Chapter 9 - The Fall of the Regent
Amara, despite her exhaustion, grabbed a heavy brass candelabra from a nearby stone pedestal and hurled it with surprising force straight into the face of an advancing soldier, dropping him instantly.
Rhys fought with terrifying efficiency, his blade flashing like lightning in the cramped confines of the treasury. One by one, Malrec’s elite guards were disarmed, knocked unconscious, or pinned beneath heavy iron chests.
Realizing his trap had completely collapsed, Regent Malrec’s face drained of color. Panic seized him. He dropped his shortsword, turned on his heel, and sprinted frantically toward the open iron door of the vault, desperate to escape into the catacombs.
“Oh no you don't,” Sera muttered.
She didn't chase him with a sword. Instead, she grabbed a heavy, thick gold chain from an open treasure chest, wound it around her fist like a whip, and hurled it with pinpoint accuracy.
The heavy links caught Malrec squarely around his ankles mid-stride.
With a sharp yelp, the regent tripped hard, crashing face-first onto the unforgiving stone floor of the vault. Before he could push himself back up, Sera was already on top of him.
She dropped her knees firmly into his spine, grabbed a fistful of his expensive velvet collar, and dragged his face up against the cold stone, pressing her improvised iron poker right against the side of his neck.
“Get up,” Sera whispered, her voice colder and sharper than any blade in the room.
Malrec trembled, gasping for air beneath her weight, every ounce of his aristocratic arrogance completely shattered.
Rhys walked over, wiping a speck of dust from his armor, and stood over the cowering regent with a dark, satisfied smirk.
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“Take him up to the courtyard,” Rhys instructed the remaining guards who had just managed to break through the outer seal from the cathedral side—guards bearing the true crest of the royal northern guard who had finally broken through Malrec’s corrupted blockade. “Let the citizens and the council see the man who tried to start a war for his own greed.”
As Malrec was hauled away in heavy iron chains, kicking and screaming into the dark tunnels, the heavy tension inside the vault finally began to lift.
