The Final Redemption by Michael Manning (little red riding hood ebook free .txt) 📕

down upon the chestof one of his wounded opponents. An audible crack was heard as theman’s ribs broke, and his moans changed into a sickening gurgling.“I told you, no quarter,” said Dorian sadly.

A crossbow bolt flew bywithout warning, passing so quickly that Dorian was only aware ofit from the feeling of air as it narrowly missed his nose.I knew it was too good to last,he thought ruefully. His eyes spotted severalcrossbowmen in the back readying their weapons, one of them havingobviously just fired.

“Now you’ve done it,” he announcedloudly and charged forward.

The men standing before him fell overthemselves as they scrambled to move out of his path, leaving thebowmen defenseless. Dorian’s staff crushed the skull of the onethat had fired and swept the weapon from another’s hand as itpassed. He glared at the others before walking back to his positionat the gate. “I’ll kill the next man who fires a quarrel atme!”

Dorian’s shoulders itched from theweight of their eyes as he walked back. Several men pointed theircrossbows at him, but none of them fired. They had lost theirnerve, thoroughly intimidated by the seemingly unstoppable warrior.The only thing holding them together now was the safety ofnumbers.

“As I said a moment ago, since I’malone, I don’t have the luxury of offering you mercy or allowingyou to surrender, but my duty is to guard this gate. That means ifyou choose to run, I can’t give chase,” declared the stalwartknight. “That’s the only advice I can give you.”

The mercenary troop had lost its willto fight and without their leader they were uncertain what to do.They retreated fifty feet while their squadron leaders spoke witheach other, trying to decide the best course of action. Doriansmiled as he watched them arguing.

“Dorian is that you?”

It was a woman’s voice, coming fromthe direction of the palace wall. Looking up he spotted Ariadnestanding atop it. “Your Highness!” he shouted when he saw her. “Areyou alright?”

She gazed at him curiously, “I’m theone guarded by a stone wall while you fight in the street and youask if I’m alright? We control the gatehouse now. Get inside so wecan close the portcullis!” A crossbow bolt nearly found its markwhile she talked, forcing her to duck behind a merlon.

The Knight of Stone whirled back tothe mercenaries, furious. “What did I tell you?!” Taking his staffin hand like a javelin, he drew his arm back and launched it towardthe man who had fired the shot. The heavy metal rod struck theunfortunate fellow squarely in the chest, breaking his sternum. Thecrossbowman collapsed as Dorian turned his back on them and walkedthrough the palace gate. The outer portcullis descended behindhim.

The princess met him inside thegatehouse, motioning him in through one of the inner doors. “Inhere,” she told him, “It isn’t safe in the courtyard.” Her dresswas torn and bloodied in several places, and she carried a heavycarving knife in one hand. A large group of men and women were withher inside the building.

“It isn’t safe outside either,”remarked Dorian as he ran his eyes over her motley assortment ofservants and cooks. Most of them carried various implements fromthe kitchen; rolling pins, heavy pans, and assorted cutlery. Someof them had weapons that had probably been looted from the enemy,and a laundress carried a heavy wooden rod normally used to cleanclothing; it might have seemed a laughable weapon, except for thebloodstains now adorning the wood. “When I saw you atop the wall Ihoped you were in control of the palace. Why are you in thegatehouse?”

“The palace is swarming with soldiers,most of them in Hightower’s livery,” she informed him. “This seemedto be our only path to escape.”

“Where are the men who were holdingthe gate against me?” asked Dorian.

Alan broke in, “Upstairs, in the roomover the entrance, we left them where they died.” He ducked hishead as he saw Ariadne’s annoyed glance. “Forgive me, Princess. Ispoke out of turn.”

Dorian led them up to double check thecondition of the enemy. There were six of them in the small room,and they were very dead, stabbed and bludgeoned by an oddassortment of weapons. He spotted the man who had been taunting himfrom above the gate. “Shame he had to die,” he observedaloud.

“Did you know him,” asked theprincess.

He shook his head, “No. He justreminded me of Mordecai, an excellent sense of sarcasm.”

She gave him an odd look.

He shrugged, “I’ve been a fighter mostof my life. After a while you learn to separate the violence fromeverything else, otherwise you go mad. He was my enemy, but he wasprobably also an interesting fellow to share a mug of alewith.”

Evan interrupted then, he had beenlooking out one of the arrow slits, “Beggin’ your pardon, Highness,but there’s still a crowd of soldiers outside.”

Dorian frowned. “I think I had themcowed but they’ve had some time to regroup now. They’ll probablygive us some trouble if we try to take you out by the main gate,Princess.”

Ariadne looked worried, “There’s alsothe matter of my mother and father.”

And my mother,Dorian added mentally. “Do you know if they arestill alive?”

“I have no way of knowing, but I fearthe worst. I would probably be dead myself if it weren’t for amessage your lady mother sent to me. I was heading to meet her andMother when we were nearly captured,” she replied.

“She must have discovered somethingwhen she came to visit your mother this morning,” supposed Dorian.“How did they take the palace?”

“Most of the palace guard took ill.Hightower’s men came to replace them until they could recover. Itappears that they were put in place for the express purpose ofmurdering my father,” Ariadne informed him.

“They aren’t Hightower’s men,” Doriantold her immediately. “These men are barely soldiers. Thediscipline of those I encountered in the street is deplorable. Isuspect most of them are mercenaries, or the disguised servants ofa degenerate lord.”

“I never believed they were LordHightower’s,” she said, easing Dorian’s fear. Lord Hightower washis father-in-law after all, so he was understandably worried. “Thereal question is who is behind this?”

“I wish I knew.”

Ariadne looked thoughtful, after asecond she spoke again, “I need your advice, Sir Dorian. How do youthink we should we proceed