Chapter Seven

Blitzguard & Assassination

JANUS

Didn't think a simple explosive pellet would work against demon assassins. Janus retracted his hand as he watched the Mage Slayer thrown from the explosion's impact. Well, at least now we know.

"Looks like you didn't need us then." Hansel said as he too watched the assassin repelled. "Thanks for wasting our time."

"Our work's not over yet." Gretel said sharply.

Janus and Hansel turned to see that one of the other assassins, a woman with frightfully pale skin and long black hair had freed herself from the ice that trapped her legs, and levered herself to her feet.

"I'll handle her." Gretel said and sprinted towards the assassin with no apparent fear at all.

Janus went in Elsa's direction, and Hansel followed suit. He found Elsa covered in snow, looking exhausted and in pain.

"Are you hurt?" He touched her arm gently.

"I'm fine." Elsa reassured him, giving him one of her heartwarming smiles that made Janus feel like the trip across the firing zone was worth it. "You didn't have to cross over for us."

"Yes I did." Janus returned the smile, but obviously she couldn't see it since he was wearing his mask and hood. The armour he'd lifted from his doppelgänger theoretically kept him safe from getting shot through by a musket ball.

"I didn't." Hansel grumbled. "Anyway, when's your sister going to pay up?"

"Shut up." Janus said.

Elsa looked at him tiredly. "I'll put in a word with her. We'll get you your money."

"Great. Just wanted to be sure." Hansel suddenly pivoted with his rifle levelled, and pulled the trigger. A white skirmisher who'd been aiming at them tumbled backwards, clutching his arm. His partner was the next to bring his musket to bear.

And now it was Janus' turn. He tossed aside his spent rifle, snatching his loaded pistol from the holster at his side. Before his pistol came to rest on his target, he'd already thumbed back the hammer and sighted within half a second. A sharper crack resonated through the night which stood out amongst the rest of the musket and rifle shots, and the skirmisher's partner went down like his friend before him.

As he turned back to Elsa, he caught sight of Gretel fighting the ghoulish looking woman, who could apparently influence and manipulate black powder. From across the field, he'd seen a few of the Molcorrans around him scream as their rifles exploded in their hands, and black powder cartridges were set ablaze. It was a nightmare at the camp borders, with no one knowing what was going on.

Tracy and Maui had recovered from their daze as well, and were joining in the fight against the woman. Three against one definitely seemed like better odds against a Mage Slayer.

"Look out!" Elsa cried as something moved beneath Janus.

His shadow came to life and shot out of the ground like something from a horror novel. Janus threw himself to the side before the shadowy figure's fist could connect with his sternum, and in the same motion threw a flat blade at the figure. To his chagrin, the blade seemed to pass right through the man as though he really were a shadow.

The shadowy figure - a Mage Slayer no doubt - laughed. "Fighting with toys? Pathetic."

"We'll see how you like my toys." Janus drew his falchion, and saw Hansel draw his own sword. Together they charged the shadowy figure.

The Mage Slayer promptly dissolved into his own shadow, melting away into the ground long before Janus and Hansel could even reach him. They both drew to a halt, still brandishing their swords.

"He's gone!" Hansel exclaimed.

"You don't say." Janus muttered under his breath. He knew this tactic. Withdraw and strike when the enemy least expects it. One of the oldest tricks in the book, but when it was being done by an assassin with supernatural demonic abilities, it was a whole different story.

"Behind you!" Elsa shouted.

Janus lunged forward and spun on his heel as Elsa threw a volley of ice that would've frozen the shadowy figure to the ground. He slithered through the darkness, weaving in and out of everything Elsa hurled in his direction, and came up right in front of the couple.

The Mage Slayer grabbed both Janus and Elsa by the neck and lifted them above the ground. As Janus gasped for air, he heard Elsa do the same. Desperately, he used his free hand in an attempt to pry the assassin's hand away. But his hand went right through the assassin's wrist like it wasn't event here.

"Amusing," The Mage Slayer laughed good-humouredly. "But pointless. You're both going to die, and then I'm going to kill your friend next."

Janus wrecked his mind for a way to counter this. How could they fight someone that could basically remain untouched?

Hansel came up behind the assassin quietly, brandishing a knife. The bounty hunter thrust his knife into the shadowy figure's back and surprisingly, it met solid flesh. The Mage Slayer hissed loudly and released their necks. Both Elsa and Janus fell to the ground in a heap, sucking in deep breaths and gasping.

So the assassin could only make himself into shadow form if he could see the threat. Janus made a mental note of it as he fumbled with his belt, searching for the right tool.

