Page 16 of The King's Weapon

Another guard approached the assailant from behind. With an unnatural grace, the figure spun, slicing the approaching guard in the gut with one quick, fluid movement.

The curtain slipped from her damp fingers. She had no time to wash the thoughts away. No time to take into account that she lost two more guards in the time it took her to take a couple of breaths. She scooted over to the opposite corner of the carriage and peered out the other window.

No bodies, no hooded figures.

The attackers must have come from the east and then chose to center their attack on one side of the carriage to draw out the guards instead of surrounding it.

That was their first mistake.

The second was believing she would do nothing. As a princess, most expected her to be tame, weak. But Kallie was neither of those things. She nodded to Myra, who gripped the small dagger with white knuckles. Kallie regretted not preparing Myra, but she had been too preoccupied with her own training. And now, it was too late.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Kallie cracked the carriage door open. The sound of dying men and metal clashing clogged her ears. Headfirst, she looked both ways and silently hopped out of the carriage, the balls of her feet landing first.

She turned to help Myra. But as she reached her hand out, Myra was being dragged from the other side of the carriage by one of the hooded figures.

"Kallie!" Myra shouted, the notion of being quiet long since forgotten. Tears streaked her friend's face as she was dragged out of the carriage by her ankles.

Rage fueled Kallie as she crawled back into the carriage and scrambled to reach for Myra's hand. Her fingers grazed the tips of Myra's, but Kallie was yanked backward and out of the carriage before she could grab onto Myra. Kallie watched in horror as the small dagger fell from Myra's hand and bounced on the floor as she too was pulled away. Kallie wanted to shout, to reassure her friend that it would be all right. But she was rendered speechless. All Kallie could do was keep her eyes on her friend as though maintaining eye contact with Myra would ensure her handmaiden's safety.

Kallie wiggled against her assailant. Then, pulling her dagger by the hilt, she reared her hand and jammed the blade into the person's thigh.

"You bitch," the attacker spat.

She slid her dagger out of his flesh, twisting it to the right a quarter of an inch as a grin crept onto her face. She hadn't been able to stab a man in a while and she was feeling particularly violent after seeing her people brutalized.

Kallie spun as the man pressed his palm firmly against his thigh where red seeped through his brown trousers. He leaned on his other leg and pulled the sword from its sheath, and Kallie's smile faded in disappointment as she looked at the man's sword.

Kallie had never mastered the use of a longsword. She was decent with the weapon, but she had learned early on that it slowed her down. And her speed was her greatest asset in a fight. Her small stature allowed her to dodge an attacker's maneuvers easily, especially when they were armed with a sword. During her training, many of her opponents believed that she was at a disadvantage when she approached them with a dagger after they had chosen a sword. Against a sword, the common belief was that an opponent with a dagger was easily fought off. The sword had a longer reach and could keep the opponent further away.

However, those men quickly learned the flaw in their logic, because, for Kallie, that was not a problem.

She had been ready for a challenge, but this was going to be easier than she had thought, even with sore muscles.

"Now, you could end this here, Princess, before you make me do something I might regret or—"

"Or you could shut it and fight," Kallie interrupted and the man sneered. "But know I won't go easy on you."

The man chuckled. Then under his breath, he mumbled, "Oh, they're not going to forgive me for this." His foot shifted and Kallie let him strike first.

As his sword thrust forward, she dodged his attack with ease and locked the man's arm against his side.She knocked the sword out of his hand. In a swift motion, Kallie swooped under the attacker's arm and twisted the man's arm backward.

The large stranger was surprisingly quick. The man grabbed Kallie's hand and slammed the heel of his boot down onto Kallie's toes. In the next moment, an elbow smacked into her cheekbone. He twisted around, locking Kallie's head underneath his arm, and forced Kallie to face the other direction.

"I don't want to hurt you, Princess." He said as cold metal pressed against Kallie's throat. Glancing down her nose, she saw a dagger in the man's hand."But you've left me no choice."

The right corner of her mouth tilted upward.Men prized themselves for their strength, both mentally and physically, but they always forgot about one small thing. Dropping her chin, she jerked her arms upward, spun, and kneed him in the groin.

The attacker crumbled to the ground on impact. "Bitch," he groaned.

She twisted around, then cut off his airway. As his olive complexion turned violet, she whispered, "Next time, learn something new to say when a woman outsmarts you."

His weight shifted as his consciousness began to fall away.

Once he was unconscious, she let him fall to the ground. She scanned the area for her dagger. Kallie spotted it a few feet away from her, but before she could dive for it another cloaked figure appeared and kicked the dagger underneath the carriage.Kallie groaned.

The person before her was leaner than the previous attacker, but their stance was sturdier, more confident.

"Ral always was a little weak. But if he complains to me, at least I know who to blame," the woman said. "Men like to appear tougher than us women, but they can be much softer when it comes to their emotions, don't you think?"

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