Chapter 3 The sacrifice

Kaya carried the sleeping child on her back, as she turned and moved quickly, but at a human pace. She moved around the corner, through a door, and sprinted down another pathway that led to the opposite side of the castle.

Distant screams echoed up from above. In the blazing smoke her gaze locked on the metal gate at the end of the hall. Only steps away, her ears picked up the silent sound of the assassins coming.

Mali Khan must have leaked the blueprint of the castle to the assassins because they knew the in and out of the building, there was nowhere to hide from them.

Kaya listened carefully, she could hear the assassins getting nearer, they would be onto them any moment from now.

She dropped to her knees in an attacking position, gently placing the princess beside her. She had promised the late crown prince to keep her safe, she elongated her canines, fury in her eyes, as she waited patiently.

The moment the first man cleared the corner she moved at lightning speed, hitting him across the head and running her hand through his chest in quick succession.

The assassin flew at the impact, arms outstretched, knocking back the others behind him as his body hit the ground, a hole the size of a basketball was left in his chest, the place his heart had once been.

Kaya shredded the second man, running her hand through his head, she didn't pause to watch him hit the floor.

She sprang into the darkness of the passageway, taking the princess along with her as she made a desperate charge for the metal gate.

She ran into the door with a heavy push, the rusted bars bulged, putting the gate in an awkward position, another heavy push and the metal gate broke open to crash into the old musty passageway, leading to the west gate.

The passage to the last gate, and hopefully the west gate was clear.

The passageway beyond them was going to be full of these assassins any moment now.

As the clean air rushed past her, Kaya put the princess down, steadying her gently so as not to wake her.

The old guard was right beside her, he was already gaining his strength again.

She stood on one knee beside him, her whole body had transformed halfway.

She was too weak to transform fully, her gaze trained down the passageway where the assassins were about to rush in on them, when a gate suddenly scraped against the wall somewhere above them.

More of the assassins were coming up the stairs at them from the second floor.

"Leave this to me." he whispered, as he looked at her, his eyes burning with rage.

"I can't Papa, Let's go," Kaya shouted over the noise of the clanging of swords and horrifying screams of her kind being killed, the rising shouts from behind and beneath them.

"Papa, Come on!" she screamed.

The old guard was already too busy to respond. He grabbed the gate from its rusted hinges with inhuman strength, breaking it in half, he threw the bigger part in one direction, then swiveled and threw the other part to the stairwell that led to the second floor.

Kaya cursed and turned back.

She was halfway to the old man when he looked back at her with fury.

"Go! You've got the strength to escape here alive! Go! Keep the princess safe!"

The old man slowly opened his shirt, revealing a deep ghastly rotten hole in his chest.

"The silverine bullet was poisoned, it has already spread through my body and I can't heal, no matter how much I try." He whispered, his voice cracking as he tried to push back his tears.

"Even if I make it out of here alive, I would only slow you down." He continued.

"So go!" He whispered to her, fury in his eyes.

"No! Papa I can't, No!" She shouted, tears streaming down her face.

She couldn't dare leave him here. Growing up without parents had been tough on her, her parents had died in the Cold War, and the old guard had been the only person who took her in, Papa Gerad, as she had often called him, was a widower, who had lost his wife and kids in the Cold War, and he had taken her in and treated her like his own daughter, making sure she never lacked anything.

When the Dabba Union was formed, he had applied as a royal guard, to protect their kind, Kaya had been so proud of him that she trained hard to also be a royal guard like him.

The noise of the approaching assassins took her out of her thoughts, she quickly ran towards the old man.

The old man ended Kaya's teary approach with a fiery growl that commanded her to stop.

His voice was calm, his eyes burned with fury and compassion as he stared up at her.

"This is my last message to you Kaya ! Go! Survive! Protect the princess with your life! She's the last hope for our clan! The last royal blood!" A tear rolled down his wrinkled face.

"You're the best thing that ever happened to me." He whispered.

"I love you." His voice was lower than a whisper.

Kaya stood still, tears rolling down her cheeks, she could never leave Papa Gerad, but she knew he was right.

Her only duty was to protect the princess.

"Please, come back to me." She whispered.

Suddenly, the old man's head snapped around to face the corridor, he snarled as he lashed out at two assassins, tearing them in half midair.

Kaya turned, moving at inhuman speed, racing the whole stairs at once. at the end of the stairwell, she heard the old man grunt.

Kaya turned around in time to see him struggling to his knees, blood pouring out from beneath his huge hairy chest as he got rammed with another load of silver bullets.

Without hesitation, she ran blindly towards the old man.

"I said go!" the old man's eyes bored into hers, filled with fury.

Kaya stopped in her tracks, the noise stopping with her, all she could hear was her heart pounding in her chest.

She understood the message there.

The old man was prepared to give his life to save her, to save them.

He'd stay and protect them all, fight off the assassins until his last breath.