HAPPY BIRTHDAY Lady Knight Adventures, you are now one years old.
Aah! Okay, intense little chapter, more battle in the next one, the last battle one, and then maybe an epilogue. There is no way I could end with this one.
And of course, thank you to Tamora Pierce Junior, my beta, whom has finally come back from vacation. Thank you for your dedication, support and continous encouragement. And, of course, for editing.
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War was a cruel thing, people were hurt, and maybe my men would learn that lesson today. Second Company was a good company, they had hard workers and great fighters, and they certainly didn't lack experience. But they hadn't realized the dangers of this mission, of this battle.
And it was about time they did.
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"Men! The day is upon us! And we will not let immortals and whatever bastard, my apologies Daine," Milord said bashfully, she waved him off with a smile. "And whatever evil son of a Stormwing leads them, hurt our families or our friends. Are you with me?" Third Company's fierce roar raised in a deep bellow echoing off the trees. We were not worried about the enemy knowing where we were, they already knew, we were riding out to meet them now.
"Then let us ride!" Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak was a kind, gentle man. He was commander of all the King's Own, and he was as nice as he was good. The King's Own had never been this good, ever. But he was not known as The Giantkiller for nothing. As he wheeled his massive beast of a horse around, he was a hero, a fearsome warrior with nothing to hold him down. We had ridden with him for a long time, and it was clear to all of Third Company that this was personal for him, it was personal for us too.
Kel. I couldn't help but fret over her, where was she? Was she already engaged with the enemy? Was she alright? I was so proud of her, commander of Second, she had her own troops. She had worked her whole life for an opportunity like that.
She was living her dream.
"Dom, are you still with us?" I snapped my head towards Wolset who grinned wolfishly.
"Or are you thinking about how good a certain Lady Knight looks when she rides off to battle. Her shirt tight against her--" I lunged from my saddle, Wolset wheeled his horse away, laughing.
"Boys, behave. Wolset, don't let me hear you again."
"Yes sir," Wolset said grinning "I won't let you hear." He whispered, eyes twinkling with mirth. I grunted, but turned my horse back towards the awaiting line of soldiers.
"Alright men, this is it." Raoul whispered, the horses were beginning to get skittish with their rider's anticipation. Now, all we had to do was wait.
An echoing hiss came from the darkness of the trees before us and suddenly creatures sprang from the canopies screeching their battle cries. We hadn't anticipated an attack from the sky and our pikes were useless. Hundreds of scaled flying monsters flew towards us, we raised our shields above our heads. I forced myself not to flinch as I heard choking screams of men whom hadn't raised theirs fast enough.
I braced myself for impact and was not disappointed, within moments something pelted onto my shield. It slid off with a dying wail. They weren't too bright, but they most definitely out numbered us. A loud, animal roar came from the forest. This time land immortals made their way towards us.
Centaur arrows, griffin-fletched, started to rain on our heads. We couldn't cover our heads and fight off the advancing immortals at the same time.
"Archers, get rid of the centaurs, pick them and shoot!" Raoul's voice boomed as he rode out to engage a minotaur. The beast wielded an enormous two-handed axe and held it as if it was naught but a feather. I tore my eyes away, Raoul had killed giants before. The archers were true to their shots, and less of the enemy's arrows were hitting their targets, where was Kel's group? Had something happened to them? There were too many immortals, more than Daine's spies had told us there would be.
I beheaded one of the flying lizards as it dove at me, I saw Wolset run one through beside me. "Archers, cover us, front lines, with me!" I held my bloodied sword out as I charged a killer unicorn. I cut at it, it thrust my sword aside, my horse veered off, saving me from the wickedly sharp horn. I chopped sideways and cut most of the horn off. Enraged, it spun, kicking out with its strong legs. This reminded me of Kel. Kel. I shook my head to clear it of her face as I fended off the unicorn again. I slashed at its side, Aidan chopped at its neck, leaving a large gash. It turned towards him, caught between our horses and I slammed my sword with as much power as I could muster into the gash. Silver blood spurted and Aidan and I parted, the thanks for his help could be given later.
I brought my horn to my lips and blew two long blasts, calling for help. No horn calls answered. I blew again but had to duck from being impaled on a centaur's cutlass.
Where was Second? We were going to be slaughtered! I kept blowing the horn, they had better get here soon...or they won't find much of us left...
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Elsewhere, down south
"Wyldon, we've got company." Kel called out, lowering her spyglass. "Immortals, approaching fast."
"How many?" He asked quietly, she shook her head,
"Not enough to stop us, but plenty enough to slow us down."
"They're trying to stop us from getting to Third," Neal said, quiet compared to his usual boisterous self.
"I will kill whomever is commanding these troops," Kel threatened, cursing.
"They are steadily approaching the river, it's a tight pass, we can rush them. Their entire force can't pass through all at once." Fenan commented looking through his own spyglass.
"Warn your men, we will ride to meet them. We have the advantage, we will use it." Kel said, voice even, though not enough to mask her fury. Neal touched her shoulder, she shook him off. Wyldon settled on giving her a look, then shrugged it off and rode towards his own men. 'They will pray they never tried to stop us from going to our comrades' aid." Kel remarked, "Mark my words."
