Chapter: 6 A Knight of Many Faces
"What is that thing?!" exclaimed Anna.
"I don't want to wait around to find out!" Tomas motioned her to cover behind a bookshelf as a line of Reginald's troopers came rushing in.
"Take aim!" ordered the commanding officer. "Fire!"
Musket muzzles flared and bullets tattered against the foe. While some ricocheted off of his armor, others struck his skin, causing black blood to spatter. As painful as this attack seemed to be, it proved ineffective. The inky enemy dismounted from his pegasus and readied his weapon. A hilt began to materialize into a horrendous tool. Tomas' eyes widened at the sight of the brutalizing mace. It was a steel ball coated in a crude layer of spikes. A bulky chain connected it to the handle. Only a superhuman could lift such a lethal weapon. He raised up the mace as the soldiers continued to shoot at him. With one, colossal swing, he smashed the infantry into a bloodied mess.
"Aiya," gasped Zi. "What's the plan?"
"We don't stand a chance against this thing. At least not unarmed." Tomas motioned the group closer. "Anna and Ben. You two get to the weapons cache outside. It's only a matter of seconds before this guy runs out of soldiers, so Zi and I will buy you some time."
Ben grimaced, "But how will you-"
"I'm working on it!" Tomas hollered back before diving behind a counter.
"My collection!" grieved Reginald. "Years of findings...ruined! How dare you, sir!" He removed a hidden flintlock and pointlessly fired it at the knight. The shot was just as ineffective as the other hundred, and the foe bashed Reginald with the mace.
The old man went tumbling against the doors of the main entrance. "No!" gasped Ben who knelt at his side.
"All that work...for nothing." coughed Reginald.
"We don't explore to collect," assured Ben. "We do so because we love it."
"I suppose," blood trickled from his mouth. He chuckled. "Safe travels, fellow explorer. Find Atlantis for me."
"Benjamin!" yelled Anna. "I need your help carrying these weapons!"
"I'm not sure what good any of it will do if bullets don't even hurt him!"
"Any luck with that distraction plan?" nudged Zi.
Tomas hummed in thought, "I don't have much to work with soooo." He emerged from cover and screamed, "That's a huge mace! You compensating?" The knight angrily swung the mace, smashing the counter in two. Zi glared at Tomas. "What, honey? It worked!" The mace smashed inches from Tomas' feet. "Run! Use anything in this archive!" Zi grabbed a norse axe and flung it at the knight. Meanwhile, Tomas' side had nothing but urns. He proceeded to toss them at the knight. "Take that! How's it taste? That was someone's body! Oh!" Tomas leapt away as the mace grazed the shelves behind him.
The knight diverted his attention to Zi, and swung the mace directly at her. She quickly grabbed an ancient broadshield from a display case. While it did block the strike, the mace was so powerful that it smashed the shield in two. Zi fell hard on the back of her head and she dizzily looked up at the manor's grand chandelier. "Tomas!" she shouted, using her eyes to indicate where she was headed.
Tomas winked before proceeding to distract the knight, and lure him directly under the chandelier. "Come on, big guy!" he taunted. "You haven't hit me once yet!" The knight struck the ground before him, and tiles flung up and struck Tomas in the arms. "That...doesn't count!"
"Tomas!" Benjamin tossed him his sword.
"Thanks!" Tomas grabbed the sword and readied himself. As the knight swung his mace again, Tomas wedged his sword within one of the chain links. When it retracted, it launched Tomas directly at the knight. Meanwhile Zi, continued to climb the tallest bookshelf. Tomas kicked the knight back and to the ground, knocking his helmet off in the process. The knight was certainly not human. His face was completely composed of black, leathery skin that ran all the way up his bald head. His amber eyes were as bulbous as those of a fish. The being had slits for nostrils and ears, all while displaying a permanent scowl. He stood up as Tomas uttered, "What...are you?"
The being did not answer. "I know what he is!" hollered Zi as she unlatched the chandelier. It plummeted directly over the knight, pulverizing him. "He's smashed."
Tomas rolled his eyes, only to cringe when he saw the chandelier begin to move. "We'd better run...Now! Jump!" Zi frontflipped downwards and into Tomas' arms. He set her down as the two bolted for the door.
"Did you get him?" asked Anna.
