After Sarah nods and crouches down, I jump straight up through the roof of the carriage. Once clear of the roof I bring my wings out and start flapping to gain altitude as I look around. I spot six crossbowmen on the roofs, three on each side of the street.

There are also twelve more men on the ground with swords, all of them are in black clothes with hoods covering their faces. Out of the four guards, three are still able to fight, the last one and the driver are both down. Trusting the three guards to hold off the ground assault I continue upwards towards the crossbowmen.

Ever since I was shot just after exiting the river I have had a hatred for crossbows. The building they are on is three stories tall, but luckily they are still reloading when I arrive. To save time I just grab them one by one and throw them to the street below.

The sounds of them landing are very satisfying, but the three on the opposite side have time to finish reloading. As I am getting ready to dodge they suddenly lean over and shoot down at the carriage. That doesn't make any sense, shouldn't they be targeting me?

No time to think about it now, with a few flaps I cross the street. The assassins, seeing that they don't have time to reload, drop their crossbows and draw daggers. I am not worried about the daggers at all, as I grab the first assassin and toss him.

Then I grab the other two but instead of just tossing them I turn and take a look. The beastmen guards are winning the fight on the ground, but they are still outnumbered. I take aim and use the two assassins as projectiles, throwing them at the ground fights.

The sudden impacts throw the assassins on the ground into chaos, giving the guards the upper hand. Seeing that they have things under control I land and move to the injured guard. Unfortunately, he is already dead when I check him, but the driver is just barely alive.

A single healing spell has him back at one hundred percent instantly. The guards finish off the last of the assassins so I heal them as well. Then I turn to tell Sarah it is safe but what I see makes me freeze in shock.

Sarah is lying in a pool of blood with two crossbow bolts sticking out of her. When I check I find no pulse, now I know why the assassins didn't fire at me. I was never the target of this attack, Sarah was!

"Seronia! I need a refill now!"

Seronia says "Okay, done!"

'I sure hope this works on a summoned!'

"Resurrection!!!"

DP: 0/2000

The spell forces the crossbow bolts out and heals the wounds, then with a cough Sarah starts breathing again. When she opens her eyes she looks around in a panic, then calms down. I pick her up off the floor and give her a hug before sitting her down.

"How do you feel?"

Sarah says "I met Krenocia! She told me not to cross the river because I wouldn't be staying! I was dead, wasn't I?"

"Yes, for a couple of minutes. The crossbowmen aimed at you even with me flying at them. This entire attack was aimed at you. Have you made any enemies I'm not aware of?"

Sarah says "No, not that I can think of!"

Guard says "Orders, sir?"

"One of you will stay here with me, the other two will escort Sarah and our fallen brother back to the inn."

Guard says "Yes, sir!"

"Once you reach the inn, send teams to guard Pol and search the entire city for any more assassins!"

Guard says "Understood!"

Sarah says "Wait, what about the party?"

"I will go, but you should get some rest."

Sarah says "No, I am not going to let them scare me into hiding!"

"Then what do you want to do?"

Sarah says "Well, my dress is ruined, so I need to go get changed. But I will join you at the party!"

"Alright, I will see you there."

Then I turn to the guards going with her and tell them that when she leaves the inn she gets a full unit. They both nod and reassure me that they will keep her safe, no matter what it takes. Once they are gone I send the last guard to the mercenary guild to fetch a guard captain.

"Seronia, thank you for your help. Krenocia, thank you for watching over Sarah."

They don't answer directly, but I can feel their acknowledgment and my divine power recharges. They probably sense how focused I am and don't want to distract me, or they are just watching. When my guard returns there are a large number of city guards following him.

Guard Captain says "Lord Ash! What happened here? Who are these men?"

"Captain, they are assassins who attempted to murder me. I lost one of my guards fighting them off. As to who they are, I want you to find out!"

Guard Captain says "Yes, sir!"

"Also, this is a fairly busy street isn't it? There should have been guards patrolling?"

Guard Captain says "Yes, there are four patrols assigned to this street."

"Find them for me. If they are still alive, take them in for questioning!"

Guard Captain says "At once!" with a nervous look on his face."

"Guard, stay here and help them track where these men came from."

Guard says "Yes, My King!"

Once the city guard is moving I launch into the air and fly over to the party venue. When I land, I leave my wings out and folded behind me as I walk in. The herald asks to announce me but I tell him no and walk right past him.

Pushing the doors open I stop at the top of the stairs and look around. There are less nobles than I was expecting, but other than that everything looks normal. I spot the guildmasters all gathered in a corner, so I walk down the stairs and head towards them.

As I approach I see everyone but Gregor raise a hand, looks like they voted. With the attack I had pretty much forgotten about the vote to change the penalty. Looks like Sarah got to everyone but Gregor, which was as expected.

Ambrose says "Ash! About time you showed up! We just voted, the laws now carry the death penalty, just as you wanted."

"That's good news, but I need to talk to you, Roddick, and Borrik."

Ambrose waits till the others move away then says "What's up?"

"On the way here we were attacked by assassins. Sarah and one of my guards were killed, but I managed to resurrect Sarah."

Ambrose says "Assassins, in my city?!"

Borrik says "What happened to them?"

"They all died. With no help from the city guard."

Borrik says "Are you saying my people were involved?"

"Either they were bribed to stay away, or they were killed."

Borrik says "You will have to excuse me, I am going to take over the investigation!"

Borrik quickly leaves and I tell the details of the attack to Ambrose and Roddick. To my surprise, once I am done telling them about the attack Ambrose insists on continuing the ceremony. Since that is what Sarah wants I don't argue with him and just go through with it.