Soon the entire room started to fill with the rose vines. The last two assassins fled the room while Dorothy tried to cut the vines. The rose vines started to wrap around her leg trying to catch her, but she always cut them with her hands turned into blades.
She was eventually forced to also leave the room. Vlad followed them calmly his vines circling him without hurting the count or Rufus. He had an immensely strong divine power and had complete control and understanding of them like Kassim had.
Vlad chased them around the castle with his vines followed by Rufus. They tried to throw knives and such at the count, but he was able to block them by catching them mid-air with the rose vines.
When the two assassins and Dorothy got to the main entrance they saw Haley running to the door.
"Rufus. We have a situation in the village!" yelled Haley when she rushed to the door.
At the same time, Rufus and the count also entered the main entrance of the castle. Haley quickly recognized the two assassins were part of the group who had attacked the village. One of the assassins took Haley hostage immediately.
"It seems we got ourselves another chess piece to play with," said Dorothy smiling," Rufus was your name? Kill the count if you don't want your precious girlfriend to die."
Again they were caught between a rock and a hard place. The assassin held a knife at Haley's neck. Rufus got scared they would kill her. He couldn't lose a family member again. Rufus looked at the count who was also worried about the situation.
Rufus formed again a sphere of his divine power. He looked at the count. The count didn't seem mad, sad, or even disappointed. Instead, he was ready to greet death as an old friend.
"HALEY NOW!"
Haley bit the arm of the assassin while pulling herself down lower than the assassin's hips. Rufus threw the sphere at the assassin. It evaporated the entire upper body of the assassin leaving Haley safe. Haley ran away knowing he couldn't fight or leave herself to be captured again since she herself didn't have divine powers.
The count immediately attacked Dorothy with his rose vines. Dorothy sent the last assassin alive to go after Haley who was trying to get away from the scene.
Rufus fell again to his knees from pure exhaustion. It was now just Dorothy fighting the count.
~ ~
Meanwhile, the assassin was trying to catch Haley. It became a deadly cat and mouse play inside the castle. The assassin finally had Haley cornered inside a room with no exit. The assassin closed the door behind him so Haley could not escape.
Haley had been training with old man Haufen in hand-to-hand combat, and she was able to take down a lowlife gangster or a regular soldier. This man unfortunately was neither. Haley tried to attack with a leg kick, but the assassin blocked it himself with his shin. The pain from a shin hitting another shin got Haley to fall to the ground. The assassin was unfazed. He then was ready to give the final blow with his small ax.
Haley put his hand in front of her. She knew she was about to die.
"Harley…Rufus…. help me…!"
Haley opened her eyes and saw that her arm had stopped the blow of the ax. A small, but tough crystal had formed on top of Haley's skin on her arms. The assassin took a few steps back, but crystals formed from thin air and pierced the assassin killing him instantly. The crystals then vanished into thin air. Haley had no idea what just happened.
~ ~
Count Vlad was fighting a fierce battle with Dorothy. He controlled the vines trying to catch Dorothy, but she always dodged them or cut the vines with her hands turned into blades. The count himself was getting tired of using his divine powers, but it didn't look like Dorothy was tired at all.
The fighting took a small pause. The count was catching his breath. Dorothy saw her chance. She ran towards an unguarded Vlad. Just when she was about to attack a spear lunged from behind her forcing her to cancel her attack and block the spear instead. The spear had come from a long way piercing through the door. It was Doreen's spear.
Edward ran then through the broken doorway and attack Dorothy with his sword. Doreen and Edward had taken out all the assassins in the village and they now joined in on the fight against Dorothy in the castle.
"Look at this. Seems like we get to meet this psycho again, right lady," said Edward.
"Yeah. It seems we get a chance for payback, shithead" said Doreen back.
Dorothy laughed.
"You really think you can win against me. I almost killed you two last time," laughed Dorothy.
She then saw a bunch of lights coming from the distance. All the villagers had come to the rescue of the count. They had taken the weapons from the armory and were running towards the castle.
Dorothy looked then behind her, and the count was again ready to fight and so was Rufus. Haley also came to the scene behind Rufus and the count indicating her last assassin failed to capture her. She had failed and was about to be killed if she didn't flee.
She jumped over Edward and Doreen. She was running with all hands and feet turned into blades. She ran towards the mob of people and started to cut her way through them. The count sent his vines to catch her. Dorothy with ease cut her way through the crowd jumping and slashing her way out. It looked like a hot knife cutting through butter.
She then found a horse and started to ride off. Everyone tried to stop her, but she was already long gone. Dorothy had escaped.
After the incident and when everything had calmed down Rufus explained the situation. He explained how the prince had sent them to guard him. How the prince also said to try and persuade the count into working together with him. He even told the count he was the boss of the black rat gang and that the other three were members of the gang. The count asked to be left alone. He felt betrayed by Rufus
The next day Rufus and his companions decided to leave the village and the region of Wallach. A lot of the villagers were there to say goodbye to them since they had come to their rescue. Even the count was among the crowd.
"Did you know that there are a few people in Wallach who moved here from the capital? They told me how the central government had given up on them. How the slums were a lawless area. But from these slums a gang took power and they have started to change things.
"First I didn't believe it. Thought this gang exploited the already beaten-down populace. Seems like I was wrong. I will not give my aide to the prince, but I might give to someone who is willing to fight for his people. My people are the people of Wallach. Your people are the people of the capital and the slums."
"I am by no means a leader. I just happened to be in this position," said a modest Rufus.
"We all happened to be in these positions, but it doesn't change the fact that we must act. All we have to decide is what to do in these positions. Do you choose to act or to stay idle?"
Rufus didn't answer for a while. He then looked at Doreen, Edward, and Haley who were receiving food from the villagers.
"I will act always for those who are closest to me," said Rufus with determination.
The count smiled.
"When you are in need. Call for me. I know many other nobles who share my views and ideals. They listen to me. Remember me when you are in need of help."
They then parted for Jacobstadt. They left the beautiful grain ocean behind back to the bleak city that was the capital. It was turning to summer soon.
~ ~
They had returned to the capital city. It looked much bleaker after witnessing the beautiful countryside of Wallach. The streets were covered in filth since the government didn't take care of infrastructure. There was a lot of joblessness making the streets filled with homeless.
It still was there home