One Night in Xanadu

Chapter 21 - This Night is a Night of Power

Less than a second but that was all I needed as my sword whipped forwards, the tip sliding through his flesh as if it was silk, slicing through his jugular so that the red arterial blood sprayed bright and far, and the assassin beside him stepped backwards, wiping the blood that momentarily blinded him from his eyes as I took that moment and hewed the first's head from his body, grimacing as the red blood geysered high, spraying my naked body.

"You are more than a beautiful face, Princess of the Xiongnu," the Khagan grunted from behind me, and how he had noticed. I had no idea.

"I am no Han maiden, Lord," I grunted myself, that first assassin lying dead at my feet, his head six feet from his body and my sword dripped blood as I held myself poised, facing the second and now I was more confident, for one warrior I could face. "I guard your back."

"That much I have seen for myself," the Khagan said without looking back. "My back is yours to guard," and his own swords were clashing with those before him.

I was moving as he moved; my back to his and the assassin before me looked for an instant at my naked breasts as I smiled at him, my hand cupping one naked breast as if I offered it to him for his delectation, and his eyes responded as a man's eyes do to a woman's naked beauty, and I was not modest, for amongst my people I was spoken of as one whom all men desired. My sword struck at that moment, piercing that assassin's throat in a sudden flickering slash. The blood spurted, fountained from the artery I had sliced open even as his fingers sought to contain the flood.

He sank to his knees, his sword still reaching for me as his breath whistled, and he gagged as the blood choked him, and his eyes said he sought my death even as his soul faded. Parrying his desperate thrust, I lunged forward, my blade taking him through the heart this time, and his eyes widened, their luster faded, life left him; his sword clattered on the flooring; his body sagged in death.

I spun to the Khagan's left, and dangerous he was, as fast as a snake, as lethal as a white tiger in the snow, for four bodies lay scattered across the floor before him now, and he had faced five after I had killed that one unawares, while I had faced only two, and the luck had been with me for they had perhaps thought I was some helpless Han concubine, and those that remained knew how wrong they had been.

Two yet remained, attacking furiously now for they knew they were the last. As I spun to the Khagan's left, his shield arm, I displayed my naked body, drawing the eyes of both of those remaining for an instant for they knew now I was a threat to take seriously.

That instant was all the Khagan needed. His swords flickered, one stabbed, cut. The assassin nearest me began to topple, and I took his head off cleanly, just as the barred wooden doors to the Khagan's bedchamber crashed open and the remaining assassin went down under the Khagan's sword. His sword-hand still holding his blade as it was cut from his arm, his left hand scrabbling for his knife, but the Khagan's kick took him down, and his foot pinned the remaining hand.

The first of the Khagan's guards burst through the shattered door, others poured after, and almost, they took me.

"Hold," the Khagan roared. "Hold. Not the Princess." His left hand dropped the sword it held, and his arm shielded me from his guards for long enough that I remained alive, my sword dripping the thick red blood, and then Chingay's men were there, a wall half-surrounding me, their backs to me, guarding me as the Khagan's guards guarded the other half of that circle around us, a solid wall.

As the Khagan glanced at me, I smiled, and I knelt before him, laughing, for indeed in the aftermath of killing, a man becomes aroused, and the Khagan was naked, covered with blood and priapically aroused; and I was here with him, and I was not afraid for I had survived alive and unharmed, although I knew not how, and he was my husband, and he had taken me once this night and now....