My eyes had to be lying. It could not be Ulrich’s boy on the roof. And yet, there he was a story above me, looking down with a satisfied smirk.

All at once, vicious wrath filled my very essence. I’ll make him pay… And, this time, I was not unarmed. In fact, I was armed with the boy’s sword. How sweet it would be to run his own blade through his heart!

Calm down, Anno, I told myself. I knew in my rational mind that the boy was not responsible for his actions. None of them were.

“I’m curious,” I shouted in a much calmer tone than I felt, “When was it that you fell under Heide’s spell?”

The boy did not answer. I did not expect him to. If I had to guess, I would say that it was either when he left to find more armor or when we separated.

I began to count the guards in the corners of my eye as I asked, “Won’t your precious Sheriff wonder where you are?”

If I remembered correctly, we were surrounded by twelve guards. Five in front, three to my left and right, and three behind. The twelfth was Herman, who had his crossbow trained on me.

Again, he did not answer. Instead, he said. “Don’t move. We wanted the girl alive. Lady Heide needed to speak to her.”

“You should have thought of that before you shot her!” Despite knowing he was under Heide’s influence, I could not help but speak with hatred. Hearing him speak of Lina’s possible death had stoked my fury. She was alive. I just needed time to confirm what I already knew.

“Not my fault,” said Herman, “I had the shot, but she got in the way. What an idiot!”

He was trying to provoke me. I know he was. Not yet, Anno. Be patient. Your moment will come. If they thought that I would be intimidated by trivial numbers like these, he did not know Prince Anno!

But I was kneeling on the ground with Lina in my arms. Even I had to admit that I was not in a favorable position. By the time I tried to grab the sword at my belt, Herman would have already shot me ten times over.

“All right!” said I, “You win! One of you, come and take her from me.”

“You’re in no position to bargain, whelp!” said the guard in front of me, a man with a long red beard that spilled below his helmet.

“This is the only way I’ll cooperate!”

“Why do we need you to cooperate?” said Red Beard, “We can just shoot you dead on the spot! We don’t need you alive!”

I tilted my head, “Then, why haven’t you?” My eyes darted between them, “Any of you? Go on, and you know that I won’t do anything to risk Lina’s life.” I paused as I let a smile travel my lips, “And I know that neither will you.”

The guards only stared at me.

“Indeed!” I said, “You cannot willingly disobey that woman’s orders, even if you wanted to. I suspect they were ‘Do not harm Lina and kill the others,’ weren't they?”

Nobody spoke.

“Such a simple order and so easily blundered.” I turned my smile up to Herman, “You’re so incompetent I suspect you failed in trying to kill the horse and Dietrich.”

“No need to,” said Herman, “When you separated from the group, Sheriff Ulrich told me to find you.”

“I see,” I said. My smile faded. Perhaps they were more intelligent than I gave them credit for. Heide’s order may have been more intricate than I initially assumed.

I felt my pulse quicken. But I kept my breathing steady. If Dietrich was still alive, all I needed was to take Lina to him and his healing hands. He had healed magical burns. A simple puncture wound would be nothing.

I began to lower Lina to the ground.

“I thought I said not to move!” Herman’s voice cracked as he shouted. “I’ll shoot you!”

“Then shoot,” I said. I refused to hesitate as I lay her on her side and wrapped my fingers around the bolt. I kept my body low and over top of hers. “And if you fail to kill me instantly, I’ll be sure to pull this bolt from her. Unless you want to risk shooting my hand? At that angle, you’ll hit her for sure. Her lung’s probably punctured already. How much longer do you think she’ll last? I’d say minutes, if not less.”

I kept my body hovering over hers as I let them decide.

The guards on the ground looked at each other. I was willing to gamble on my theory that they would prioritize her life over mine. But not with Lina’s. Were they smart enough to realize that I planned to throw myself over her before I ever attempted to yank the bolt out? Hold on, Lina. I will keep you safe. Stay strong. I needed to know who the real Lina was.

“Fine!” said Red Beard, “You win.”

My bluff had paid off. “Excellent. All but one of you, back away, now!” After a moment of hesitation, they obeyed. All but Red Beard moved back to form a circle around us.

