Archives of the Frontier Universe: An Assassin's Assignment (18 page)

Hiellta let go of the beam and moved just in time. Rose’s falling blade plunged into the stone wall of the housing, cutting a clean gash down to the roof itself. Withdrawing the blade, she turned and continued the fight.

“Getting tired, you wretch?” The councilor held a complacent posture, much like her own when not faced with such a mighty adversary. Rose ignored her though, concentrating on felling the woman. Hiellta sidestepped again, hugging the short wall of the elevator. She then blocked two more hits, letting the last crash onto the elevator doors. “You’re getting sloppy. Look at the damage you’re causing.”

“I’ve got some damage for you!” hissed Rose.

She stepped forth quickly, her blades dancing from two different sides. They were blocked but she kept twisting, throwing a storm of swords upon the councilor. These, too, missed, but she increased the pressure, getting closer. Retreating past the elevator now, Hiellta backpedaled swiftly, fending off strikes. Seeing an opening, Rose rushed forth again, slashing in the blink of an eye. She cut the councilor on her hip, shredding her pretty robe and drawing blood.

Hiellta cringed, doubling over a little. She then cast a thundering shockwave, forcing Rose to stand clear, before gripping her side. When she lifted her hand from her hip, it was lightly stained red. “Well, look at you!” she cheered. “Bite
is
worse than bark.”

Rose flourished her blades again. “Stick around; I’ve got plenty more teeth.”

“Indeed,” she oddly agreed. “Allow me to introduce some of my own.” Moving almost faster than Rose could process, Hiellta widened her stance, charged an energy, and thrust it forth.

Ducking more quickly than she had ever in her life, Rose planted her body on the roof, the blast soaring over her. Next, she sprung from the ground over yet another. The second projecting energy slammed the roof, burning a terrible hole in the stone, but when she looked back, the councilor had practically teleported in her face. Striking her like a ballistae bolt, Hiellta’s leg drove into her chest, launching her back at high speed. Rose desperately reached out with her power to slow her flight, but connected with the inside of the rear elevator before she knew what happened. Held open by the metal bar, the doors closed, biting the object, before opening slowly again.

Picking herself off the floor, Rose conjured a power to blow the doors off completely, but Hiellta was already moving. The woman seized the elevator with all her psychic might, lowering it against its will. She then stepped forth, the roof she stood upon rising away from Rose’s eyes.

“Let’s see you escape this!” yelled the councilor.

Acting quickly, Rose sheathed both her swords and primed her harpoons for firing. However, the cringe-worthy sound of severing metal assaulted her ears followed by a climactic SNAP! The next thing Rose knew, she was slammed against the ceiling as the elevator began plummeting scores of stories.

“Damn it!” she cursed. Fighting the enormous gravitational forces, she crawled weakly across the ceiling, reaching for the service hatch. She stretched as far as possible, touching the release—

Suddenly, the hatch blew open, and Hiellta plunged into Rose’s stomach. The Loene was slammed against the floor, as the councilor’s autumn blade fell upon her. Moving her head to avoid the glass, Rose barely missed the blade. It crashed on the floor.

“You didn’t think I’d skip out on the fun, did you!” shouted the woman. She seized Rose by the shirt and threw her upon the ceiling again. Rose hit like a brick, feeling crushed by the elevator’s weight, but her opponent was moving again.

Hiellta flipped gracefully in the tight space, landing upside down and swinging already. Roszephnye stood on the ceiling, ripping an arkanverre from her side and stopping the autumn blade. Trading a series of resentful blows, the two danced around the gaping hole in the center, as the lift plummeted. She had mere seconds left to finish the councilor and escape. Rose fought even harder.

“You’re cutting it close, assassin!” taunted the woman, laughing. She struck back, but Rose was prepared.

She pushed the woman’s autumn glass away, kicked her in the stomach, and then gripped her neck with both hands. Acting quickly, Rose threw the woman back to the floor and then leapt through the gaping hole. The wind in the shaft was incredible, and the scraping of the falling elevator, deafening. Still holding her left arkanverre, she launched both of her harpoons. The weapons hooked two stone walls, and Rose tightened the slack to slow her fall. Amazingly, the two walls ripped open, her falling weight overpowering their structure. Nearly panicking, she retracted the wires and launched the harpoons again. They penetrated the powerful metal frames of the shaft, slowing her finally. The force of the action strained her arms, however, and pressed tender bruises into them.

