Hope you enjoyed the third Chapter.
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Chapter 4- Just a Coincidence.
The small village of Oakenstrand was normally quiet during the evening. The houses usually had lights flickering on the inside but nothing on the outside. The people had typically resigned to their homes and were winding down after a hard days graft.
This evening, however, was different. The people of Oakenstrand were rushing around in a panic. Mothers were scooping up their children and ushering them indoors ignoring their loud protests. The fathers were making sure that everything was safe and tightly locked up before hastening into their homes to join their families.
Arthur, Merlin and two other knights of Camelot were astride their horses and trotting through the village. Arthur looked to Merlin who shared his quizzical look. The people bared no mind to the sight of four strange men on horses, three of them armoured, galloping through.
Arthur dismounted his white horse and tried to get someones attention so he could ask what was going on. They were all ignoring him. They were all focusing on themselves. As one man ran past Arthur grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks.
"What is going on?" asked Arthur, his voice firm.
"Night is coming, we need to hide." The man was trembling with fear and tried to fight his way out of Arthur's grip. He had beads of sweat dripping from his forehead and his eyes were darting around looking for any strange movement.
"Why? What's coming?"
The man looked at Arthur like he was the dumbest man in all of Albion. His eyes finally locked onto Arthur's. Merlin had to stifle a laugh as now wasn't the time.
"The beast attacked the nearest village last night. We are next. We need to hide." The cowardly man managed to pull his weedy little arm out of Arthur's grip. He sprinted to his home and slammed the door shut behind him blowing out any lights that were lit.
Arthur looked to Merlin with his eyebrows raised.
"Well we found it." said Merlin nonchalantly.
They could hear a woman shouting in the distance. Her angry voice echoed through the village. Even though everyone was panicking they could clearly hear her voice. Arthur, Merlin and the two knights speedily headed to the sound of the commotion pulling their horses behind them.
As they rounded the corner they saw a auburn haired girl hastily following one of the few village guards. It looked like she was trying to get him to do something.
"You need to fend that thing off!"
"No we need to hide. That thing will tear us to shreds."
"People will die if you don't fight."
The guardturned to face her.
"What do you know? Go find a hole to hide in little girl before you bring death to us all!" he snapped before rushing to his own hiding place.
"Fine! I'll deal with it then dollophead!" she threw her hands in the air in exasperation as the guard left.
The girl began to kick the dirt in anger before her eyes met Arthur's. Her eyes grew wide as she took in Arthur's features, his blonde hair and his magnificent blue eyes. After a brief moment she rushed off heading towards the forest.
"Hey wait!" Arthur ran after her but to no avail. He lost her in the fearful crowd of people still hastening to their homes.
Merlin jogged up behind him and stood at his side with smug grin on his face.
"That's two girls that have beat you." sneered Merlin.
"The same one twice. And she didn't beat me!" growled Arthur.
Before night had fallen Arthur had sent one of his knights to gather some more. With the increased number Arthur thought they could defend the entire village should the village be attacked as they feared. Now that night had fallen there were now five knights in total excluding Arthur. Arthur had stationed them throughout the village. If the beast showed up one of them would see it and be able to alert the others.
Arthur was hiding behind a ramshackle fence within a small stable with Merlin, who was complaining about the heat and the lack of it.
"I really need to get a thicker jacket." he moaned to himself as a shiver went up his spine.
"Merlin for the love of god be quiet," whispered Arthur, turning to face Merlin, "With you're mouth the beast will definitely find us."
Merlin stuck out his tongue at Arthur as he turned away again but remained quiet. He only whined inside his head and now not only about the temperature.
"Thank you."
They were sat there for a quite a while before anything happened. All they could hear was the sound of the slight breeze that blew through in between the houses. The villagers made no sound from inside their homes.
At around 12 o'clock a bone chilling roar echoed through the little village. Arthur's eyes immediately began to scan the area looking out for the mysterious beast. Other than the roar from earlier there wasn't any other sound of the animal which left an uneasy feeling in his stomach.
Arthur decided that he had done enough waiting. He stealthily crept out of the stables and glanced up and down the streets. Merlin tip toed behind him.
"Merlin get back." ordered Arthur edging back into the gate to the stables.
The beast had entered the village. It's silvery tipped fur glistened in the moonlight as did it's white maine. It's claws were huge and already covered in blood. As it barged it's way through the village, knocking over boxes and fences, it barred it's long yellow fangs.
Arthur's heart began to beat twice as fast at the sight of the monster. The hunter side of him began to emerge. He silently inched his way back out into the streets, keeping the creature in his well trained sights.
