Run In With The Law

Ayrete thrust the sword down to kill the princess, but something blocked the blade.

*Clink!*

"What?" Ayrete held up his sword and saw that the tip of it had been chipped off by something. He bent down and saw a bulge under her shirt. There was a string around her neck too. How did he not notice this when he was choking her earlier?

From the looks of things, his sword hit her necklace, and whatever the necklace was made of, it was even tougher than steel.

"Hmph... How lucky." Ayrete stood back up and raised his sword again. The tip might have broken off, but the weapon was still sharp enough to inflict harm. She wasn't going to get lucky a second time. He held the sword over her neck this time and plunged it down.

To Ayrete's dismay, something once again prevented him from killing the princess. A bow, yes, a bow, dropped down from the sky and hit the back of his hand. And since Ayrete wasn't wearing a helmet, the blow really hurt.

"Ahh! How dare you!" While holding his head, Ayrete looked up and saw the elf standing directly above him on top of the wall. Whether it was karma for what he did to the princess or something else, she accurately threw the bow from all the way up there and it landed on his head. Normally, a bow was supposed to be light, and getting hit by one would be no different than getting hit by a stick, but elven bows were made out of a very durable and heavy kind of wood, which resulted in Ayrete getting hit by the equivalent of an iron pipe.

Ayrete cut the bow in half, causing the string to snap and also slap him in the face. If he wasn't angry enough before, he was livid now, his blood vessels ready to burst out of his face and neck. He turned back to Iris and swung his sword, knowing that he was running out of time. He had seconds before the bombs reached him and needed to leave now.

The blade sliced through the air, reaching a centimeter away from her neck before he was rudely interrupted again. This time, a sword slid through between his blade and the princess, preventing Ayrete from killing her.

"Who is it this time-"

A sword sliced through the air, almost cutting the soldier's head off, but he saw it in time and ducked. He withdrew his blade and backed off to see who it was that he was dealing with now. "Oh, it's you two..." he growled when he saw the faces of the two royal guards. Since he took too much time trying to interrogate Iris and was denied twice from killing her, they managed to catch up. It was almost like the Gods were watching over the princess and doing everything they could to protect her...

"So, even fate stands in my way..." But this wasn't going to stop him. He still had a chance to finish off the princess. All he needed to do was buy enough time for the bomb to go off and not let the two of them drag her away. He might get hurt in the process, but he was more than confident in his ability to escape.

"Rui, take her highness away. I'll hold him back!"

"Huh? She is one of the princesses!?" Rui couldn't believe it. She met this girl before and she didn't recognize her at all. Now that she had a closer look, she did resemble the queen a lot.

"No time to explain, just go!" Lentis shouted at Rui. They needed to get the princess out of here. She was Ayrere's target.

Rui gave a disagreeing face but they didn't have time to argue. Just like before, the bombs were still catching up to them. They already blew up the ground that the soldiers and hybrids were fighting on top of and buried them. Currently, they were the only ones left. She put away her sword and quickly picked up the princess, scowling when she saw blood dripping from her head. He gave Ayrete a murderous glare before hurrying off. "Stay alive!" This was her last order to Lentis as she carried the princess away.

"As if I'd let you!" Ayrete reached into his armor and pulled out his last bomb. He was saving it in case of an emergency, and if this wasn't an emergency, then nothing was.

Lentis' eyes became the size of grapefruits when he saw what it was. "Another one!?" Just how many did he have? Never mind. He needed to stop him from throwing the bomb at all costs. Lentis flipped his sword around, holding it like a javelin, and launched it at Ayrete.

The sword was obviously not designed to be thrown but Lentis still managed to knock the bomb out of the traitor's hand.

"No!"

The bomb rolled across the floor and was swallowed up by the hole behind them. "Why, you!" Ayrete ran in and started swinging wildly at Lentis in a fit of rage, having had his plans foiled so many times in the span of minutes.

Armed with nothing but his hands, Lentis couldn't fight back and did his best to dodge everything. He did a pretty good job but still took a few grazes here and there, resulting in many cuts on his body.

*Hiss!*

Time was up. Lentis succeeded at stalling Ayrete and buying enough time for Rui to escape. He saw the look of surprise on Ayrete's face, which quickly turned into realization when he figured out what the sound was. But he figured it out a second too late.

