***Author's note: Hey everybody, thanks for staying with me! Life stuff has been a little frantic lately so it is very likely that the update schedule may be a little irregular for the next few weeks. I'll try my best to stay weekly, but right now I can't make promises. Thank you for your patience and continued support!
IV.
Nights were proving to be less than kind to Louise. She awoke to Rider shaking her, his finger pressed close to his lips. Suddenly his voice was in Louise's mind.
"-Something is coming. I'm sure you can feel this magical presence.-"
Louise concentrated a moment, putting her senses out into the world, feeling for magical energy, and sure enough she detected a plethora of entities in the hotel and surrounding streets. Without more time to focus she couldn't get an exact number, but the young mage detected easily two dozen or more of them, summoned entities, like golems made of pure mana.
"-I sense them. There's a high number moving about. They've already surrounded the hotel, and some have entered the hallway. Ideas?-" Louise focused her thoughts back at Rider in an attempt to communicate. Her efforts had clearly paid off, as right after her response the chevalier nodded back at her and his features assumed a look of consideration.
"-I have an idea. We have no way of knowing exactly what they are, but we do know they are clearly here for us. My job is to fight for you, so that is precisely what I shall do. I'll catch the attempted surprise attackers off guard with a surprise attack of my own. You go out through the balcony and go along the roof-tops as far as you can. I doubt they will have spread the net that distant.-" Rider looked around the room a moment, pausing to make sure their attackers were not upon them before continuing. "-Take whatever you can with you. Once you've gotten some distance circle back around and approach the hotel with caution. We'll meet back up here to collect anything left behind once I've drawn them far enough away.-"
Louise gave him a sign of affirmation before getting up and quickly getting dressed in some of her street clothes. She threw some catalytic stones into a handbag along with her spellbook and a few other materials before informing Rider she was ready.
"-Won't any stationed in the street see me climb onto the roof?-" Louise was concerned Rider hadn't fully thought the plan through.
"-That is precisely why you will wait until the moment I attack to leave. As soon as they hear their allies engage in combat, the others will rush to their aid.-" Rider drew both pistols from his belt and stood ready at the door, waiting for the slightest noise on the other side. Louise positioned herself just in front of the door leading to the balcony, not daring to touch the curtains yet, lest their movement give her away.
As Rider waited at the ready, his pistols trained on the door, he heard the nearly imperceptible sound of cautious footsteps on the other side. He almost fired, but kept his patience. The moment he heard the metallic click of the doorknob beginning to turn he immediately fired a shot from each gun into the thick wooden barrier, his magical ammunition exploding through the door. Hearing a pained sound from someone on the other side, Rider screamed a battle-cry, hoping to garner the attention of as many of their assailants as possible, and slammed his weight into the door, bringing it crashing down on a pair of individuals on the other side. Louise saw all the opportunity she was going to get and flew through the door to the balcony. Her legs already charged with magical energy, she leapt onto the rooftop of the hotel and broke into a sprint across it, her still-amplified agility allowing her to easily clear the gap between each new building she came to.
Rider took little time considering the situation, choosing to get a look at his new opponents as he fought them. The five men gathered in the hallway were all dressed identically, each of them wearing a red and black poncho over red plate armor, their faces obscured by shrouds decorated with a red cross. Each assailant held either a flintlock rifle or sabre in their hands, the other one slung on their back or hip respectively. Rider put a fatal shot into the heads of the two soldiers he had brought the door down on top of before rolling off the heap and taking shelter behind the bodies. The corpses propped up the felled door momentarily, shielding him from incoming fire, before they burned away into nothing, the magic keeping the creatures on this plane expiring with them. As the bodies disappeared the door fell flat on the ground exposing Rider to his opponents. He fired several rounds of covering fire down the hallway as he retreated the opposite direction. Stopping at the first window he came to, Rider fired one more shot at his approaching foes before throwing himself through the glass and into the street below.
