I'd told my parents of the change in plans. They politely approved much to Princess Lunia's delight. My father's confidence in me showed, in how quickly he accepted the adjustment.
I was currently seated a mere four chairs away from Uriel. The anticipation had my palms moist with perspiration. I had already memorized the people around me. The Emperor had two of his Blades agents standing behind his chair in their unique steel armor. They both wore katanas, long curved single edged swords with a thin blade for fast swordplay. The only other person between us who might fight me was the Emperor's second son. On my right were a string of nobles seated along the long table. Most were old and wouldn't present a threat.
The room took up half the floorspace on this level of the tower and formed a semicircle. Tables were set up to line the outside edge of the room in rows with the Emperor's table in the center against the windows. My parents were seated far to the right, also against the windows. Dad had probably bribed one of the ushers to get them those seats.
Our escape route would be through a window almost directly behind them. So assuming I killed the Emperor where he now sat, I'd have to run past a couple tables of nobles. Mother would surely keep many of them suppressed with her magic as I escaped. I glanced to my father every so often for a sign, but so far, he was biding his time.
I returned my attention the the conversations going on around me. The affairs of nearly every district in the Empire were being discussed. Lunia glanced at my untouched plate of some exotic succulent meat. It's the one detail I hadn't paid any attention to.
"Is the boar not to your tastes," she asked.
"Actually I'm feeling out of sorts tonight. My appetite isn't its normal self."
"Are you ill. I could have you escorted to my father's physician."
"I hope it doesn't come to that. I'm alright for now, thank you." We fell silent again and I hoped it would stay that way. Lunia may have been a pleasant girl, but I had other things to concentrate on. Inevitably she became bored of the political talk and turned back to me.
"So when you said you keep to yourself, does that include women?"
How was I supposed to reply to that? In reality, any romantic relationships I'd had were much like what was happening between us. I'd pretended to get close to a mark before so that my family could extort someone close to them, but I'd rarely had real relationships outside my father's organization, male or female. The nature of our work and the fact that we were always moving never allowed for friends. If I weren't a hardened criminal, some might have called me sheltered.
"Yes," was my simple reply. I almost wanted to confide in her, but I held my tongue. The Emperor stood up and my heart skipped a beat. He was going to cross right behind me to visit another part of the room.
I ignored Lunia's next question and faked a loud fit of coughing. This caught my parent's attention across the room and they saw me take out my hip flask and drink. Lunia would assume it was some sort of tonic. The potion would only last a couple minutes, so it was time.
Uriel was nearly behind me, his guards at his back. Lunia had one hand on my shoulder, asking me if I was alright. I called my magic to my right hand and summoned a spectral copy of my broadsword while my parents drank their potions. My left arm threw Lunia clear as I stood, knocking over my chair. I twisted and drove the sword into the Emperor's side with all my strength. I felt the resistance as it slid between his ribs and the crack reverberated back to my arm when they broke. Only the most savage of stabs carried enough power to do that.
The tip of the dark blue blade stuck out of the Emperors left side. Our faces were inches apart for a split second, but I didn't waste the time to look at him. I left the first sword in him and conjured a second as I pushed his body into one of his guards. I turned to the second guard right in time. He drew his katana, intending to slice my belly open with a single stroke, but my second sword was already there to block it. I twisted my whole body, pushing his sword to the right and out of the way. Meanwhile, I conjured a heavy spectral mace to my left hand and followed through with the twisting motion. The ghostly weapon smashed into his helmet, knocking him over the Emperor's son and onto the table.
I turned to retreat to my parent's position, taking in all the details I could as fast as possible. There was screaming everywhere. Some of the nobles were coming to their senses and scrambling out of their chairs. Before they had time to decide whether they wanted to fight or flee, my mother reached out her hand and sent out sparks of electricity, shocking a whole row of nobles in my way. They spasmed and fell as I ran by, completely unprepared for the attack. A bolt of flames hit the stone next to my head from a guard across the room and dad tipped his whole table over to give them cover and add to the pandemonium.