Lentis kicked Ayrete in the stomach as hard as he could while the soldier was still dazed and pushed him back right into the radius of the explosion. The floor cracked and opened upwards, sending debris rocketing into the air. Ayrete fell down into the hole, grasping at nothing. There was no branch or rope for him to grab onto.

"I'll have my revenge! Don't think this is the last you will see of me!" Ayrete screamed, his voice cracking and fading away as he fell down into the pitch back hole. The rubble collapsed on top of him, burying the soldier.

Lentis does not doubt that Ayrete survived the fall. But he will have to worry about him later. The first thing on the to-do list? He needed to get out of here... The heck out of here. He was extremely lucky that the bomb barely missed him, and he was able to avoid joining Ayrete down in the hole because of this.

However, the next bomb was going to bury him alongside the soldier if he was too slow. Lentis bolted for the exit. He heard the hiss of the bomb and knew that he didn't have much time left. The exit was only a few meters away.

Faster! He needed to make it! Lentis felt a tremor and jumped the final distance as the ground burst open. He looked down and saw the dark pit. He wasn't going to make it! He was too far from the ledge.

He tried to grab onto it but he missed by less than a centimeter. No!

Suddenly, a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed his. "Come on!" Lentis was pulled up from the ledge by Rui. She couldn't have come at a better time.

The moment Lentis' feet touched the ground, the two of them ran as fast as their legs and their heavy armor could allow them. They made it out of the colosseum just in time as the walls came crashing down, obscuring the big gate that was the entrance.

*Cough*

Dust went into their eyes and lungs but they were safe. "Thank goodness I made it in time," Rui said with a sigh of relief. She was glad that she was able to catch Lentis before he fell.

"Ayrete won't be bothering us for the time being," Lentis coughed, the two walking out of the cloud of dust. He looked around with his dry eyes and spotted the princess lying on the ground with a couple of soldiers standing next to her.

"How is she?" Rui asked them. She told them to take a look at the princess' condition while she went and rescued Lentis.

The soldiers looked nervously at each other. None of them wanted to break the news to Rui.

"Speak, soldier," Lentis ordered them.

The soldiers continued to look at each other until one of them just said, "Screw it," and mustered the courage to tell the two. "Truthfully speaking, she is in critical condition. None of us here are doctors, but we're confident that she may have skull fractures and a lot of internal bleeding judging from the size of the bruises," the soldier bluntly said in a shaky voice.

"She's... Very unlikely to survive," another soldier added, giving his assessment of the situation.

Rui kneeled and down took the princess' pulse. The soldiers were not kidding. She could barely feel the faint pulse in her neck. Her breathing was also almost nonexistent, taking in small breaths every couple of seconds. She was minutes away from death!

"Doctors? Healers? Bring everyone who has medical knowledge here, now!" Rui urgently ordered the soldiers.

"Yes!" The soldiers moved out and spread the message. They came back a minute later, fruitless. As if it wasn't clear already, one of the soldiers said it anyway. "There are no doctors here..."

"Doctor? I can help with that." Nyana landed next to them in the sand with a soft "pff." Immediately, the soldiers reached for their weapons, not recognizing the woman.

"Hold!" Rui held her arm out and stopped them. She and Lentis moved away and let Nyana take a look at the princess.

"Hm... Can't keep out of danger, can you?" Nyana gently placed her hand on Iris' head and closed her eyes. A soft green glow emitted from her hand, creating a calming aura around her. The soldiers watched with open mouths as the wounds closed up like they never existed in the first place.

The process took around half a minute and everyone was quiet during this time. Well, other than the soldiers whispering to each that was. They were shocked to see an elf in their desert. A place that was void of life. What elf would come here?

"Done," Nyana informed them that she was finished after around a minute, taking some time to check for internal injuries as well. She couldn't heal them fully like she could with the outside, but it was better than not doing something about it at all.

"Iris!"

Everyone turned to see Sirks and Wompa running towards them. The two's faces were filled with worry and when they spotted Iris, they quickly came hurrying over. However, when Sirks spotted the two royal guards, he stopped, scowled, and cursed. "Sh*t!"

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