SHORT STORY: PERF part 4

Wet, mossy stone scraped quietly along Perf's back as he edged his way around the Inner Wall. He could see the torchlight of the next guard post up ahead and Perf stopped short before walking into the perimeter of light. He had magics that would allow him to slip by unseen, and through the guarded portcullis, but the Augers would surely sense him then. His only other option was to bluff his way out, and that had all sorts of other dangers associated with it. Certainly, his uniform was correct, and he'd been studying the Palace Guard for some time, but all it took was one wary guard to sound an alarm. These men were a tight nit group and suddenly being confronted by an unfamiliar face asking for passage out...

Perf set his face, adjusted the sack on his shoulder, and strode forward.

“Hold and Part,” Perf called out as soon as he entered the light.

Perf's uniform marked him as their superior but still they hesitated. Perf halted of his own accord before the men could go for their weapons.

“Well,” Perf stated dryly, “You all must be half-wits since you seem capable of obeying only half of an order. Now part and let me pass.”

Perf casually rested his free hand on the hilt of his rapier, unlocking it from its cradle but otherwise leaving it alone. None of the guards seemed to have noticed.

“I'm sorry Captain,” One of the guards, a Sargent, said as he moved to more fully block Perf's exit, “But no one is to allowed in or out until the intruder is caught.” He brought the point of his spear down to the level of Perf's heart. “And you of all people should know that.”

Perf found himself facing not one spear point, but seven as the other guards followed the Sargent's example and pointed their spear tips at Perf.

“And what's in the sack?” The Sargent inquired.

Perf hefted it for them to see. “Clearly,” he said, “It's empty.”

“Right,” The Sargent said and he moved his spear tip closer to the sack, “Then you wouldn't mind if I just gave it a little poke.”

Even the smallest cut in the sack would render it useless and its contents would be disgorged. They were well trained indeed since such knowledge was not exactly common. Perf returned the sack to his shoulder, narrowing his eyes, as the guards fanned out to surround him. The Sargent raised his signal whistle to his lips.

Perf snapped into action, biting down on his tongue and then immediately spitting the resultant blood at the Sargent. As the bloody spittle flew, it transformed into a series of crystal bobbles. For the briefest of moments the Sargent hesitated while he watched the magic occur. His hesitation was his downfall as the bobbles crashed into his face.

Such simple cantrips were taught to all prospective wizards, though generally not spit from the casters mouth. Most considered them useless unless entertaining small children, but as the Sargent took a face full of glass shards, Perf knew otherwise and he lunged passed the Sargent's spear, slashing his newly drawn blade across the throat of the surprised man.

Six spear points swung around to strike Perf even as their leader fell gurgling to the ground. Torchlight glinted off the first spear tip to strike at him and Perf parried it, rolling his body along the shaft of the weapon before elbowing the man in the throat, followed by a thrust of his blade the guards stomach. Already, more attacks were coming and before he could reset himself, Perf felt the hot searing pain of steel in his leg. Instinct threw him to the ground, riding the strike and lessening the damage.

Perf's leather armor, worn beneath his disguise, also helped to lessen the blow, but now he was lying on the ground looking up at five spearmen.

“Yield!” One of the guards commanded.

Perf held back a grin at his assailants honor. It would prove their downfall.

“I yield,” Perf said, releasing his rapier and beginning to rise.

As Perf got to his feet, he feigned collapse from his injured leg, a fallen spear at his side. Two of the guards fell for it, lowering their guard and moving in to help him. In a flash, Perf flicked the spear into his hands and slashed out with his new weapon and the two men fell, identical slits in their throats. Perf lunged backward immediately, going for his discarded rapier.

A whistle blow pierced the night and powerful magics were summoned into being, immobilizing everything that wasn't within the protected boundaries of the guard posts.

Perf rolled out of his lunge and turned, rapier in hand, to see the remaining guards, one of them frozen in the act of lowering the whistle from his lips. The guard was smiling. Perf smiled back knowing that the guards were only now realizing their mistake. Perf was standing in the archway that the guards were suppose to be guarding, and they had been drawn out of their protective circle. Perf set to work on the door, unlocking it with the keys he'd picked off the Sargent at the same time that he'd killed the man.

Outside the Inner Court, Perf discarded his uniform into a fire barrel making him look like nothing more than any other nighttime traveler. He made his way to the Outer Wall without further incident. Perf located the spot in the wall were some previous generation of riffraff had constructed a hidden door. A man dressed as a beggar sat beside it, hiding the lever mechanism. Perf tossed all the earnings he'd made that day to the man who eyed it with surprise. A single piece of silver would have sufficed.

“Pity no one's been through this way all night,” Perf instructed as the piece of wall slide open, “And exchange the pieces as soon as you can, they may be traced,” Perf added once he was through and caught a brief glimpse of the mans displeasure before the heavy piece of masonry slid back into place.

I'm out, Perf told Percy.

So am I, Percy responded, Half mile from the city.

Perf got a mental image of where Percy was and began moving in that direction. In just another couple of days he'd be able to deliver the princess and collect the other half of his fee. Some people may hate Perf for what he did, perhaps even call him evil, but he couldn't quite get himself to care. Doing this was just too much fun.

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 Sorry this came a bit late this week, had to make some last minute changes/improvements.

So what did you think of Perf's adventure? I'm a bit new to writing actions scenes, and as such I tried to keep this one brief, but how did I do? How could I improve it?

What did you think about the magic? Did it need more explanation? More detail? Is it fine the way it is?