Shadow Dagger Ch. 07

In any other circumstance, Sophina wouldn't believe that she had Evelyn naked in a tub with her. But since the events of the other night, she felt strangely...detached. Looking at Evelyn's naked body was no more stimulating than seeing a child naked. That's what she is...a child. The woman I fell in love with is gone.

Sophina shook her head, trying to dispel those gloomy thoughts. She looked over at the stool next to the tub and discovered that the escort did not leave behind any soap or sponges. She sighed and stood up. "Wait here ok, Evelyn?"

She stepped over the tub and ran quickly to the door. The air was a lot cooler compared to the water. She reached for the door handle when she heard voices whispering behind the door. She frowned and pressed her ear against the door.

"I tell you, the women you are looking for are in there! Jon Laurent was down the other hallway, behind the door that you barred. You would believe me if you looked inside first."

"And get a Shadow Dagger in my face for my trouble? You better be right about this, Tom. I hope you didn't drag me away from the whorehouse for nothing. I would be most...displeased."

Sophina froze; the deep male voice sounded very familiar. With a sinking feeling, she recognized who it was. The door muffled most of his voice but it was unmistakably her fellow Emporium guard, Warren Lay. She thought it surreal how she had drunk him under the table only a few nights ago.

What is he doing here? Sophina feared that she already knew the answer. She ran back to the tub and grabbed her sword just at the door swung open. Warren stepped inside and stopped. His eyes widened as he took in Sophina's naked body and then widened more when he saw the sword.

"Sophina?" he asked incredulously. He shook his head. "I thought they were crazy when they said they wanted you found. What would Raynolt want with you?"

"You better get out of here, Warren. You are way in over your head."

"I can't, Sophina. I am under orders."

Sophina tightened her grip on the sword and moved to the middle of the room. "You are suppose to take me in, is that it?"

Warren shook his head sadly. "No, Sophina. I am to take into custody your companion over there. But you...you are to be killed on sight." He drew his sword as he spoke. The air filled with the deadly silence that precedes battle.

The proprietor, Tom, peeked in the room and must have sensed the atmosphere because his eyes widened in alarm as he closed the door quickly. Sophina suppressed an urge to make a run for it. She knew the heavy door would cut off any sounds within the room. Help wouldn't be coming for her.

Sophina shifted her gaze back to Warren. "Emporium guards never kill on sight!"

Warren shifted his feet guiltily. The look he gave her was firm, however. Sophina cursed herself as she recalled what he had said previously. "You asked what Raynolt wanted with me. Is that who claims your allegiance now? You sold yourself out like a common whore."

Warren's pale face flushed beneath his steel helm. "What loyalty do I owe the Emporium? Raynolt pays much better."

"What loyalty?" Sophina spat. Her hand squeezed her sword angrily. "You swore an oath!"

Warren spat to the side. "That oath is meaningless, you know that. It's just a job, Sophina. I found a better one."

Sophina slid her feet apart on the warm stone floor and raised her sword. "You have no honor. You are nothing more than a common mercenary. As a guard of the Emporium, your death would have been honored. Now, as a mercenary, nobody will shed a tear."

"You overestimate your chances. I am wearing full armor and am much bigger and stronger. I doubt those small tits of yours will offer any protection from my blade."

Sophina cursed under her breath. I knew I should have worn my armor! Damn the consequences! She studied him warily. He was definitely much bigger. His shoulders were broad and his arms were as thick as her thighs. She knew that with all that armor she would have the advantage with endurance. But endurance would be no help against the strength of his blows.

"No more talk," he growled. He moved forward slowly, his sword leading the way.

Sophina gripped her sword tightly and moved slowly toward the tub with Evelyn. She risked a glance behind her and felt her heart sink. Evelyn was staring vacantly into the water. A small part of Sophina had hoped Evelyn would snap out of it and kill Warren with a single word and gesture. Now she was forced to do it herself.

Warren continued to slowly advance on her. His gaze flicked to Evelyn. "So it's true what they say; your companion really is witless. Too bad, I would have loved to battle two naked women at once."

The insult to Evelyn enraged Sophina. "You have more than you can handle with me!" She charged forward as fast as she could.

Warren started in surprise but quickly met Sophina head-on. She stabbed high for his unprotected face but he batted her sword aside with surprising speed. He brought his knee up and hit her full in the gut, the metal leggings driving deep into her ribs. Breath whooshed out of her as she crumpled over his knee. He brought the hilt of his sword down across her cheek.

