~Another Battle~

Several scenarios had been predicted and torn apart by Hermes mind by the time he turned into the hallway where his palace's forces were in battle with the intruding ones, but what he had expected paled in comparison to what his eyes witnessed.

In front of him was chaos; utter mayhem. Prisoners in soiled rags, guards in crimson armor and a handful of assassins dressed head-to-toe in black all fought each other ahead of him. The once pristine marble floor was occupied by the bodies of injured men and still corpses, and slicked red with the blood dripping down the walls from where it had been splashed.

The atmosphere reeked of so much iron, death and sweat that he could almost taste the heaviness of metal on his tongue.

It was a massacre and it had happened started under his nose.

As the screams of the fallen and dying men escaped into the stifling air, Hermes realized that he couldn't wrap his head around the fact that in such a little amount of time so many people had died.

His people.

He couldn't understand how so many assassins had suddenly infiltrated his home, but he knew why they had chosen this moment to attack.

Most of the palace's guards were either evacuating the dungeons or part of the reenforcements Eugene commanded, leaving the hallways bare of their usual security.

If he didn't stop the assassins from advancing here, they would only run rampant and continue killing.

He might not have known what their mission here tonight was but he was aware of how valuable his own head was. Once the assassins knew who he was they would not hesitate to try to take it off. And that was what he was counting on.

The moment he was about to narch right into the fray, Magnus was there to pull his back. His face was flushed from exertion and his blonde hair fell in messy waves over his shoulders.

He took a step back, bowed then held up a hand. "Your Majesty, I—"

"How did this happen?" Hermes crossed his arms and closed the gap between him and his advisor in one step. "How can this happen?"

"With all the commotion they haven't noticed us yet," Magnus said instead of giving an answer. He glanced over Hermes shoulder to view the carnage ahead of them. "This isn't the place to talk."

"I want answers." The brown in Hermes' eyes darkened as he frowned. "You are supposed to be protecting the nun, why are you here?"

"The Empress Dowager had just acted when I was informed of the attack on the palace. I had no time to go the dungeons," Magnus rushed through his explanation and threw his arm towards the hallway behind him. "Now, can we—"

Hermes turned back to the battle. He watched another guard collapse after having his neck slit by a dagger. "There can't be any more than twelve assassins here. I'm ending this now."

"You don't even have a weapon!"

"I don't need one." Hermes dashed into the fray with a leaping start and wrapped his arms around the head of an unsuspecting assassin that happened to be farther away from the rest of the fight.

With an easy twist, he broke the man's neck and felt him stiffen then grow limp in his hold.

Dropping the body, Hermes ran deeper into the hallway. His eyes searched for red armor but his guards were vastly outnumbered by the mob of prisoners.

Most of them were fighting one against four while still trying to stop the assassins from escape.

In that sort of situation it didn't take long for him to find someone to save.

Hermes grabbed the arm of a prisoner about to bury his sword into the chest of a guard and elbowed the man square in the face. He felt the man's scurry back as the bridge of his nose caved in.

The guard used that opportunity to shove his spear through the prisoner's gut.

With the sword the prisoner had let go off, Hermes stabbed into the next person that charged at him. He didn't realize that his attacker was still in shackles until he was facedown in a pool of his own blood.

What is going on? His gaze scanned the hallway again. Most of the prisoners were still in chains but they were fighting. In their hands were swords not dissimilar to the one he held now, but where did they get them from?

He had no time to ponder more on the issue before he was tackled to the ground. His first instinct was to smash the hilt of his sword against his attacker's skull but the motion was cut short when he realized who was attacking him.

A boy. One that probably hadn't yet seen him sixteenth summer. His clothes and face were stained with dirt and blood but that wasn't enough hide his age.

He was probably just a servant that was put in the dungeons for theft. He was probably someone who had never had the chance to see the face of his emperor.

Hermes let go his sword and held the child's fists away from his head. It took little effort to get the boy off him and when he did, Magnus was once again by his side.

"Hold him," Hermes shoved the screaming adolescent into his advisor's arms then picked up the sword.

"All who hear me, heed my words," he shouted, addressing the men trading blows in front of him. "I am your emperor and ruler, and I command you to seize your actions this instant lest you wish to have a painful death."