He was silent for a moment. “Now, you back away,” he said.

Herman’s voice sounded from the roof, “Don’t try anything funny, Prince, or I will shoot you.”

I somehow doubted it, but I was not worried either way. “Go right ahead. Once Lina’s clear, I don’t care what happens to me.” That was the truth. I was starting to suspect that Lina was far more important than a mere prince of a backwater kingdom like Cross.

Everything I was about to do was for her. Once she was in Dietrich’s hands, I could die without regret.

I raised my hands in the air and began to stand. As I did so, I took a few shuffling steps backward. By the time I was fully standing, I was halfway between Lina and the guards behind me, only about two paces from either.

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His eyes locked on me, Red Beard crept forward. He kneeled down and pressed gloveless fingers to her neck. There was silence for several moments as he checked her pulse. I waited with bated breath. Then, “She’s alive. It’s faint, but there’s a heartbeat.”

I released my breath with a sigh of relief. There was time. And, more importantly, there was hope. “If I were you, I’d cut her free from her armor before you moved her.”

Red Beard shot me a suspicious glance. “And why should I do that?”

“She was already having trouble breathing before. If you don’t free her from that plate, she’ll have more of a chance to survive. Isn’t that your prime directive?”

Keeping her alive meant more to them than killing me. That much was clear. My suspicion was confirmed as Red Beard began to undo the two straps of the connecting plates gingerly. Once he undid the second strap, the front plate of the armor fell open like a clamshell, revealing the dark tunic of her guard uniform. The back plate began to fall as well, pressing against the bolt on her back, causing the wooden shaft to bend. Lina’s face contorted in pain, though her eyes remained closed.

“Keep your hand on her back, fool! Don’t let it twist the bolt!” I shouted as I took a step forward. The guards tensed; some even began to draw their weapons.

“Stay still!” said Herman, “That’s your last warning, prince!”

But I had already stopped moving the moment Red Beard obeyed my order. His hand was firmly on her back. I could not see where exactly he had placed it, but it seemed to be around the bolt. Good.

I turned my attention to Lina’s chest, which I could now see was rapidly rising and falling. Her breaths were far too shallow, closer to spasms. My heart was nearly sprinting at the sight.

But I kept my fear out of my face as I watched Red Beard snap the wooden shaft of the bolt and carefully slide the back armor over the remaining inches. As soon as Lina was free of the armor, he took her limp body in his arms and began to walk away.

“She’s clear!” he shouted as the wall of guards split to let him pass.

I could guess the implicit order in that statement. Sure enough, Herman raised his crossbow and fired in one swift motion. But I was ready for it.

My blade was out and slashing downward right as the bolt reached me. The sword was not sharp enough to slice the wood in two. However, it did send it spiraling to the cobblestone street with a clatter.

The other guards were quick to follow as those who did not already have their own swords drawn did so as they began to charge toward me.

I watched as Red Beard began to take Lina further and further from me. He disappeared behind the building that Herman stood upon before my attention turned back to the remaining ten guards on the ground.

I could tell that they were not experienced in combat by the way they held their swords. It seemed that little actual fighting took place in Justice. No wonder their blades were so shabby in make. That thought allowed me to swallow my panic regarding the fleeing Red Beard and focus on the guards surrounding me.

Two of the guards to my left made vertical slashes toward me. I was calm in my response as I stepped back into the three rear guards’ range. They were caught by surprise and took a swing at me. But I was far too close for their slashes to be effective, as I blocked all their attacks with my forearm to their wrists. I kicked the center guard square in the chest. He stumbled back but did not fall.

“You may think you have the advantage with your numbers,” said I as I followed my kick with a shoulder tackle between two of the guards before the others had time to react, which broke through their barrier. I then retreated a few steps, facing them the entire way with my sword resting at a Brechfenster stance, a middle guard. “But the truth is that the more of you there are, the more difficult it is for you to organize, especially those as uncoordinated and experienced as you twits.”

