Graduation Day (5/6)

Dorun staggered back, immediately grabbing the gushing wound that had just been placed in his stomach.

It took a moment for Kari to even process what had taken place, but she was now staring right into the face of her relentless pursuer.

He smiled widely at her before glancing at the boy now collapsed on the floor behind them.

“Nothing personal, Dorun,” Taron called out before turning his attention back to Kari, “but as for you?”

He lifted his blood-soaked knife in a readied position, “this is going to be all kinds of personal.”

Taron lunged forward with just enough force to reach Kari, but not in excess as to pass her, clearly learning Veera Mardeen’s earlier downfall.

The swipes of his blade were frenzied and unpredictable, a stark contrast to his usual demeanor. Kari attempted to throw up blocks to catch his wrist mid momentum and knock the knife from his hand, but every time she thought she saw a pattern to his attacks, he would change his trajectory and style of strike.

There was a reason Taron had been top of the class. He had learned every possible fighting style taught at the academy, and with that knowledge also came the ability to mix and subvert them.

Kari was able to dodge the first two swings, but the next two drew blood from her right shoulder. The fifth slid between two of her fingers, scoring the flesh down to the bone of her palm. She was able to shirk the pain, moving away from her attacker in an attempt to keep his blade at a distance while also protecting the injured Dorun.

Following another flurry of attacks that provided cuts to both arms and her cheek, Taron granted her just enough reprieve between two drawn out swings that she was able to turn and look towards Dorun. She hoped to see some sign of life from him. There was no way one gash like the one he had sustained would have been immediately fatal, although with his newly revealed condition, there were a lot of unpredictabilities that Kari had no time to factor.

As her head swiveled, her eyes met the bloody floor where the boy had been laying only moments ago, yet he was no longer there. Had he managed to flee back into his hospital room, she wondered to herself, or maybe he had scurried off down the hall?

Taron was just now noticing the void where his prey had been prior, and as his attention became ever so slightly diverted, Kari made the snap decision to go on the attack. She drew back her fist with the intent to land a blow directly on his solar plexus, but as her wind-up hit it’s peak, the killer’s eyes darted back towards her. He redirected the blade in a way that Kari knew would surely sever her hand mid-strike.

That was when Dorun lept from seemingly out of nowhere, growling as he grabbed onto Taron’s horns with one hand and his readied wrist with the other. Using all of his weight, he tackled Taron to the ground, managing to finally send the knife clattering down the hall.

He looked back at Kari as he pinned the squirming student to the ground, “Neither of us can beat him in the state we’re in. Kari, go get help!”

Kari glanced from the two struggling men to the knife laying on the other side of them. If she could only get to the weapon before Taron reclaimed it, they might gain the upper hand.

That was when the nurse walked around the bend at the far end of the hall, screaming when she realized what all the commotion was stemming from.

This sudden shriek caused Dorun to glance up, losing his focus. Taron took that opportunity to kick the boy across the hallway, slamming him into the wall. He grabbed his knife and turned back towards Dorun, who screamed at Kari, “RUN!”

Turning to look at Kari with a sickening leer, he plunged the knife down into Dorun’s side.

In that instant, Dorun reached up and grabbed Taron once again, this time holding him in a chokehold as he used his feet to slide the both of them through the doorway and back into the hospital room beside them.

At that point, one of them managed to slam the door shut, and Kari heard loud grunts and the clanging of metal on the other side of the wall.

Kari glanced down at her bandaged leg before gritting her teeth. She knew Dorun was right, and if he was trying to buy her time, she wouldn’t let his sacrifice be in vain.

She quickly stepped into the open elevator with the intent of reaching the ground floor, hoping that Taron had not dispatched any of the doctors, nurses, or patients still remaining in the hospital. However, that was when she noticed a thin gash in the elevator’s control panel, still sparking from where Taron had clearly driven his blade into it.

Exiting the broken contraption, she turned her attention towards the stairs. Her leg ached at the thought of descending the six flights once again, but she knew there was no other way.

She swung open the door to the stairwell and began to descend with a painful haste, the halls behind her now growing quiet.

However, only a floor into her trek she heard another door swing open somewhere below her, slow footsteps beginning to ring out in a most violent manner.

Kari took a deep breath before calling out to the unseen person below, “Help! We need help up here, someone is armed with a knife and attacked me and my friend!”

