she knew he was going to slam her again.
She was confident in her abilities but she also knew her limitations. Another hit like that would do her in for this fight. She was already struggling to breath and confident she'd broken a rib or two as his back had slammed against her front while squishing her into the wall.
He began to move backward so she reluctantly released her hold on his neck and rolled off to the side. His slightly blue face began to regain its usual lavender color, Ashima inwardly sighed as she watched all of her hard work go down the drain.
He caught her off guard by diving head first, right on top of her, grabbing her face and slamming her head into the floor. Black crossed her vision before she regained it, although somewhat blurry. She grasped his hand, trying to remove it from her face but it was no use. He pulled her face up off the floor, she could only assume he was going to repeat what worked for him last time. He was going to kill her.
She reached down her pants and realized her dagger was missing, presumably flung out somewhere during the fight.
"I'm going to enjoy crushing your head in." He taunted as he held her there helplessly.
She felt blindly around the floor but her fingers found nothing. She tried kneeing him, kicking him, but nothing worked.
This is it. I'm going to die. She said to herself. She cried out in pain as his nails dug into her face while he was forcibly removed from above her. Her head went on a free fall down to the hard floor.
Streaks of light swam across her vision but she forced herself to focus. To assess any threats. She turned her head slightly just in time to see the eldest prince, Kahal, punch the brute so hard across the face that he fell down unconscious. He turned and locked concerned eyes on Rahn just before her world turned black.