School of the Crown Assassins

06

I dashed through the snow as a golden quad blade boomerang sunk into a tree next to me. I kept running, my heart pounding, blood still seeping down my nose and out my mouth, ribs screaming in pain.

Another blade grazed my black uniform, slicing my right arm. I bit my lip and pushed my feet harder.

I glanced over my shoulder and found Arielle running after me, but her expression looked like she was taking a short jog. She wasn't tired in the slightest. Her blade hung from her hand lazily.

Blade. Singular.

Shit.

I turned back around and ducked just in time for the second golden boomerang to fly back into Arielle's hand, nearly taking my head with it. At that moment, it occurred to me that she wasn't trying. In fact, she was playing. I was her toy, her amusement for the moment before she sliced me down and found someone else to entertain her.

After all, Arielle Fortier never missed, especially not with her golden weapons. If she wanted me dead, I would've been lying in my grave.

I was running out of energy and she seemed to be wearing thin. A few more minutes, and Arielle would decide that it was time to place a blade in my back. I needed to find a way out. Fast.

I looped the butterfly knife out of my hair and threw it behind me. It sailed through the air heading straight for Arielle's heart. She side-stepped at the last second and kept running after me. Trying to cut her down wasn't going to work. I needed some other solution.

That's when I heard it. Voices. Many of them up ahead. A group of ten assassins came into view and an idea sprung. The assassins caught sight of me and raised their guns, but I didn't slow down. I ran straight for their group, head on.

They surged forward. I ducked and sidestepped their jabs, running as fast as I could. They tried turning around but were rudely interrupted by Arielle's blade killing one of them. The group averted their attention to her as she pounced. I heard the sounds of the battle behind me, but I kept running, diving into thicker trees with larger shadows.

The noise of the battle had faded away as I dove behind the cover of dense bushes, catching my breath. I had been sure to catch any blood I dropped, but I could only hope that no stray droplets sank into the snow and revealed my position. As for the footprints, following them would be impossible. There were too many in the area and she would lose track of mine almost immediately. Hopefully.

My head was pounding, rib cage burning, legs screaming, lungs dry as I gasped for air. A few minutes of deep breathing and I started to stabilize, little by little. I looked around. The air was still, the empty silence enveloping me. It was almost as if there was no one for miles. But I wasn't fooled. I was only a hundred feet away from the exit at most. The people here were the best of the best. It may seem like no one was here, but there could be ten people surrounding me, watching my every move at the very moment.

As if on cue, a solid object sailed through the air, heading straight for my head. I spun out of the way and an electric bomb crashed into a fallen tree. It sent up sparks on impact, but it didn't affect the tree as they had been designed not to electrocute trees during games. But it could have easily knocked me unconscious.

Electric sparks flew towards me as if I was some kind of magnet, and I backed up straight into someone's grasp. The person, a male, wrapped his arms around me, pinning my hands to my sides. I struggled, but I was too small to fight against the big muscular arms.

The boy let go of one arm, adjusting the other one to wrap around my body all by itself. I still couldn't fight back. He reached for something in his pocket, maybe a knife or a taser. I didn't get the chance to find out.