Disclaimer: I don't own the anything….
Block
Strike
Swing
Slice!
I'm getting too old for this, thought Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan, the second lady knight of Tortall as she gritted her teeth as she yanked her glaive from another bandit and turned to face another. She irritably brushed her graying hair out of her eyes. She felt her horse shift in order to strike out at a man trying to unhorse her. Kel sighed inwardly, once again missing her first warhorse. While she knew he wouldn't live forever, the sting of his death would never completely disappear.
It had been years since that battle, where an enemy soldier had sliced Peachblossom's neck. Even a mortal wound wouldn't stop him from keeping Kel safe. He had trampled the soldier after the sword was pulled free. Kel had jumped down, assuming Peachblossom would fall. He didn't.
Instead, he had followed the lady knight as close as possible and fending off many of her attackers that rushed at her once her feet touched the ground. At the end of the battle, Kel, covered with blood, knelt beside her fierce warhorse. He had finally fallen after five arrows had hit him. Kel pulled each out as carefully as possible, trying to cause as little pain to the gelding that had saved her life countless of times. Even near death, the gelding was tough, barely making a sound. Kel had knelt next to him till he finally stopped breathing, stroking his neck the whole time and murmuring praises. Right before he passed into the Realms of the Dead, he firmly bit Kel's arm. She got his message as clear as if he had opened his mouth and spoke. Love you. Don't get yourself killed.
She didn't allow herself to cry at first, she would be brave and tough for her warhorse and friend. Once she got to her room, she didn't even bother to clean up from the battle, just sat in the middle of her room and wept. Everyone left her alone for the rest of the day, knowing what Peachblossom had meant to her.
Now, in the midst of yet another battle, the lady knight blinked back a few tears as she and her current warhorse, Amaya, charged forward. She knew it was bad to get distracted during battle, but it had been happening more and more lately.
Strike
Swipe
Block
Block
OUCH!
Blinding pain shot up her right side as she fell from her saddle. There were three arrows sticking out of her side. One hit her shoulder, one bellow the ribs, and the third deep in her thigh.
This is what I get for not taking time to put on my armor when in a hurry! she thought angrily as she tried to fight on the ground. Amaya panicked when her rider fell off and started rearing and hitting anyone who came close to her, whether it was friend or foe.
It was pure bad luck that not only was she the only knight, but also the only trained fighter in the area when the small town had been attacked. She didn't even have time to find out the name of the town, she just ran in to place and started fighting off bandits without a second thought. With her horse running off, she was outnumbered five to one, and two were on horses. Pure, stinking, bad luck! Kel fought furiously, now on the defensive, despite the arrows. Her vision was beginning to go spotted when she saw large shadow pass over her followed by a blood curling screech. She and the bandits simultaneously looked up in time to see a copper figure dive down at them. The lady knight jumped back just in time, while the two horsed bandits weren't so lucky. They were dead before they hit the ground, causing the other three bandits to hesitate. They looked at each other for a second. And ran away. However, the copper figure wasn't done just yet. It picked up one and dropped him in a nearby river, while Kel struck down another with her bow and arrow. The last one ran into the woods and the copper figure flew after it.
It came back out a few minutes later and landed right in front of Kel. Now she could see it was a griffin, despite her spotted vision. She frowned. It couldn't be. She reached out a hand slowly and stroked its beak. His beak, she reminded herself. Suddenly the griffin's beak snapped out and tried to bite her fingers. The lady knight smiled.
"You've grown." is all she said to her former charge. He was about the size of a horse, maybe a little bigger. After she blew her horn to get help, because she needed a healer for her wounds and didn't have the energy to pull out the arrows, she pulled out a piece of dried meat; she was starving. The griffin rose on his hind legs and tilted his head up, begging for food. Kel gave an exasperated sigh. "You've got to be kidding."
Ok, this is my first fic, so it's not perfect. I had originally meant this to simply be about the griffin, but Peachblossom wanted a bit of the spotlight too.