Magic and Gold

32: Legacy

There he was. Ralphus sat on the throne, with only two guards standing on the edges of the room. They were his most loyal guards, I was sure, and would not be swayed against him. So they had to be dealt with, too. Three on four tilted the odds in our favor. We were trained for this.

I saw the moment Ralphus saw us. A clash of emotions were expressed all over his face. Surprise, anger, and even a little fear. He stood up from his place on the throne, yelling something at the guards. Telling them to kill us, probably. But we would not be cut down. I would not fall to any man, ever again. Never again would I be put in chains, suffering at the hand of another. He would never have the chance to entrap anyone, ever again. Which is why, while Blade went after one guard and Copper and Lilianna went after another, I went after Ralphus himself. I spun the blade around in my finger, keeping the other one by my side. "You should have expected this," I said.

"I did." He pulled out a sword from behind the throne. It was wide but looked light, sharpened to a razor edge. "I have swords all over this palace now. Paranoia has its uses. Shame I have to kill you now."

"Well, I'm happy," I lunged at him, bringing my daggers into an X when he slashed at me, catching the blade. He seemed surprised, which gave me the opportunity to finish, "to get rid of the scourge on this kingdom that is you."

I pushed his sword up and away from me before he could yank it free. I saw my destination in front of me, taunting. I needed to get to the Orb. If I could get magic, there was no way for him to escape my wrath. He felt it, too, so planted himself right in my way. I growled. "If I can't go around, you know I'm going to have to go through."

I lunged at him again, slashing and stabbing at him with two daggers. My left side was considerably weaker, so I tried to keep it in reserve most of the time because I could easily have an arm chopped off before I even moved it. We both fought with everything we had, and I had to admit, there was a reason why he had been the Department Head of Weapons.

We parried and slashed, blade against blade in a dangerous dance of steel. He got in a shallow slash on my arm and I hissed. "You finally get to see some true royal blood," I said, trying even harder to get around him. Slowly, I was making my way in a circle, forcing him to back up, right in front of the Orb. We were both sweating, focused only on our battle. I had no idea how the other battles were going, but the fact that no guard had attacked me was a good sign.

I wiped the thin sheen of sweat from my forehead and attacked. Swing, slash, thrust, stab, locked in a battle of balance. No one was winning or losing, so I had to tip the scales in my favor. I swung at his face, and when he brought his sword up to meet it, I ducked and slid under his arm, grazing my fingers along the Orb before I stood behind it with both palms pressed against it for as long as possible. As much magic as I could take in during this short amount of time had to be enough.

I saw Copper fighting a soldier all by himself, while Blade seemed to be winning his fight easily. I wanted to scream to him to help Copper, but I was distracted with my own matters. Ralphus growled and jumped at me again, bringing his sword down in a strong arc that would have cut me in half if I hadn't shimmied around the perimeter of the sphere. He sent the sword flying at me in a rage and I finally let go, feeling magic in my fingertips. Every bit of magic was precious, and I had to savor it, but this finally tipped the balance in my favor.

I spun the blades around my fingers, feeling their hum as they lit up with magic. I backed up from Ralphus, goading him into following me where the rest of the fight was.