Rider rolled as he landed, coming up into a run , he wasted no time sprinting for the main road. As he reached the Rue de Vaugirard, Rider saw the soldiers exit the hotel and give chase after him. He stood with both pistols fixed on the approaching golems. "I am ready to receive you my worthy foes. Come! Let us meet in honorable combat!" The reply to his taunt was several stray shots ricocheting off the pavement around him. However the wayward bullets did not come from the soldiers he was watching. Rider looked down the road to his right and saw another dozen or so of the shrouded figures approaching, all on horseback, with rifles pointed towards him. "Well these numbers are hardly fair. But so be it! If you think you can face me in combat, I dare you to try and conquer me in a test of speed!"
Rider took off down the Rue de Vaugirard, more shots from his assailants whizzing by dangerously close to him. "Infini Cheval Poste de Cent Quatre Lieues!" Rider leapt into the air and landed on the back of a phantasmal manifestation of his own. The conceptual mount of the reliable post horses that had carried him across so many of his most important missions, fully materialized underneath the Chevalier and immediately began carrying him down the road at ludicrous speeds. In appearance the horse was incredibly mundane, and if anything looked as though it were of poor breeding. But this was the same type of horse that had carried him one hundred and four leagues in such a short time to arrive at the Louvre and inform the king of Monsieur Fouquet's treachery. The unassuming brown coloration and minimal patterning concealed its exceptional capabilities.
Despite the unnatural speed of Rider's mount, the enemy was still giving effective chase. Their mounts were phantasmal manifestations as well, and while they could not quite close the distance, they could at least keep pace with the post horse. Rider turned in his saddle, letting the horse handle navigation as he fired his pistols with both hands to combat the pursuing soldiers. Had he been facing forward perhaps he would have seen the cloaked golem step out of the alleyway ahead and been able to react in time. Unfortunately Rider was so engrossed in exchanging fire with the enemy behind, he was unable to react to the one ahead. The soldier readied a massive halberd, and as the horse approached, brought it to bare, driving the heavy pole-arm into the chest of Rider's mount. The post horse immediately halted, tumbling over itself as it crumbled into the pavement, and flung its rider into the air.
Louise had crossed nearly a mile of rooftops before stopping to survey her current situation. Having found a building that was notably taller than the surrounding cityscape, Louise perched herself in the shadow of the architecture and watched the streets below for any immediate threats. Once she was sure none of the enemy had pursued her to her current location she laid back against the cold stonework and let herself breathe a moment. She needed a better understanding of what was happening back near the hotel. She reached out towards Rider with her mind, hoping their shared link worked over the greater distance. "-Rider. Are you there? What is the situation?-"
The reply was immediate, but the servant sounded strained and distracted. "-Busy!-"
Louise was sure Rider was still engaged in combat with their mysterious foe, so it fell on her to decide her own next move. She pulled a small piece of paper from her bag and folded it into a bird-shape that vaguely resembled a swallow. The mage whispered a few words into her creation before leaning her head back and closing her eyes. As she tossed the small construct into the air it took flight and her own senses transferred to the temporary familiar. Flapping the now magically charged paper wings, Louise was soon soaring over Paris back towards the apartments she had fled. A floating but quick pace soon found her over her hotel. The first thing she noticed was the shattered glass and broken window frame Rider had left in the wake of his escape. Though their combat had surely made a severe amount of noise, there didn't seem to be any of the other hotel tenants milling around the scene of the chaos. In fact Louise didn't see civilians anywhere on the streets nearby. Despite the late hour, she had seen some activity on the streets near where her body currently sat defenseless, but the closer she got to where the enemy was operating the fewer people she saw.
The lack of civilian activity was not an indication of the area being deserted though. Several of the cloaked phantasmals were still active on the Rue Servandoni just outside the hotel. There were only three of them though, the number left behind was far more manageable than the initial horde. Louise let her consciousness slip back into her own body and the paper bird, left inanimate, floated away on the wind.
Sticking to the rooftops, Louise circled north a couple blocks before heading back towards the hotel. In case any of them had seen her depart she didn't want to approach from the same angle. Approaching the hotel from the direction opposite the Rue de Vaugirard, the young Saint-Hermine didn't initially see any of the enemies, and deemed it safe to drop down onto the Rue Servandoni. Louise was only a few doors from the hotel entrance, moving cautiously between trashcans and what shadows there were for cover, when she heard movement behind her accompanied by, surprisingly, a voice calling out.
