Ekleipsis (Fantasy Romance - LGBT, manXman)

6.12.

He burst into the royal stables, brought out the first horse he saw, shouting, "Khaliddin's orders!," and, within a few minutes, was already galloping down the night streets. Drying laundry and low arches barely cleared his lowered head. Half an hour later, he was in Zeinab Street and saw the rising flames. The house of Chevalier Ahayrre was on fire.

It was as a jagged Enqin arrow had pierced his heart. The Redhead, Doll-face... where were they? Had they managed to hide? Were they safe? They weren't bad in a fight, especially Ithildin, and the Enqins would have likely wanted to take them alive, but still...

He saw men in city guard's uniform blocking the street. So they were not in any rush to offer help, only to make sure nobody else did. Kintaro jumped off his horse, pushed past a guard and bolted into a side street to get to the house from the back.

The air was hot and sooty. Breaking into a run, Kintaro pulled out a sword, and poised a dagger. He was scanning the dark alleyways, rooftops, windows and walls. There was no sign of the enemy, and all the neighbors hid, afraid, in their homes.

He heard a twang of a bow and a short scream of agony. Kintaro turned a corner and found himself in the middle of a fight. Right before his eyes, a man sliced off one adversary's head with a scimitar and cut through another one, shoulder to waist. This Enqin was felled by a knife Kintaro threw at him. He had been dressed like an Arislani, but a costume could not hide the wide cheekbones, long hair and the weapons of a steppe-dweller.

It was light as day. The house had become a colossal pyre. Kintaro glimpsed several bloodied bodies at a distance, and then a storm of arrows was unleashed. A few went past him, a few he had deflected with his sword, but one had hit him in the shoulder before he could hide back behind the corner. Leaving it in, he broke off the bit that stuck out, and pulled out one more knife, right in time − someone else was upon him, scimitar flashing. All feeling was gone from Kintaro, only the cold fighting fury remained.

Kintaro wiped his sword on the clothes of the man he killed, and slid along the wall towards another dark figure. Within a minute, a third Enqin was dispatched. A fourth attacker got a green-feathered arrow in his throat. It had been shot from a side street, from behind an upturned cart, and, for a second, Kintaro thought he had seen a pale delicate face, but did not permit himself to get distracted.

One more Enqin was laid down by his sword, and the arrows got two more. The feathers on these arrows were not green but black. The elf had run out of arrows, probably, and he had gone to collect the enemy's.

Four men attacked Kintaro, howling, and it would not have gone well for him, if three palace guards did not come to the rescue. One of them, Kintaro was not surprised to see, was Sigmar.

"Wild night, by Llyd!" roared Sigmar, sword waving.

Soon it was all over. Kintaro clenched his teeth, and pulled out the remainder of the broken arrow from his shoulder. He looked round. "Two got away. How many had there been?"

"Fifteen," said Ithildin, coming out from the barricade.

He held his elven longbow. He was shirtless. Blood trickled from a cut on his neck. Chevalier Ahayrre came out next, sword at the ready and covered in soot, shirt torn, but seemingly unharmed.

"I just cannot believe it!" he babbled. "We got nearly massacred, and the city watch never bothered to show up. Kintaro, damn you, I have you to thank for saving my ass again!"

Kintaro steadied himself against a wall. Relief fell over him, like an avalanche. He did not realize just how tightly wound he had been, as long as he did not know what had happened to his precious boys.