[Nell]: 226.Stories.Assassin.Suspicions

Chapter Two: Suspicions

"You are under arrest by order of the High Commissioner," shouted the nearest officer.
They stood warily around the two assassins, batons at the ready. More officers had poured in from the bottom floor to block the stairway.
Zimmeria ducked her head to hide her face. What were they going to do? If it was found out that a Princess was working as an assassin, its effects would be catastrophic. The neighbouring kingdoms may well take it as an excuse for war, decreeing that Abagon was unstable and needed a new set of Rulers and Heirs. They would invade the city of Abbak, and kill her family and anyone else close to the throne.
That and the two of them would both be hung for attempted murder. But Kraft stood tall with a slight smile tracing his lips. What was he planning?
"Well, aren't you going to arrest us?" he asked calmly.
Five officers jumped at them and Zimmeria dropped to the ground instinctively. Kraft grabbed the arm of the closest man and threw him over his head into the officers to his right. Packed as closely as they were, they toppled like dominoes. Swiftly he kicked the officer coming at him from behind in the stomach, grabbing the shirt of the man in front of him and flipping him onto the floor, to be stomped on by his fellows.
The officers on the stairs were scrambling to get up to the fight. Kraft swept the legs out from under yet another man in blue and sent him tumbling backwards down the stairs to meet them. A baton swung out of nowhere striking Kraft across the back. He fell forward, and Zimmeria was certain she’d heard his spine break. She raised her head in alarm, only to see her friend do a roll on the spot and come up facing the other way to slam the officer into the wall with another flying kick.
She felt his hand on her arm as he lifted her to her feet and leapt to the banister post. He leapt again, lodging himself into the opening for a skylight that had been blocked off with pieces of wood. She took his extended hand and followed him, narrowly missing being grabbed, letting herself swing up onto his back. She slammed her shoulder into the planks until they cracked and she was able to push them aside. Then she pulled herself out onto the roof and turned back to grab Kraft's hand as he climbed up. They had made it out!
But they didn’t stop to celebrate. Kraft began running across the roof and Zimmeria followed him close behind. She saw him disappear over the edge and stopped short. He had landed on the neighbouring rooftop. He held out his arms.
"Come on!" he shouted. Already she could hear the sounds of the officers making their way out into the street.
She moved back. It was too far! She'd fall for sure! Her feet began running without her permission. She leapt from the edge.
For a moment she felt the air lifting her up and she was flying. Then gravity took hold and she began falling back down to earth. Her arms wind-milled wildly in the air, she wasn't going to make it! She shut her eyes tight and waited for the end to come.
Then Kraft caught her and used her momentum to start them running again across the roof. The jump from this roof to the ground was shorter and soon they were dashing for the streets.
Her elation at still being alive was short-lived however, as she glanced over her shoulder. Following fast were the officers, shouting with anger. The sound of their pounding feet loud was getting louder in Zimmeria's ears.
They fled down alleys, twists and turns making her dizzy. But Kraft seemed to know where he was going. Her feet ached and her breath came in gasps. Suddenly Kraft pulled her through a doorway.
They were in a storage building. He slammed the bar across the door as they heard officers getting closer. Zimmeria gripped Kraft’s arm compulsively. Had they been seen? But then the guards were going past, their shouts growing fainter. Soon they were gone. Safe! For now.
"You need to get back to the palace," Kraft said evenly. She nodded. She knew he was right, but there were so many questions she had to ask him.
He had never failed to spot a trap before. Surely the fact that it had been a police officer's home might have hinted at something? And where had he learned to move like that? She had never seen him use those fighting techniques before. They were amazing!
But his mistake had nearly got them caught and killed. Her heart was pounding heavily against her ribs. There was no wonderful adrenaline rush as she’d imagined there would be running from the law; there was only fear. How could Kraft have missed that trap?
"Hush," he whispered, raising a finger to his lips. He’d read her thoughts like the inscription on a blade. "We have no time for that now. You mustn’t be missing when they reach the palace. Go!"
He pushed her out the door and sent her running towards the dark turrets of the castle.
As she drew closer she heard loud angry voices by the main gate. A number of officers were arguing with the guards. She caught a few words of what was said.
“…you need to come back tomorrow…!”
“…one of my men saw…!”
Zimmeria didn’t stick around for more. She tore around the corner and in the direction of the back entrance. She didn’t even have to throw a stone to distract the guards, as the muted sound of shouting could be heard echoing across the lawn as more officers joined in the protest.