"Halt. Right. There." The phantasmal soldier's voice was unnatural and stuttering, but still very clear. Louise turned her head slightly so she could see the cloaked figure with its antique rifle leveled at her. Louise was confused and worried by this strange change in behavior. It had her completely in its sights, and just as taken by surprise, so why had it given her a warning? The summoned enemies had wasted no time in attacking Rider, and as far as Louise knew, were pursuing him with the greatest deadly intent. But here, one of them was going through the motions that Louise believed would end in capture instead of death, not that Louise was going to settle for either option.
"Turn. Around. Now." The soldier gave a directing wave of its rifle. Even if it did plan to take Louise captive, it was being extremely cautious, keeping the barrel pointed directly at her head.
Louise mumbled an incantation before turning to face the soldier. She had both hands in the air, signaling obedience to its action.
"Approach. Slowly."
Louise steadily walked forward, dragging out the duration of her approach. She glanced over at her left hand. With her palm pointed towards the phantasmal it couldn't see the magical energy slowly swirling into existence on the backside. Louise found herself only a dozen steps from the creature when it uttered its next command.
"Now. Drop. To. The. Ground." Its focus was completely on keeping the rifle trained on Louise's face. A small smile crossed her lips. The soldier found it a curious reaction to her current situation.
Louise dropped to the ground, but much faster than the golem was expecting, and not as low as it wanted. She shot herself forward, as parallel to the street as she could get, the crouching run putting her just under the path of the shot fired by the panicking soldier. The magical energy on her hand finished manifesting and she struck out with the ethereal blade that was now wreathed around her arm. The ephemeral blade cut a deep gash in the soldier's plate armor, knocking the creature off balance setting Louise up for a follow-up strike. Louise pivoted on her right foot and drove the blade into the injured soldier. Her arm passed clean through the body of the golem, shattering its physical form and causing it to disintegrate on the spot.
Louise had no time to celebrate the victory. The sound of two more soldiers entering the street from the other end was all the warning she got before they opened up with a withering amount of fire. Louise willed the magical blade to expand, turning it into a makeshift buckler that she used to block the shots. She brought it up just in time, the magical force causing the bullets to ricochet wildly around the street, a few of them blasting through the door of a nearby home.
The two phantasmals decided ranged attacks weren't going to work and dropped their rifles before drawing their swords and charging the mage.
Louise willed the buckler back into a blade, the energy swirling around her entire forearm, its pointed end extending out a foot and a half from her fingertips. As she rushed the attacking soldiers she felt a now familiar excitement overtake her, the same feeling of boiling blood and flowing adrenaline she had first experienced during the fight with Archer. This time though, as she parried the sabres of her opponents with all the grace granted by her ample fencing practice, it was elevated tenfold, her survival hinging solely on her own skill amplifying the thrill.
Caught up as she was in the sheer frenzy of the fight, Louise left a small opening against her two opponents and one of them delivered a sharp kick to her ribs that sent her slamming into the door that had been shot earlier. The wooden barrier shuddered under the impact, but was sturdy enough to not give way to the weight slamming into it. Louise let out a pained cough as the impact knocked the breath from her. The soldier who had delivered the kick drove his sabre towards her, the thrust aimed at her torso. Louise, though a little dazed from the blow was still able to dodge the strike, the blade driving itself deep into the door behind her.
The soldier struggled with the stuck weapon only momentarily, but it was all the time Louise needed, and she decapitated the defenseless golem. She took no time celebrating over the dematerializing foe and charged the final soldier. True to its inhuman nature the creature showed no hesitation despite its now fallen comrades. The mage and the phantasmal exchanged a flurry of blows before Louise was able to bring her blade in under its guard, skewering her opponent through the neck. It gave a pained groan before it vanished like all the foes before it.