By the time I reached them, they were grabbing for my sleeves and we all leaped as one through the window. That's when it went wrong. One of the nobles at their table had gathered his wits and caught hold of my shoe. The slowfall potion should have given us plenty of distance to float over the walls of the city, but the man slowed me down, wrenching me from my parent's grip. I was now tumbling slowly downward, right to the base of the tower. Dad grabbed mom before they floated too far away from each other. They were drifting fast enough that they could at least make it outside the castle courtyard and escape into the city.
But my father would never leave me behind. I heard him order mom to escape and pushed away from her, giving her the momentum to land near the stable while he sailed back toward me and the tower. Mother screamed for us, unable to do anything else. Her trajectory was set and there was no way for her to return to us. Dad and I were nearly to the ground when he slammed into the side of the tower. His hands fought for purchase on the stone tower and he gained control of his fall, getting his feet underneath him.
"Han, weapon!" I'd forgotten all about my conjured weapons and they'd fizzled out of existence. I quickly conjured a new sword for each of us and tossed him one. I almost hit the ground upside down, so I put my arms down and battle rolled to my feet. "To the gate Han!"
Dad hit the ground running and in a moment, I was by his side. The courtyard gardens were nearly empty. There was yelling from the tower and I was sure the guards on the outer wall were rousing themselves after my screaming mother floated over them.
We followed the main path leading to the enormous wooden gate. Two Imperial guards stood in our way. One drew his sword while the other scrambled for his bow. I switched my sword to my left hand and conjured a throwing knife to my right. I threw it with practiced precision and it clanged loudly against the archer's helmet. He dropped the bow in surprise and stumbled.
Dad engaged the swordsman, blocking the first stroke and following with a chop to the armpit where the armor was weak. Instead of bothering with the archer's armor, I tackled him headlong into the gate, driving his helmet into the wood with a palm strike. His chain mail didn't protect his torso from the weight of my tackle and once again, I felt ribs break.
The force of the tackle got the gate swinging open. Dad threw the injured swordsman to the side and I let my opponent fall to the ground while we shoved the heavy gate open. We slipped out onto a short bridge, leading to the city. We might've been home free, but the city guard had been attracted to the area by the noise. Three men stood at the end of the bridge, two legionnaires in heavy plate armor and a battlemage.
The mage sent a spell my way and I barely had time to cast a barrier between us. I was still at a full sprint and dad fell behind me to avoid the spells. I remember how my heart was pumping, how the sweat felt cool on my face, the sensation as the fire spell burst against my shield spell, causing a bright flash all around us. The legionnaires rushed forward and met us on the bridge. I had to let the ward spell drop so I could concentrate on sword fighting.
At the end of the bridge, the battlemage strafed to the side, trying to get an angle on me without hitting his comrades. My magic reserves were faltering and I only had enough power in me for another spell or two. I chopped at the soldier's steel helmet, making it ring, but causing no injury. I could have capitalized on his stagger, but I had to spin to the side to dodge a fireball from the mage.
The soldier swiped upwards at me and I jumped backwards out of the way. He followed up by stepping towards me. I blocked his stab and stepped forward past his sword, grabbed him by the helmet, and pulled him forward off balance. He stumbled past me, out of the way. I immediately warded off the spell I knew would come from the mage and turned to help my dad. As I kicked his opponent flat footed over the edge of the bridge, it seemed I was invincible. I used up most of my remaining magic to conjure a throwing knife, but before I could throw it at the mage, an arrow from another guard up the street struck me in the waist.
I screamed, feeling the steel tip drive into my pelvis bone. Before I even hit my knees, a bolt of fire struck me broadside and I burst into flame. I fell shrieking to the ground and rolled to put out the fire, breaking the arrow off at the skin.
Dad picked up the knife I'd dropped and sunk it right into the mages stomach with a flawless throw. He turned to the legionnaire I'd thrown off balance and kicked him savagely in the helmet before he could get back up. Another arrow flew from the street and took him in the shoulder.
With the flames out and lightly burned skin, I crawled to my feet, putting pressure on the stinging arrow wound with one hand and wearily dragged my sword up. I was only able to stay on my feet for a few seconds and collapsed again from the pain. Dad broke off the arrow in his shoulder with a shout of rage right before he took another.
Within moments we were surrounded by soldiers with swords pointed at us on the ground. I knew some healing spells, but I had no magic left in me and I couldn't pull the arrow out. We were captured after assassinating the Emperor. The best I could hope for was a swift execution.