-Chapter 2-
Fortune's Fool
Kyo had made up good ground since his departure. He now scaled the highest mountain to get a good view of what lay ahead of him. Many leagues before him, he saw the fork of the river and noticed movement near the water's edge.
"There they are." He looked up into the sky above them and noticed a dark figure, no, figures, circling above them. "Too big to be birds of prey…. Perhaps, a dragon ally? This will be an interesting encounter." He jumped down from the ledge he was on and continued to follow the path.
*-.e*
"Ah, yes, this ought to be fine." Kyo was now at the foot of the mountains and could see the rebels quite nicely without them noticing him. "Hm, the typical rebels. They think that they can get past us using only ranged weapons. Not a single melee weapon. They won't ever learn." Kyo scoffed, but then he saw a flash of silver. "What's this?" He squinted his eyes and saw 2 figures, a boy and a girl, sparring. You never saw a female swordsman in these parts. "Swords, eh? That's a first in a long time."
Then a bird-like shriek was heard in the skies above him, and they all looked up. "A phoenix?!" Indeed it was. Covered in colorful plumage and a long tail of gold and scarlet. With that outburst, the rebels noticed Kyo in his knight's armor and thought that he was just a scout. It was the girl that shouted the orders.
"Everyone take your positions, the king's men have arrived!" Everyone moved into their assigned positions. The phoenix flew back and hovered high above the small group of six, next to the phoenix hovered the dragon. Mounted on it, was the dragon's rider. Kyo chuckled and took several steps forward and got a good view of the party, aside from the dragon rider, phoenix and the girl, there were three others. One of them gasped as he saw Kyo. It was the boy that was sparring earlier, positioned slightly to the right of the swords girl. He had the appearance of a squire, knight-in-training, or apprentice.
"That's…. the King's most noble knight!"
The one on the left side was a mage covered from head to toe in his robes, and as soon as he realized the truth as well, he began to chant something that sounded like a curse. The being on the far right of the swords girl was an archer. Of course, his bow was taut and ready to fire three arrows. It was then when Kyo spoke up through his visor.
"Insolent rebels! Enemies of my King! Surrender yourselves and I shall spare your lives so that you may pay your respects to my King!" He heard the dragon snarl above him, but Kyo didn't even flinch one bit.
"We shall never pay respect to that damned king of yours! Now bring out the rest of the knights!" The girl shouted back.
"There is no other here than I, Knave! May I have your name, warrior? "
"My name is Maiya Tsumi. And you will not have the pleasure of killing me OR my friends."
"Very well, Maiya. Brace yourself, for I challenge you and only you to a duel!" Kyo unsheathed one of his swords and pointed it at her.
"I accept your challenge. Prepare yourself!" Maiya also removed her sword from it sheath and pointed it back.