The Demon and the Elf (Book 1)

Chapter Sixteen pt 5

Through his thundering heartbeats, as the blade reeled back to plunge, Eial looked up and spoke, unquivered. "Uhm. Sir. You seem to have stuff up your nose."

Guards were trained to be unfazed at any situation, yet this comment was so completely ignorant of the circumstances, that the guard couldn't help but pause slightly in the hold. The other guards, as well, didn't look to the source of the rubbish, but kept an ear perked. As for the demoness, her eyes watered, trying desperately hard to hold in the trembling of her stomach.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Perhaps I should not have said that out loud. I just thought, as an assassin of a sort, there would be an image to uphold. What if you left this room valorous and no one cheered because of," Eial's voice hushed as his brows upturned in worry, "that."

The guard entertained the elf's word for just that dumbfounded moment, but he quickly grew irate at the nonsense. He took a hand and shoved Eial against the wall, the large hand covering Eial's mouth, stopping anymore words from escaping. But right before the push, Eial swerved towards the left, and with the flow of movement, the guard had him pinned on the left wall. Exactly where he wanted.

Obviously not catching onto the plan at all, Drokn only saw the elf shoved against a wall and the blade that was in a direct line to his neck. His eyes opened long and he struggled powerlessly against the demon guard who had him on hold, screaming, shoving, grating swears with his eyes beamed red. The guard drew more force against Drokn, scraping his face harder against the wall, the skin on his cheek clawing raw and red.

The unnecessary rebellion made the situation more complicated. Eial's attention was distracted briefly by his demon in pain and his instinct to help him. But just before the edge of the blade nicked his neck, he refocused and scraped his heel against the wall.

The spell circle had the smallest area where a line was absent, incompleting the spell. As soon as his heel scraped, and the dirt from his boots made a marking that closed the circle and instantly, that side of the wall boomed with an explosion. Prepared that he was, Eial jumped out of the way the second the spell was complete. The guards around him, however, were knocked back by the force.

Knowing that killing the elf was a higher stake, three guards of the six present had stationed around the elf. And now, all three were impacted by the burst. Immediately, Eial rushed to Drokn's side, knocking over the demon guard holding his bond.

At the same time, taking advantage of the startled state of the two guards around her, Vrona kicked herself off the wall, knocking back one of the guards, and rolled safely back to her feet. Instantly, she spun and roundhouse kicked the other guard straight at the back of his knees, making him fall over.

The demoness had foreshadowed it all. The guards had split up the three with the plan to weaken them, unable to support each other. However, what was done to weaken the victims had ended up weakening the guards, as well.

A guard who had stood back up lunged at Eial, a sword coming his way. Just as Eial's quick thinking had himself squat to swing at the guard's legs, Drokn came in front, assuming a heroic stance of a fighter standing to protect.

Eial could only assume Drokn was trying to help, but truthfully, he was just in the way. Unable to swing at the guard now, he grabbed Drokn's cape and dragged him away from the slice of the blade. Tactfully using his small size and speed, he rolled to the other side of the guard and grabbed a leg that just lifted to move, creating imbalance and making the guard fall in a pathetic display.

When another guard came towards them, Eial yet again had a strategy on the fly. Though, yet again, Drokn stepped forward. "Stay behind me, I have this!" the demon said, a knee flying towards the guard.

Although the intention was sweet, the demon did not have this.

Quick to think yet again, Eial shoved Drokn before he would have broken his kneecap on the guard's armor, and kicked the guard with the base of his boot. As nervous as he was before, a buzzing sensation within the elf overtook other emotions in the rush and his lips cinched wide.

"Wh-" Drokn started to retort at the shove.

But before he could even finish the word, Eial yelled, "Stay!"

Startled, Drokn indeed did stay.

In the meanwhile, Vrona had kicked her way through the guards, creating a path towards the place of the explosion. The blast had created a crater on the side, the browns and tans of soil and roots exposed past the wall. An area not affected by the magic proof room.

"Think of the place, Eial!" the demoness shouted as footsteps rushed above the room they were in, preparing for their descent down to the room for backup after hearing the explosion.

Grabbing Drokn by his upper arm, Eial dragged him towards the demoness, knocking out any of the guards who tried to get in their way. As soon as the three met, the elf's small body jumped inside the crevice of the explosion and held the elbows of both his mother and his bond.

Just then, a click from above, the entrance to the floor above swung loose and a roped ladder tumbled downwards to greet them. To the right, the metal door to the book filled room opened and, wide-eyed, Mon came out to see the disaster.

Vrona took one last look at her old friend with a smirk and simply said:

"Teleport."

And as the backup guards dropped down from the entrance, all they were met with were six guards struggling on the floor and a researcher, who stared at a hole in the wall, emotionless.

Or perhaps, there was just the smallest bit of a glimmer.