She raced across grounds, wincing at the crackle of the grass and hoping that no one saw her fleeting shadow. She had to dive behind a bush by the palace once, to avoid being seen by the taskmaster, Bryen, who was running across the lawn in his nightgown with his robe flapping. Reaching the wall, she leapt up the vines, climbing swiftly to her room.
She reached the window and threw herself though it, banging her knee painfully on the sill in the process. Cursing, she yanked off her clothes and weapons and shoved them into the locked chest she kept at the foot of her bed, before running to her washing basin to wipe away the sweat. As she was pulling on her nightdress, she heard footsteps hurrying down the hall towards her room. There was no time to loose!
Zimmeria jumped into bed but had enough sense not to fain sleep. There was far too much commotion going on outside. The door was pounded on twice, before it was thrown open and a lamp thrust in.
“What’s going on?” she asked the taskmaster innocently. The portly man was looking very harassed.
"Those fools outside the gate are claiming that you were part of an assassination attempt tonight, Your Highness," he bowed. His bushy moustache was perched on his top lip like an angry cat and his face was red from running.
"But that's ridiculous!" she said in her most affronted manner.
"That's what I told them, Your Highness, but they insist that-"
"Well, we'll have to go and see them then," she interrupted. He looked up at her startled.
"They are only the local force. You needn't comply with their wishes," he said carefully.
"That's exactly what I am not doing. Consider what this will have turned into by the morning if it is not dealt with as soon as possible."
"You are quite right, Your Highness. But if I might be so bold to say, your parents will definitely be hearing about this horrible assault on your honour!" he spat viciously.
"That is within your rights," Zimmeria nodded. "Will you please send in my maids and handmaiden and inform the officers I will be with them in a moment."
"As you wish, Your Highness," he bowed again, backing out of the room.
Poor Bryen. He had always been a good friend and loyal servant to the family. What would he have said if she had told him the charges were true? She sighed. But she could never tell. No one could to be trusted with this secret.
Despite her calm appearance, she was terrified at the prospect of seeing the officers again. In fact she was quite surprised at herself for managing this face even now. It would take every bit of regal self-confidence, which she didn't have, to keep them from pinning charges on her. They were a very dogged, if sometimes scatterbrained, force.
“I’ll have to act the very innocence of my younger sister to get through this one,” she decided. “Hmmm…how is one regal and innocent at the same time?”
As she attempted to figure this out, Saesh and the maids came in to help her into her dresses and petticoats. They chattered with endless gossip, surprisingly energetic for this time of night. When Zimmeria was finally acceptable in appearance according to their standards, she left her room to be guided by the taskmaster, also fully dressed, down into the courtyard. She had to concentrate on not limping, though her knee was very sore.
Bryen had managed amazingly managed to get only a few of the head officers to meet them. She felt herself beginning to relax; it would be easier to speak to these few than the roaring crowd of policemen, some of whom might actually have seen her face. The senior officers bowed to her with the respect that was required of them.
"Please, gentlemen, you have woken me from a night's rest with this hubbub, and now my aid informs me that I am being accused attempted murder! Explain yourselves!" she commanded. Tripping over each another with their words in their haste to respond, they all began trying to speak at once.
"One at a time gentlemen!" Bryen spoke sharply, his voice cutting through the racket. Even though his station was below them, the officers quieted quickly.
A representative of the High Commissioner stepped forward. "I think that I speak for us all in giving you our deepest apologies. I think that some of our men were a little hasty in their assumptions. They are overreacting to a…minor matter, which will be dealt with very soon. Please accept our regrets that this ever needed to come to you. We will bother you no more. Goodnight, Your Highness," the officer finished curtly.
They bowed again and strode off across the lawn, without even waiting for her permission to leave.
"The indignity!" Bryen huffed.
"No harm was done. It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. But now I would like to return to bed, taskmaster Bryen," Zimmeria sighed.
"Yes! Of course!" He led her back to her room, where the maids helped her to undress again.
When the lights were turned out, and had been so for a quite a few hours, she had only just begun to fall asleep. A lot had happened that night to think on.
"There are a few things I would like to speak to Kraft about," she thought sleepily. "I think I should know a little more about this person."
The way he had fought! Those hadn’t been the kind of moves you just made up by yourself. How many more secrets like that did he have? Kraft had revealed sides of him that could be dangerous. To the kingdom, as well as herself.