Two guards yelled as they charged at me, swords raised over their heads. I smirked. It’s cute that they think they could intimidate me. One lowered his sword to his inside right while the other lowered it to his inside left so that their swords nearly crossed over each other.

I had to raise my eyebrow at that. Who taught them such a ridiculous technique? As the two slashed outward, I took a step back only to see a third guard stab his sword between them. He may have thought he was close to running his blade through me, as the tip was mere inches from my neck, but in reality, he had as much chance of striking me as he would being a hundred feet away.

I shook my head in disappointment. I needed to have a word with Ulrich about the standards he had for his guards. “Do you see what I mean?” As I took several more steps back, which took me into the shadow between two buildings, several guards funneled themselves after me. “Even in a wide-open field, the most a crowd can skillfully attack a single target with is three, maybe four. After that, you start getting in each other’s way. And you might think—that is if any of you can think—why don’t we just trample him like the mob we are? Or pile upon him? But let me ask you this: what do you think would happen if I start luring you to a bottleneck?”

The guards did not seem to register anything I was saying, which was a pity. They could learn a lot from this encounter, but their minds were too deep under Heide’s spell. As such, they did not understand that their movements were severely limited in this narrow alley. It was barely large enough for two of them to stand side by side.

I was glad I had managed to spot it during my initial retreat. It must have been a blessing of Iliana herself! Of course, I could deal with numbers like these without such tactics if I had the time. But time was the one thing I did not have. The distance between myself and Lina was growing by the second. It took everything I had to keep my composure and not blindly chase after her and Red Beard, slashing the throats of every guard in sight.

I could do it. It would be easy. But I would not take the life of the innocent, even if they had harmed Lina. I steadied my nerves the best way I knew how; by talking.

“And don’t think I forgot about you, my young friend,” I said, wagging a finger up at Herman, whom I could still see trying to take aim at me on the rooftop. “Thank you ever so much for this blade. It will no doubt serve me well.” I clasped the sword with both hands and lowered my guard to an Alber stance with the point of my blade aimed downward in front of me.

The true edge ran perpendicular to the ground, ready for anyone to take the bait of the Fool’s guard. I renewed my strategic retreat and prayed to Iliana that this alley did not lead to a dead end!

As of now, I could see five guards approaching me through the alley’s mouth. Including Herman on the roof, that left six guards unaccounted for. Depending on how much of themselves the guards maintained, they no doubt knew these alleyways and streets far better than I did. My ears were pricked for the sound of footsteps from behind.

I had an unshakable faith in my Alber, and turned my head to see where I was retreating. The alley ended in less than four feet with no sign of life. Just a little bit further, and I was free to run without fear of Herman’s crossbow.

My hands moved before my eyes registered what the guard close to me was doing. As the man thrust forward with his sword, I turned the hilt in my hand so the edges were now parallel and performed the sequence that would catch his blade. A sequence that had been drilled into my very being since childhood.

Wolfsbiss. Wolf Bite.

I slashed my sword upward, stepping forward to put as much power into the attack as possible. Like the jaws of a beast clamping shut, my blade met the guard’s; only his upper jaw was far too weak to handle my lower.

The guard’s sword was sent heavenward, with the man barely maintaining his hold on it.

If this were a battle to the death, I would transition to a Wolfszahn and thrust my blade past the man’s broken guard and into his exposed neck or gut. Since this was not the case, I instead let my sword finish its arc so that it pointed straight up above my head and waited for the guard to return his sword to combat position.

As soon as he did, I twisted my hilt to have the true edge once more facing the ground.

Pounce.

I sliced down with all my strength, blade whistling as the full might of my sword bore down on the guard, who turned his blade horizontal to protect himself. As expected of a novice.

With a clang that was followed by a shower of clatters, my blade shattered the guard's flimsy weapon. I expected that. What I did not expect was that my own weapon, too, shattered upon impact.

The pieces flew in all directions. One even flew back and scratched along my left cheek.

I was so shocked by this that I could not help but stagger back, clutching my face. Hot blood poured between quivering fingers. The cut was deep. Even still, I kept my eyes on the guards and, more importantly, Herman.

As I had thought, the boy had his shot, which he took with seeming relish.