“By Mar!” Hadrian shouted as he ran across him again. “What have you found this time?!”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like them.”
Hadrian stepped between Royce and the two golden guards as they marched single file. They showed no hurry but also no hesitation.
“Where are those others?” Royce asked.
“I persuaded them to leave.”
“Good for you.”
Hadrian used his sleeve to wipe the sweat and blood from his eyes as the walkway bounced with the coming of the colorful guards. “Once I start fighting, run back around the tower. Get to the rope and head down.”
Hadrian was only lending voice to Royce’s own thoughts. He took a step back and was about to run again when he noticed something that didn’t make sense. “Hey, you’re wearing your harness.”
“I almost went down. You’re lucky I realized you were in trouble.”
The golden guard closed in.
Hadrian crouched, raising his swords. “Get going.”
Hadrian lunged forward to meet the first of the pair. Royce watched in awe as Hadrian moved like a dancer, catching the pole-arm of the guard with one sword and stabbing with the other. It looked as if he got the sword up under the breastplate, but the tip glanced away. The guard slammed Hadrian back with enough force to drive him into Royce.
“I told you to leave!”
“I’m going!”
Royce retreated as Hadrian attacked once more. This time the guard swung, spinning the top blade down. Hadrian blocked with his off-hand sword, and Royce watched in amazement as Hadrian’s blade was cut in half.
“Whoa!” Hadrian retreated.
The guard pressed the attack. Hadrian ducked, letting the spinning blade spark against the tower’s stone. Without pause, the guard brought up the bottom blade, which Hadrian deflected with the broken hilt, but that just gave the golden boy another downward slice. Hadrian should have been dead. Royce had seen enough fights to know that most were short affairs. One or two parries were all that could be hoped for, and that was only if both sides were playing by proper fencing rules. The golden gods before Hadrian weren’t even using swords. The downward blow had speed and strength.
Clank!
Royce wasn’t sure how he did it, but Hadrian had gotten his remaining sword up high enough to save himself from being cut in half. The same could not be said about his second sword, which snapped, the end of the blade flying out over the edge of the parapet. Hadrian only avoided being cleaved in half by falling to his knees.
“RUN!” he shouted.
Royce had seen enough and sprinted back around the tower. He came to the dead bodies and vaulted them, skidding so far on the blood-slick walkway he nearly went out one of the open crenels.
There were eight bodies. Hadrian had killed seven.
Royce was nearing the rope’s anchor point when again he faced a golden guard. Just one this time, but after watching Hadrian, that was one too many. How many of these are coming up the steps after us? No, he realized, this was the second of the two Hadrian had faced. Hadrian was probably dead. The other guard would be going around the opposite way, coming up behind him.
Fighting was stupid. He just needed to get by. If he could avoid one attack and push past, there was a chance to dive for the rope. Without waiting, without pausing, Royce ran at the guard and dodged left then right. The faceless golden helmet followed him and swung with incredible speed, just missing Royce’s left leg. Pivoting and using his forward momentum, Royce punched his body through the gap between the tower wall and the golden armor. He remembered the second blade of the guard’s weapon too late.
Royce felt the metal cut into his side, and where he intended to land on his right foot to keep running, his leg refused to obey. He collapsed under his own weight. Royce fell, skidding across the wooden walk, sliding on his own blood. Rolling to his back, he watched the faceless guard bring down the killing blow, the spinning scythe-like blade aimed for his chest.
Clank!
The pole was hammered to the wall, sparking and chipping out a fist-sized chunk of stone. Hadrian was there again, standing above him. He had his big sword out, and spinning in a full circle he caught the gap between the guard’s collar and the flange of his helm. Or so Royce thought. His head should have flown a mile, but instead the guard was merely slammed into the wall where his helmet carved out another bit of stone.
Hadrian continued to ram forward, pummeling the guard with blow after blow, forcing him back. Royce struggled to get up. He pushed to his elbows and saw the cut in his side was deep, his tunic awash in blood. He struggled to slide himself toward the rope. The pain nearly caused him to pass out.
Almost getting inside Hadrian’s defense, the guard halted his advance and reversed the momentum.
On his back, propped up on his elbows, Royce saw it coming but didn’t have time to warn him. As Hadrian stepped into the blood, his foot slipped.
He managed to block the blow using both hands on his great sword as if it were a staff, but the impact bounced him against the stone wall of the tower. Unlike the guard, Hadrian didn’t have a helmet. Still, he managed to anticipate the second blade. He tried to block, but not well enough, and he cried out as he fell alongside Royce.
The guard raised his weapon above both and it was a coin toss to determine which would die first.
Only Hadrian wasn’t done.
The guard was now standing in Royce’s blood too. With a scream that Royce thought was as much out of pain as determination, Hadrian drove the point of his long sword directly at the center of the guard’s breastplate. Royce saw it as a feeble act of desperation, until he realized Hadrian wasn’t trying to penetrate the armor. He shoved the golden soldier backward toward the edge of the parapet, aiming for an open crenel. When the back of the guard’s knees hit the stone, he staggered. Blood-soaked feet offered no traction and without a sound the giant, gold-clad warrior vanished over the edge.
A moment later Hadrian collapsed beside Royce and the two lay staring up at the black sky. The clouds had completed their process of covering the stars.
“Can you climb?” Royce asked.
“I think so,” Hadrian replied.
“Then get going.”
“Aren’t you coming?”
“I’ll be staying.” Maybe it wasn’t the clouds. Everything was blacker than usual. The edges of his vision were lost in an inky mist that was growing. “I’m either dying or about to pass out. One of us ought to survive this.”
His heart hammered, thumping way too fast for a man lying on his back. Beside him, over the ringing in his ears, he heard Hadrian get to his feet.
“Why’d you do it?” Royce asked.
“What?”
“Come back. You were safe. You were at the rope. Why’d you come back?”
“Same reason I’m not leaving you here.”
Royce heard the scrape of metal on stone as Hadrian gathered up his sword. A moment later he felt himself being moved. A sharp pain ripped through his center; then the black flooded in.
When Royce opened his eyes, nothing made sense. He was upright, his face pressed against Hadrian’s back, and the two were flying in the air. They slowed, and Royce felt the dig of the harness. Letting his head drop, Royce saw they were still halfway up the tower. The street below was a gray line no wider than a bit of string.
“What are you doing?” Royce asked.
“Welcome back.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“I liked you better when you were unconscious.” Hadrian let out another length and the two plummeted.
When they slowed again, Royce felt the pain rip through him, once more making his head fuzzy. There was a tight pressure around his waist squeezing him and making it hard to breathe. “I just want to make sure you understand how utterly stupid you are. You’ll never get away dragging me with you.”