Chapter 10: Ambushed
A Small Forest Path a Mile Outside of Lunas, 337 Solar Year

Lazlo, Rose, and Olinda had stumbled into a trap, whether by accident or by design they did not know. All they did know is that right now over a dozen strange and dangerous looking men had them cornered. Were they mercenaries, bandits, or assassins? Lazlo was unsure. But the truth was plain to him by the way they stood and the weapons they wielded. These men were highly skilled and very formidable.

They were all wearing grayish uniforms with forest trim to match the same shades of green as the trees they had been hiding in. Each warrior had strange blondish orange hair and a pale face. They, also, all had the same type of sword. It was curved shape with a single sharp side like a katana. Though they had taken the trio by total surprise and had them utterly surrounded, they were in no immediate rush to attack. They seemed to be trying to size up these bodyguards of their would-be target. The one among them who seemed to be the leader gestured to two of his subordinates to attack them.

The first lunged forward with his sword thrusting it directly at Lazlo. Wasting no time, the Islander quickly parried the move with his left blade. Simultaneously, with the speed of a tempest wind brought his right sword down across the assassin's exposed and open chest.

Because the warrior was so caught off guard by this foreigner's speed, the hit made complete contact, instantly finishing the foe in one mighty swoop of Lazlo's seasoned blade. This whole exchange from start to finish was over in less than two seconds. Turning on his heel, Lazlo spun around, weapons at the ready, only to catch the finishing moves of Rose dispatching the other warrior with great haste.

With amazing accuracy and skill, she had flicked her one nunchuck at the warrior's sword wrapping her weapon around it long enough so that when she gave it a quick tug it fell out of his hand unraveling to the ground. As he tried to lunge for his sword, the female Queen's Knight brought her other nunchuck across the side of his face. The one end of the ivory handle made direct contact with his right temple on his head. Lazlo had no doubt the man would have yelled out in excruciating pain had he remained conscious after that kind of blow.

However, he now was sprawled out on the ground unconscious at least, but most likely dead, considering that now blood and tissue were starting to flow forth from the wound. Lazlo looked up at the female knight's face. There was a fire and focus in her eyes that he had not seen there before. In the few encounters Lazlo had had with Rose since arriving in Falena, she had always seemed very calm and lighthearted. Even a little flirty at times, but now she was like a whole other person: a warrior, a knight, and most importantly a bodyguard. He knew that she would protect the princess, no matters what.

With those mental assurances, he returned to his previous defensive stance facing the assassins' leader. Rose, likewise, faced them putting herself between them and the Princess the best the situation could warrant. Her body language sending a clear signal that not one was going to be getting near her charge as long as she still had breath in her body. Lazlo's eyes filled with determination began to call out in a challenging voice, "Well, did you guys come to fight or talk?"

In a tone of now clear anger, the commander of the Nethergate assassins cried out: "Kill Those Two! But, bring the silver haired girl to me, Alive! NOW!" And with that the battle began. The forest roared with echoes of combat as steel clashed upon steel. Lazlo, was able to dodge and parry nearly every attack directed at him.

He was very grateful the he had had a Gale Rune placed in his right hand before he had left Obel. It had proven quite useful in his fights with the Dagon beast at Nirva as well as with Robert, but right now it was especially useful.

With his magically increased speed the Gale Rune afforded him he had little trouble avoiding their direct blows. Drawing his one weapon up in the air and bringing it down in a quick slashing motion the one assassin could do little to stop the force of the blow as he too fell to his feet in pain as a clean cut had been carved upon his chest.

Some of the other assassins had wasted no time in trying to get behind Lazlo as he was dueling 2 new assailants who were matching his strikes blow for blow. Meanwhile, the two other warriors snuck around behind him. They leapt into the air to attack the island warrior while his back was still turned to the other two, he was still dueling.

At the same moment, one of the 2 warriors who was now airborne was suddenly being propelled in another direction. Out of the corner of his eye, Lazlo saw Rose doing a flying side kick into the chest of the assassin. She had, apparently, saw the attack and leapt up at the same time they had. The two battling Lazlo in front, both thrusted forth their weapons at the same moment to complete the distraction as the final airborne assassin would now undoubtedly strike the old warrior without fail.

At the last moment, however, Lazlo pointing his right shoulder to the right side of the one member of Nethergate, hastily tucked and rolled in that direction at the same time the two had brought their sword points up and out, were now occupying the same space where Lazlo had just been less than a second ago.

