I drew my daggers mid-air as I flew towards the two crossbowmen. Fortunately, both of their bolts missed me… they clearly weren’t expecting me to be flung across the room at them. It threw their aim off significantly.

  I have to hand it to Damecus, his aim was perfect. I managed to slit the throat of the one to my right as I flew past and landed on the second one. I instantly sliced his throat open too. As I did, I heard Damecus let out a blood-curdling roar. No time to look back and see how he is doing. I need to focus on the situation in front of me.

  One of the two men stepped forwards and thrust his arm out to the side. I couldn’t see it before, but he had a small black stick in his hand. When he flicked his hand out, the stick expanded to about four times its previous size. That is a pretty nifty weapon to have. He moved towards me swiftly and swung it at me. I managed to deflect it with my parrying dagger, but fucking hell… that guy has some strength. I couldn’t counter attack because I was knocked back by the force.

  For somebody who moves so fast, how does he hit so hard. Especially with such a light looking weapon. I assumed the thing would be quite flimsy. It certainly isn’t like any of the clubs that I normally see people use. I can match his speed, maybe even best it… his strength on the other hand has me completely beat.

  Evasion is my best bet… deflecting his blows is just knocking me back… and I’m almost against the edge of the balcony here… if he knocks me into the wall, I’m dead. He favours heavy swings from his right… I can slip under there… then I can…

  Man: “AAAhhhh!”

  The man suddenly stumbled and I had the chance I needed. I lunged forward myself and plunged my dagger into his temple. As he collapsed to the ground, I looked round to see the boy’s jaws clamped to the man’s leg. Thank the gods for that kid. As he unclamped his jaws, he looked at me and I nodded at him in appreciation. That was when the second man coughed. But not an “I have a dodgy throat” kind of cough. It was a sarcastic attention-grabbing cough.

  The boy and I looked over to see him holding a knife to the woman’s throat. He had a gleam in his eye… as if he knew that he had won. The woman on the other hand just looked mildly irritated.

  Man 2: “Put the daggers down, now!”

  Woman: “Don’t.”

  The sheer distain in the woman’s voice was immeasurable.

  Man 2: “Excuse me. I’m in charge he….”

  She grabbed his knife hand and flung her head back as hard as she could. The knife nicked her neck slightly… but it didn’t hit an artery or vein or anything. She slid out of his grip and the boy kicked him in the groin. As the man collapsed to the floor, I slit his throat open.

  Woman: “Loathsome man. Taking hostages is so tacky.”

  Dwynfel: “Quick… out the door.”

  I rushed to the balcony door, opened it and nope… nope… can’t go that way… shit. I closed the door again as quickly as possible.

  Dwynfel: “We need to block the door!”

  We grabbed all of the furniture on the balcony and piled it in front of the door. Mother of Mercy… there were like twelve guys heading down the corridor towards us… no way we can fight them off without Damecus.

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  Woman: “What’s the plan here?”

  Dwynfel: “Do we look like we have a plan?”

  Shit, Damecus. I looked out over the balcony and… just… fucking hell. All of the swordsmen on the ground floor have been decimated. A few are outright dead, most are lying on the floor, tending to crushed limbs and broken bones… fuck, one of them seems to be impaled on a broken coat stand.

  Damecus stood tall in the middle of the floor… his shield had two crossbow bolts in it… his club had three and one was imbedded in his shoulder. Shit, I forgot about the other crossbowmen.

  I drew my bow and took aim at the ones on the balcony opposite me. I managed to take the two of them out before they finished reloading, but the other four were able to get a second volley of shots off. This time Damecus was able to block all of them, however the second volley cracked his club. He briefly looked at the crack before throwing the entire club, full force, at the balcony to my right, knocking over the two crossbowmen.

  Damecus made his way towards the front balcony, leaving the remaining two crossbowmen for me. These two were a bit more intelligent than the others, they hid themselves when they were reloading, so my window for hitting them was significantly smaller. I had to wait until they popped out to loose their bolts. No matter how well concealed you are… you still become vulnerable when you go to take aim.

  Their best bet would be to aim for me and take me out first. But I’m guessing that since Damecus is heading for their boss, they aren’t going to do that. Taking out Damecus will be their priority. That gives me two easy shots.

  Josh: “What do we do?”

  Woman: “Hold the furniture in front of the door and hope the big one hurries up.”

  The banging against the balcony door is growing louder and louder. But I can’t concern myself with that right now… nor can I worry about Damecus… I need to keep my focus on… ha… yes… got one. The other one got a shot off though… can’t worry about that though… just wait… just wait for him to pop up again.

  I heard a large clang of armour from the direction of Damecus…

  Armoured Man: “You go no further, sir.”

  Damecus: “I beg to differ.”

  I can hear the sounds of a sword smashing off Damecus’ shield. I know that thing can handle pretty much anything… but gods… if he isn’t okay then we are all dead. The jangling of the armour suggests they are having quite the tussle and… yes… second one down… no more crossbows.

  I turned to look at Damecus and he was stood with his foot on the armoured man… who I assume to be unconscious on the floor. He must have jumped down from the balcony as Damecus approached in an attempt to stop him.

  These guys seriously underestimated Damecus here. Then again… so did I… I really expected us to be dead by now.

  Vox: “Impressive. However, I remain out of your reach. Regardless of what you claim that I have done to your daughter… you shall not be granted your revenge this day.”

  Damecus simply laughed, before proceeding to throw his shield to the ground, rush up the wall, and dive onto the balcony behind Vox. Vox turned, and for a brief moment, realised the dire situation that he was in. Through all of his money, he clearly believed himself untouchable… but in that moment he realised that he was about to die… and there was nothing within his power to stop it.

  Damecus grabbed the man’s head with one hand and his jaw with the other and pulled them in different directions. Vox’s jaw ripped clean off. Blood sprayed everywhere. The jawbone protruded from the fleshy chunks that were still attached to it. Damecus then stabbed Vox in the stomach with the jawbone again, and again, and again. Gods, I lost count of how many times he stabbed him. Vox collapsed to the ground. No way the man is coming back from that.

  The sound of a door being swung open resounded across the room, followed by what sounded like hundreds of footsteps. The ground floor was flooded with men wielding various weapons, all looking at Damecus in a rather menacing manner. Damecus simply turned to them and raised the jawbone in front of him, laughing.

  Damecus: “Those of you who wish to live… leave now.”

  There should be more furniture in front of the door. And Josh's mum should have a cut on her neck... but again... AI.