"Got him, yes. Killed him, no. Get to the ship!" Anna peered inside the manor, having only enough time to observe the chandelier before Zi pulled her away. The once brief excursion through the forest now seemed endless. Their hearts raced with the thought of their assailant closing in at any given moment. They doubled their pace when they heard the whinny of his pegasus. The group tumbled out of the forest and onto the beach, where merchants immediately ran for them again.
"You all need to hide!" warned Tomas. "You're going to die if-"
"No," joked a trader. "YOU'RE going to die if you don't check these prices! I have the finest goods in-"
CRASH!
The knight came barreling through on his pegasus and the group made for the ship. "Alek!" screamed Anna. "Elsa! Audrey! Anyone!"
Elsa was busy warning Alek of outbursts when she heard her sister. She gasped at the sight, "What in the world?"
"Battle stations!" exclaimed Tomas.
Alek then shouted, "Ready broadside cannons! Untie those sails and turn us around!" The Crusader began to drift outwards as Ben hopped onboard. As it sail further, Tomas had to throw Zi and Anna onto the deck.
"Jump, my love!" willed Zi. "You can make it!" Tomas backed up to gain some speed when the knight swung his mace against the dock. He lost his footing and fell into the shallow waters. "No!"
"Laaaad!" cried Ben.
"I'm not quitting on you!" yelled Zi. "Swim, dearest. Swim! You can make it!" Tomas swam as fast as he could, his energy sapped from the sprint. Zi proceeded to climb down from the side of the ship and offer her hand. "Almost there, Tomas!" He swam even faster while the choppy waves battered at his face. His long hair drooped over his eyes, and his exasperation prevented him from brushing it back. "That's it...Little closer. Take my hand!"
With one heavy stroke of his arm, Tomas grabbed hold of Zi, but the force made her lose her grip on the ship. "Gotcha!" yelled Alek before toppling over as well. Benjamin grabbed the captain by his legs and did his best to pull up all three people.
"I can't...hold you!" he grunted. "I'm slipping!"
"Not yet you're not!" Audrey switched spots with Benjamin and heaved with all of her might. Together, they managed to get everyone back on the deck.
"That was too close," panted Tomas, drenched with seawater. He opened his color to find Lucky safely inside.
"We're not out of this yet!" exclaimed Elsa. The queen was launching blasts of ice magic into the sky, attempting to strike the night.
"Shoot him down!" ordered Alek. He drew a flintlock and fired alongside the rest of the crew. The bullets were useless and the knight circled around for another flyby. It was then that one of the broadside cannons fired. The cannonball struck the knight right off of his mount, killing it and dismembering him on all sides. His blood blackened the sands and his pieces crashed on the mainland. "Who fired that cannon?" asked Alek. A young, Arendellian sailor raised his hand. "I'm buying you a drink!"
"What was that thing?" calmed Elsa.
"Sao Feng's employer," replied Tomas. "Well he was. Someone wants us all dead. There's one master behind all of this."
"How do you know?" asked Alek.
"I've heard his voice. Through the Raven's mask. Under the village ruins of China. Someone else is at work here."
"We can only trust that they will reveal themselves in time," said Audrey. "What did you find out about the medallion? Were the archives real?"
"They were," mourned Ben.
"The medallion has Grecian origins. The king and queen were searching for the 'true hero of Thebes'."
"Greece?" dreaded Alek. "We've a long journey ahead of us."
"Then we'd best get started," replied Tomas. "Set course."
The knight's dismembered arm twitched on the sand. The black blood around it began to solidify into a web-like material. It then inched itself towards the other body parts, and soon, the knight put himself back together. The creature then stood up and breathed once more. He turned, and marched back to port.
"Load up those crates of rum, men!" barked a curly-haired captain. He and his crew and just finished making port, and all was on schedule. The captain stepped onto the beach when the knight dragged him under the dock. He shrieked at the creature's face before it snapped his neck. The knight stepped forward and removed all of its armor, exposing his slender, leathery body. Within a matter of seconds, he began to shapeshift into the curly-haired captain until he looked like an exact replica. He then spoke in his voice, "Prepare to set sail!"
"But, we just made port?" quipped a bewildered sailor.
"Change of plans," smirked the so-called captain. "I have my heart set on a far more bountiful goal. Besides, that monster could still be out here. We'd best get as far away from it as possible."