Another noise rang though out the village. This time it was a whistle but not that of the wind through the trees. It was a person whistling, more specifically a woman.
"Oi! I've come back for more!" She shouted.
Arthur couldn't believe his eyes. It was the girl from earlier apart from this time she wasn't wearing a cloak. She was wearing deep brown trousers and boots and a sage coloured tunic. Around her waist was her leather belt with a long sword tucked into it's sheath. Her right arm and left leg were encased in a sturdy steel armour.
The beast had taken her bait. With a deep growl it charged at the girl. She just smiled and ran for the forrest again.
Cursing, Arthur sprinted after her with Merlin hot on his heels. As they ran Arthur called two of the knights to go with them and the rest to stay put. They dashed through the overgrown bushes, listening intently for the sound of the beast. Every so often they would catch a glimpse of it's pearly fur darting behind a tree or jumping over a huge log.
They followed it into a large opening in the middle of the forest. To say they were tired would be an understatement. Even Arthur, the greatest knight in Camelot, was out of breath.
Somehow the creature hadn't noticed them and it had huge fluffy ears that twitched at any sound. Arthur saw this as an opening. He silently ordered the two knights to go each side as he took he middle. He had hoped that he would have been able to flank it, killing it as they all thrusted in unison.
That wasn't the case.
The monster spun whipping it's tail round. It caught one of the knights in the stomach. It span with such force that he was thrown into large redwood. His neck snapped on impact with a shuddering crunch. Merlin rushed to his side to see if he survived but his hopes were dashed as he could feel no pulse.
Arthur raised his sword as did the other knight. The beast began edging forward towards Arthur. He figured that the beast wouldn't be too friendly up close so he swung his sword in hopes of making it back of even if it was only a little.
The creature lent back on it hind legs preparing for something. With Arthur being an experienced hunter he knew it was preparing to pounce and that is when he would strike. He wasn't wrong either. It did pounce at him but the other knight pushed him out of harms way swinging his sword in the process. The beast was too fast for him and he was sliced down. The monster started slicing at the knight and his screams filled the air.
"NOOO!" bellowed Arthur, anger flowing through him.
Arthur ran forward raising his sword. The beast jumped backwards dragging the knights body with it a little way.
They had a stare down. The monster was unleashing a deep low growl as it showed it's jagged yellow teeth. Anger was bubbling inside him. Both began charging at each other. The beast pounced again but Arthur rolled out of the way. It began to spin furiously around annoyed that it missed it's target.
As the beast ran at him again, it's heavy paws thundering along the ground, red feathered arrows descended from the tree tops. The arrows ricocheted off of the monster's armour that defended it's back. Some of the arrows had landed in between the creature and Arthur.
A young women lightly hopped down from the canopy and landed at the other side of the beast. She pulled out her long sword as she threw off her cloak. Her auburn hair was loosely plaited to keep it out of her way. By the look on her face it was obvious that she annoyed. Her brows were furrowed and her grip on her sword was tight.
She and Arthur began to circle the beast waiting for the right moment to land the final blow. The beast had another idea. It galloped away and tilted it's head towards the sky. Unsure of what the creature was going to do both Arthur and the girl charged at the monster with their weapons ready.
The beast unleashed a mighty reverberating roar that vibrated the very ground beneath them. Arthur, Merlin and the girl quickly pressed their hands to their ears. The roar made them feel like they had been spun around fifty times.
Whilst they were stunned the beast took its chance and fled into the night. Once they had regained themselves Arthur stood straight and marched over to the girl.
"What are you doing?! We could have had that if you hadn't got involved." snapped Arthur.
The girl looked up slowly her brows furrowed even more than they had before.
"Really? You're knights are dead," she spoke in a cold, quiet, venomous tone. That silk tone she used two days prior was now gone, "I already had traps laid out but no the magnificent Prince Arthur had to come stick that big pompous nose in and attempt to stoke his already heavily inflated ego."
Arthur was taken back. Merlin decided to stay quiet. Both Arthur and the girl were running high on emotions and adrenaline and the young warlock didn't want to get caught in the middle. Arthur had lost two of his knights and the girl had failed to kill the beast that plagued her home.
"I am trained and experienced while you are just a stupid little girl who wants her moment of glory!" bellowed Arthur.
The girl sheathed her sword, her eyes growing wide and flaring with anger as she did.
"I was trained by my father who was the strongest knight in all of Zewen. Now go back to your father before I mess your pretty little hair up."
With Arthur silenced and Merlin hiding a small grin, the girl turned and jogged back into the village.