Chapter 91: The Golden Knight
A second, two seconds passed, but the expected death didn't come. Ian opened his eyes again and found the gold cloak who had attacked him lying on the ground. A sharp, armor-piercing dagger had been driven through the back of his head, beneath his black chainmail coif. Ian recognized the dagger—it was Bronn's weapon.
Bronn had fulfilled his promise. The Stranger came before me in person, and then he shoved a dagger up his ass. Ian thought to himself, half-dazed.
Then Bronn's voice rang in his ears: "Now, brave Bronn shall be made a damned knight."
He stumbled as he was helped to his feet and dragged toward the berserker, Kes, who had already torn free from the fishing net.
Ian had Bronn unsheathe the Valyrian steel greatsword from his back and hand it to Kes.
Kes took the sword, wielding it in his right hand, then drew his own longsword with his left. With a roar, he charged at the gold cloaks like a god of war descending from the heavens.
Ian wanted to step forward to help, but he was exhausted. He took a single step forward before collapsing to the ground again, protected by Bronn.
Several Black Falcon sellswords, freed from the nets, gathered around Ian, alert for incoming attacks.
Illuminated by the torches, Kes's greatsword slashed through the air, striking an oncoming gold cloak. The warrior raised his mace to block the blow, but the Valyrian steel blade severed the weapon's shaft the moment they made contact.
The Valyrian steel sword, continuing its downward arc, landed on the gold cloak's shoulder and continued its trajectory with almost no resistance, cleaving halfway through his body. The black chainmail shattered and fell to the ground.
Almost simultaneously, two other gold cloaks attacked Kes. A mace swung from behind, but Kes easily dodged it with a sidestep, allowing his opponent's weapon to slam into the ground. Then Kes placed his boot on the mace head, preventing the man from retrieving his weapon.
The final man attempted to strike Kes's eyes with the tip of his spear, but this too failed. Unaccustomed to such weapons, the gold cloaks clearly hadn't mastered proper spear technique, and the thrust only reached the chest of the seven-foot-tall Kes.
Kes didn't flinch, allowing the spear to strike his breastplate harmlessly. Simultaneously, he thrust his left-handed longsword into his opponent's mouth, the point bursting through the back of his head and knocking off his golden helmet.
Then Kes spun around, slamming his right-handed Valyrian steel sword into the chest of the gold cloak whose weapon he had pinned.
Kes's entire sequence took just three seconds, seamlessly dispatching all three gold cloaks.
"Why in seven hells are these damned gold cloaks attacking you?" Bronn pressed his sword to the neck of a gold cloak he'd captured and yanked. Blood gushed from his victim, spraying Ian in the face.
"Aren't you a fucking Lannister?" Bronn wiped his face with his sleeve and complained to Ian. "What in all the hells just happened?"
Ian couldn't answer the question. He was still confused, and his head was swimming from the trauma, making it impossible to think clearly.
"Fuck!" Bronn spat, then ordered the Black Falcon sellswords to carry Ian toward the temple entrance.
Ian knew he was trying to take him back into the temple for temporary refuge.
That was a dead end. After all, even if the enemy didn't attack immediately, if they blockaded him outside, he and his men would soon starve to death.
But compared to staying above ground, it would at least buy a brief respite.
So Ian didn't speak to stop Bronn, simply letting him do as he saw fit.
As Bronn retreated toward the temple entrance, Kes had already driven back the gold cloaks besieging him and was moving to support Roel, who was also under assault.
Roel's situation wasn't as favorable as Kes's. Facing an equal number of gold cloaks while being far inferior to Kes in combat ability, and without the support of a Valyrian steel sword, he was on the verge of collapse.
Roel's left greave had been pierced, and he half-knelt on the ground, struggling to parry the gold cloaks' attacks with his sword while clutching his thigh to prevent rapid blood loss.
Fortunately, Kes's arrival relieved Roel's predicament. The gold cloaks besieging Roel were forced to deal with Kes's reinforcement. They split into two groups, side by side, maces raised, closing in on Kes from both flanks.
Kes swung his Valyrian steel sword upward with both hands, severing the shafts of three maces in quick succession. However, three attacks from the other side struck Kes from behind, knocking him back a step.
Roel, too, wasted no time. Despite the excruciating pain, he rose and thrust his sword into the greaves of a gold cloak in front of him, bringing the man to his knees. He then struck him hard in the nose with his gauntleted, sledgehammer-sized left fist.
Another gold cloak drew his sword, attempting to strike at Roel's exposed armpit, but Roel, releasing his embedded sword from the other warrior's leg, clamped his right arm against his side to protect the gap. He charged forward, striking the warrior in the jaw with his enlarged shoulder plate, knocking him unconscious. Roel then seized the opportunity to wrench his sword free, plunging it through the gap between the man's black chainmail shirt and his gorget.
Despite the impressive displays of skill by Roel and Kes, the battle situation didn't improve. As the sailors and sellswords caught in the nets were gradually slain by the gold cloaks, more and more joined in the assault on Ian and his men.
Watching the gold cloaks' clumsy performance, Ian felt a sudden flash of understanding. These were Janos Slynt's troops, trained in peacetime corruption and lacking real combat experience.
Had they been professional sellswords equipped to the same standard, even with two more fighters like Kes, the battle would have been over long ago.
Suddenly, Ian felt a sharp jolt, and he fell to the ground once more.
He looked up to see that his guards had been attacked, and Bronn himself was now engaged in combat with a plate-armored knight.
The knight, wielding a flanged mace and clad in black plate armor, wore gold cloaks like the other members of the City Watch. Hidden among the common gold cloaks in the darkness, he had remained unnoticed by Ian until now.
The gold-cloaked knight charged at Bronn, brandishing his mace. He swung heavily, but Bronn easily dodged. Then Bronn retaliated with his sword, striking three times in rapid succession, hitting his opponent's forearm, side, and visor, but without exception, failing to penetrate the armor.
The gold-cloaked knight glanced at Bronn, who was circling around him, and shouted to the gold cloaks behind him, "Kill him!" Then he ignored Bronn and rushed toward Ian.
(End of Chapter)
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