Chapter 320: Backup.

Chapter 320: Chapter 320: Backup.

Because suddenly, out of nowhere, there’s an ungodly crash , and all at once, the guards start shouting.

The two crossbowmen edging in instantly swivel in place to face the new threat, and when Khobi looks for the source of the noise, he’s just in time to see one of the crossbows protecting Rogard’s father go flying across the courtyard in absolute tatters .

The guard who’d up until just a moment ago had it in his grip can only blink, and then immediately goes toppling to the ground as his feet get swept out from under him.

​An instant later, who should loom up in the distance but Loac, still in those same fancy clothes he was in at court; a sword –stolen right from the guard’s scabbard even as he fell –gripped loosely in one hand and absent-mindedly adjusting his circlet with the other.

As Khobi watches, he cleanly catches the first sword that comes for him, and in a glint of steel that one goes spinning across the courtyard too; neatly knocked from its owner’s hand in the blink of an eye.

Strides steady and even, he leans away from a second blade, and then another. Neither even come close; merely passing him by, and then the air around him ripples as he snaps forwards with the butt of his stolen blade.

​It comes for each of the guards in turn, striking brief and fluorescent like lightning, twice, as it winds one and knocks the lights clean out of the second.

They both topple at the same moment, dropping to their knees before him in perfect time; mere puppets being swept along in his wake.

​It’s goddamned poetry in motion .

​"Ugh," Rogard grumbles good-naturedly, as Loac straightens up and casually spins his blade in hand; an effortless, mesmerising motion.

Then, with a smirk that’s clearly for the two of them, the fucker yawns .

​"You guys gonna just sit there or...?" he drawls lazily, brushing a smudge of dust off his dark coat and giving the remaining crossbowmen an expectant look.

Like he’s daring them to try and shoot him.

​"No one likes a showoff, Loac," Rogard jibes back reproachfully, and honestly, Khobi kind of has to disagree with him on this one.

​Loac can show off all the fuck he likes if it looks like that .

​One of them is dumb enough to fall for the taunt.

Even from here, Khobi can hear Loac cluck his teeth as he just...steps aside. The bolt misses him completely, smacking uselessly into the stone behind him and fracturing into splinters.

The guy who fired the shot looks...well, appropriately terrified as Loac considers him, weighs up his options, and then flings his sword at him.

Hilt over blade it flies, and the guy lets out a blood curling shriek as he hurls his crossbow aside in favour of diving for safety; which is great because now the guy doesn’t have a crossbow, but bad because Loac’s just thrown away his weapon.

​He’ll probably be fine, but Khobi’s not going to let him have all the fun.

​Rogard must have just had the same thought, because the moment Khobi’s leaping into the fray, bounding over the low wall and into the courtyard to sucker punch the lights out of the nearest guard, he’s right in there beside him.

​"Hey, Loac!" he shouts, yanking out the knife he’s taken to keeping tucked in his belt, away from from sight; just in case.

The guard closest to him turns, but too late, the knife is already in the air and Khobi is barrelling into him shoulder first as Rogard goes for the other, and the two bolts that had been trained on Loac both go sailing wildly off into the distance.

​The knife whistles as it cuts its path through the air and sinks into a painting across the way; just inches from Loac’s face.

​" Watch it !" Loac squawks, and despite being suddenly engaged in a close combat brawl with two heavily armed guards Khobi somehow finds time to roll his eyes.

​" Like it was gonna hit you !" he shoots back.

Guy dodges a goddamned crossbow bolt at short range and thinks a little knife is gonna hit him?

​"With your aim it might’ve –" Loac snorts, but out of the corner of his eye Khobi sees him yank the knife free and twirl it in one hand to face down against the guards.

It’s impossible to tell which is glinting brighter; the blade, or his eyes.

​Whoa.

​There’s a second there in the calm before the storm that Loac looks his way; he’s sure of it. In it he catches a flash of teeth, and then like a will-o-wisp he’s off, darting in and around and through the guards’ defences; knocking their feet out from under them, turning aside the heavy strikes of their blades like they’re weightless, and dismantling them like they’re made of straw.

​Khobi has to bite back a grin of his own as he hooks an arm around one of his opponents’ necks and bodily throws him to the ground, the way Jaga has thrown him time and time again.

The sound the guy’s armour makes as he clatters into a heap on the stone is tinny and grating.

​What a fucking showoff.

​And if the place wasn’t already a fucking mess from the work Rogard had put in before Khobi had turned up, that’s when it gets ugly.

There’s debris and bodies and blood everywhere ; staining the cobblestones and the plants and the heavy benches, and Khobi’s not sure exactly how many guards there were to start, and whether more have come or if some of them have come to from unconsciousness and rejoined the fray.

It’s always a danger when using non-lethal force, but he’d taken Rogard’s lead on this one.

​Besides, Khobi meant it when he’d told Loac that he’s done watching people die, or being the reason they have to. This is supposed to be a peaceful place.

​So what the fuck are these guys doing?