Louise banished her magical blade and stood panting for a moment, trails of sweat running down her face, as the thrill of the fight started to wear off. Suddenly she heard an intake of breath from behind and she whirled around to face the source of the noise, her blade swirling back into form. From the opening of the abused door, Louise saw the form of Grimaud with an expression of both horror and confusion plastered on his features. He made a series of confused noises before he was finally able to form coherent words. "I'm afraid I don't understand. What... What is all this?"
Louise took an extended moment to consider the situation before she lowered her hand and once again dispersed the magical blade. "It would be a rather lengthy explanation, but after what I'm sure you just witnessed, perhaps one you are due. Won't you let me inside? I can't guarantee how safe the streets are right now."
"-Rider. Are you there? What is the situation?-"
"-Busy!-" Rider tumbled through the air for a few moments before once again announcing the name of his noble phantasm, "Infini Cheval Poste de Cent Quatre Lieues!" and another summoned horse, similar to the last but with those slight differences inherent to animals of that trade, appeared beneath him before he could hit the ground. He was off at a swift gallop once again, not even appearing to have lost anything by the death of his first mount. He turned momentarily to put a bullet into the head of the soldier who had dared to skewer the poor beast as he rode on.
The group of enemy riders was still behind him, and had gained some ground by the short time Rider had spent without his mount. They all drew their swords and began to slowly close the gap. The gap was being closed by Rider however, and not the soldiers, as he had dropped his speed slightly to allow them to catch up. The first of the enemies came up on Rider's right and immediately struck out at him with its sabre. Rider dropped himself backwards, laying his back against that of his horse, and drawing his own sword at the same time, cut a deep gash across its exposed body. With one of his pistols still in his free hand he fired a shot that knocked the staggered enemy from its mount.
The enemy was quickly replaced by another, and was joined by a third coming up on Rider's left. He didn't have time to right himself before they were both lashing out at the still prostrate servant, and he was just barely able to parry both attacks, one with his own sword, the other with his pistol. The soldier on his left used the momentum of its blocked attack to wrench Rider's pistol from his hand, and sent it clattering uselessly down the boulevard behind them.
Rider pulled his feet from the stirrups of his saddle as the enemies readied their next attack. The soldiers brought their swords down simultaneously in a chopping motion towards Rider's head, but only struck the horse as Rider let himself slip off the back of his mount. The servant bounced and rolled down the road for several dozen feet before he was able to hop back up into a standing position. The post horse disappeared like the one before it, leaving the enemies trailing after nothing, and it took some time for them to slow the considerable pace they had been going. Just as they finally managed to bring their steeds around, one of them was blasted off its mount by a shot from Rider's one remaining pistol.
"And then there were two!" Rider taunted the last soldier as he stood in the street, his sword down and the pistol held brazenly over his head. "I must say, monsieur, I do commend you for making it further than your cohorts, but I'm afraid this ends here. En garde!"
The phantasmal, unfazed by the death of its cohorts, and uncaring about Rider's taunts, raised its sword and charged the boastful chevalier. Its horse was amazingly agile, cutting a serpentine like approach pattern that made it quite difficult for Rider to simply use the pistol. He holstered the firearm and readied his sword as the horseman approached. When the mounted soldier was only a few feet away, the deadly game of chicken moments from its inevitable conclusion, Rider leapt into the air, easily clearing the charging stallion, and cut a deep line down the horseman's back as he descended. The horse disappeared along with the death of the soldier, and Rider found himself alone on the street.
"-Master, I have finally dispatched our mysterious foes. I trust everything is fine on your end.-" Rider had just remembered that Louise had tried to contact him earlier, and was hoping he would find her in okay condition despite the delay.
"-I'm fine. I ran into a little bit of trouble myself but I was able to handle them easily enough. There is a new problem however.-" Louise had a tone of apprehension to her thoughts, though Rider was not sure if it was concern or fatigue that caused it.
"-More enemies?-"
"-Thank heavens no. Something that will provide a somewhat different kind of difficulty. Come back to the Rue Servandoni.-"
"-Are you back at the hotel?-"
"-No... I'm with a friend. His home is just a few doors from the hotel. You'll know the correct door when you see it I assure you.-"