The two spearheads preceded Manfred and Andre as they advanced down the passage between all the barred cells. Kate and the Monteraynian veteran they'd rescued walked behind the two. From their footsteps to breathing, each one of the four escapees minimized every sound so as not to alert the guards that anything was amiss.

After what felt like an eternity of creeping along, Manfred and Andre reached the end of the corridor. The opening leading into the warden's chamber lay beyond.

The two spear-wielding swordsmen exchanged a nod, and then each one of them lunged through the opening and stabbed the guards standing on either side of the entryway. Their roars of agony drew the warden's attention up from the paper he'd been studying on his desk.

Spurting out some nonsense in Innutukian, the warden rose up with a dagger in one hand. He glanced about the surface of his desk and settled on occupying his other hand with Andre's gold-hilted sword. Whatever he was saying, he grew more impassioned in his delivery when Kate stepped into the room.

The warden charged at Manfred and Andre, which proved to be his last mistake. Neither the sword or dagger had the range of Andre's spear. After grunting out his unintelligible last words, he dropped to the floor.

Andre rolled his eyes and retrieved his sword from the corpse, wiping the hilt with a corner of his shirt once he'd done so. He eyed the dead warden with disdain before handing his spear off to the Monteraynian veteran. Once Manfred had snatched up his own sword from the desk, he gave his spear to Kate.

"So, we're all armed. Good." Manfred said, "But escape...where is it?"

"A way out?" Andre asked, "I'm not sure. The only one I know is that one." He pointed at the door leading up the throne room. "But I'm fairly certain nobody wants another conversation with that emperor, right?"

Kate narrowed her eyes. "I have more than enough words to speak with him, but now is not the time to deliver them."

Andre smirked at Kate, as if he'd found her irritation endearing somehow. "Of course."

By the time Kate peeled her attention away from Andre's persistent gaze, Manfred had already skirted along the perimeter of the chamber. He returned to the huddle with a shrug.

"Just two doors." he said.

Andre laughed. "You say that as if we need more than one to get out of here."

"Well...I just mean that less doors mean less likelihood of getting out."

"I suppose so. Well, let's give them a look, shall we?"

The other three either voiced or nodded their affirmation, so Andre led a march across the dusty chamber to the nearest door, a narrow slab of mangled wood hung on bulky hinges. Large splinters protruded from its surface. Andre grasped the knob, which resembled a miniature bow without the string.

Manfred stepped closer, sword poised for anything that could emerge from whatever lay beyond the door. After giving a silent cue with his eyes, Andre swung it open, and with a pivot on his toes, Manfred stepped through. Kate watched him closely for any signs, positive or negative.

Manfred came back out with a shake of his head. "Supply closet." he said, "Spare weapons, shields, bits of armor, all that sort of stuff."

Andre nodded. "Perhaps you should take a couple shields, or at least one for the princess."

Kate cracked a smile. "That would make me feel very much safer. I thank you for your consideration."

"Of course." Manfred said as he darted back inside. He sheathed his sword temporarily and emerged with two shields, handing one to Kate and the other to the Monteraynian man who now wielded a spear. Then he drew his sword again and nodded at Andre. "I'm ready if you are."

"I'm always ready." Andre remarked as he strolled alongside his friend to the second door. Constructed out of reddish wood and kept in much better shape than the last one, it had been hung on the adjoining wall several paces to their right.

As before, Andre opened and Manfred breached. Kate's breath caught in her throat out of suspense when the light-haired swordsman disappeared from her sight and a storm of Innutukian words abruptly terminated. Andre's eyes widened in sync with hers, and he flung the door open all the way before hopping into the chamber beyond.

Kate took a swift step forward to follow, but the Monteraynian veteran moved in her way with his shield raised to defend both of them. She narrowed her eyes at first, but there were more pressing matters than her momentary frustration. They dashed through the doorway after Andre.

The clang of clashing weapons hit Kate's ears before she could see what lay beyond. Once she did fully enter the chamber, she gasped at the terrible odds that lay before her—two dozen Innutukian guards pitted against Manfred, Andre, herself, and the prisoner they'd rescued. Most of the men wore far less armor than those she had seen so far, as this room appeared to be some sort of training facility, but nonetheless, the ones closest at hand had already snatched up shields to cover any deficiencies. And those farther back followed suit.

Manfred's skillful vigor against his two opponents inspired admiration in Kate, as did Andre's nimble maneuver that caused one guard to inadvertently crush the skull of another who had been sneaking up from behind.

Kate shifted her attention to the men nearest her, and once she'd picked her target, she charged forward. A sharp pebble on the floor pricked the sole of her foot as she ran, but she gritted her teeth and ignored that in favor of thrusting her spear at the belly of an Innutukian who wasn't paying attention to her. He noticed just in time, and the very edge of his bulky shield knocked her spearhead aside.

