Karth didn't hesitate as he allowed his mind to quickly process the situation and his body immediately conjured a long spear in his hands. He dove in the way of the female assassin's sword strike and felt the brunt of the full swing on the shaft of his spear but it did not splinter. It didn't even bend at the weight of the strike.
Karth noticed the guards scramble to remove the King from danger while he continued to fend off sword strike after sword strike. This woman was strong and well trained. Karth didn't notice any weaknesses in her strikes or the way she held herself together. He rolled onto the floor and rose quickly to his feet only to see the woman quickly in tow.
Her sword strikes were a blur. Karth did all he could to parry the strikes but he couldn't stay on the defensive all fight. He had to do something to turn this fight around. His senses flashed in front of him as he felt the fight start to slow down. Karth was able to see every one of the assassin's movements before they were upon him.
Little dots of green and red flashed over the woman's body. Karth noticed that her head, torso and legs were marked green but her hands were marked red. Karth immediately knew it marked a weakness on the assassin.
The fight once again came back to full speed. The female assassin kept her attacks sharp and crisp as Karth waited for his time to attack. He found it when she overextended on an attack and exposed her hands to him.
His spear pulsed in his hands as if telling him to attack now. He did so and brought the spear across her hands to instant gratification. She screamed and dropped the sword in a heartbeat. Karth approached and brought the tip of the spear to her throat.
"Wait!" Cortdz shouted. "Don't kill her just yet. I want to interrogate her to see if I can find out information about who she works for."
"You won't get anything from me," the assassin hissed.
"I have my ways," Cortdz smiled an evil smile that assured Karth that the King did indeed have results at interrogating enemies.
The King nodded to the guards as they grabbed the intruder and quickly dragged her out of the room. Cortdz waited until the guards were out of the room before turning to Karth.
"How the hell did you know I was in trouble?" Cortdz asked with a stern expression on his face. "My own guards didn't even know."
"Look I already know you think I had something to do with this but I didn't," Karth said. "I don't know how to explain it."
"I know if you wanted me dead then I would easily be dead by now," the King tried to reassure his assassin. "It looks like I owe you another life debt."
Karth shrugged. "Just doing what you hired me to do."
"Do you have any guesses to where the woman came from?" The King paced the room. "I need to know if more than the Emperor is trying to eliminate me."
"I don't have the slightest clue," Karth said. "I don't know anything about where I am or even how I got here."
Cortdz was silent for a minute before walking toward Karth and putting his hands on his shoulders. "Help me find out who is really trying to kill me and I will do everything in my power to help you get back to where you came from."
Karth looked at the King in the eyes before nodding. "The Emperor most likely is putting out bids to different organizations to assassinate you and when one fails another one will step up."
Karth knew that's how it was when he was in Solitude and he was sure other organizations acted the same as his did. That's how assassins made money. They were freelance mercenaries and the organization would take a percentage once the job was done. The more successful an assassin was not only would they make more money but their notoriety rose which opened them up for more dangerous and more lucrative opportunities.
"I do know one thing," Karth continued. "The assassination attempts wont stop until one of them is successful.
Cortdz said nothing as he removed his hands from his assassin's shoulders. Karth turned to leave still trying to process the events of what happened. He had to find out what that voice was and why it helped him save the King. He had to still learn his new abilities and how to control them.
"Before you leave assassin," the King broke the silence. "What are you called and where did you come from?"
Karth stopped at the door with his hand outstretched for the knob. "You can call me Karth and I'm from Calgarra."
Cortdz watched Karth leave with his mouth agape. "Impossible," he whispered.