Pain erupted on the side of her face as she fell to the floor. Lights dazzled her vision and her cheek felt like it was nothing more than shards of bone. Distantly, through the ringing of her ears, she heard his mocking laughter.

"Is that the best you got? I wanted a challenge. Get up and try again."

She rolled over and spat blood and a tooth onto the stone floor. Pain continued to radiate from her shattered cheek. Her vision cleared slowly. She found her sword on the floor next to her and used it to push herself to her feet. She straightened her back and fought the nausea that suddenly assaulted her.

"Let this be a lesson on predictability," he said as he smirked at her.

Sophina raised her sword again. "You should have killed me when you had the chance."

He laughed. "What, you think your friends are suddenly going to burst through the door? They are all the way across the building with two thick oak doors between you and them. Besides, I made sure their door was barred before I came over here. I am not stupid enough to take on Jon Laurent by myself. I am, however, going to collect the reward on you, personally."

Sophina took the opportunity during his speech to steady herself. The pain was making her head throb but it was manageable. She took a deep breath and advanced on him again. His smirk widened as he came to meet her.

This time she feinted a thrust at his face and brought her sword down and across. He read her feint easily and deflected her real attack. Sophina felt herself sink into the familiar warrior trance as their swords clanged together in the back and forth of their battle. The pain in her face receded into the back of her mind. She saw only Warren's sword. Her muscles reacted swiftly to deflect each blow. She was faster than him without all of her armor. But the strength of his blows sent ringing vibrations up her arms.

They moved around the room as they continued their battle. She kicked stools at him and moved behind the tubs to catch her breath. But he advanced on her relentlessly. Her sword clanged off his heavy breastplate several times but barely made a scratch. She realized that he was purposefully leaving openings. He used his armor to deflect blows and to create better openings for his sword to find a hole in her defenses.

Her arms were quickly growing tired. Her body was soaked in sweat and her muscles felt like they were on fire. She felt no satisfaction to see that Warren was quickly wearing down as well. He was, after all, wearing full-plate armor. But his blows were still strong enough to batter her sword. Her arms were going numb from deflecting his heavy blows.

"Now this is more like it," he grunted. He smirked in satisfaction as he slipped through her guard and scored a solid cut on her upper left arm.

She winced in pain and felt blood flowing freely down her arm. He pressed his advantage and soon added two more cuts; a relatively shallow cut above her right eye and a deeper one across the upper ribs on her left side. The cut across her ribs burned painfully. Blood gushed from the wound and ran down her side.

"You're done," he said, and followed his words with a vicious assault. She fell back against the tub where Evelyn was and it was all she could do to keep his sword away from her vital areas.

His sword bit deeply into her right forearm and nearly severed it. She screamed and dropped her sword. His mailed fist crunched against her nose and she fell to floor next to the tub. Her next moments were spent trying desperately to blink back the dark spots floating across her vision. She tasted warm blood as it poured from her ruined nose. She rested her head against the floor and gave it up.

Sorry Evelyn, I couldn't protect you. She waited for the final blow but felt nothing for several moments. She blinked her eyes several times before she could focus enough to see Warren standing above her. His sword hovered inches away from her face.

"You fought well," he said. "You say I am not a man of honor...but I am a soldier, just like you, and I honor your courage."

She reached desperately for her sword but he kicked it aside. Her right arm was useless anyways; pale white bone showed beneath the gash. She felt her life draining from all of her wounds. At least the pain was fading to a dull roar, no doubt due to her body shutting down. Her hands and feet were tingling.

She slowly sat up and leaned against the tub. His sword followed her every movement. She felt her left hand brush her boot. It was laying on its side next to her other boot and her neat pile of clothes. A small hope flickered inside her. I have to keep him distracted.

"You say you are a soldier, but you are nothing like me," she breathed through the blood in her mouth. She didn't like how her breath whistled in her lungs. She had heard that sound plenty of times on the battlefield; it was a death rattle. She pushed that thought away and inched her hand slowly inside her boot, praying fervently that he wouldn't notice.

"Don't pretend you are any better than me," he snarled. The sword jerked in his hand but he did not finish her.

