I was contemplating that, getting ready to sleep, when I heard a creaking sound come from my doorway.
It took less than another second before the board that was nailed over the door split in half and my door flew wide open.
A tall, hooded figure dressed in all black was standing in my doorway. A wickedly curved knife was in their right hand.
My first thought was, “Why is there an assassin in my doorway?”
Quickly followed by, “Ohreshassassinquicklyduelingcane.”
I’d been warned to be prepared for threats, so I had my dueling cane within reach. I reached. I knocked it on the floor.
Welp, life over.
I’d like to say it’s been fun.
The figure took a second to look around the room before advancing. That bought me a precious moment to reach down and grab the fallen cane, flip it around, and fire two shots into the intruder’s chest.
No effect at all. The mana dispersed across the surface of the intruder’s tunic, shimmering as it spread. It wasn’t an effect I’d seen before, not a traditional barrier. A dueling tunic would have taken damage from the blast. This thing was more resilient.
The intruder lunged.
I rolled out of the bed, firing another blast — but not at the intruder.
This one hit the ceiling, pounding a hole through layers of wood into the room above. It wouldn’t have enough force to hurt anyone up there… I hoped… but it was sure to get their attention.
If anyone was up there.
My “evasive roll” turned out to be more of a “wrap myself in a bedsheet and fall on the floor” roll. It still served the purpose of getting me out of the way of the daggers for a second, but ultimately I was in a worse position afterward. In the second that it took to disentangle myself from the sheet, the intruder was above me, bringing a dagger down toward my shoulder.
The dagger glanced off a barrier, generated by the shield sigil pinned to my nightshirt.
Yeah, I slept with that on.
I punched the assassin in the face.
The intruder recoiled from the blow, giving me enough time to kick at their legs, but my angle was bad and the impact was minimal.
Another dagger strike came down, but this time I rolled right. The dagger splintered the floor, and I pushed myself to a crouch.
A kick hit me in the face.
The barrier soaked some of it, but I still fell backward, hitting my head against the nearest wall. That hurt, and my vision swam.
I ducked the next kick, which smashed a chunk out of the wall above where my head had been. Blearily, I noted that ordinary kicks shouldn’t have that amount of force.
I switched tactics, running my hand along the other rune on the hilt of my cane. A short blade popped out of the hilt, and when the next kick came in, I lashed at the offending leg. I missed, but the attacker retreated a step.
I stood up.
The intruder ducked, taking a lower stance, reversing their grip on the knife. It wasn’t a stance I was familiar with. To be fair, though, there weren’t any knife fighting stances I was familiar with. I’d never learned to knife fight.
Apparently, they had.
My odds were bad.
I yelled for help.
The intruder glanced toward the door, hissed, and then lunged forward, making a sweeping cut toward my face. I blocked it with my own blade, kicking afterward, but meeting only air.
The intruder stepped back, reaching into a pouch.
I flicked the other rune, feeling a sharp sensation of pain as mana surged through my hand, igniting the dueling cane’s blade.
The intruder threw something from the pouch — a potion — right at me.
I caught it with my off-hand and threw it back.
I could see their eyes widen even with their cowl in place. I smirked.
My smirk was short-lived.
The intruder vanished from where they had been standing, appearing right in front of me.
The potion hit the of my room near the door, but didn’t break like I’d expected.
Then there was a knife at my throat.
“Don’t move.”
The voice wasn’t coming from the intruder.
It was coming from Jin, standing in the doorway, with a revolver pointed at my assailant.
The invader laughed. “Not bad. I expected the rune I drew outside to block any shouting for help, but I didn’t expect you to shoot the ceiling.” A woman’s voice, and oddly familiar.
The knife pressed closer against my neck, then pulled away.
The intruder dropped the weapon.
Jin narrowed his eyes. “Slowly raise your hands. Do not speak again.”
The intruder complied, at least at first.
“Step away from the student.” Jin stepped closer as he spoke, continuing to keep the firearm leveled at the target.
The intruder complied, stepping away until she had her back against the opposite wall.
Jin put himself in between the invader and myself. I took the moment to grab my sword from the nearby table, drawing it from its sheath, and passed my dueling cane to my opposite hand.
“We will wait here until assistance arrives. Do not move.” Jin kept the revolver leveled at her chest.
“That won’t be necessary,” she replied. “Your demonstration was satisfactory. End illusion.”
The cowl and hood vanished.
We were looking at Professor Orden.
I groaned.
“You have got to be kidding me.” I stepped closer, brandishing my sword. “You were testing me?”
She nodded and smiled. “I did warn you to prepare.”
Jin didn’t take his eyes off her. “Corin, can you confirm that this was a test that Professor Orden warned you about in advance?”
“In a sense.” If you stretched the concept of “sense”, anyway. “She told me to protect my room against potential threats. She did not tell me that she planned to test them personally. And, since our friend here is clearly a Shadow or some other kind of illusionist, she could be anyone. ‘End illusion’ could be a key phrase to cast an illusion.”
“True,” the woman admitted. “How could I convince you that I am Professor Orden, then?”
My mouth twisted. “You couldn’t, under these circumstances. At all. I could ask you what I discussed privately with Professor Orden, but if you’re an assassin who is after me, you could have gathered that information through other means. You could have been watching, or you could have captured or killed the real Orden and taken information from her.”
“My, you’re a suspicious one. I like that. Perhaps a demonst—”
Jin fired the revolver.
The bullet hit right next to her head.
“No demonstrations.” Jin gestured with the revolver, while I closed to threatening range with my sword. “Out. I will not miss again.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You students are getting dangerously close to offending me.”
Jin tightened his jaw. “Good. You have already offended us.”
“Cadence,” she hissed, “I will expect to see you in the morning for a discussion.”
I waved with the flat of my sword, and she followed the gesture, backing out to the room. “I’ll plan to meet Professor Orden at her office. If you happen to be the one there, we’ll discuss how you can authenticate your identity.”
“I will be there.” She snapped her fingers and vanished in a jet of smoke.
“Huh.” I examined the smoke. “I thought that only theatrical villains did that.”
Jin reached down, picking up the fallen potion vial. “Evidently, that woman is a theatrical villain.”