Fully armored men on horseback arrived, at least a dozen of them. They were surveilling the streets of the village, questioning the people and breaking into their homes. The villagers could not say no to their long spears and swords. On their front armor piece, they wore the symbol of a glazing sun.
They were not ordinary guards, but some sort of knights. Perhaps they came straight from the king.
"Erwand, who are they?" Lilynn whispered while they hid behind a bush. The knights were swarming all over the place.
They looked far better equipped than the average soldiers Lilynn had seen around the towns. The sun symbol was a mystery to her, and it looked nothing like the red lion that represented the whole kingdom. Some of them were on foot, some of them were on horseback.
"Hey, you two!"
A loud shout came from behind them. One of the knights was patroling the edge of the village, right where they hid. Lilynn could not even hear his footsteps. Why would he be checking these places?
Lilynn froze to the ground. What now? Do they fight them? But before they could make any moves, the knight alerted the others with another shout. They all quickly positioned themselves in a circle -- Lilynn counted fourteen of them, with their swords drawn out.
This won't be a friendly conversation.
"Let us go, dear knights, we are not here to cause any trouble," Erwand said with forced softness.
"Silence! We have been searching for you for days, and now, you have to come with us," said a knight.
"What? Who are you working for, even?"
"We are the Knights of Emerstead. We command you to give up any resistance, in the name of Lord Hexxor."
Erwand gasped. So he did know them, sort of.
"You are Hexxor's soldiers?" he asked, but could not utter anything else.
"Indeed. It has come to his attention that a lone alchemist and a black-haired woman are associated with demoncraft."
'What,' echoed in Lilynn's head. How could they catch them so easily? Did they really leave their marks so easily, despite hiding under hoods and cloaks for most of the time? Then, she realized. The original father of the body Lilynn owned, he saw both of them. As well as Lady Urla, the woman from Iliat. Perhaps even Doris told them a few things for a nice amount of gold. Lilynn could definitely see her do that, considering she was Erwand's previous beloved, now perhaps jealous of Lilynn.
And so they knights were from Emerstead, the place where the Mage Academy stood. Lying about them being mages would do no good, as they probably already knew that they were never students there.
"We are no demons, dear lord," Lilynn said. "We are simple merchants, doing our business in this village."
"We know who you are, because the alchemist here was already identified," said the knight. "From the information we gathered, we knew a lone alchemist was one of the suspects. Lord Hexxor is a wise and powerful lord of the academy, and he quickly found out that the criminal is Erwand Wilran, who once failed the academy studies miserably. A traitor, who turned to demoncraft."
Erwand did not say anything, but Lilynn could tell he was furious.
"Seems like Lord Hexxor found a way to trick more people out of their money, huh? How much did your shiny armors cost?" he taunted them.
"Erwand, don't do this! There are many of them, we can't fight!" Lilynn whispered to him. There was no way for them to get out of this. And if they were to fight, she doubted they could take all fourteen of them.
"Why is such noble man after us? Why is he not here to make us beg if he is so powerful?" Lilynn said.
"You are not in position to ask any questions. We will see if the rumors are true, and whether you are a demon."
The knight stepped towards Lilynn with his sword pointed at her.
They will find out who she is. And they will kill her.
He suddenly held out a green, gemstone talisman with his other hand -- it looked like exactly the one she saw back at the Iliat market. Except this one looked genuine, and as it was held up, it started to shine brightly.
"You are..."
The knight's hands both fell to the ground, no longer attached to his body. His scream came out with a long delay, with streams of blood from his arms.
Lilynn was ready for battle, with her arms forming blades. The other knights charged into them with swords without hesitation.
Erwand ducked down and threw a smoke grenade on the ground, covering all of them. Lilynn followed him, crawling on the ground while the soldiers were searching for them in zero visibility.
The light wind quickly blew the smoke away, exposing the escaping duo. Lilynn could hear the knights run after them. Surprisingly, they did not use any enchantments or spells; it seemed that they were no mage soldiers, but only troops of an ordinary army from Hexxor.
One of them somehow caught up, but as he got close, Lilynn stroke back. The knight slashed with his sword and Lilyn with her arm. The sword broke in two, and Lilynn's fury slashed through the chest of the knight, through the armor. Blood spilt out, and he fell to the ground.
They were no special enemies after all.
Erwand took on one of the soldiers as well, weakening him with a spell and stabbing him with his sword in the neck, where no armor could protect him. Puddles of blood started to paint the street red.
But the people of the village quickly realized that the bloodbath was dangerous. They were screaming and hiding from the streets to the buildings.
All their reputation as saviors was now gone.
Instead of running, Erwand and Lilynn fought the soldiers face to face. Lilyn could feel her blood pumping power everywhere in her body. It was the first time she killed people, but she did not feel any sort of remorse.
It all felt like a vivid, unreal dream.
Upon killing a soldier, the spilling blood's smell gave her even more energy. Dark, vicious energy, demanding more lives.
They managed to kill five of the knights this way. But the others were smart: they started to take a circular position again.