Her finger touched something hard in her boot. She closed her hand around it. "Go to hell," she wheezed.

"Save a spot for me." He brought his sword back for the killing thrust.

With all the energy she had left in this life, she whipped her dagger from her boot and thrust it at the vulnerable area where his leg connected with his crotch and was unprotected by armor. She willed all her strength into her left hand and felt her dagger bite deep into his flesh.

He screamed in intense pain. His thrust deflected to the side and impaled her right shoulder to the tub behind her. Water burst through the hole and soaked her back. Warren fell to the ground and pulled the dagger from his crotch. Blood squirted and poured heavily onto the floor. He moaned and pressed his hands against the wound, trying to stem the flow of blood.

She watched impassively as the life drained out of him. She was familiar with that wound. There was a major artery in that area that could quickly kill a man if severed. She leaned her head back. She could no longer feel her wounds. She felt almost giddy.

He looked up at her, his face deathly pale. "Help me," he whispered.

She shook her head. "I'm dead, too," she croaked.

He whimpered and dragged himself across the floor. She watched, bemused, as he attempted to crawl toward the door, trailing a pool of blood behind him. If he was smart, he would have attempted to find something to bind his wound. Instead, panic had overtaken him and robbed him of his senses. Not that he ever had much sense, she thought bitterly.

He scratched feebly at the door for several moments before his head dropped to the floor. He was dead. Sophina felt little satisfaction in that. After all, she was soon to join him.

The door opened and smacked against Warren's head. The door was shoved open, moving Warren's body and smearing blood across the floor. Tom walked in hesitantly, followed by two men. His eyes widened when he saw Warren's body. He quickly scanned the room and spotted Sophina pinned to the tub and looking at him.

He shook his head. "I should thank you. You spared me the trouble of killing him in order to collect the reward. Now, to finish the job..." He nodded at the two men, who, judging from their filthy clothing and crude swords, were obviously hired thugs. "Kill her."

Sophina noticed a flicker of movement behind the proprietor. She smiled. "I think not," she whispered.

Tom frowned and then gasped as his back arched and his body shuddered. The two men whirled around as Tom's body fell to the floor, revealing Jon standing with his Shadow Dagger in hand. The man on the left stood rooted to the spot, frozen stiff. It wouldn't have mattered if he had been free to move; Jon's dagger punched through his throat before Tom's body completely hit the floor.

To his credit, the other man reacted swiftly. As his companion dropped to his knees and clutched his throat, he swung his sword at Jon's exposed side. Sophina wasn't sure, but either the man swung far off the mark or Jon moved so fast as to appear standing a foot away from where he was when the man swung. Either way, the result was the same. Jon punched his dagger into the man's chest three times before he had even completed his swing.

The man's body hit the floor and did not move. He was already dead. The other man wasn't quite so dead yet. He clutched his throat and kicked his legs feebly. His eyes were bulging out of his head. Jon bent over him and shoved his dagger into his chest. His Shadow Dagger parted flesh as easily as a man parted a whore's legs.

He wiped his dagger on the man's shirt and sheathed it back on his hip. He walked over to Sophina and knelt in front of her. He shook his head. "Look at you, I take you out for one night and you go and get yourself killed." His voice sounded cheerful but worry lines creased his forehead.

Sophina gulped in air and then coughed up blood. She found the breath to speak her thoughts. "Go to hell," she gasped.

He smiled and, without warning, pulled the sword out of her shoulder. She would have screamed if she didn't have so much blood in her lungs. She almost blacked out on the spot. "Get ready," he warned her.

He laid his hands on her head. His eyes suddenly glowed silver. She didn't even have the energy to prepare herself. She started convulsing as the painful healing sped through her body. His magic stole everything it could from her body to shore up the wounds. She felt like dying as her cheek bone rearranged itself under her skin. The cuts pulled uncomfortably tight. Her nose popped audibly as it healed.

After what seemed like centuries, she stopped convulsing and slumped against the tub. Spots swam across her vision and she felt as weak as a newborn lamb. She couldn't even lift her arm. Her eyes felt heavy.

"Ashford, get in here and get Evelyn dressed. Quickly, man! Sophina is not out of the woods yet. Her wounds were too great; she may not live out the night. We must hurry."

She felt her eyes close shut. Really, dying isn't so bad. I feel...warm. Not bad at all...

Darkness took her, down, down, down...