Chapter Thirty Four; Battle.

This is for every one who stuck up for me over the last few days, especially Sunny1388, Xirleb70, Karly Ann 134 and Cherry Alanna. Also Storm muse; It's ok. And Winged Seraphin for finally trusting me enough to update! I really should be re reading Lord of the Flies and revising for my exams, while I'm doing this, but hey, who cares?

I love you all!

Alanna followed the constant flashes of orange light. She skirted the hall, walking on the long balcony that stretched along the eastern edge of the palace wall. She saw women cowering in the gardens below. In disgust for these weak minded, frail creatures, she leant over the parapet and called down directions to the stables where they would at least be out of sight.

A tall, blonde haired woman called back,

"Come down! Come down and show us."

Alanna shook her head to the woman's urgings, just repeating the directions. The lady looked up at her for a while, then took command of the little group, herding them along the path.

"Lady. You shouldn't be here." A man's voice came from behind her, and a hand landed on her shoulder, urging her towards the hall and the stairway back the way she had come. She turned to face her 'saviour'.

"Ah Alanna!" Master Raquel said, "I didn't recognise you."

She smiled at the older man, then let the smile fall, asking seriously,

"Have you seen Duke Roger?"

"He's around there." The Master pointed behind him. "On the grand balcony. We've been trying to block his spells from entering the hall, and so activating the gate. He didn't seem to expect our presence here at all. Congratulations are due to you I suspect for that."

She accepted the old man's praise absentmindedly, thinking furiously. The grand balcony was separated from those adjacent to it by a gap of fifteen feet at least. Too far for her to jump and have any certainty of making it.

She glanced into the ballroom to see if she could get onto the balcony that way. Liam was close, fighting with his weapons; a sword and a hand axe, as well as with his body, Shang style. George was fighting by Jonathon's side, deeper into the hall, at the very centre, flanked by Gary and another man, in the blue and silver uniform of the King's Own. She quelled the smile that was emerging on her face as she watched. Looking back to the balcony entrance she saw about thirteen men there, fully armed. Out on the balcony, yet more men surrounded the tall Duke.

A gnarled oak tree grew by where she was standing. Carefully and slowly, she stepped off the balcony and grabbing onto what looked like a sturdy limb, she tested it a few times, then swung herself into the tree. Her skirt caught on a sharp branch and tore. She ignored the rip and climbed deeper into the tree's leaves.

There she sat for a while, assembling her crossbow once more. She studied the way the Duke moved and how many men there were grouped around him. She edged forwards from where she was sitting, astride a thick branch, until she had a clear sight out through the green of the tree's canopy. Carefully, she hadn't got this far to fail through simple carelessness. She set the stock of the crossbow in the hollow of her shoulder. The Duke stood half a head taller than any of the other men. But they swarmed around him relentlessly, preventing any decent aim or shot. Roger shouted a command, clear and precise, sending some of his guards into the hall. The tide had turned.

When Jon left Alanna in the library, he had rallied the remaining knights and lords in the hall to him. Duke Gareth led one faction to secure the main doors. The men who were Gifted ran to combat the mages Duke Roger had among his men. A few stood by Eleni and Rispah, who were working thread magic, their lips and hands in continuous motions as they unravelled thread from what ever they could reach to tie knots in, knotting groups of the enemy together. These men were then secured more firmly and immobilised by the palace mage, leaving the women free to hamper more of the attack. The soldiers protecting the two Rogue women obviously had no idea who they were, but they were helping them stay alive so none of the men were going to shy away from protecting them.

Jon spotted George and the Dragon fighting furiously. He sent several men at arms to their aid. George stepped back out of the melee for a second to regain his breath, she grinned and waved at Jon, before throwing himself back into the fray once more, a knife in each hand.

Jonathon surveyed the battleground before him. They were lucky that they had been warned and were prepared for the attack. The weapons Alex and Raoul had hidden in the ornamental chests beside the thrones and in the corners, concealed by drapes, were vital. Although the noble men always wore a sword, as did the pages and squires, the servants didn't. They had grabbed whatever they could get their hands on and wield effectively.

But despite their best efforts, some were dead. A few of the Own were down, some of the palace guards and several noble and servants were also dead. Many had been shot clean through with arrows, either a longbow or a crossbow from the look of it. Jon scanned the hall for the hidden archers. He spotted one, lodged in between two pillars at the side of the gallery. But then he realised that the man was dead, or in any instance, incapable of shooting another bolt.

