Chapter 58: Tournament Interim (Part 7)

A Prince!?! Seriously I was saved by a Gods damn Prince?!? Not only that but he wants me to testify with him? No way! It was just too strange a coincidence that a fucking Prince would come to save a street urchin like her on a white horse! Okay he technically wasn't on a horse and seemed to be hiding from the patrols like her and seemingly wasn't exactly aiming at saving her, only doing so accidently but... Actually now that she thought about it, was it that insane?

Something told Moon that perhaps he might be telling the truth. The way he held himself, the confidence in his eyes, the well-built attracti- Whoa! Hold on girl he's a Prince! Probably...

[I-In that case I apologize for my behavior Prince Arlen de la Anguis. I am unfamiliar with etiquette for one of your station.] - Moon

[Right, well don't worry about it. Honestly, while I would have been upset several years ago with the familiarity I was put in my place by someone I now care about. By the way go ahead and just call me Arlen, I think I've got a pretty good handle on your character and feel comfortable being more familiar with you. Ah, don't take that as a romantic interest I already have someone I love.] - Arlen

[I-I would never! Umm...?] - Moon

[Yes?] - Arlen

[Would you really be willing to look for my little brother and sister?] - Moon

[I know this is probably a bad stance to take when negotiating for something but I had that intention regardless of you testifying with me, so yes.] - Arlen

First things first was damage control. Moon didn't know many royals, any actually if she was being honest, but she'd always heard that they were a temperamental bunch at best and a "murderous over the smallest slight" bunch at worst. She wasn't exactly in a position were she could afford to irritate a Prince, at least not until she found her little ones. She wouldn't run away and leave them behind and couldn't deal with an angry royal.

What happened next was surprising to say the least. She'd gotten the impression from the lizard-kin in front of her that he was fairly well-grounded and reasonable but hearing someone so far above her, socially speaking, not only allowing her to use their personal name but encouraging it. Well it was unexpected. Now if hearing a Prince give her permission to use their first name was enough to attract jealous stares from noble's what happened next would have had them foaming at the mouth before fainting. The Prince clarified that he wasn't coming on to her romantically.

Now Moon had been clear through the entire conversation that she was not good enough to view the man in front of her in any kind of similar light. Sure she thought he was absolutely gorgeous, and that butt... Mmmph! But actually thinking she had a chance was out of the question. That's why the fact that he felt it necessary to clarify that he wasn't interested in her romantically shocked her. I mean wouldn't he not even think of that as being a possibility?

Moon, wanting to change the subject back to her siblings, immediately reassured him she wasn't taking his comments in any kind of inappropriate way but faltered when it actually came down to it. Could she really ask him for help? Him, a Prince? Was it allowed? It's not like she was some Damsel in Distress afterall, she'd have to be a lady of some kind for that. She, a commoner, was asking someone of royal rank to help her find her family. Was that allowed?

His response, was honestly even more baffling. He, a Prince, was going to help her regardless? Weren't royals and noble's supposed to be more selfish? Or at least asking for something in return like he had originally? I mean telling her that he was planning on helping her whether she helped him or not basically threw out all of his bargaining chips without getting a single one in return.

[Are you sure? I know I probably shouldn't be saying this but you don't even know where they might be, is it really okay to help me like that?] - Moon

[Hahaha! Well that was what I was assigned with in the first place, this was actually originally a school assignment you know.] - Arlen

[A school... assignment?] - Moon

[Oh right I didn't tell you what I was doing tracking down your group for. Well we'll talk about it later. For now we need to get out of this situation.] - Arlen

[Is that the way out?] - Moon

[I think so, they must have decided to block the exits since they couldn't find you.] - Arlen

[Should we go around?] - Moon

[I doubt any other exit will be any better, I say we push through. How are you at combat?] - Arlen

[Better than most, not sure how many I can take alone, but I'm betting not more than 5 or 6.] - Moon

[Understood, we'll head straight through the right side. You see that thinner part there? Just rush past as many as you can, only engage as necessary. I'll clean up behind you.] - Arlen

In front of them was a wide road, buildings on either side, blocked by nearly 3 dozen guardsmen in various states of readiness. It seemed that most of them, confident in their numbers, were not expecting any kind of attack and were joking back and forth between each other. Unfortunately for them however not all of the group was so distracted. A small group, outfitted in higher quality armor and weapons, seemed intent on staying separate from the rank and file. This group, while they talked amongst themselves, made sure to keep an eye on their surroundings and one hand on their weapons. They were likely elite soldiers rather than common recruits.