Almostly instantly, Kari heard a voice cry back that only widened the despairing pit that had been growing in her stomach.

“Kari!? I’m coming to kill you, you harpy!”

Somehow Aerin Mardeen had managed to recover herself enough to make it to the hospital, and from the sound of rhythmic clanging metal and the increase in footstep speed, Kari could tell she was armed and incredibly angry.

Kari almost considered jumping down through the angular opening at the center of the stairwell in an attempt to avoid the furious assassin who was ascending to meet her, but she speculated that her body could not sustain the toll of even a two story high impact, let alone nearly five full flights.

Instead she turned and began to ascend. She would think of a new plan, and maybe, just maybe, Dorun had gained the upper hand on the mastermind upstairs.

As quickly as her body would allow, Kari made her way back up to the seventh floor. She hoped she would be able to peek through the small, rectangular window on the door leading back out to the hall to surmise what had gone down in her minute or so of absence. But just as she reached the door, a face by the narrow glass aperture, and it did not belong to that of Dorun or a nurse.

Taron kicked open the door, causing Kari to continue following the only trajectory available to her… up.

She ascended the final two sets of stairs as she raced for the door to the hospital roof, praying that it was not locked. She dared not look back, but she could hear the nimble assassin closing in behind her.

Just as her bum leg was about to give out, she barreled into the large red door at the very top of the escalier. It easily gave way, causing Kari to tumble through and out onto the wet hospital roof.

Her mere instant of solace was completely shattered when Taron walked out behind her, still sporting the most unsettling of smiles as he wiped his short blade on his clothing. That was when Kari noticed just how drenched in blood Taron really was.

“What did you do??”

He looked down at his clothes, laughing, “to Dorun? The guy bled out so much while trying to hold me down that I watched the life drain right out of his eyes. He was a ragdoll by the time I managed to get him off of me. Thrilling, isn’t it?”

“You’re sick…” Kari said as she hoisted herself back onto her feet.

“Sick? Are you dense, Kari Bree, this is what we studied for! What we trained for! Watching people die is the reason for our existence! How hypocritical can you be, little Miss Mardeen slayer?”

“I’m not an indiscriminate murderer!” she retorted, beginning to back away as he grew ever closer.

He laughed once again, “indiscriminate? You think this was indiscriminate? This was methodical. Systematic. Planned to a tee. We were hired to eliminate the instructors and the rest of our graduating class. Our graduation AND our first job all wrapped into one. It was perfect. Well, almost perfect, clearly…” he said, shrugging as he looked around the hospital roof landing pad.

“Hired? You mean this wasn’t your idea?” she said, shocked at the notion but also stalling for as much time as possible. If only she could blow away the clouds that were fogging up her thoughts. She needed to think clearly, she needed a plan that would get her out of this corner.

“I mean, they asked us to do it, didn’t say how. I came up with the whole graduation thing. I think the headmaster would have approved if he wasn’t one of my high priority hit targets.”

“Who wanted this done then?” Kari watched as Taron readjusted his grip on the hilt of his knife. He was clearly growing impatient and would spring into action any moment now.

“A disgruntled ex-staff member? A parent whose child graduated from the school and then died on their first job? Any number of people all across the galaxy who have lost a loved one, colleague, or boss to any number of assassins whose origins can be traced back to town? Who cares? It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that they are paying us handsomely to get the job done, and at this point I may as well finish off poor Aerin and take all three cuts for myself. I just need to silence you and Ett Palicosa to get this over with forever.”

Taron sneered at her and shifted his foot ever so slightly to give himself a more controlled lunge. Kari had seen the move assumed time and time again when students were ready to deliver one final, all out blow during their sparring matches.

This was it. Kari was now standing on the ledge of the building, a low stone wall separating her from a splattering death.

Would she even have a chance to think while she plummeted to her untimely demise?

“Think…. Think?”

That was when something dawned on Kari.

Thinking would get her nowhere. Thinking takes time, and any time wasted could prove fatal.

For a moment Kari thought she heard the voice of her father.

“Don’t think. Do.”

She had defeated both Veera and Aerin in moments of pure instinct.

And Taron was much more calculated than either of them. A student obsessed with order. Even his unpredictable attacks earlier were clearly strategic.

So the only way to counter that would be…

Standing on the precipice, Kari did something that she would have normally considered unthinkable.