Alanna had taken them all down he remembered, as his eyes roved the upper levels of the hall anyway, after one had shot him. His side was completely healed now though, sore and objecting to the swift regeneration of skin and tissue, but healed.  Alanna was a powerful healer; he had a lot to repay her for. A man crumpled and fell before him and Jonathon leapt into the gap of the circle and was immediately engaged in a ferocious battle.

She was ready; an assassin crouched in the dark. She felt a momentary pang of conscience for shooting a man in the back, but she suppressed that feeling swiftly. This man had paid men to kill Jon, and they would have slit his throat in the dark easily, and with no regrets. If she didn't stop both him and them, more would die. So she fingered the last bolt in her crossbow, leaving the empty quiver hanging on a convenient branch. She stroked the length of the arrow's shaft, imbuing it with her magic. There was no spell for what she wanted to do, but her force of will and brute power would have to serve. She pushed the violet fires of her Gift deep into the grain of the wood and the metal arrowhead.  Roger would be sure to have a magical shield erected around him. She knew there was no chance of this shot actually touching him at all, but she hoped it might breach his circle of protection.

Still she aimed carefully, waiting for the right moment, For a split second, a man moved restlessly to and fro and Alanna fired before her mind could even process what she had seen. The bolt flew straight between two guardsmen, and collided with something solid a foot away from Duke Roger's body. A slight shimmer lit the air as the bolt hovered at waist height above the ground. Suddenly it burst into flames as a brightly coloured stream of magic hit the small breach her arrow had caused. The barrier split apart under the stress of the two Masters' combined power. Roger fought to maintain the spell, but his face began to loose its confident expression. Slowly, bit by bit, his magic stuttered and failed, but he somehow managed to summon a huge burst of energy and to throw it at the two Masters.

The three had all used up most of their Gift, defying the others. Roger however, also had far more spells going on at once. That had weakened his powers, so this last ditch effort of defiance almost emptied him. His burst of magic caught Thom and Raquel unawares, and propelled them backwards, knocking them out of the balcony and they fell to the palace gardens far below.

"Thom!" Alanna leapt from her hiding place. Only then did she realise her mistake. She was still holding the crossbow. Duke Roger's eyes alighted upon her, spotting the crossbow and he glanced down at the arrow that had broken his barrier, allowing the mages to drain his Gift.

"Kill her." He ordered coldly, turning his back to them and facing the hall, gripping his dagger tightly.

A loud masculine cry made him turn back around.

The girl had broken her crossbow over one of the men's heads, leaving him unconscious on the floor.

"Not so easy is it?" She asked him, before throwing a knife into the last Eldorne man's neck. At this he turned fully around and devoted his entire attention to the fight going on out here on the balcony. The girl was a whirlwind, receiving a few hits, but giving just as good as she got.

Alanna had used up all but two of her weapons. As best as she could judge it was approaching one o'clock in the morning.  Roger had struck later than they had anticipated, but she had still been fighting for a horribly long time. She could hold her own easily against one or two armed men, three or four unarmed men especially when they fought dirty. While they stayed true to the Code of Chivalry, so did she, meaning that she was unable to use the vast repertoire of tricks George and Liam had taught her over the years. But these three men were armed and fought cleanly.

She fought back, ducked and parried on her reflexes, leaving no time gap between her thought and action.

She allowed one man to stab her lower arm, only to retaliate by thrusting another man's sword behind her and into his chest as she knocked the one whose sword she had used to kill his ally out with her dagger hilt. One man faced her now and as he watched she grabbed the dying man's hand and thrust the sword he still held through his throat. It was a mercy stroke. The man would never recover from the blow to his skull she had dealt him. He would have died slowly here unless she had put him out of his misery.

The last man was shorter than the Duke and exactly opposite to him in looks, as he had fair hair and brown eyes. His pupils were dilated in fear and his breath was coming in gasps.

"You can still leave." She said quietly, "My quarrel is not with you." She could almost see his brain working furiously. But his fear of his sorcerer master was obviously greater than his fear of her.

Slashing with his sword, he attacked furiously, trying to cut any part of her he could reach. She moved to the side as he lunged, bringing her leg up and kicking him forcefully in the upper arm. His sword fell from nerveless fingers and clattered on the stone at her feet. He tried to punch her in the face, she grabbed the arm as she moved away from the blow, pulled him towards her and brought her knee up into his face brutally. Shards of his nose dug deeply into his brain. As she released him he fell like a stone to the balcony floor.

Alanna let him drop and stepped over his body to face Roger at last.

That wasn't a cliff hanger was it? I mean really. I don't think it is. Please don't hate me if you think it is… The next update will be up soon.

HuntressDiana