Moon, doing a rough estimate of their forces, couldn't see a way for the two of them to actually punch through. Unless Prince Arlen was much stronger than even her highest estimation of his abilities it would be suicide to try taking on that large of a group. However, contrary to her expectations, the man himself seemed unworried. As if the number of enemies didn't matter the man calmly inquired as to her combat ability before nodding with closed eyes.

Pausing for a moment to think he then pointed to a less populated section of the blockade, closer to the elite forces but with less numbers to deal with and laid out his plan. Frankly he wanted her to man the front of their little push, avoiding combat as much as possible, while he took up the rear position and dealt with any that she couldn't. If she thought of him as a normal royal personage this would seem like a move to keep himself safe at the expense of her own safety but the look on his face illustrated how wrong that sentiment was. He was planning to take on all the strong opponents and prioritize her own escape over his, that was the meaning of him telling her to avoid combat as much as possible.

Realizing what his plan entailed Moon felt a warmth spread throughout her body, she hadn't before had a man look after her like this. She knew this was just a bit of White Knight Syndrome and that he had a person already in his heart but couldn't help getting flushed at the thought of him.

<Calm down Moon! Focus on the battle! Phew! Phew!> - Moon

[Huh? Did you say something?] - Arlen

[N-No! Nothing at all! Let's do this thing!] - Moon

Mentally beating herself over her distracted thoughts Moon flushed brightly when her "savior" asked her about her mumbling. She needed to get herself under control, what did she always say before? Men will only help women if they have something to gain. That's right, just focus on that fact. Hadn't she learned that over the years? No matter where she went it had always been the case, many times over hadn't someone tried getting close to her only to use that relationship to screw her over in the end.

Of course the problem was that she couldn't imagine Prince Arlen actually doing something like that, and despite knowing that it was just infatuation from the high tension going on she knew it was a lost cause. She was attracted to that beautiful lizard-kin. Dammit.

Shaking her head to get rid of the false feelings the catkin dashed forward, Prince Arlen hot on her heels.

How had they gotten into this predicament? They'd had a plan, the element of surprise and they were both fast enough to pull this off so why were they surrounded by almost 100 soldiers?

It had started off in their favor. Moon, rushing straight at the edge of the blockade, had used the fog to her advantage and had caught him by surprise. Cutting his throat she'd immediately used her forward momentum to spring at the second one in her path, cutting him down as his back was turned. The fool had been joking with two other people. Moon felt a twinge of guilt over killing him like this before her heart hardened as she caught what they had been joking about. His two friends, caught just as much by surprise, didn't immediately stop telling their joke about Demi's. Moon caught one of them saying something about hanging them right before her blade punctured his throat.

It was at this point that the rest of the group of guardsmen finally reacted, struggling to pull out their weapons. Moon, not waiting for them to respond, immediately ran past the last of the 3, not pausing to see if Arlen was following her. From behind her she heard the one she hadn't killed barking at her to stop before rasping out a death rattle when he failed to notice Arlen bringing up the rear. She smiled at the thought that he wasn't able to escape.

Quickly putting the dead out of mind she focused on dealing with the near dozen foes in front of her, many of which already had their weapons out. Dashing forward she noticed a few of the soldiers to her left closing in on them but a quick flash of steel from behind her and several of them were either holding the stumps of what was left of their hands or were falling to the ground dead. It seemed Prince Arlen was protecting her rear amazingly well.

Bringing her attention to the front once more she dodged under a sword swing by a larger human soldier, the smirk on his face that quickly turned into shock telling her that he didn't expect her to move as agilely as she did. Using her momentum to spin around the man she kicked the back of his shin and used her foothold to speed towards the next opponent. Behind her Arlen cut down the man as he fell forward, nearly cutting off his head in the process.

