Alastair pointed at the driver. “You, get out of there.” The driver looked frightened but jumped off the driver’s seat and ran back toward the town. Although it was a ways away, Flor considered it would be bad if he requisitioned more guards to help. But, they should be done with this fight by then and able to disappear into the woods. And maybe the released kids would distract them, also. Truthfully, they hadn’t discussed an exit plan. They were committed to this course now, regardless.
“You. Mayor. You must cease your evil deeds!”
Alastair jumped into the hansom where Lord 3 Oliver Guillem Francesc and Lady 3 Rosa Beatriu Meritxell-Francesc sat observing the chaos around them.
The Lady finally gave into a shriek of fear. Lord 3 Olivier Guillem Francesc raised his arms and reluctantly said, “Spare us…”
“Oh, you think it’ll be that easy?” Alastair said.
“You think you can just have your large woman attack us sitting here?”
“Not like that.” Alastair reached in, grabbed the mayor, and threw him out of the hansom. The mayor seemed to bounce off the ground. Flor saw Lady Meritxell-Francesc faint.
Another flaw in our plan. What do we do with her? And the others in the other hansom. Flor realized that she and Alastair hadn’t considered them, which was a serious oversight. She turned and saw a trim man in a beautiful blue coat jumping down from the other cab. He reached into the cab and pulled out a long, thin sword. He discarded the sheath back into the hansom and walked toward them with a dancer’s grace. The text over his head identified him as Lazare Francesc, Lord 2.
“Alastair. Alastair! There might be trouble!”
“You highwaymen! You expect to assault and rob from the Icounada Kingdom?” Lazare rushed forward, aiming at Flor. Her combat interface flared in front of her. It’s probably smart to block right now. Fortunately, time slowed once the interface appeared, and she could view the board for a second before she saw a four-block rune setup and selected it.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Lazare’s sword flashed in a blur, but she missed his thrust and re-thrust. {Surely there is some fencing terminology out there, but neither Flor nor I know what it is, so why should we expect you to, either? So you’ll get the best inaccurate descriptions I can provide…besides, do fencing terms work when discussing fencing against fisticuffs? It’s just straight-up street fighting at this point.}
Flor hoped that Alastair was either taking on the Mayor or would reinforce her soon. From the look of things, the Mayor seemed the lesser threat, but maybe there were extra benefits to being a Lord 3 that they didn’t know about.
With three health and my armor, I might be able to take two hits from that sword if I don’t heal in between. I have no idea what this dude’s health is, but I’ll guess at least six, which means I probably have to hit him at least three times if he doesn’t heal. I don’t know if I can pull this off, but, hopefully, Alastair can kill the Mayor and we can call this objective complete.
Flor decided to continue playing it safe. She fully blocked again. Lazare thrust forward quickly then returned to a defensive stance, perhaps expecting her to attack. Next, she combined a block and attack combo. Lazare flicked his blade up and then moved in fast. Flor knocked aside the first thrust with her gloves but Lazare pulled the sword down and Flor saw her health drop by one as the blade slid along her arm as it withdrew. But Flor’s fist connected with Lazare’s bicep and he stepped back.
Dammit. I wish Kester could show me his health. What sort of game doesn’t give an enemy health bar?
As if invoked, the dapper chipmunk, in cartoon form, showed in her interface. It chirped animatedly, but not anything Flor could understand. Thanks, buddy. I’m not sure what you’re saying, but I’m sure I’ll figure out it was useful in hindsight. {Kester told her that he couldn’t display her opponent’s health, but that it was currently at six of seven.}
Flor healed and attacked, hopeful that Lazare would take a defensive stance. The healing brought her health back to full of three and he easily blocked away her jab. Paper rock scissors. What’s he going to do next? Good old rock. Flor went fully defensive, and surely she could deflect or dodge each of Lazare’s attacks that round.
The board was static. She combined a bone rune with a block, hoping Lazare would attack weakly this turn. He struck out and his blade caught her on the shoulder, but she was able to slip past the withdrawal. She healed and blocked, and Lazare pressed on. The health she restored decreased a moment later as the point of his blade caught her cheek. She followed with a double attack and a heal. Her health increased full and the only reason she wasn’t fully skewered was because she moved forward. She caught him full on with two jabs to the face but received a glancing cut to her waste that doubled down on withdrawal.
Kester seemed to yell at her. {“Four of seven. You can’t survive. Bon chance!”}