With her decent grinding to a halt, Rose simply hung there for a second, panting. Then, below her came the climactic sound of the elevator crashing on the bottom floor. She looked down, seeing sparks conducting off of the entire range of the shaft. The splattered elevator was hardly visible though, a mere speck in the distance.

“Oh man, tell me you’re still alive!” said Meyer all of the sudden. Like before, he sort of startled her.

“Yes, I’m here,” she huffed. “I think she’s dead. No one could’ve survived that.”

“What happened? For about ten seconds there, I couldn’t even hear anything but scraping.”

Ten seconds,
she thought.
It felt like an entire minute!
“Long story. I’ll need to confirm the body. Plus I didn’t get to ask about the codes,” she added as a joke. “Standby.” She released her harpoons and climbed down at high speed.

Reaching the flattened elevator, she began searching for Hiellta’s body. First, she hurried up to the hole where the service hatch used to be. She peaked inside, but unbelievably could not see the woman’s corpse. Nor did she find any blood. “You’re kidding!” she breathed. “Impossible. She couldn’t have . . .”

Just then, Roszephnye felt another surprise attack. She jumped to the side in an instant, as a falling object smashed into her former position. Drawing a sword again, she whipped around to stop Hiellta’s blade from severing her head clean off. The woman struck with such power, however, that Rose was thrown against the adjacent wall. She was forced to rebound, though, as the autumn arkanverre soared for her heart next. Evading it by inches, Rose leapt from the floor up to the next level, landing on a metal frame. Hiellta’s blade was driven into the stone.

“How in the hell did you survive that fall!” Rose asked at once. She even lowered her guard a tad, seriously wanting an answer. “There was barely time for
me
to punch out!”

Hiellta withdrew her glowing blade from the wall and stood proudly. “I could tell you, but you wouldn’t understand—so limited are your abilities!” She then motioned to her arms. “You seem to have made it out just fine, though. Harpoon blades!” she announced. “Now it has been a long while since I’ve seen another wear those weapons.”

Rose cocked her head in interest. “Yes, well, you can thank Grandmaster Meirthealy for that. Because of her lethargic training, practically none of you carry or employ even half of your potential.” She laughed.

Unexpectedly, Hiellta laughed as well. And it sounded genuine. “Now, at last we agree on something! Yes, Master Meirthealy’s methods are grossly inefficient. She even had the nerve to use the allied worlds as a shield against your invading force a few weeks ago.” The woman then stepped into a more aggressive stance. “Too bad I must kill you. You could’ve proved a valuable ally—if you weren’t on the wrong side.”

Rose moved to respond, but Hiellta leapt from the wreckage. The councilor flipped in air, aiming her falling sword. Rose skipped backwards, blocking the blade. They traded another series of vicious blows, throwing in a psychic attack here and there. Neither, however, was able to get the best of the other. Finally, Rose fired a harpoon at the councilor by surprise. Hiellta was barely able to move, and Rose hurried forth to take advantage of her distraction. She swung her sword for the woman’s neck . . . but missed. Hiellta sprung from the narrow frame up to another.

“Do you always run like such a coward?” teased Rose.

“No one’s stopping you from following,” replied the councilor.

Rose fired her harpoon again for the woman. It missed, but she fired the other as well, rising up to the perch. Reacting more quickly than expected, Hiellta rushed forth and kicked Rose in the center. She flew backwards through a door, landing in a large office room and crashing over a desk. The lighting changed noticeably, diming to only the scant shine of the surrounding street through some of the windows.

