One of the bullets grazed his cheek, the others swept harmlessly through the room.

He seized from another table two of his remaining pistols and discharged them squarely into the face of the crowding mass at the other end of the room at point-blank range.
The sounds of the shots still echoed when he cried out: "The knife, Countess.

Cut the bonds of the prisoners.

We must fight here for our lives and your honor." The Countess Laure was quick to understand.
"You are safe now.

They have no more shots.