How? Dagger thought as he shadow jumped, hopping hundreds of feet each time in an instant. How had they found them? He had been checking vigilantly, and he couldn't have been gone long. Why hadn't he felt them?

In what would have taken a normal person half an hour, the vigilante reached in ten seconds. Materializing out of a small puddle of shadow, the man stepped between the figures and the princess.

It was midday, and Dagger knew his powers were at their weakest. Even so, five assassins were nothing, as long as he stayed alert and careful.

"Who the hell are you?" Dagger spat at them as they advanced. The figures wore black cloaks that fell all the way to the forest floor, their faces almost completely obscured. Two held short swords, one held an ornate knife, and two held nothing at all, hands tucked in their robes. Sure of his capability to take them out, he was more concerned with how they had been able to avoid his shadow sense.

The figures didn't answer, instead lunging at him with no hesitation. The two without weapons stood back at the edge of the clearing, as though waiting. The three with weapons came at him all at once, one on each side in front of him. Their movements were swift and precise as they closed the distance quickly.

Yanking out his own knife, Dagger parried one of the swords with practiced ease, bowing back from the force as the metal rang out sharply, his knife sliding to the hilt. Peeling off a glove with his teeth, he kicked his leg out, catching the assassin with the knife in the sternum, sending him stumbling back. The other assassin brought his sword down on Dagger's exposed leg, the metal glinting brightly in the sun.

Dagger dropped his leg, but not enough to avoid the blade fully. It cut deeply into the side of his calf, spilling bright droplets of red on the green grass below. But the vigilante smiled, unbothered, grabbing the man's exposed lower face with his bare hand.

A small scream escaped him and the assassin pitched forward, falling dead next to As'rya.

It was only at this point that the girl woke up, groggily rolling over and sitting up.

"Wha...?" Dagger heard her mumble before she fully took in the scene around her.

Please don't scream, Dagger thought to himself, readying his stance as the other two figures got back up. There wasn't time to reassure her.

He glanced over at the other two men at the edge of the clearing. One now held a small round mirror in front of himself, and the other remained empty handed. Besides that, they hadn't moved an inch, passive and watching.

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Neither of the attacking assassins seemed rattled by their comrade's death, not even sparing the corpse a glance. Instead, they again threw themselves at him, weapons glinting.

Dagger was ready this time, and one of the men pitched forward, his foot entangled by weblike shadows. The tendrils clung to his boot and started climbing up his cloak, dragging him to the forest floor. The other he met head on, meeting the knife with his own, the clang ringing out through the trees. Bracing against the force, Dagger turned slightly to look at the girl.

He had planned to let the second assassin get close enough to touch, even if he had to take another gash or two, and finish off the third with his shadows. But when he looked back to where As'rya had been laying, he instead saw the princess rushing forward, her own knife out and ready.

"No, wait!" Dagger yelled out, taken aback. The girl was heading towards the man snared in shadows, her arms raised despite her hands trembling. Gods, curse this damn whelp who couldn't sit still for two minutes! She was going to get herself killed!

Twisting sharply, Dagger flung the assassin to the forest floor with as much force as he could, immediately heading to As'rya. The man kneeling on the ground had his leg stretched awkwardly out behind him, but both arms were free and he slashed his sword at the incoming girl.

As'rya realized a moment too late that he had a weapon and tried to stop her momentum. Dagger grabbed the back of her shirt, yanking hard and tossing her aside roughly. Despite this, the sword still made contact, grazing the girl's forearm. With an angry roar, the vigilante used the opening to slam his knife into the back of the assassin's head.

As he did, he felt something shove him hard and a cutting pain. Looking down, he saw the end of a knife sticking out from the left side of his chest.

Ah, gods, Dagger cursed. This was turning out to be a real mess.

A punctured lung, he thought as his breath rattled wetly. Probably more.

The assassin jerked the knife out, sending a second wave of pain through him and a cascade of blood down his tunic. Catching his balance, Dagger spun, grabbing the man by the throat and watched the light flicker out from his eyes.

The blood loss had already begun and his lung was rapidly filling with fluid, each breath more difficult than the last. Dagger felt he had about forty seconds before he would lose consciousness and less than two minutes before he bled out completely and died.

Before that, he had to take care of the last two men.

He turned, vision blurring as he fought to stay upright. His eyes found the two men but before he could move towards them, they seemed to shimmer in the air before vanishing altogether. Confused, the vigilante turned to look at the bodies of the others only to see that the other three corpses had also disappeared. The clearing was left eerily silent, save for Dagger's haggard breathing and As'rya's occasional whimpers of pain.

What? Magic? Several thoughts flashed through his head in a moment as the last of his strength left his body. What in sun's name was going on?

"Dagger!" As'rya finally called out, her face pale and eyes wide, watching the blood soak through Dagger's clothes.

"Oh, yeah," he mumbled, stumbling. His hands and feet felt like ice and each breath was agony. Time was ticking, better say something in case the assassins come back.

"Take…the knife…. go hide," he wheezed out, "I just need…some time...." Dagger tried to say more, but a bloody cough interrupted him and he took a knee. Ugh, this was always the worst part. His whole chest burned, each breath fire as his lung continued to fill with blood.

"Just...stay here," Dagger garbled out, before collapsing forward, his vision tunneling and narrowing. Faintly, he could hear As'rya calling out as his world faded into oblivion.

'Please let the girl listen,' was his last thought before he began to die.