Amaris was angry, not because they wanted to kill her but because of their condescending tone, as if they were doing her a favor by killing her fast.
'Even if I die today, I'm taking them with me.'
Amaris entered into a defensive stance and kicked the two boxes away. They rolled to the pavement by the side of the road, close to the trees. They were made of superior material, so they didn't crack open or even get scratched because of the rough handling.
"What is she trying to do?" One of them asked.
"Is she trying to fight us?" They burst into laughter—except their leader who maintained a deadpan expression.
"Talk about new heights to delusion. This wimpy mutt actually thought that she stood a chance."
The leader sighed and took a step forward.
"Young miss, you don't have to make this harder than it already is."
Amaris scoffed and chuckled self deprecatingly.
"Should I be grateful then? That you, oh so mighty highness won't make me suffer before you kill me?" The smirk on her face suddenly disappeared and her eyes darkened with hate and resentment.
"Cut the crap, I already told you. I'm not going down without a fight." She roared, her voice echoing all around. There was none of the previous tiredness on her face, her strength seemed to have been miraculously replenished.
The men chuckled and scoffed.
"Pretty commendable. Not as bad as we heard. At least, this will make it interesting."
One of the men rushed to her, not bothering to summon any powers. He casually made a swipe at her. Amaris swiftly avoided the blow, simultaneously stabbing something into his neck.
The man screamed in a mixture of shock and pain, and Amaris gave him a kick to his leg, sending him hurtling back.
The smiles on the faces of his team mates froze and one immediately rushed to him.
He gasped as he saw the man's neck.
"Truly brutal and heartless. You had the mind to stab someone's neck with a pen. How wicked are you?"
Amaris chuckled and flipped her hair back.
"Do you expect me to be nice then? It's a pity that it was not enough to kill him."
"What?" The one who asked the question looked stunned, not expecting the loser to be 'not so spineless'.
Amaris looked at them with cold eyes.
"You guys are here to kill me, do you expect me to accept death and not kill you too when I get the chance? It's either you or me. My motto is don't hurt other people without a reason, but if they try to hurt you, retaliate without mercy. You better go back now!" She growled, hoping she looked confident enough to scare them.
Their shock lasted only a very short moment before they snapped out of it and laughed.
"Good, very well said."
"This won't be as boring as we thought."
"She has backbone, I give her that. Even if she's a wimpy mutt, she did enough not to disgrace the alpha King's legacy."
"Since you want to fight bravely, I will indulge you. At least, you will be comforted that you fought bravely before you died. That's what you want, right?" The leader asked again.
Amaris's heart sank on hearing this. How could that crap be what she wanted? Her plan of scaring them away failed big time, it rather made them more excited.
Fighting them all was impossible, she was only able to land the hit because of three reasons. One the guy was careless and complacent, severely underestimating her. Secondly, she had the element of surprise. No one expected her to manufacture a sharp pen out of thin air and hurt him that bad. Three, she had been training hard in fencing with her personal trainer, giving her the ability to avoid his grasp under the slim margin.
But if they truly fight with her, that would be a different case altogether. When they all apply magic and their wolves abilities, defeating them or even escaping unscathed would be impossible. And now, they know she's not some helpless princess that can't fight, they will treat her more seriously. Even if she gets another opening to use another element of surprise, how many pens did she carry on her that could possibly kill them all? They were in the middle of a clean highway, no weapon that could aid her was lying around. She was well and truly on her own.
Amaris avoided the first strike, but another person hit her squarely on the back, making her vomit blood and spin like a top, seeing stars. Her whole body felt like it was run over by a train because of a single random attack that fell on her.
She turned around, blood dripping from her mouth to look at the person who struck her. And he pulled off his mask, revealing a malicious smirk.
"How about that, wimpy mutt? Just one attack had you vomiting blood. Do you still think you can take on all of us?"
"Stop gloating! Finish her off. We don't have all day." The leader who was still standing a distance away, looking uninterested, said.
They immediately summoned their abilities, probably thinking of finishing her off in one fell swoop.
"Stop! Royal orders!" A powerful voice boomed from the distance, making their hands raised up in the air, ready to attack to freeze.
A group five of motorcycle riders soon appeared before their vision. Each was driving a superbike with the logo of a crown on it.
"What do we do? They seem to be the men of one of the princes."
"Is that even a question? We can't afford to offend any of the princes."
The riders stopped before them and the one in the middle raised a token. The token shone brightly and Amaris immediately shut her eyes, same with the others.
"By the orders of his royal highness, we're here to escort the girl into Lunegarde academy. If you refuse, you leave us no option than to do it the hard way."
The leader of the assassins stepped forth.
"Royal emissaries, you're wearing the general royal guard uniform, and you bear the general crest, making it hard to confirm your identity. Can you tell us which of the princes asked you to stop us?"
"The identity of the prince in charge of our division is none of your business. We owe you no explanation. Do you dare to defy the royal authority? Step aside now."
Amaris heard the shuffling of feet, and the radiance receded, enabling her to open her eyes and get a clearer look.
The token had disappeared and the assassins had moved to the side, their heads bowed low.
'Is this the effect of power they talk about? Just an order; a mere token could hold so much power and make people as powerful as that, all lower their heads before him. Whoever it is, he's not even here, yet his aura imbibed in a block of jade could make them run with their tails between their legs. How amazing is this? How powerful is he that he holds so much weight.'
Amaris's eyes were burning with a bright fire, and her veins were flaming with the desire to reach that level.
'I want to be that powerful too. I must get as strong as that, no matter the cost.'
The guards picked up her bags and loaded them on the bikes. The one in the middle stopped before her.
"My lady, get on the bike."
"Thank you."
The man smiled and shook his head, his lips visible beneath the shadow from the cloak obstructing his face.
"You don't need to thank us. We only follow our prince's orders. No matter what he asks for, wrong or right, it's our duty to make it happen. Let's leave."
"Which of the princes do you work for?"
"The one who cares about you." The guard answered ambiguously.
Amaris's heart felt warm as her mind drifted to Auren.
'That big softie. Despite his big rebellious acts of not liking me, he's still secretly watching out for me. Silly boy. The goddess didn't give me the wrong mate.'
The guard wondered why she looked so happy but didn't pry. He simply turned the bike and she climbed on.
A man was in the woods, wearing black jeans black hoodies and dark shades. He smiled as he watched them leave.
"I was right, she's the one. I didn't take the wrong gamble by saving her today." He smiled and snapped his finger, disappearing from the spot.