The assassin managed to yank the knife out of his back with great difficulty, giving a loud growl of agony as he did so. There was blood on the knife, which at least meant that he was human. Tossing the knife aside, he advanced towards Hansel, who was now hastily loading his rifle and backing away.

The Mage Slayer was going to kill him. Even though Janus didn't exactly like the man, there had to be some mutual professionalism in the mercenary business. He drew a single pellet from his belt and hefted it.

"Whatever you do, don't look." He whispered to Elsa, who nodded, still nursing her neck.

Then through his pained lungs, Janus lifted his voice as he wound up for a throw.

"Demon!"

The Mage Slayer whirled round but by the time he had, the pellet had already landed at his feet. Upon impact, there was a blinding flash of light which flared like the sun. In the dark of night, it was even worse. Screaming, the assassin clutched at his face, rubbing his eyes furiously and stumbling about, entirely disoriented. By now, the light had faded and the world was once again plunged into thick darkness.

"Now!" Janus opened his eyes and charged, falchion sword in hand.

But Elsa was quicker. A strong blast of ice froze the Mage Slayer to the ground before he could even recover, and he pitched forward due to lack of balance. The assassin fell heavily in the snow face first, still blinded from the mini flash grenade. Before he could get up, Janus lurched forward and thrust the falchion blade into his back, killing him neatly and simply.

Elsa gave him a disapproving look, but didn't say anything. He knew she still didn't agree with his methods, but like he'd told her: this was war.

"Got to hand it to you, Prometheus." Hansel removed his hands from his eyes. He'd apparently had the right instinct to cover his face when Janus had thrown the pellet. "You've really lived up to your reputation. We should've worked together sooner and made big bucks."

"Wish I could say the same." Janus muttered quietly enough that Hansel didn't hear him. Not far away, the fighting had stopped too. Tracy, Maui and Gretel had managed to subdue the other Mage Slayer, and Tracy had used her magic to bind her in place. The assassin's hands were entirely immobilised as well so that she couldn't summon black powder.

Elsa walked over to where Tracy and the others had the Mage Slayer at their mercy. Janus and Hansel followed, the latter leaning the barrel of his long rifle against his shoulder. The Mage Slayer struggled on her knees, but there was no escaping from Tracy's sorcery. Honestly, Janus sometimes was quite disturbed by the immense power that lay beneath Tracy's cheery and nonchalant nature.

"It's over." Elsa told the assassin. "Your partner is dead."

Maui hitched a thumb over his shoulder. "And it looks like your friends out there are retreating."

Janus turned to look. Sure enough, the skirmishers in white were beginning to retreat and there was much less musket fire coming from this side of the conflict. The Molcorrans were still firing away for all they were worth from the camp borders, but obviously they couldn't really see the white skirmishers slinking back the way they'd come.

He knew he had to find out who these white skirmishers were. Were they the Empress' new elite guard? He needed to confirm his suspicions about them. Without a word, he unslung his bow from his back and with his off hand reached for an arrow. Nocking the arrow, he aimed and let fly.

From this distance, he could see a retreating white skirmisher clutch at his leg and fall. His comrades streamed past him, filing back into the woods where they'd come from.

"Face it, demon. You've lost." Tracy taunted.

The assassin laughed, her voice thick with accent and high pitched. "You really don't know what's going on, do you?" Acidly, she spat at their feet. "God, you all have no clue. Fools."

"What are you talking about?" Elsa said sharply.

The woman cackled again. "By now your precious Confederation leaders are dead."

Everyone froze for a moment. Elsa was the first to react. She cursed under her breath and started running back towards the camp.

"Elsa!" Maui shouted and took off after her, clutching a wounded shoulder that was bleeding probably for the first time in his life.

"I knew there was something fishy about all this." Gretel looked warily at the assassin at their feet.

"T'was a set up right from the get go." Hansel said as if it didn't really concern him. He paused. "Wait a minute. If they kill the queen, we won't get paid, right?"

"Hansel." Gretel hissed angrily.

Janus shook his head. "Elsa will take care of it." I hope she makes it in time. He tried to take his mind off things, and turned to Tracy. "Think you can keep her under control?"

Tracy seemed to consider it for a moment, and then suddenly lashed out with a kick across the subdued assassin's face. The woman went limp and flopped to the ground in a heap.

"Yep." Tracy said. "Think so."

"Good." Janus began walking towards the skirmisher that he'd shot like a man hunting deer. "I have other things to worry about." By now, all the white skirmishers had already fled into the night, leaving their injured comrade behind. Very few other white skirmishers lay dead in the snow, a testament to how elusive and good they were.

