Encountering Men in Black
The woman carrying the bundle let out a sharp gasp, and the pack slid from her shoulder, thudding to the ground and spilling its contents everywhere. Her face went bone-white, and she stumbled back, terror plain in her eyes.
"Please, spare me!" she begged, her voice trembling. "I'm just a girl trying to get back to my hometown. I haven't done anything wrong! Why are you doing this? Please, just let me go."
But the Duke of Crestfall, fixated on clearing his name, didn't even spare her a glance. He just snapped at his men, "Enough. Tie her up and get her back to the manor for questioning. Now. And hurry it up before she tries something."
His guards wasted no time, hauling the struggling woman to her feet and binding her hands.
When the Duke climbed back into the carriage, he found the father and daughter staring him down, arms crossed, expressions dripping with suspicion.
His confidence surged now that he had a suspect.
"I've got her," he declared. "Once we're back, I'll question her, and this whole mess will be cleared up."
Cassidy glanced from the woman being tied up outside to the Duke's smug face. "You're sure you won't just kill her to keep her quiet?"
After a lifetime of her father's rants about the man, Cassidy was already convinced the Duke was some kind of ruthless, backstabbing villain.
The Duke gritted his teeth. He rapped on the carriage wall to signal the driver to get a move on before shooting back, "The prince and princess are sitting right here. You can see for yourselves whether I silence her or not."
Cassidy looked out at the empty landscape, then back at him. "You wouldn't kill my father and me to silence us too, would you?" she asked, a flicker of doubt in her voice. God, she wished she'd brought Jed and Reid Donovan with them.
At his daughter's words, Prince Ashworth immediately scooted a little farther away from the Duke.
The Duke was speechless. *Forget it,* he thought, slumping back against the seat. *I'm not saying another word. Eventually they have to run out of things to say.*
The carriage sped on, the father and daughter whispering back and forth about all the ways the Duke of Crestfall might try to kill them.
Suddenly, the carriage jerked to a halt. A sharp whistle sliced through the air, and two dark-clad figures burst from the forest, their blades glinting as they moved. They went straight for the bound woman, their attacks swift and brutal. Their target was obvious.
Inside the carriage, Cassidy and Prince Ashworth whipped their heads toward the Duke, eyes wide with terror.
"You!" Prince Ashworth stammered. "You really are trying to silence us!"
Cassidy quickly checked her lifespan. Phew. Still good.
The prince, however, was losing it. "I'm a prince!" he yelled at the Duke. "If you kill me, my brother will never let you get away with it!"
The Duke of Crestfall closed his eyes, wondering how the imperial family had produced these two idiots.
He yanked back the curtain to look outside, his expression grim.
"You two," he snapped, "those men are here for *her*. It seems we found the right person after all, and she's more important than we thought."
Hearing this, Prince Ashworth and Cassidy sat up straight. They gingerly lifted a corner of the curtain, caught a glimpse of the vicious fight outside, and instantly dropped it back down. The attackers were pros. This was terrifying.
Cassidy stared right at the Duke. "Duke, you're a good man!"
He was, once again, speechless.
"You have to protect my father and me," she continued, laying out her brilliant plan. "You go out there and draw their fire while my father and I make a run for it. Don't worry, we'll be sure to remember your noble sacrifice."
The Duke gritted his teeth. He had never met anyone so shamelessly bold in his entire life.
Seeing his guards being pushed back, a cold glint flashed in his eyes.
He drew his sword and charged out of the carriage.
"A bunch of nobodies think they can run wild on the outskirts of Argent?"
he snarled. "Fine by me. Saves me the trouble of looking for a fight. I'll use you lot for a little practice!"
At his confident declaration, Cassidy and her father pulled back the curtain again, relieved smiles spreading across their faces. They were saved! The Duke was actually competent.
Just as the two decided they might be nicer to him from now on, the Duke, fresh off his heroic shout, froze, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed.
Cassidy and her father stared, stunned. They dropped the curtain, then immediately lifted it again for another look.
This time, everyone outside was on the ground. Wisps of pale green smoke filled the air, giving off a sharp, pungent smell. Cassidy quickly covered her nose and yanked her father with her, leaping a good distance away from the carriage.
Prince Ashworth looked at the bodies littering the ground, their conditions unknown. His eyes widened when he met the gaze of the two assassins. This was bad.
Without a second thought, he drew the saber from his belt. "Cassidy, go!" he yelled, his voice urgent. "Run for the forest! I'll hold them off."
But when he turned, she was already gone. His daughter had bolted straight for the opposite mountain ridge as if she had wings, not once looking back, her figure already shrinking in the distance.
Prince Ashworth was stunned. For a second, he couldn't decide if he was furious that his daughter didn't give a damn about his life or just deeply impressed by her escape skills.
All he could do was grip his saber. Watching the assassins close in, he didn't even have time to curse.
Gritting his teeth, he braced himself for a final, desperate charge, silently cursing his heartless daughter a thousand times over.
Meanwhile, Cassidy had reached high ground. She crouched down, her back against a large boulder for cover, and with a flick of her wrist, a sniper rifle materialized in her hand.
Seeing it, the System was practically screaming with excitement. *A sniper rifle! The sniper rifle it had been dreaming of!*
Cassidy brought the scope to her eye and zeroed in on the scene below. She saw one of the assassins raising a hand toward her struggling father, a small paper packet held between his fingers. He was about to use the same trick again, sleeping powder or poison, she didn't know which.
Her focus sharpened. She gently squeezed the trigger.
There was no deafening blast, just a faint mechanical hum that vanished into the wind. A specially made bullet tore through the air and hit the man squarely between the eyebrows. Blood sprayed as he collapsed, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The System was stunned. *Host, didn't you say the sniper rifle had no bullets?*
"These aren't ordinary bullets," Cassidy replied, already shifting the scope to aim at the other man. "They're special warheads for killing Zombies. The moment one enters a body, it melts and destroys the internal organs. They don't stand a chance."
As soon as the words were out, her finger squeezed the trigger again. Another warhead whistled through the air, piercing the second assassin's heart from behind. His body jerked once, then he fell flat on his face without a sound, completely still.
Down below, Prince Ashworth, who had been bracing for a glorious last stand, just stood there, completely baffled.