Kate ducked to evade a swipe from the man's axe. He came back again for a diagonal strike, which she blocked with her shield. She noticed another Innutukian creeping in from the leftmost corner of her peripheral vision, and he soon disappeared entirely into her blind spot. Kate gave her current opponent a quick thrust just to force him to back off long enough to give his stealthy comrade another look.

The sneaking Innutukian wore no armor but a single vambrace on his right arm. She smirked to herself, for that was hardly adequate to block a spear. Kate made a powerful thrust at his chest. Spewing blood and foreign profanities, he dropped to the stone floor. Kate whirled to face her original opponent again, raising her shield just in time to knock his axe aside. The weapon clattered to the ground.

Confidence surged through Kate's veins as she stabbed at the disarmed Innutukian once more. But then she yelped when he grasped the shaft and yanked, taking the weapon right from her grasp. In his hands, the spear became a far more nimble and deadly weapon, poking high and low, left and right. She managed defending herself with dodges and movements of her shield, but she found her continued survival precarious.

Andre lunged to Kate's assistance with his sword twirling in a blur that slashed into the Innutukian's arm until it bounced off bone. The man let out a dreadful cry and dropped the spear with a thud. Before he could fully fall to his knees, Andre had already slit his throat and hurried off to engage a new attacker. Kate awkwardly picked up her spear again and glanced about to see where she was needed.

The Monteraynian veteran also proved his worthiness as a soldier, standing several paces off and holding his own against a massive Innutukian guardsman whose skill with the axe made it almost as nimble for him as a sword to most men. With shallow but persistent pricks of his spear, the Monteraynian wore his heftier opponent down until he fell away at last.

Kate looked away, only to see that some of the guards had given up arming themselves and instead dashed for a door on the opposite side of the room. She narrowed her eyes at the sight and hurried over to stop them.

Along the way, she passed Manfred, who warded off constant blows from a club-wielding guard. "They're trying to escape!" she cried at him, "We can't let them warn any others!"

Manfred nodded and swiftly kicked his opponent away long enough to race in the same direction. With his longer legs, he closed the distance much faster than Kate could have done. He took off one Innutukian's head from behind before speeding around the other two to block their escape. She watched with continued admiration as he deftly blocked and parried all their attacks, the movements so fluid that it appeared no difficult matter for him to be teamed up on by two warriors.

The club-wielder Manfred had abandoned now snuck up on Kate, but she'd come to expect such underhanded tactics by then, so she twirled, and in one smooth move, she blocked his incoming strike and impaled him at once. After withdrawing the spearhead, she glanced about for any others who appeared intent on escaping the room to gather reinforcements. Andre and the other Monteraynian lingered in the vicinity of the door they'd entered, so that side was covered, and Manfred had the other entryway blocked off.

Just when Kate had concluded that her involvement in the skirmish was gratuitous, heavy footsteps thundering her way yanked her attention back. An Innutukian charged at her, swinging a strange weapon she'd never seen before. Comprised of a rusty chain with a curve-bladed dagger fastened to the end of it, the implement employed barbaric unpredictability to inflict terrible harm.

Kate raised her shield just in time to defend herself, though she still gasped at the chain whipping around the edge and swinging the dagger's blade right by her face. Her opponent pulled the weapon back, and though she considered closing in for a spear thrust, the wild swings of the chained implement gave her second thoughts. Kate's heart slammed into her chest with a ferocity as if it wished to breach her sternum and be free.

A second jerk of the Innutukian's arm sent the blade whizzing through the air again, and though Kate managed to block it, the last inches of the chained whip swung over the edge of her shield as before. She let out a piercing cry when the blade tore a shallow line into her cheek. Her foe dragged the line back toward himself once again.

The Innutukian drew his arm back yet again, but this time, Kate attempted a new strategy. Instead of deflecting with her shield, she thrusted her spear into the path of the swinging chain. The momentum spiraled the blade around the spear's shaft, coiling the chain around it and allowing Kate to yank the whole weapon out of its owner's hand. Just enough of the spearhead still protruded from the spiraled chain for her to stab the man in the belly.

By the time a few more minutes had passed, Manfred, Andre, and the other Monteraynian had cleared out the rest of the guards, and none had escaped to give warning elsewhere. The quartet regrouped near the door Manfred had been guarding before charging through it.

They fought through a narrow corridor, up a flight of stairs, and across a circular chamber lined with pillars. Then Andre kicked another door open, and they found themselves outside. After rounding a corner of the building, they spotted the stable and raced toward it. Kate felt freedom draw nearer with every step.

**** 

A/N: Ahh, freedom! What a price tag was attached to it, but also how refreshing it feels. I hope you enjoyed the excitement of the escape, and well...if you did, how about a vote and some comments? 😉😆 

Now that you've seen them in action more, whose fighting style do you like the most? Is it Manfred's strong defense, Andre's flashy offense, or perhaps Kate's versatility and determination? 

Well, next week, (assuming they can escape the perimeter guards and all that jazz), we'll see what the fallout ends up being out of this! After all, I can't imagine any father taking kindly to what his daughter just underwent so...stay tuned! Until then, have a great week, and God bless! 😁