"You do not rule us!" someone shouted. It didn't matter who.

Because of them, all attention was on Hermes.

"You may think so, but I rule the land on which you rest your feet. Halt now and your transgressions will be pardoned. Your lives will be spared and you will be freed after you carry out the remainder of your sentences."

The effect of Hermes' words was immediate. The prisoners looked each other with uncertainty; the guards stopped fighting and stood at attention while the assassins charged at him without inhibition.

"Surround the prisoners," Hermes commanded the guards immediately.

Now that the assassins had him as a target, they did not bother trading blows with anyone else. The guards were able to easily overpower the untrained prisoners within the time it took to take a breath. A pile of swords had formed in the center of the bloodstained floor as one by one, the chained men surrendered. Only those with death sentences attempted to charge the guards, and they were quickly beaten into submission before they could succeed.

"What have you done?" Magnus hissed and pushed the boy he held towards the guards as the assassins closed in on them.

"I ended a massacre," Hermes said simply, his gaze scanning the masked faces of the men that had them trapped. "And I have a weapon now."

"And we are outnumbered, five to one."

"Don't tell me that facing five men scares you." Hermes laughed and raised his sword in preparation for battle.

He and Magnus backed each other. The assassins had them surrounded now. The only way to escape the encirclement was to kill a way through.

"Remember to keep one alive," the advisor said.

"I'll do my best," Hermes replied, and ducked to the side when one of the assassins lunged at him.

Hermes turned to parry the attack of another, the blade of his sword scrapping noisily against his assailant's two daggers. Through the gap in the man's hood mask, he saw eyes filled with hate so pure it almost shocked him. "Who are you?"

"The one that will end your reign of terror!" The assassin grunted then threw all his weight forward in an attempt to bring the emperor to his knees.

Hermes frowned and pushed back. His left foot slipped behind him, his boots not able to gain traction on the slippery floor, but he was still able to overpower the man.

The rest of the assassins chose that moment to charge.

The emperor jumped back a step and slashed the man along his throat before kicking him into the assassin closing in on his right and knocking them both to the ground.

He walked towards the two men, about to run them through with his sword, when a chain thrown from behind him wrapped itself around his right wrist and pulled him back.

Without turning around dug his heels into the ground, wrapped his hand around the chain and pulled. Hard. The assassin was tug off his feet by the force, unprepared for Hermes' strength.

Returning his gaze to the two assassins, Hermes adjusted his grip on the sword's hilt and held it above his head. He threw it like a spear into the back of the assassin scrambling to get off the ground then immediately looked back and set his gaze on the one whose gauntlet was attached to the chain.

With both his hands, Hermes pulled, reeling the assassin in with frightening speed until they were standing face to face.

Wasting no time, Hermes reached out, his hands still wrapped in chains, and grabbed the man's head to smash against his raised knee. Once. Twice.

The assassin crumbled to ground the instant Hermes let go of him and did not stir again, but the emperor knew from experience that he was not dead.

Now, for the other two, Hermes thought as he freed his right hand from the chains. He turned to his left, only to see the other assassins turning round to sprint down another hallway

Kneeling, he reached into the clothes of the unconscious assassin and pulled out a set of throwing knives, all of which he flung with god-given accuracy at the fleeing men. The thin blades sunk into the backs of the assassins and they fell over their feet and crumbled to their knees, unmoving.

Poison, Hermes thought with narrowed eyes as the men began to convulse. He was sure of his aim. The knives had pierced the assassin's hearts from behind. Even without the poison, they would die, yet they didn't want to risk being captured alive.

Hermes shook his head and shifted his attention to the assassin laying by his feet. He pressed his fingers to the man's neck and was glad to find that he was still alive. Quickly, he bound the assassin's limbs with the chains and tore a piece of his black shirt to stuff into his mouth. Even if the man had poison, he wouldn't be able to swallow it.

His task completed, the emperor turned to his advisor and found the man's clothes awash with red. Four assassins surrounded him, all laying in their own blood, and he was nearly through with the fifth.

Magnus had the man on his knees with a string round his neck that he mercilessly tightened while the man clawed at his neck and fought to breathe.