The airborne fighter was helpless to stop them. His body landed not on Lazlo, but the two out stretched swords of his two compatriots. The force of his fall was so great that his body, even with some decent armor protection, went right through the two sharp blades impaling him instantly like a shish kabob.

In addition, the now dead corpse landed on top of the two warriors who began struggling to push the dead body off them with little success as all the blood pouring forth from his corpse made it very slippery to roll it off them.

Not wasting a moment, the bearer of the Rune of Punishment rose to his feet. Seeing what the two pinned men were trying to do. He kicked the one closest to him in the head as hard as he could. With the great force of boot upon head, the man quickly lost consciousness as his head then in turn made solid contact with the other guy's with such momentum that it rendered him comatose as well. Again, another new opponent stood before Lazlo. This one had picked up a sword from one of his fallen comrades. Now both men began dueling each other with their dual blades.

Rose's flying sidekick had pushed the body of the one Nethergate warrior into a tree with such impact that she both heard and felt the man's ribs crack and break; perhaps even his spine had as well. As he was awake and calling for help, but couldn't move. Rose had no time to think about it as she quickly flung herself back toward the princess.

Simultaneously, she began spinning both her nunchucks in each hand in an attempt to create more speed and force for her next attack. Olinda screamed. Smash! One of the kidnapper's hands had reached out to grab Olinda only to have it broken with the full force of two ivory handles that came raining down upon it.

Immediately, the man clinched his hand with the other pulling it close to his chest and started swearing with great agony now displayed upon his face. Not missing a beat, Rose brought her leg back, and then swung it forward, without a hint or shred of mercy, hitting the man right between the legs.

The man, even with a broken hand, out of natural instinct attempted to reach down to grab, but it was too late. He crumbled up and fell over like a sheet of paper burning in a fire passing out from the pain. Olinda let out a silent gasped and a sigh of relief. The knight looked her over rapidly making sure she was unharmed. Then returned to fending off the next attacker.

This man charged at Rose with his curved blade upheld. He went from a foreswing and followed it up with a backswing. Rose dodged the first and met the second with the outstretch chains that held her nunchucks together. Both weapons seemed frozen in mid-air for what seemed like an eternity to Olinda as she was watching from the side. The stalemate was broken when Rose raised her left leg and deposited her heel into the stomach of the assassin.

The weight of the blow sent him lurching backward. He started to fall back, back, back… but not far enough to knock him off his feet or even drop his blade. Staggering up to his full height he pressed his attack on Rose again. Even though each of their attacks were matched and countered blow for blow; a smirk began to grow across his face.

He could see that the young red-haired warrior was starting to grow tired, their superior numbers were finally starting to take their toll on her. He swung. His sword missed. Barely! But his strike did get close enough to eat some of her uniform's fabric. Rose had to admit it was impressive: this guy's skills.

But now the sight of him with that twisted grin across his face made her angrier. "I am going to wipe that damn smile off your face, you bastard!" she exclaimed. Looking down at the piece of lose fabric that had been partly cut off between her left breast and stomach was now blowing and flapping in the wind.

"The wind!" she thought to herself. Rose placed her weapons back into their holsters. Judging by the expressions on both Rose's opponent and Olinda's face, both were perplexed by this action. However, then Rose lifted her right hand up and reached down into her bra between the V-line of her custom made chestguard and drew out a small rolled up piece of paper.

Quickly unwrapping and holding it up the air, the emblem of a Wind Rune could be seen emblazoned upon it. Dawning on the man what it was he started charging after her recklessly. It was too late! Green rays of light began to burst forth from the runic scroll. "Funeral Wind." shouted Rose! With winds starting to blow all around the man, he was stopped in his tracks as he couldn't move due to the spell.

Rapidly, sharp gusts of wind charged by the scroll's magical incantation began spiraling all around him. Many cuts began to form around his whole body where ever the wind touched him. All of a sudden, the noise of the wind grew deadly quiet for a mere moment! Then without warning an explosion of force that sounded like a tornado and then the magical spell was over. The man laid on the ground motionless. Dead.

Meanwhile, Lazlo was still engaged in battle with the other twin swordsman. However, both had stopped to see the rune spell Rose had cast from the scroll so suddenly that it had caught them both off guard. While the spell's affect was still working over the one Nethergate assassin, the former Gaien Knight was not about to waste the opportunity.

Lifting his sword high in the air, he brought the hilt of his blade down onto the back of the head of the other man, whose attention had been fixed upon his now dead comrade. Lazlo turned his gaze back toward the princess, who seemed to be okay for the moment. She had taken refuge behind a tree during Rose's spell.

