Chapter 1: Belly of The Beast
"Why do we have to go after the Snarbolax? I thought only certain knights could take it on..." the knight groaned as he walked off the elevator, heading towards the forge station infront of him.
"Because Marcus, Squire's are allowed to take it on, we're so close to being promoted. We need to prove to the other knights that we can do this!" the female knight stood by the gate leading to the beast, tapping her foot impatiently. "Will You get a move on? You've been at the forge for the past 10 minutes" she folded her arms, starting to fidget.
"Hold your horses Cassandra I'm comin. Just wanted to make my gear a little stronger" Marcus replied, quickly running to the gate to avoid Cassandra biting his head off. "You nervous?" Marcus asked, pulling his viser down over his eyes. "No! Why would I be nervous?! I was the one that passed the exam without a single mistake unlike You" Cassandra replied hottly, trying to hide the quiver in her voice. He laughed loudly "I only failed it the first time because I tripped over my coat, You know those striker coats never suited me" Marcus walked wearily, scanning the clearing in the forest for signs of the monster "Where is this thing anyway? Should've attacked us by now..."
"It's probably getting ready to jump us when our guard is down" Cassandra walked behind him, keeping her gun ready to in case of a brawl. They walked in silence, slowly searching for any sign of the beast they were hunting. Marcus stopped abruptly, running his hand over a footprint. "It's this way, should be close now."
After thirty minutes of fighting off the standard creatures that they encountered more than once, the duo stopped in their tracks, observing the massive black and spikey red creature huddled before them. Marcus signaled Cassandra to get into position to cover him as he slowly advanced.
The beast growled lowly, having felt the footsteps of the duo behind it. It quickly jumped to it's feet, raising onto it's hindlegs letting out a roar. Marcus could feel his legs tremble beneath him, his nerves getting the better of him. He had just managed to raise his shield in time to block the flurry of spikes flying towards him. He dashed forward trying to get behind the monster but he was too slow. The beast charged forward grabbing Marcus's shield, fiercely thrashing it about. Cassandra ran towards them, shooting in the beasts direction but to no avail. "Why isn't this working?!" she fired everything she could into the beast but it just shrugged it off. It turned, dropping Marcus's shield and dashed towards her. Marcus barely scrambled to his feet when he saw the beast pounce, mere feet away from Cassandra who, frozen with terror, stood there just watching it close the distance. "No!" he shouted, dashing as fast as he could to try and get infront of it but he was too slow.
Cassandra turned away, crying out in fear. She dropped to her knees, holding head between her hands waiting for her demise. But it never came.
She heard a loud thump, like something hitting a heady block of metal. She looked up, expecting to see the beast infront of her but there was no beast.
There was a Knight standing before her. He was decked out in a black iron wolf coat and Iron wolf Helm. The knight had his Heavy Plate shield infront of him, the monster lashing out from behind it. His stance shifted slightly, the beast's sheer force pushing him slowly back "Oi, Boy, hurry up and move Your female friend before it breaks my shield". Marcus quickly ran to Cassandra, grabbing her by the scruff of her armour, quickly moving away from the beast. The knight's stance shifted again as he dashed to the beasts side, quickly banging his shield and sword together. The beast cringed backing away, crying out in pain at the sound. The knight lunged, stabbing the beast in it's side with his Fierce Flamberge.
The beast roared trying to grab the sword with it's jaws, furiously lashing out with it's tail. The knight jumped back, raising his shield to protect himself from the furious blows of the monster. As the beast reared onto it's hind leggs to crash down on it's prey, the knight took advantage and bashed his shield into it's chest sending it sprawled on it's back.
He quickly lunged, sinking his blade up into the beast skull, killing it. After freeing his blade from the monsters skull, the knight knelt by the monster, closed the beasts eyes then pulled a few teeth free from it's gaping jaw.
Marcus and Cassandra were hudled behind a rock for cover, staring at the knight before them. "That. Was. Fuckin. EPIC!" Marcus vaulted over the rock dashing to the knight with a look of awe on his face. "That was amazing dude! When we tried to fight the thing we couldn't even harm the damned thing. How did You know that bashing your sword and shield together would work? Where did you get your armour? How did You know we needed a hand without us sending a distress call?" he was almost about to explode with question when Cassandra came and shoved his soulder roughly, shutting him up. "The knight doesn't need You questioning him so much after that fight" she turned towards the armored mistery "Thank you sir, You saved both our lives".
The knight nodded silently, sheating his sword and fastening his heavy shield to his back."Collect your prize as proof of your victory and let's head back to haven. This part of the clockwork is quite unforgiving when it comes to Squires" he walked towards the gate further up ahead, turning towards the duo.
The two quickly pulled some teeth free from the beasts jaw and scurried to the gate. Cassandra looked up at the towering black figure as the elevator took them back to haven. "Can we know the name of our saviour at least?".
The knight clenched his fist, resting it across his heart "Name's Shadow W. Nightcrow, last of the Iron Wolves"