WARNING: VIOLENT SCENE UP AHEAD
"Cmon Roro." Fuchsia rattled on. "We were always closer as kids. We are meant for each other. Rico was just a stepping stone for me to realize that."
She wouldn't stop talking. She was like a parrot, with a snake's heart —talkative and devilish. He couldn't stand her. If she wasn't going to shut up, then he would shut her up by leaving; Raul decided. Without purpose, his gaze strayed, tired of focusing on Fuchsia. That was when he saw it —an arrow aimed at him, held by a man dressed like the waiters from the Spring Ball downstairs.
Judging from the direction and distance, the arrow would most likely hit him. But if Fuchsia moved, even slightly, it would hit her. She couldn't see what was happening because she had her back to it. Raul made this analysis in the split second it took for the archer to let go of the arrow, and let it shoot forward. He roughly wrapped his arm around Fuchsia's waist, and fell to the floor with her, so that he lay down straight, and she was on top of him.
Fuchsia yelped, not yet aware of what was going on, but there was no time to explain. As soon as they hit the ground, Raul, with his arm still firmly holding Fuchsia, rolled, till they were safely crouched between a couch, and a wall. Several arrows whizzed past them. They were out of reach for the moment, but only God knew how long that would last.
"What the FUCKING HELL is going on!?" Fuchsia whispered harshly, apparently terrified. Her eyes didn't seem confused anymore, and thankfully, she wasn't panicking. It would only complicate things for Raul if she were.
"Someone is trying to kill us, what do you think?" It was a question intended to ridicule Fuchsia's intelligence, obviously. She wished to snap at Raul, but doubted it was a priority for now.
"Stay low." Raul ordered.
He needed to access the entire situation properly, if he was ever to get out of this alive. Peeping from the side of the couch, he took in his surroundings for about two seconds, and withdrew his head. An arrow hit where his head had been almost immediately.
"How did they sneak the weapons in!?" Fuchsia continued to growl. "We have a FREAKING WEAPON DETECTOR!"
Raul pulled out the arrow from the couch. The assailant was using a completely wooden arrow; wood couldn't be detected by a weapon detector.
That explains how. Raul thought.
From what he'd observed, there were about four arrows, all shot nearly at the same time. Bows weren't like guns —you need at least five seconds to shoot a second time. Taking that into consideration, there were not less than four archers present. That took the danger Raul and Fuchsia were in to a whole new level.
Another round of arrows hit the couch, while one bounced off the wall above they're heads and fell on Raul's lap. Most archers liked to maintain a distance from their targets, but none of them would be able to land a hit on either Raul or Fuchsia from afar, thanks to their cover. The archers would have to come closer at some point. That would be Raul's chance.
His first choice would have been to get hold of the enemies' weapons, then use it against them, but he had never taken much interest in archery back in highschool. A weapon such as a bow and arrow would only slow him down, since he knew next to nothing about it. His second choice, and his best, would be hand to hand combat.
Just as he had predicted, Raul caught sight of an archer approaching the couch.
"Once I start fighting, get away as fast as you can." Raul told Fuchsia.
Not hesitating, Fuchsia nodded. At that point, she couldn't care less what would happened to Raul. All that mattered was her own precious life.
Once the archer came within a few feet of Raul, he jumped up and darted forward, making sure to lean his body away from the direction the arrow on the archer's bow was pointing at, as much as possible. Startled, the archer shot it. It flew past Raul, dangerously close to his ear.
Without skipping a beat, Raul knocked out the bow from the archer's hand, and used his knee to kick his balls. From the corner of his eye, he saw three more archers, all wearing the waiter outfit. He quickly swerved behind the archer he had just beaten up, and holding him(the archer) by the collar of his shirt so he could stand up, Raul used him as a shield.
Fuchsia sprinted behind the three archers, but they paid her no attention. That said that Raul was their original and only target.
Three arrows drove into the captive archer's chest, instantly killing him. At least that proved these men weren't comrades, but individual contractors paid to do a job. Raul charged forward, not given his attackers time to reload. Throwing the dead man on top of one of the three archers so that he fell down, he kicked the bows out of the other two just like he'd done before.
The rest was history. He easily broke the neck of one, before engaging in a fist fight with the two remaining alive.
Another slipped, hitting an ancient grandfather clock, and causing it to fall forward. The clock smashed the head of the archer with a loud crack. Blood oozed from under the fallen clock.
Three down. One to go.
The last archer was breathing heavily, bleeding through his nose and mouth and could barely open his swollen right eye. Raul held his collar tightly, making sure he(the archer) looked into his eyes. His expression was surprisedly calm, even nonchalant. That scared the archer to bits.
"Tell me who hired you," Raul said. "and I might just let you live."
TEASER: AT THE BERNARDO RESIDENCE V