Then he turned his eyes toward Rose, who looked fairly exhausted and a little bruised up, but still alive. Lazlo, himself, was starting to breathe heavier he could tell. He hadn't fought this hard in years against so many highly skilled opponents at once. He could feel the cool natural wind starting to blow through the trees again and could hear his bandana fluttering behind him in the breeze.

His focus was again pulled upwards as some of the trees near them didn't seem to wrestle in the wind as much as the other ones nearby were doing. Then it hit him. "Watch out," he yelled to Rose, "I think they're more up there!" Rose and Olinda's eyes shot up and began scanning the tree lines. In addition, the remaining few exhausted Nethergate assassins quickly rallied back to their commander who, himself, had not fought either two, but stood and watch giving orders to his men.

Their leader was dumbfounded at the failure of his highly trained warriors. They couldn't even kill one Queen's Knight and some foreign bureaucrat. The commander yelled, "Enough games! The rest of you get down here and finish these fools!" With that a dozen more Nethergate assassins appeared looking dangerous, fresh, and ready for battle.

Shocked by this, Olinda fell to her feet clasping the tree as tight as she could. Tears began to fall from Olinda's eyes. Her face displayed a great dismay on it. She had given up hope. Lazlo could tell as he had seen that same look of despair on the faces of several soldiers and civilians, alike, over his many decades on and off the battlefield.

Lazlo with great speed made his way back to the two girls. Rose drew her weapons back out to her sides. Her arms and legs took on a new fighting stance. However, to Lazlo's surprise it was not a defensive posture like before, but an offensive one now. In fact, it was one of great reckless abandon. She must have reasoned death was imminent and no matter what happened, she was planning to take as many of them out as she could before she died.

The True Rune bearer stood with his back to hers. Olinda was still crouched down next to the tree too terrified to move. Lazlo whispered quietly so only Rose could hear, "Listen, there isn't much time. Grab Olinda and get the hell outta here! You said before this Lunas place isn't far from here, right? Take the Princess and Go! I will hold these guys off. When I give you the signal! GO!"

Rose quickly turned her head and was about to speak, but stopped herself. She saw his eyes. There was a fiery determination in them that she had never seen in anyone before. She, indeed, knew Lazlo was going to do what he said he would do. He would fend off these guys. All of them. She didn't know how, but she saw there was no fear in his countenance and she believed him and made her way bending down to grab the princess and run for Lunas.

Two things, abruptly, struck the former leader of the Island Liberation Navy as being very odd about these fresh waves of Nethergate warriors as he made his way toward them. First, they were not attacking or even getting ready to attack. Second, their swords were sheathed away. However, they had something in their hands.

Then one of the assassins threw something with his arm and a small black blur came hurling at Lazlo catching him a bit off guard. But thanks again to his Gale Rune and already natural quick reflexes, he was able to side step it. It mostly missed him, yet it had grazed the side of his shoulder pad's fabric, but did not pierce any flesh. There was a thud sound. The object had made contact with a tree branch just behind Lazlo.

Turning his gaze quickly at the object he saw that it was a small type of dart. The few green leaves it had went through before making contact with the wood started to shrivel up and turn brown. Lazlo yelled, "Watch out! Poison darts!" Then as if on cue, five more blurs came hurdling at the trio.

Lazlo ducked the first and used his swords to deflect two more. Spinning her nunchucks in a circular motion in front of her, Rose had in an affect made two small shields to deflect other darts that were now being thrown at them as well. If melee combat wouldn't work on these two, then range shall, reasoned the assassin commander.

Giving new orders for all his remaining men to begin throwing the deadly darts at their would-be targets. "We have the antidote. I don't care if you hit the other woman, just get those two!" roared their leader. Olinda remained behind her tree for protection. Rose stood next to the same tree giving her some more cover, but had to use her skills with her nunchucks to block most of the darts directed their way.

Lazlo was caught in the middle. Now his only real cover were the two unconscious men with their dead shish kabob comrade sprawled out on top of them. Those two were probably dead now as a few of Lazlo's deflected darts had made contact upon their flesh. This cover wasn't much, but with it and his lightning reflexes with his blades; he was okay for the moment.

With this many darts now being thrown at them there was no way the two girls could escape without running the risk of getting hit by one of those poisonous points. Lazlo knew it was time he started to have some reckless abandoned of his own.

He had desired not to use the Rune of Punishment well in Falena, which he feared may draw a lot of unnecessary questions and attention. But none of that no longer mattered. This was a matter of life and death. He had an idea, but he knew for it to work, he had to get between the girls and Nethergate.

