Fiction Friday - Series 3: Chapter 21

Previously:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9
Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17
Chapter 18  Chapter 19 Chapter 20

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Desperate, I shoved against the with my lower back and we staggered in a death grip with each other. Free from the wall I was able to lean back a little away from the knife and I drew upon my martial art training to attack the hand holding the knife instead of going strength to strength. It started to work and I was forcing the hand to the side and the point moved away from being directed at my heart.

Rusack growled and swung us around in an attempt to free his hand. I stumbled on a broken plate and ran into a table. He ripped his knife hand out of my grasp, held it high, and readied it for the killing blow. I was off balance and jammed against a table; I knew I was dead.

Except I wasn't. As Rusack swung me around and freed the knife, there was a bang of a weapon going off that I heard but did not register. And now with the knife hand raised up but not striking, I realized that Rusack's face had gone from a primal mask of fury and victory into one of blank surprise. And on his shirt in the middle of his chest I saw a blood stain start to spread.

He dropped the vibroblade and crumpled backwards, clutching his chest as he did so. I half ran, half staggered to the dropped weapon and picked it up, then I fell to my knees beside my wounded foe. "This is for my brother," I snarled. I jammed the blade into his heart, his ribs twisting the knife in my hand as it slid effortlessly through the fabric, skin, and muscle. I left it there.

I looked up to see who had shot Rusack and saw Derranna standing a few meters away, her dead master Blodel's gun in her hands but now pointed at the floor. She looked shocked and stricken, as if she could not believe what she had just done. As I watched she fell to her knees and dropped the gun, putting her hands to her eyes and sobbing. I didn't say anything as I was still struggling to catch my breath and my limbs were shaking as the adrenaline ran its course.

Slowly the pounding of my heart and my breathing slowed and I could take note of the world again. All the other patrons and employees had run during the fight, only Derranna and I remained with two dead men. I became aware of a voice in my ear that had been talking for a while but I had ignored in the heat of battle.

"Kodachi! You have got to get moving! Do you hear me? Kodachi? Are you there?"

Delvara. Right. My mind started working again. I had to get out of here now. "I'm here, Eamon. Things got messy."

"Well, you took too long. Security is already in the main hall, you won't make it past them to the exit stairwell now. You need to find another way out, try the.."

"Kitchen," I finished for him. That was where Rusack had first bolted towards and like any good rat he knew all the ways out of his haunts. "Tell me where the service corridors go. I am heading out the back," I told the voice in my ear.

I got to my feet and looked at Derranna. She was crying quietly now, still on her knees but holding the hand of her dead master. She had saved me twice now, both times when Rusack was about to kill me. I knew that if I left her here that the Gallente authorities would probably hand her back to Blodel's nearest relatives and she would remain in slavery. I could not allow that, especially not to someone who I owed my life and my brother's life to.

"Come on, Derranna," I said as I grabbed her arm and helped her to her feet. "We've got to get out of here." She seemed in a daze and let me lead her to the kitchen doors.