A bright flash blinded me for a moment.
Sparks rained down on me, but I didn't feel a thing. When we started our journey, I prepared for the worst and grabbed the lightest, most expensive armor I found in the Guard's armory. It was said to be resistant to magic, but I just now had the chance to test it. And it worked perfectly. But the Princess wasn't magic-proof and the guards still surrounded us.
"Lady Elder, I'm sorry to disappoint, but your tricks won't work." I tried to sound confident and took a step towards her. My eyes scanned the courtyard for escape routes, thinking about a prayer to use. I bought some time by taunting the men around. "I used to train some of these people and honestly feel ashamed. I seem to have done a terrible job..."
"Then why are you sweating so much already?" The Elder lowered her arm. From what I heard at that conference, she must have been quite capable in hand-to-hand combat. This was far from over.
"Please excuse me, my lady. I ran all the way here after I beat up the troops of my successor." If I learned anything from the Thirteenth Champion, it was to talk nonsense until I caught my breath. "He gave me some insights about your doings while we were away. I don't mean to sound boastful, but he is quite the downgrade compared to me."
"He struggles to keep his mouth shut but is of royal blood. As he puts it, they're all useless to begin with." The Elder shrugged. I quietly mumbled my prayer while she talked. "I'm afraid there won't be any witnesses if that's what you're playing at. The townsfolk were ordered to stay in their homes, and mourn the Princess."
"What?!" Elizabeth yelled behind my back. The soldiers did not advance on us but kept a closed formation with no gaps to slip through.
"Indeed, very unfortunate. The King lost his daughter and too old to be left without an heir. He will name Stern his successor, so I hope you didn't slay him..." The Elder monologued while I finished my prayer to Remmol. "Maybe I could spread the rumor that you were the one murdering her Highness as well, that would be quite entertaining."
"He lost his sword after my first swing, and I don't kill defenseless people. Although I'm sure you'd resurrect him anyway." I claimed, thinking about one last taunt. "He told me everything, so it's a little boring to hear it the second time, but now the Princess also knows about your schemes. This will spare us some time after we broke through towards the castle."
"You can try, but..." I didn't wait for her to finish. I was the Captain of the Guard, I knew exactly where the main lines of the defenses would be. She had all the resources to cut us off from the castle. My living quarters were in the opposite direction.
I dashed towards the Elder at full speed with my falchion raised. At least this is what they all saw. Once I activated the miracle, I took a sharp turn to the right and assaulted the guards. As I prayed for the next miracle, swinging my sword, they never knew what hit them.
I couldn't coordinate with the Princess ahead of time. Once I cleared a path, I rushed back to grab her arm. The Elder still faced the illusion, granted by the famed Tactician God. I finished my second prayer before it dissolved, pushing Her Majesty through the gap.
"Just run straight," I whispered to her. "Don't look back."
With that out of the way, I spun around to block the bare-handed attack from the Elder. She moved lightning-fast, and her hand felt heavier than a blacksmith's hammer, but I kept up thanks to my second miracle. Compared to us, the soldiers stood still.
"Don't let the Princess escape!" The Elder shouted, but they reacted slowly. I parried her strikes and attempted a riposte. Her hands were faster than my falchion, and I needed some distance. I aimed a kick at her guts, but my leg never made contact. I ducked, then drove my elbow back.
That one managed to score a hit. I knew instinctively, that she'd run behind me, it took more than that to surprise me. Still, her body felt just as hard as her fists, and her legs were firmly on the ground too.
She wanted the Princess though, and that was my advantage. I swung my falchion, and she had to block it. I tried another kick, but she cleared the way. I thrust and swung then parried, but Elizabeth gained valuable time with every riposte even if I didn't land a blow.
The Elder attempted another magic attack, but it was still ineffective. In return I aimed for her shoulder, only missing it with a hair's breadth. As she extra carefully protected that area, it reminded me of what the orc witch said about wounding her there. Just swinging my sword in that direction made her focus on evasion. She was soon on the back foot, and I kept her in check as long as my miracle lasted. My brain worked overtime to figure out the next move.
Soon I had to return to the Princess and guide her towards my quarters. Before that, I had to make sure the Elder won't be able to follow us. The soldiers were no problem. Burdened by their heavy armor, they could not catch up with Her Majesty. I swung my sword once again and followed up with another kick. But this time, I reversed my swing at the last moment, and at risk of getting hit easily, I put all my strength into a thrust.