When Magnus stomped his foot down between the man's shoulder blades to create more force, Hermes was able to see the string cut through the assassin's clothes and slice into his neck.

When blood was sprayed along the marble floor and the assassin stopped struggling, Magnus loosened the string.

The man fell to the floor to join the rest of his fallen comrades.

Hermes walked to his advisor while using his sleeve to wipe the sweat beading along his nose and jaw. "I left one alive for you."

Magnus nodded and took his foot off the body. He knelt beside the dead assassin and examined his clothes. No place other than his hands and eyes were exposed and tied tightly on his upper arm was a bandana of red and gold that had no writing or insignia on it.

He pulled it off and looked at it a moment more before handing it over to Hermes.

The emperor felt the cloth in his hand and found that it was made from silk. Other than that, it just seemed like an ordinary piece of cloth. "What do the colors mean?"

Magnus shook his head and stood up, clutching the bloody length of string tightly in his right hand. "I don't know."

Hermes nodded and let the cloth drop to the floor. He turned to guards that still dutifully surrounded the prisoners. "Where is your captain?"

"Present, Your Majesty," a guard stepped forward, the one Hermes had saved from getting stabbed.

"Where did these prisoners come from?"

The guard hit his breastplate once before answering, "Your Majesty, the dungeons were being evacuated to search for the assassin that attacked the Empress Dowager but halfway in, we were ambushed by these ones."

"They wanted to set a prisoner free?" The insignia branded on the hilts of the swords the convicts had been using flashed in his mind. They had not been crafted in Inqa. "They gave the prisoners weapons?"

The guard nodded and pointed down the hallway the two assassins had tried to escape through. "Lord Eugene was suppressing the battle going on at the dungeon when these assassins and some prisoners broke off from the main group. We were ordered to chase down those who fled and managed to hold them here but that was all we could do until you arrived. They were too formidable."

"Transport the prisoners and any survivors to the cells on the upper floors."

"Are you okay?" Magnus shot Hermes a worried look the moment the guard walked away to complete his orders.

"I should be asking you that," Hermes turned to the man with a smile. "How are your hands? You usually wear gloves when you use your strings."

Magnus snorted. "You really didn't give me much of choice, did you?" He raised his bloody palms for the emperor to see. "They will heal."

Hermes frowned at the sight of the deep incisions in his advisor's palm. "Those need to be tended to."

"That can wait."

"I wasn't asking."

"Your mother asked me to protect you. Your authority is overruled."

Hermes sighed in resignation and reached down to grab the bottom half of his robe.

Magnus stared, his eyes wide with confusion, as the emperor tore his clothes in front of him. "What are you doing?"

Hermes took Magnus' right hand, ignoring the way the man stiffened at his touch, and wound the strip of white cloth around the the bleeding cuts.

When he was done, he tied off the makeshift bandage and began dressing Magnus' other hand. It was only when he was halfway through with wrapping it that Magnus seemed to snap back to reality.

He tried to take his hand away but Hermes grip, though loose, was surprisingly strong.

"You hate blood," Magnus gritted his teeth, "and I am covered in it."

"So am I."

"There is barely a speck of red on your robe."

"Barely but it's present regardless. I will have to burn it," Hermes knotted the free ends off the cloth so that it wouldn't fall off. "The smell would never come off this sort of material."

"Why are you. . ."

Suddenly, Hermes grabbed Magnus by the back of the neck and forced their gazes to meet. "Eugene will not be happy if he sees you like this."

"There are still more assassins," Magnus said, transfixed by the seriousness of Hermes' stare.

"And if they are as difficult as these ones, Eugene will definitely need your help."

"To the dungeons then," Magnus said with a soft voice as Hermes pulled away from him.

Hermes grinned and threw his braids over his shoulder. "Ready to fight another battle with me?"

Magnus clenched his bandaged hand and hit it against his chest. "Always, Your Majesty."

~

Little over 2550 words, AGAIN. aRgH. I swear, this Fight Scene – Dialogue≈ 2,000 words on it's own. Here it is though. A fight with Hermes and Magnus!

I guess Eugene and Mikeal are next, uh?

Thank you for reading!