Slowly, he brought himself up to his fullest height and started walking toward these ranged archers using his blades to block nearly every dart with ease. He had figured out the rhythm to their throwing patterns. Raising his left hand slowly in the air, he quickly pulled it back down as a dart came whooshing by where his arm had been seconds ago. The Islander slow moving pursuit was cut short, when he heard Olinda scream in horror: "NO! ROSE!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Lazlo looked back. He saw Rose was on her knees. The princess was now trying to pull Rose out of harm's way. While blocking a set of darts that were been directed at the Princess, the stray dart that had flown over Lazlo's left arm had struck Rose's side instead. Her armor had blocked the needle from entering completely into her body, but it didn't matter, the poisonous tip had pierced enough flesh.

Rose could feel the venomous drug starting to circulate throughout her body. In addition to feeling nauseous and weak, she could tell her whole right side was becoming paralyzed. Falling to her knees she could not hold her weapons anymore. They fell to the ground as she had as well. A shriek of a voice yelled with ecstasy and glee, "You got one. Finally! Now get the other woman. Ignore the man. Get Her! Get Her, You Fools!"

More darts headed their way. Lazlo started running for them, but Rose knew he wouldn't be able to get to them in time. Looking only at Olinda and the fear in her eyes, Rose reached down deep into the depths of her soul. "I will NOT Fail Her! Not Again!" she cried. With every muscle in her body shutting down and nearly paralyzed, Rose through sheer force of will and pure adrenaline, did the impossible; she staggered upwards to her feet.

Never taken her eyes off the Princess, her back was facing the oncoming attack, but at least Olinda was shielded, she reasoned. Before her next thought there was a sound: Thud, Thud, Thud. Three darts had struck her back. Olinda could see the distress in her best friend's eyes, before she passed out from the strikes, and began screaming her name anew, "Rose? Rose!? ROSE!" Olinda heard a small whisper, which faded into a nothingness murmur, "pri-nn-sssss."

Before her next thought, Olinda looked up there was Lazlo holding the side of his right arm. In the desperate attempt to get back to the girls as fast as possible he had not bothered to block any more darts and thus one had clipped is right arm, which was now starting to bleed.

"NO, not you too!" yelled Olinda. Lazlo was out of breath, but not fading or falling over as Rose had done. It was clear the dart had made contact. She could see his blood slowly spilling out and next to him was the dart that had struck him lying on the ground, dirty, but with small amounts of red on the tip.

The dart's poison wasn't affecting him at all from what she could tell. Her tear-stained eyes met his, and she was shocked by them. They were determined, but somehow gentle, assuring her that everything was going to be okay. And that this nightmare was about to be over with. "This ends now! Stay close to me, whatever happens! Stay close!" he told her in a very trusting tone.

His voice had that same quality as his eyes, determined, yet reassuring. "I will, I believe you." she whispered as their foes had stopped throwing their darts and now had blades drawn and were slowly and cautiously advancing on their position.

Their march immediately came to a halt, as Lazlo once more arose to his feet. His whole body started shaking, but it was not because of any drug. Olinda saw him doing something with his left hand as strange colors began to emanate out of it. "How can this be!?" yelled the Commander of the Nethergate unit quizzically, "I hit you! I hit you myself! That toxin should have infected your whole body and left you paralyzed by now. Why? How?"

Lazlo, likewise, yelled back, "Enough! All of you are finished! Everlasting Mercy!" His left arm flung into the air. Suddenly, the whole area around them became eerily hushed and still. Olinda looked up at the man who was saving her life.

Soon bizarre and ominous colors of crimson red, pale green, and violent purple began to oscillate wildly around the young man. Next a strange runic glyph appeared above his head, one that Olinda didn't recognize. Several of the Nethergate assassins started to back away in fear, while others were utterly spellbound by the foreboding spectacle before them. The lights were too bright for Olinda as she had to close her eyes.

The light dimmed a bit. But then, she heard a strange noise. The silver haired maiden thought it was the wind. But no, upon closer inspection it sounded like someone quickly flipping through the pages of a thick book. Finally, a louder and more distinct fluttering sound began to reverberate in her ears.

The Falenan Princess felt something soft touch her nose. She peaked open her eyes a minuscule amount so that she could see what it was. There before her was a strange white glowing feather. She opened her eyes more and looked up to Lazlo as a strange pale green mist had surrounded not only him, but her, and everyone else.