This finally found its way to the Elder and connected with her ribs. She was almost as tough as steel, I even heard a clang, but my sword still got through. I used the momentum to push her with my pauldron and rip out my blade, causing as much damage as possible. This did not stop her.
If anything, her attacks became even more ferocious. I was on the back foot again, forced to parry her. At least I managed to drag her even further away from the Princess. The soldiers almost the courtyard too, so I needed to move soon.
I feigned a bold attack towards her shoulder again.
This finally did it. She turned to block, and I quickly repeated my first prayer, rushing out the words. I launched one more strike, then dashed in the opposite direction. My illusion remained, dancing around her for a few more moments, and that was all I needed to sprint across the courtyard.
The Princess just about reached a junction. She slowed down, not knowing which way to go, and I caught up to her with the soldiers in hot pursuit. One was too close to my liking and tasted my blade.
His blood splattered everywhere, and he fell to the ground with a yell. The rest of them suddenly stopped. They couldn't seem to believe how easily I caught up. I grabbed Her Majesty's arm to drag her towards my place as fast as possible. The Elder's injuries barely slowed her down.
Regarding the guards, my calculations were correct. We had an unobstructed way to my quarters, and I yelled for the servants to prepare my horses, but the building seemed deserted. I hesitated for a second.
"Your Highness, please go to the stables, I'll join you immediately," I said and rushed up the stairs to my room. Nothing was locked, but nothing was missing either. It seemed they weren't interested in me.
But that meant my heritage was right where I left it. The ancient helmet worn by my father, and his father before him. Their accords kept changing, so I was unsure how many generations had it before them, but it originated before the Second Great Continental War.
It was an older style, open-faced helmet, the ornate decorations applied by the later wearers, and the red plume was inserted most recently. The first thing I did was to rip it off. As it seemed, the Inquisitorias was no more, and its former members hunted me. Their colors had no place on my family's helmet. I put it on next and quickly grabbed some of my belongings, just the ones in my arm's reach.
I didn't have time for more. I rushed downstairs and met the Princess in the stables. The horses remained, nibbling on the fodder left for them. I wasn't the greatest rider but as a high-ranking paladin, I owned a splendid warhorse and a cheap palfrey.
I haphazardly put a saddle on both and shoveled as much fodder into the Bag of Holding as it could fit. I almost discarded it when we entered the city, but now I was glad I didn't. The Princess looked confused.
"Why the fodder if we are to charge into the castle?" She asked out of breath. Her purple hair got stuck to her skin. The guards must have been rough with her. The clothes, she just put on were tattered, and she probably cried a lot too. I was sure she'd cry more after I told her my plan.
"We won't. It's hopeless, your Highness." I started while I prepared the horses. "There will be guards all over, our best bet is to escape the city towards the sea. They won't be expecting us there. It will be lightly guarded, we can make it through if we hurry."
I led both horses to the street and jumped onto the palfrey's back. I pulled up the Princess into the saddle as well.
"But... Papa." She protested. "He could stop this madness."
"I'm afraid he could not," I noted calmly. "Even if we got through him, we would just endanger his life too. Right now, he is part of the Elder's plan, but she did not seem to be afraid to take anyone's life."
I gently nudged the palfrey's side, and he kicked into a gallop. The warhorse followed us with an empty saddle. My heart was about to break, preparing for my next miracle, but it was the obvious choice.
The northern gate was lightly guarded as I expected, but they only needed a single soldier to lock us in. I put my hand over Elizabeth's mouth to muffle her cries and activated the spell as we emerged from the side road. I used the same miracle for the third time today.
The expensive warhorse ran across the northern street directly towards the castle, with the two of us in his saddle. The guards were alerted of our presence and gave us a chase on foot to ensure we wouldn't suddenly turn around. Maybe they wanted to drive us into a roadblock up ahead, but it didn't matter, my plan already worked.
They all ignored the cheap palfrey as it aimlessly galloped, cut loose by accident. The remaining guards were too focused on observing the foot chase to consider stopping the horse.
It looked happy to run away now that it got rid of his burden and galloped casually towards the open gate. By the time the illusion wore off, we made it through. I just wish I could have seen their faces when they realized, they chased the wrong horse while letting us pass...