Page 26 of Veiled Fate
Chapter Thirteen
In a bar fight, anything is a weapon.
The phrase came to me unbidden in the first few milliseconds after the soldiers rushed in from the kitchen. It was Andi’s voice speaking during one of her innumerable lessons back in the “good” days when I had first committed to their cause. I’d spent a month in the caves, training with them, getting to know the people there.
And I learned a few things along the way. Such as bar stools were often made of cheap wood quickly slapped together for just that purpose. Bar stools, I recalled, madeterribleweapons.
But they made excellent distractions.
Mine flung through the air at the guards, and a second and third followed, forcing the guards to fend off the flying missiles while I sought my next action. They had swords. I didn’t, which put me at a distinct disadvantage.
The front door was ripped from its hinges and fell flat under the arrival of yet more Lycaon-marked guardsmen. They charged at me, gauntleted hands grabbing my arms, forcing them wide as they pinned me against the bar.
“You’re under arrest for—”
“Calli take you!” I shouted at the guard standing in front of me, leaning back on the bar and slamming both feet into his chest.
There was awhoofof air exploding from his lungs, and for a split second, I savored the look of utter shock on his face. Then he was gone, hurtling back through the door, taking another pair of guards with him, their armor clattering together noisily. Yet more came through the door, faces grim and ready for violence as they came at me.
A tremendous roar from upstairs was quickly followed by a massive form throwing itself into their midst as Kiel arrived, flattening the guards as he landed on them. In a flash, he was on his feet, yanking the nearest soldier off me and sending him flying into a table.
“Thanks,” I chirped, wrapping myself around the back of my remaining attacker, legs tight around his midsection.
“Not a problem,” Kiel grunted, picking up a table and flinging it at the door to buy himself another second or two. “You good?”
“I’m good,” I assured him, pulling off the steel helmet and plunging my fingers into the guard's eyes.
He screamed and let go of my arm to try to save his eyes. He didn’t.
“What the hell did you do in the ten minutes you were gone?” Kiel asked as we worked together to pick up one of the guards he’d knocked out and tossed him bodily at the door.
Another two soldiers rushed in from the kitchen, swords at the ready.
“I was bored?”
Kiel rolled his eyes as we backed away from the newcomers. That gave time for the guards at the front door to clear the blockade of bodies and debris.
“Enough of this!” the same officious-looking prick I had booted in the chest snapped as he followed his men inside. Not, I noticed, leading from the front. “You two are under arrest. You will come with us peacefully, or I’ll have you cut down where you stand!”
“So, we give up and go with you to die,” I replied. “Or we fight you and possibly die. Do I have that right?”
“You will surrender this moment, or—”
A table whistled through the air, crashing into the squad leader's chest, knocking him on his ass.
“Much better,” Kiel grunted, slapping his hands together as if to signal he was done.
“Any more bright ideas?” I asked as the guards advanced, pinning us between the wall and their swords.
“Not really. Those swords give them too much of an advantage,” he rumbled unhappily. “We need something stronger than the furniture of this place.”
My shoulders bumped up against the stone wall.
“I think we’re just about out of options for that.”
A wall of silvery steel at our front. Solid stone blocking us from behind. We were trapped.
“Are you quite through?” the squad leader wheezed as he pushed his way to the front, his nose bleeding profusely.