At this point Moon's adrenaline was pumping through her body and the strike from the one in front of her came down on her from above in what looked like slow motion. Confidence surged through her as she began to believe that this plan just might actually be possible and, using that surging feeling she stepped into his strike faster than he had expected, nearly beheading him with her sharp daggers. It was only a few more until they reached freedom! Just a couple of people that were between them and the rest of the city.

[We're almost there we just gotta-] - Moon

[Watch your side!] - Arlen

[Huh?!?] - Moon

Unfortunately the easy path that they'd been on closed like a bear trap. The elite's, the only bunch that was actually prepared for an assault, had finally reached them. Luckily for the cat-kin girl the warning screamed by Prince Arlen had saved her from an instant death as she jumped to the side, barely missing a familiar sword.

Angry at being halted in her tracks she turned towards the attacker only to freeze in surprise at the weapon he was holding. It was Judy's massive sword. The man in front of her, he was the guardsman that had stabbed her rabbit-kin companion. And now he was holding the sword she had been using as if it was his own!

[How dare you...] - Moon

[Hah?!? Is the little kitty yowling at me?!?] - Burly Armored Man

[HOW DARE YOU USE HER SWORD!] - Moon

[Woah there! You mean this?!? Ah yeah I took it off some long eared bitch a little while back, she was still squirming after me when I took it from her. God damn that was funny to see! Hahahaha!] - Burly Armored Man

[I'll kill you... I'LL KILL YOU!!!] - Moon

[Wait no! Moon!] - Arlen

Thump Thump! Her heart beat drowned out her surroundings. Thump Thump! The object of her hate, a smirking human soldier, effortlessly dodged her rapid slashes and kicks. Almost lazily he continued deflecting her attacks, shifting his stolen sword to block her attempts to kill him. Arlen, for his part, kept the rest of the soldiers now drawing towards them at bay. The net now closed on them actually escaping of their own power as two more large groups of guardsmen joined up with the current group. They were surrounded.

[Die! Why won't you die!?!] - Moon

[Hahaha! Hey look at this Boss Man, the poor kitty cat's gone feral. Maybe we should put her down!] - Burly Armored Man

Moon, heedless of her surroundings, continued to single-mindedly pursue the man in front of her. She was determined to avenge her first friend in years, the first person she'd trusted in a long time. And her killer was right there, his smirking face filling her head. Vaguely she realized that they were now surrounded, their situation more and more hopeless by the second, but in her rage she ignored that fact and continued railing against the far more powerful foe without pause. Which is why she wasn't able to react at all when a massive fist threw her back into the wall. The elite soldier fighting against her using his superior strength to land a punch into her gut.

[Wowee! She flew fast! Lighter than I expected. Hahahaa!] - Burly Armored Man

[Kof! Kof! You bastard I'll-] - Moon

[Stop playing around Corporal. Either kill them or capture them but make it quick. I've heard some worrying reports from our outer members.] - Commander

[Okeekay boss man! Welp you heard the man, bout time to end this farce. Huh?!?] - Burly Armored Corporal

[We're under attack! Men mind the perimeter! Form ranks!] - Commander

[Moon! Snap out of it! We need to get out of here while they're distracted! MOON!] - Arlen

Coughing as she struggled to her feet, Moon was in pain, her single-minded assault had meant nothing ultimately, it hadn't accomplished anything other than slowing them down enough to get surrounded. And now, because of her screw-up, she was killing yet another person she trusted. It was her fault once more...

Despair took her as a powerful voice interrupted her pitiful excuse for a threat, her teeth chattered as an almost instinctual fear overtook her thoughts. This man was a predator. Still shaking with terror she waited for death as the former object of her hatred approached her while raising his sword to strike only for a arrow to suddenly sprout from his neck. The shock on his face as he keeled over dead waking the cat-kin girl out of her stupor as Prince Arlen shook her by the shoulders. In the distance she saw a large amount of shadows on the fog, the details lost to the murky mist.