Janus reached the man who was lying on his side, clutching his leg and writhing in pain. Kneeling beside the man, he put a hand on the arrow. The white skirmisher stiffened.

"You know the drill." Janus growled menacingly, his mask's filtered voice amplifying the intimidation tenfold. "Talk, or suffer the consequences."

The man rattled off something in Exonian, too fast for Janus to catch.

"English." Janus snarled.

"I have nothing to tell you." The man spat. "I fear no man."

His eyes betrayed him. Janus could tell. He'd tortured and interrogated enough men in the past to know the difference between a man who had nothing left to lose…and people like the man before him.

Janus gripped the arrow which was still protruding out of the man's leg. He jerked on it, but not with enough force to yank it free.

The man shrieked.

"You want to know pain?" Janus asked, twisting the arrow slowly. "I want to know who you all are. Talk, or you might just lose your whole leg."

"Blitzguard!" The man screamed.

"What?"

"Blitzguard!" The man repeated. "Imperial Blitzguard! The Chancellor assembled a new unit to serve Her Imperial Majesty. He deployed us into the battle!"

So I was right. Janus grimaced, not sure whether to feel pleased that he'd guessed correctly, or to feel dread at having such a deadly fighting force in the field. Apparently this man wasn't a prime specimen of his unit.

"Thank you." Janus yanked the arrow out of the man's leg in one swift motion. The man opened his mouth to scream in agony again, but Janus slammed the hilt of his sword against his face, and he flopped bonelessly into the snow.

Levering himself to his feet, Janus sheathed his sword. So now the Order had dispatched his elite assassins into the field, and so had Hans. Something told Janus that they'd not seen the last of both the Imperial Blitzguard and the Mage Slayer.

ANNA

"You were right," Melody said as they exited the duke's tent. "I'm sorry. This was a waste of time." She too looked rather annoyed. "Old nobles and their penchant for doing things by the book."

"That's Helmsley for you." Anna said as she and Melody descended the hill towards the lance corporal who was watching their horses for them. Somewhere in the distance, there was a loud noise but in her tired state she decided to chalk it up to firewood crackling. "Now to try Horatio, though I doubt we can convince him either. Maybe if we tie him to a chair and threaten to push his face into horse shit, he might be convinced to turn the troops around."

"Stop."

"Sorry. Bad joke." Anna winced. "Of course we aren't going to do that. But if we're going to convince him, we'll have to do better than how we did with Helmsley. If-"

"No, not that. I mean stop. Quiet." Melody waved her hand for silence, and they both came to a stop. Anna tilted her head at the princess.

Melody's thick eyebrows were furrowed, as if having just realised something. "Did you see the guards when we left the tent?"

"Sure, they were right outside when we-" Anna paused mid sentence. No, that was when we were going in. "Wait…"

"Damn it, the Mage Slayers are here!" Melody broke into a run up the hill again and Anna sprinted after her.

"Wait! Stop!" Anna shouted, drawing the attention of a couple of sleepy soldiers who were in the tents around them. She caught up with Melody and grabbed her arm. "Stop! They could be trying for Horatio right now. You go after him. I'll handle things here."

"You sure you can handle-"

"Yeah. Go!" Anna pushed past Melody and continued scrambling up the hill. Melody must have turned and gone in the direction of Horatio's tent, for Anna didn't hear her following.

How am I supposed to stop one of the Order's assassins? In retrospect, this wasn't one of Anna's better ideas, but it was too late to reconsider now. Helmsley's life was in grave danger. She reached the top of the hill and waved at several of the senior Einsfeltai officers who were sitting in a circle and playing cards outside their own tents.

"Help! Intruders!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, waving frantically at the commanders in grey. Her windpipe filled with cold air and hurt like hell. "They're going to kill the duke!"

It took the confused officers several moments to realise that it was the Queen of Arendelle screaming like a mad woman, and several more for them to react to her sprinting past them. They gave a shout, and scrambled to get up.

Anna didn't wait for them. She hurtled towards the tent, nearly losing her footing in the thick snow, and bashed through the tent flaps. A woman stood inside with her back to Anna, having backed a whimpering Helmsley into a corner of his own tent. It took her a split second to identify the woman who wore a brown cloak.

"Helmsley!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. "Get down!"

"What in-" Helmsley shrieked as he dropped to the ground, just in time as a tiny dart whizzed over his head and made an almost indistinguishable hole in the tent fabric.

The Mage Slayer turned at the sudden interference, but by then it was too late. Anna slammed into the assassin's flank, dragging them both to the ground. They both collapsed in a heap, arms and legs flailing wildly. As the two women struggled on the floor of the tent, Anna caught a good glimpse of the woman as her hood fell back. If not for the cloak and hood, the assassin would've looked like any other camp laundress.