She closed her eyes.

The misty wind whipped past her face, sifting in between her horns as she inhaled deeply. As the cold, wet air filled her lungs, she felt a refreshing calmness wash over her. Instead of replacing the fogginess in her mind with cluttered, desperate thoughts, she simply let it all go. No more inhibitions. No more despair. No more concern for her safety. No matter what happened, everything would be over momentarily, so these concepts were no longer necessary.

Only a few seconds had passed since she had been overcome by these revelations, and as her mind emptied, her enemy finally decided to strike.

She hearn Taron’s feet leave the stone roof with a slight grinding noise, the components of his matted robe flapping noisily in the wind.

Only when the sounds of his approach became so loud that they were the sole subject of her focus did she finally open her eyes.

Taron was mere centimeters from her now, and she began to shift to the side. However, her instincts stopped herself from performing a full dodge, something that Taron had clearly predicted. Had she moved completely to the side, his cleverly redirected blade would have pierced her heart. However, given the fraction of a distance that she had repositioned her frame, his knife instead plunged deep into her shoulder.

The surprise to the extent at which Kari had gone to subvert his killing blow was made evidently clear on Taron’s face, his narrow eyes growing uncharacteristically wide as he clearly struggled to enact an unplanned “next move.”

In a swift maneuver, Kari pulled the blade from her shoulder and spun it, sliding it effortlessly into the side of Taron’s neck. He sputtered as the realization of what had just happened to him set in, and Kari felt his strength quickly begin to fade as he fell into her. She used this opportunity to spin him around so that he was now between her and the edge of the building.

Still holding the knife, she leaned into his ear with a whisper.

“This is all kinds of personal.”

She shoved the limp assailant away, causing him to stumble over the edge and careen off of the building.

Kari stepped forward to watch him fall, a stone cold expression cemented on his face, while Taron’s expression the most shocked she had ever seen it. Still, she thought she almost saw a smile snake its way up his cheeks before his face, or entire body for that matter, was no longer discernible…

She fell backwards, making sure to stay clear of the ledge. After everything that happened, she couldn’t very well-

At that moment Kari heard footsteps on the other side of the stairwell door.

“Aerin,” Kari muttered, trying to heave herself up. But as she pressed against the ground, she found that her strength had all but left her. Her body was covered in an uncountable number of cuts and gashes, and the blood loss was beginning to make her feel woozy.

There was no way she would be able to defend herself against one more attacker. Maybe, just maybe, she could plead with the girl’s humanity. Make her come to her senses. They had lost so much, maybe she would just give up on the job.

But after everything he had done to Aerin and her sister, forgiveness was likely no longer on the table.

Managing to sit herself upright, Kari turned herself to face the door. She clasped her teeth and squinted her eyes as she prepared to face the girl that would be her killer. If she was going to die, she didn’t want to do so cowering in fear.

She would face Aerin with whatever amount of strength there was left to muster.

Kari saw a glimpse of her family flash across her mind.

“I’ll be with you soon.”

As the footsteps stopped, Kari managed a smile and braced herself.

Then the door opened.

A squad of armed law enforcement officers breached the door, quickly securing the roof before Ett Palicosa and two doctors followed them out.

In disbelief Kari lost all repose, feeling her body crumple and her eyes swell with tears.

Ett ran to her side and lifted her limp body up, embracing her as the doctors quickly flocked to treat her wounds.

“It’s okay now, Kari, it’s okay now…”

Kari clung to the warming clothes of her friend, feeling her mind grow cloudy once again with thoughts of shock, regret, worry, and relief all mixed into one indescribable emotion.

“Dorun. We need to help Dorun,” she muttered.

Ett shushed her, “don’t talk now. We found him, he’s in critical condition but still alive. He lost a lot of blood, but they said there’s a chance he could pull through. Your mother and brother are alive too.”

Kari felt her vision fading as she teetered on the brink of consciousness.

“And my father?”

There was a pause before Ett squeezed Kari tight.

“I’m sorry…”

The wind whistled across the hospital’s cold, wet rooftop. Somber silence broken by the sound of bandages being unbound and torn, urgent footsteps taken by alert officers, and the distant cries of a lonely raven. These sounds were the last thing Kari remembered before losing consciousness while weeping into the shoulder of a friend.