Betrayed by her glowing arkanverre, Hiellta soared over the desk. She brought the blade down like a spear. Rose evaded just in time, the autumn glass stabbing the stone floor, driving about halfway in. The Loene then sat up off the ground, extended her right harpoon, and punched it for her assailant’s face. Leaning out of the way, Hiellta punched back without a harpoon. Rose blocked, rolling over and slashing with her blade. Her target maneuvered behind her sword still stuck in the stone, and the ruby glass impacted on it. Before Rose could even reposition, Hiellta kicked her arkanverre from hand. It flew, penetrating a glass wall of another cubicle.

The councilor’s autumn weapon emerged from the floor with a vengeance, lunging side to side. Barely off the floor yet, Rose extended both her harpoons into foot long shards and blocked the superior blade. Her opponent swung and twirled so quickly, even with two arms it was difficult to defend herself. Finally, Rose was able to throw a swift kick to push Hiellta back momentarily. She drew her other sword in the time allotted and charged.

Hiellta had just enough time to ready a block, before Rose crashed her weapon into her. The momentum of the strike pushed both women into another glass cubicle and through. Jagged shards rained on the two, as each withdrew their blade and struck back. As a result of their vicious swordplay, the small office was shredded in seconds, papers flying, the desks splintering, and the other walls crashing down . . . And then Hiellta seized Rose and threw them both through another cubicle.

The entire room was getting ransacked. Add to their mindless slashing the psychic powers they so liberally cast, the place looked to stage a small warzone rather than a dual. Another three defenseless cubicles were razed in seconds.

“You Pirates are truly as crooked as the very reputation of the word!” announced Hiellta suddenly. She kept swinging, and Rose blocked everything, colorful mists of slivers puffing in air. “We provide you with the intel you sought . . .” She blocked a few hits from Rose. “And held up our end of the bargain. And what do we get . . . ?” She conjured a bright beam of energy and projected it. Rose evaded. “You kill the others, and I barely obtain the intel promised to us.”

At this, Rose laughed but still marched towards Hiellta with prejudice. “Intel provided?!” she parroted. “You locked the damn device! What the hell were you expecting? That we’d let that go unanswered?”

For one small second, it seemed that Hiellta mentally paused. But being fed up with her for a lifetime, Rose charged, lunging for her. She missed but followed up, firing a harpoon to her legs. Quickly, Hiellta leapt into the air, aiming for the head. Rose had just enough time to block but was once again thrown to the ground by the woman’s power. As she crashed through another cubicle, she heard the councilor plead her useless excuse.

“If the device was locked, why not simply ask for the code?” Her voice was as patronizing as ever but seemed to contain actual wonder. Regardless, she dove for Rose on the ground and trapped her arm. The Loene’s sword-equipped arm could not get the angle necessary to threaten her opponent. “This is why the Union will fail!” she proclaimed. “Every little problem can only be solved by extreme violence. You don’t have the sense to talk things out.”

“You idiot!” Rose cursed. “If you wanted to talk, why cross us? You’ve had weeks to talk. Instead, you wanted to—”

Hiellta reared back and crashed her fist into Rose’s face. Rose’s head slammed onto the stone floor, but then Hiellta crawled atop her and seized her neck with both hands. “Assumptions! Ha! How typical!” She clenched her throat, and abandoning her sword, Rose reached to stop her. “Don’t you get it? They—acted—against—orders!” she pronounced. “Must’ve been scared into doing so. You know, perhaps I should thank you. You’ve administered an appropriate punishment for their betrayal.”

The image of Hiellta began to grow blurry, as Rose chocked for air. She had one more chance to throw her off. Extending her free arm’s harpoon, she shoved the device up at the woman. However, apparently expecting the attack, the Eiltheen moved out of the way . . . but unsteadied herself as a result. Rose freed her other arm, and swung its harpoon for her thigh. Hiellta tried to block again, but about an inch of the shard plunged into her leg.

“ARGH!” she screamed, jumping off. Making immediately to retaliate, she suddenly paused. She stood there for about a second before giving a hateful scowl and casting a blinding light at Rose.

The Loene covered her face, seeing Hiellta dash for a window. The shattering of glass erupted from the direction, but when Rose looked back, she was gone.

“UGH!” she growled. “Coward!” But then, she heard the telltale sound of Court infantry nearing the room. “Damn cheat! She knows they’d convict her as well!”