In addition, more glowing feathers began to fall on her and Rose. The sound of fluttering was clearer now than it had been before; only it sounded more like flapping now. Her gaze was suddenly pulled upward to the source of the sound. Olinda couldn't believe her eyes; it was an angel.

But there was something wrong with this angel. It didn't look like the ones she had seen in the artwork and statues at the palace growing up. No, this cherub was different. Its wings were beating mightily in the air. It had a body that was white with a tan trimming and a small cloth wrapped around its waste and legs. But it was, also, deformed. It was missing a head as well as a right arm.

Terrified by the creature Olinda, tried to shrink back, but couldn't move as she was mesmerized by this mystical force. Next, a huge golden light emanated from its wings, and a great sense of peace and calm enveloped Olinda. Every fiber of her being felt like it was being touched by a gentle breeze or a soft wave of water. This horrible looking angel was filling her with the strangest calm she had ever known in her whole life.

She had experimented with water runes as a child with her sister and the healing effects of those runes sort of came close to this feeling, but it was still very different. The falling feathers around her started glowing more intensely. She felt her whole body being heal to the fullest. But, not just hers, but Rose as well as Lazlo's too. The bleeding on his right arm had stopped and the wound was completely gone, she observed.

Then there was something like a loud unholy scream that echoed all around them as the angel extended its one good left arm, as yet another great light came bursting forth from its torso this time heading in the direction that the hand had been pointing toward. The great wave of ominous angelic energy struck all fifteen of the remaining Nethergate assassins obliterating them all to ash instantly.

After this, the deformed being vanished as did the green mist and feathers that had been all around them moments ago. Olinda slowly stood to her feet, she now felt totally fine physically. She knew the angel had healed her, because all her cuts and bruises were gone. She ran over to Lazlo, grabbed him, and hugged him. She was in shock, but alright Lazlo observed looking down at her trying to free himself from her strong embrace.

Reality came crashing back upon them. "Oh my God, Rose!" exclaimed Olinda. She let go of Lazlo and ran toward her fallen friend, who had so selflessly sacrificed her body to save Olinda. She pulled the darts out of her back and turned her over.

Lazlo bent over as well and touched his two fingers to her neck. "I feel a pulse! She's alive. I think the Rune did the trick." he said with a small smile on his face. She hugged her alive, but unconscious, friend with an even stronger embrace than she had given Lazlo moments before.

Subsequently, Lazlo quickly stood up and went to one of the dead bodies of the Nethergate assassins and started rummaging through his side pack. Not finding what he seemed to be looking for he checked the next one. Nothing. Then on the third body, he pulled out a small vial from the one pack. "This must be it!" he said.

Olinda looked confused as tears of joy were now rolling down her cheeks. "Remember what the commander of these guys had yelled out right before their final attack? He said they had an antidote for the poison. This must be it!" Not wasting another moment, Lazlo opened the vial and poured its contents into her mouth, which Olinda had to hold open.

Without warning, Lazlo reached for his weapons whirling around to his feet and standing up to his full height he pointed his blade toward some bushes up ahead of them calling out, "Come out now or else!" He said this with such a strong commanding tone that without another second's notice two men and one woman all wearing unusual blue and white robes came out of hiding and were trembling at the old warrior's powerful words.

"We're sorry." a timid voice declared from one of the two men, "We are clerics from Holy Lunas, we heard loud voices and the sounds of battle echoing up the river, so we came to investigate. We thought maybe a fight a broken out between thieves who might have been after some precious articles or gold dust from our sacred lands. As we got closer, we heard a loud unnatural blood curdling scream, and saw many strange lights off in the distance. We just arrived and saw these bodies and you two." Looking now at the two up close for the first time, the female cleric shouted, "By the Sun, You're Princess Olinda!"

The three clerics, suddenly, bowed before their princess and begged her forgiveness for not bowing sooner. Olinda immediately cut them off mid-sentence; "We have a fallen Queen's Knight. She needs medical attention. Help us get her to Lunas. Now!"

There was a strong sense of royal command in that tone, thought Lazlo. The two men picked up the fallen warrior on either side, while the woman supported and cradled her head as they started back up the path for the remaining mile journey to Lunas.

Neither, Olinda nor Lazlo said a word to each other, but followed closely behind the rest for the last part of their journey as the Sun was now setting. Walking side by side, Olinda quietly slipped her hand into Lazlo's, who didn't show any hesitation, but simply squeezed it in a type of reassurance that everything was going to be okay. Thus, after the last mile they cross the suspended wooden bridge and finally reached their destination: Holy Lunas at last.