The Mage Slayer snarled at her like an angry bear and attempted to claw at Anna's neck. Anna scrambled away and got to her feet in a hurry, using the edge of Helmsley's desk to pull herself up.

"What-" Helmsley wailed, still cowering on the ground in the corner.

"She's here to kill you, you fool!" Anna yelled, abandoning all decorum. "Get out of here!"

Three officers finally barged into the tent at the same time, swords in hand.

"Your Grace!" One of them shouted.

Two darts flew past Anna's face, and she felt the wind against her skin as they did. The darts' needles sank themselves into the necks of two officers, and they collapsed bonelessly without a struggle. The third gestured frantically for Helmsley to evacuate, and the insufferable old duke finally whimpered and clambered towards the exit.

From the corner of Anna's eye, she saw a thin needle slip from the woman's sleeve into her palm. The woman's hand moved like lightning.

"DOWN!" Anna screamed again, lunging at the duke and bulling him to the ground. The needle struck the side of the desk where Helmsley's head had been.

The Mage Slayer cursed in some foreign language, glaring at Anna.

"Get out!" Anna shoved the fumbling duke towards the exit as hard as she could, and the last remaining Einsfeltai officer caught him. "Get him out of here!"

"I had no quarrel with you, Queen of Arendelle." The Mage Slayer growled angrily.

"You know who I am?" Anna tried to stall for time. Maybe the rest of her friends would get wind of what was going on and come to her aid. Was there any way she could take this assassin by herself?

"I know who you are." The Mage Slayer sneered, dropping into a throwing stance. "I wasn't here for you. But I am now." Something thin slid from the woman's sleeve into her palm, and she whipped it across the room at Anna.

Giving a shrill yelp, Anna dove to the side, narrowly avoiding getting skewered. She rolled clumsily, hitting the dead body of one of the fallen officers who'd taken a dart in the neck. He was already foaming at the mouth, eyes glassy and skin frightfully pale. Poison.

"The name's Venom." The Mage Slayer drew another blade. "My victims deserve to know who killed them." She tossed the blade end on end at Anna, who gasped and scurried aside.

"Damn it!" Anna cast about frantically for the officer's weapon, any weapon. She'd left her own sword and dagger in her tent, never having dreamt that she would need it now. Her pistol was at the back of her coat though, as Kristoff had insisted on her carrying one with her just in case she needed it. It was however, infuriatingly and inconveniently unloaded.

Her hand fell on a cavalry saber, and she yanked it from the officer's scabbard. And just in time too. She parried a knife thrust from Venom, who withdrew and stabbed at her again. Gasping, Anna scrabbled away on her hands and knees, rolling out of the way of another clean swipe.

She got to her feet, and hefted the cavalry saber. It was way too heavy for her liking, but now wasn't the time to be fussy.

"Stay still, threpvjon!" Venom exclaimed, swinging her knife at Anna again. Both hands on the sword, Anna stepped back till she backed up against the desk. The Mage Slayer hurled her knife at Anna, who ducked deftly. From the corner of her eye, Anna could see that the knife had an almost unnoticeable coating of some green substance on the blade. It was laced with poison too.

Her eyes fell on an unlit lamp at the corner of the desk. Without thinking, Anna picked it up with one hand and tossed it at the assassin without aiming too well. But at this distance, it was quite impossible to miss. Venom was too surprised to react, and the glass shattered on her, spilling oil all over her. She shouted in anger, trying to shake the oil and glass shards off.

That's my opening. Anna bulled forward, cavalry saber still in hand, and she raised it. She slammed her shoulder into the woman's chest, and felt her exhale sharply with a shrill "oof". Both women fell against the side of the tent and the fabric ripped under their combined weight. They fell outside into the cold snow, with Anna landing on top.

Before Venom could get a chance to draw another of her poison tipped blades or darts, Anna lifted the cumbersome sword with some difficulty and slammed the pommel across the assassin's oil covered face. Venom's head lolled back into the snow and her body went still.

Gasping hard, Anna tossed aside the saber and collapsed, lying in the freezing snow beside the unconscious woman, letting her body slowly grow numb. She couldn't believe it. She'd saved the cumbersome duke from being assassinated and beat a demonised assassin singlehandedly without any powers.

"Oh, shit." Relieved, Anna let the back of her head sink into the snow as she heard the distant voice of her sister shouting, drawing nearer to where she laid. Someday, this is going to make one hell of a bedtime story.