28 Hidden Arrows (2)

Time runs slow as Constance turns his head and sees the incoming dagger, they said that when you are near your death, time seems would run in a very slow manner.

He looks at the dagger coming to his neck, and then out of nowhere, a crossbow bolt appears in his view and hits the assassin directly to his head, the bolt enters the assassin's ear, blood spurts out from the assassin's mouth and he collapses.

'That was dangerous. If Lady Sasha didn't protect me from that assassin, I would be heavily wounded or worst, dead, right now.'

Constance looks to Lady Sasha and nods towards her, he is thankful to her for protecting his back. She nods back at her while reloading another bolt to her crossbow that she is holding.

He removes his sword from the body of the assassin in front of him that he had just killed. The blade of his sword is now stained with the blood of the enemies, the innards of the assassin are scattered on the ground.

He looks around and sees that twenty city guards are coming in their direction, armed with their spears and shields.

"Stop!"

The sergeant of the city guards exclaimed to all of them fighting, he unsheathed his sword as a warning to both the assassins and Constance's group that he means business and they should stop the bloodshed and carnage now.

But what the assassins replied to the city guards was a volley of arrows at them. The attack was very sudden and quick that most of the city guards present were caught off guard.

A lot of the city guards are shot as they are unable to shield themselves from the arrows, only a few are able to survive unscathed, most are wounded, and worst some are killed.

Fortunately for the sergeant, he was able to cover himself with his shield or else he is already one of his men lying on the ground. The shock that the sergeant received made him shit scared as he pissed his own armor.

He looks around and sees the dead and wounded city guards that he had just left moments ago. Men that he had a drink nights ago, a veteran city guard for 20 years, and some newbies of the city guards are all now dead, lying lifeless in the street of the very city they are serving.

The sergeant looks shaken and out of his mind, unable to order his men, who is now waiting of any orders from him of what they would do next while covering their selves from the incoming arrows.

"We are imperial knights, heed our command Callium guards."

Lady Sasha exclaimed to the shaken sergeant and the city guards; she showed her imperial knight emblem that can be seen in her cape at the back.

The sergeant and the city guards, seeing the imperial knight's emblem, are able to regain from being shaken and dazed, they look at Lady Sasha for any command.

"Help us in defeating the assassins here." Lady Sasha ordered, pointing to the dark hooded covered assassins they are fighting with.

"Charged!"

The sergeant and the city guards upon hearing Lady Sasha's command, charged towards the fray, a command from the imperial knight takes precedent from any command, and both them and the imperial knights have the same enemies.

The city guards are in a thirst for blood and revenge for the fallen comrades that they had just lost.

The battle has become bloodier as more men are now in the fray of battle. The assassins may be better trained and fighters than the city guards, but they are only wearing light armor and weapons compared to the city guards who are at least armed with some chainmail armor and paddings.

Constance and the knights are happy as they have now some reinforcements that could help them. They are barely holding a while ago facing a lot of assassins, but now that there are a lot of guards fighting with them, they can now fight more comfortably than before.

It is now clear that who is now winning in the battle as more assassins have been killed or incapacitated and some city guards have also arrived to further swell their numbers.

WHISSTTLLLLEEE....

On the second floor of one of the buildings, an assassin blows the whistle. All the men fighting stop for a moment and look up to the building. Up there is an assassin that seems to be the leader of the group signals the assassins to flee.

The mission is already a failure when the city guards have arrived at the scene, it is better to cut out their losses than to be annihilated or captured here.

"Retreat."

"Retreat."

The assassins have started to retreat while some remain trying to stop the chasing knights and guards. They throw their daggers at the knight and guards who are near them while running away.

"DON'T LET ANYONE OF THE ASSASSINS ESCAPE!"

Constance follows the retreating assassins to catch their leader, slashing anyone who tries to stop in his way. The assassins seem unfazed after losing a lot of their comrades just trying to slow the ones who are chasing them.

They throw daggers at him, but he is able to shield himself as he chases them.

The fighting has spread to different streets as the assassins are running in different directions. Innocent civilians are not spared as the assassins have slash and kill anyone in their path, some are even holding hostages to stop or slow the guards.

Constance chases the leader of the assassins who are just a dozen paces away from him. He is followed by Sir Markus and some city guards who go with them in this direction.

The assassins, noticing that their attempts to stop Constance and the guards from following them had failed, decided to stop them. All assassins except the leader stop and face the guards to buy some time for the leader to flee.

Constance didn't stop and continued to charge forward, trusting that Sir Markus and the guards would fight against the assassins.

The assassins charged at him, but they are stopped by the guards and Sir Markus, he nods at Constance that they would be covering his back.

Constance nods back and continues to chase towards the leader. The distance widens but he can still see the leader in front of him. He would not let the leader escape as he has a lot of questions to ask.