The Infiltration - Part 4

Death

The great equalizer.

The final destination for all mortals.

To think she would reach this point only having been in this world for such a short time.

For it to come before she could understand and act on the feelings she was having for Sylvia.

Such an upsetting outcome.

She didn't think it would feel like this.

…

…

Actually, she didn't think it would feel much of anything.

…

Or that she would be able to think about things like this.

…

When she saw the man raise his sword, she all but froze. She had a weapon, but with the people around her, was unable to bring it to bear. It probably wouldn't have done much anyway, given the skill of the man and the lack of her own with a sword. If anything, this just cemented to her that she needed to keep her own weapon on her at all times in this world. No matter where she was.

A shame she couldn't put that into action now.

Her tail had also failed her, the man having dodged it and dashed right up to her. She should have tried to use it again to take him down, but she had overreached, and he managed to take a swing at her before she could think about getting it moving.

The fear that she felt caused her, in her frozen state, to close her eyes. She knew that she shouldn't have done it. It felt wrong like she should have looked her death in the face. Shown some defiance. But she could no more control her body's baser actions than she could control the weather.

When her eyes closed, she felt cold hard steel hit her head, and everything went dark and silent.

Was this what death felt like?

…

She thought it was until she felt something.

Something touching her neck.

…

Her whole thought process on this felt like an eternity, but as soon as she felt something touch her, everything sprang back into focus and things became clearer in her mind and her surroundings.

The touch startled her, causing her eyes to spring open, only for them to shut quickly as the sight just hurt her too much. The light she saw was incredibly painful, even more so when coupled with the fact that everything seemed to be spinning. While her mind may be coming into focus, her vision was not.

But now that she knew she wasn't dead, that meant she and Sylvia were still in danger. So, she forced her eyes open as best as she could to see what was happening.

And what she saw solidified those fears of being in danger.

…

It was all still moving around in her eyesight, things shifting up and down and all around. It was very disorienting. But what she did see was a black silhouette right in front of her face.

She then felt herself start to move, being pulled upwards, the silhouette moving with her.

But then, all of a sudden, she fell.

"Ahh,"

Her body fell back to where she was before emitting a short cry as she did, landing on something somewhat soft, with her head doing the same.

While only slightly painful, it did somehow shock her system, shifting things back to how they were before, and the image around her suddenly became clearer.

Looking up, she could see a few nobles still standing around, a look of fear on their faces. As she looked to where the silhouette had been, she was startled to see two people fighting right in front of her. One was a man in black, one of the intruders, and who must have been the silhouette. The other was a knight, all kitted out in their armour.

They clashed blades and looked to be evenly matched. But what she did notice was that the man only had one arm.

The oddity of it, made her remember something touching her neck, so….she looked down.

And found the reason why he only had one.

"Ahhh!"

She wasn't proud of it, but she did scream.

Who wouldn't if you suddenly woke up and found a dismembered arm with its hand wrapped around your neck?

Quickly grabbing it, she threw it away, not wanting it anywhere near her. As she did, she looked over and saw what she was sitting on.

The backs of squirming nobles.

It would seem that in the attack, the man must have used the pommel of his sword, rather than the blade like she thought. The hit knocked her head around something wild, knocking her down into the nobles she was trying to squeeze past. She must have either blacked out or passed out for a few seconds after the hit, the damage having caused her vision to spin and hurt.

But now, she could see again and knew she had to get out of there.

Pushing herself up off the floor, she looked around for Sylvia and found her just on the other side of the crowd, most of whom had moved after her fall. This now gave her plenty of space to get around them, and head to the exit.

As she did, she heard a guttural cry nearby. Turning to see what happened, she could see that the knight had won, finishing the man off with a stab to the chest.

The knight, after pulling their sword out, turned to Octavia.

"Quickly, get out of here Octavia."

It was loud in the ballroom, all the fighting and death causing a racket, but she could recognise that voice anywhere.

Althea.

Following her teacher's instruction, she turned and fled to the door, hearing the sound of more blades clashing from her direction. Althea was back in combat again, and she wasn't the only one.

It would seem that during her escape, on the other side of the room, a few knights had managed to reach the ballroom. They must have taken out the intruders that were fighting them in another area of the castle and worked their way here. But, while good to see, Octavia didn't know if they would win, or if the intruders would. They all appeared to be evenly matched, so it was anyone's guess.

"Damn it!"

She was almost at the door when she heard someone speak. A quick glance behind gave her a glimpse of something that would not end well for her, the leader of the group jumping from the stage all the while staring in her direction.

Yeah, he was annoyed, and he was coming for her.

…

Looking forward again she continued on her way, reaching Sylvia and then thankfully reaching the door. As they pushed it open, they met some resistance, but that was not going to stop her. Using all the strength she had, she pushed as hard as she could, and made a gap large enough to get through.

The sight she saw was just as bad as what was in the ballroom. The hall was littered with corpses, guards and intruders alike. Looking down, she also saw the reason for the resistance at the door, which surprise, surprise, was another corpse, wedged against it. It was a horrible sight.

She gagged at it all but managed to pull herself back together as there was still more escaping needed. Thankfully though, the hall only had corpses in it. None of the living intruders were present to hamper their escape, all having entered the room to help the rest. This gave them a clear way out. Well down the hall at least.

Taking Sylvia's hand she quickly pulled her down the hall, slithering over the bodies as she did, the sounds of crushed bones causing even more nausea as she went.

…

As they reached the end of the hall, she heard a door open. Looking around, she thought it was one near her, but the sound of footsteps behind her meant that wasn't the case. A quick turn and she saw who it was. The leader again.

"As they say, if you need a job done, do it yourself."

Somehow he managed to get out of the room, and past all of the knights. How he did it, she didn't know. She hoped Althea had managed to remain unscathed though.

With the gravity of the situation, they turned back and headed away, turning at the end of the hall.

"Quick, follow me. I know where we can go." Sylvia quickly said.

So, letting her take the lead, Octavia followed her, hoping that she would know how they could lose this guy, as she was certain she could not beat him in a fight.

…

They moved down many halls and passed through several rooms, many she had not seen before, but they always heard the man's footsteps behind them. How this man continued to find them as they moved around this maze was beyond her.

Eventually, they came to the floor they had been staying at. The man was far enough behind them that they were able to dash inside and grab their gear. It was all ready to go and packed in a couple of bags that it didn't take long to grab it.

"How do we get away from him?" Octavia couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know. I don't kn-. Wait… I think I know how. Follow me."

They were back on the move again, exiting their rooms and turning right, just as they heard the man's footsteps on the stairs they had come from.

"You can run as much as you like, but I will get you, Octavia."

Choosing not to listen to the man, Octavia continued to let Sylvia take them down a few more twists and turns before entering another room. The room, if there was one word to describe it, was opulent.

The bed was absolutely gorgeous, with drapes made of what she had to imagine was very expensive material, surrounding the bed and the windows. The furniture also looked very expensive and actually comfortable, not like the ones in their rooms which only appeared to be comfortable.

Sylvia stood in the centre of the room and had a quick look around before she suddenly stopped and headed towards the wall. She felt around for a while before she managed to grab hold of something and then started to pull.

It was like it was right out of a spy film, where when she pulled, a hidden door made up of the stone bricks from the wall opened up. She swung it open with some ease and quickly beckoned her over.

"How…What?" was all Octavia could say at seeing the door.

"It's Desmon's escape tunnel. He told me about it in case something like this happened. Now quickly."

Breaking out of the shock of seeing a secret door in real life, she headed over and moved inside. Sylvia followed and turned back to pull it shut. She managed to do it just in time, as when their door closed, the bedroom one opened.