Taroniah at Peace by Peter Rhodan

Author:Peter Rhodan [Rhodan, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-04-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Assassins!

Two nights later, Taroniah and Kauriga were walking back from the Mayor's house after being invited to the dinner party to celebrate the King of West Dumfordia's birthday. They might be persona non grata in Marsea, but in Alcitran, they were effectively members of the local nobility. Both the Mayor and the Governor always made a point of sending them invitations for any important social occasion, not that they accepted many as they were often simply too busy, or at least they were too tired after being busy all that day. The dinner hadn't been all that exciting, but at least they'd been able to do their civic duty. Taroniah sometimes felt guilty when she sent back excuses as to why she wasn't attending this or that function on a regular basis. Fortunately, both men seemed understanding of their situation and did not appear to be upset by them only attending the local functions infrequently.

Kauriga had only the slightest warning that something was wrong when a dark figure appeared behind Taroniah. A hand went around her head, pulling it back, while a second hand holding a knife flashed down, obviously intending to cut her throat. Just as he started to react, a second figure tried to grab Kauriga in the same manner; however, the second assailant was sufficiently behind the first that Kauriga's response to the first man's attack on Taroniah meant that the second man's attack half failed.

The hand that was supposed to grip his head while his throat was cut half missed as Kauriga was already turning sideways. He twisted, causing the assailant to lose his grip. At the same time, he grabbed the arm wielding the knife, pushing the man towards Taroniah while at the same time delivering a series of sharp blows to his assailant's stomach. They collided with Taroniah's assailant, and the two attackers became entangled and fell in a heap. His first concern was Taroniah, and although there wasn't a lot of light, he dropped down next to her, trying to discover if she was dead or alive.

Her chest was still moving, although there looked to be a dark stain all down the front of her clothes in the poor light. With a growl, he drew his sword even as the first of the two assailants managed to get himself back on his feet. Grabbing the man's shoulder, he pulled the man towards himself even as he thrust with his sword, running the assassin through. The second man tried to stab him in the arm, but he just managed to catch the glint of the knife in the poor light and moved his arm out of the way just as the first assailant collapsed. Kauriga withdrew his sword with that distinctive slurping sound that comes from withdrawing a sword from someone's gut.

The second man half stumbled forward, trying to slash Kauriga but discovered a man with a knife was in a poor situation against a man with a sword as Kauriga's weapon cut into his forearm, and then the backslash almost decapitated him.

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