"So mote it be," Neal whispered, he knew better than to try to talk to her, not that there was much reason to. Third Company was as much his family as hers. Lord Raoul as good as a second father and Dom-- bah, he had no idea what to think of his blue-eyed cousin.
"We have kept this realm for 463 years, we are not about to lose it to creatures from the pits of Chaos. We will not let them kill our friends and comrades, we will not let them hinder us from going to their aid." Horn calls from Third Company were faint in the distance, but where as plain a cry for help as they could give. Third Company didn't call for no reason. "We will not let them take us, we will not let them win. This is our era, the era of man, and woman, the era of humans, and we shall keep it so for many more years. We will not bow down." Kel's voice was steely, eyes flashing, words pouring honey on her soldiers who roared their agreement.
"For Tortall!" She cried, setting her horse in a gallop, after not a second of hesitation, Wyldon's and Neal's horses flanked hers. Second Company behind them. No creature would take their friends from them. Not today. Not in this lifetime.
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Somewhere to the west
Alanna's pounding headache had been steadily getting worse throughout the day. It was a magical headache, and that could not mean anything good. Not to mention First Company was antsy, not staying still. She took to the refuge of her tent, trying to drown out the noise, the whispers, the movement, the bright colours. Now why on Earth where the Own's colours so vivid? Honestly, royal blue?
"Alanna!" Harailt of Aili swept into her tent, the only in her charge that could charge into her tent without suffering painful reactions. She sat up with a slight yelp, her head was being hammered.
"Third Company calls for aid!"
"What?" she gasped, standing and almost toppling over, glad it was only them in the tent.
"We can hear them in the distance, they are losing, Second is silent as far as horns go."
"It is too early, this cannot be happening." She muttered, clipping her sword belt on and fastening the leather straps.
"Should we go to their aid?" Theodore Longling asked, as they emerged. He was one of her sergeants, though one of the most brilliant he was also the freshest, he had never seen battle, and that would hinder him greatly. Alanna sighed, shaking her head.
"No, we shall do what we planned to do," The men had gathered around to listen.
"But we cannot let them die, they are our fellow soldiers--"
"Second is there to go to their aid, we cannot allow ourselves to go as well," Roald of Conte answered quietly, Alanna was glad he would deal with it. Nobody more than she had been surprised when Jonathan had let him come. It had been however, the first time she had ever heard Roald raise his voice to anyone, especially his father.
"They are our friends--" another man protested, Alanna sighed, her little patience worn thin from her headache.
"The Giantkiller can look after himself, doubtless Third can too. Second is there for them, we cannot follow them because our own mission is more important. We have to stop this, before we lose more than just soldiers." Dermind of Josu's Dirk said. He was a good fighter, for all he believed his men inferior. His last comment 'more than just soldiers' had the men bristling in anger.
"We will take the man responsible for this, we will make him pay for the lives that were lost, for the blood that was shed, but to make him pay, we must stay true to our orders, stay true to our plan, and act the way an army is supposed to." Roald said, tone even, bland, everybody knew his two closest, dearest friends were in Second; Mindelan and Queenscove. Only Alanna seemed to notice the slight glare he sent towards Dermind.
"Lioness!" One of the scouts ran in the middle of the clearing, whatever he had to say was irrelevant at the moment though because at the same precise time, Alanna and Harailt had raised their hands towards the east, palms up and blazing, pointed towards an object in the air. They muttered a fast spell and their Gifts shot from their palms to hit the ball of Blazebalm, making it explode in the air, and showering on the men who screamed in pain as they were burned by falling droplets.
"Catapults." Cursed Roald of Conté, future king and heir to the Tortallan throne, before running off, yelling orders.
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Somewhere to the East
"Oh curse it!" Commander Buriam Tourakom yelled in frustration. She was no longer commander of the riders, but had been given temporary charge of them, the actual commander, now her second, Evin Larse, had given her the temporary post without argument. Now he looked at her, lips pursed. Of course she was angry, Third Company's distressed calls from the North-West had been calling for a few minutes now and her husband was with them. Evin, however, was more worried about the powerful black robe mage that stood beside him. He was looking positively murderous, his wife was with Third. Nobody liked standing next to any angry mage, let alone Numair Salmalin.
The air about him crackled, like little dancing sparks, little black dancing sparks.
"Numair, calm down." Onua Chamtong said. She hadn't wanted to come, but she was here, just as sick and worried about Daine as he was. "She will be alright, she always is." The sparks disappeared, the look on his face didn't. "The horses are already on edge," he 'hmphed' but his attention was now elsewhere. Onua drew breath to speak again but he held a hand up to silence her.
"Does anybody else hear that?" He said, everybody around him immediately fell silent. The only sound were the horn alls from the north.
"What?" Evin asked, when nobody spoke and nothing happened. Numair waved a hand in silence, and then they heard it. As if the ground was shaking, and then quenching and then...stillness.
"Numair--are those what I think they are?" Buri was looking out through her spyglass, her hand trembled slightly. He took it from her and looked, going deathly white.
"Skinners!" He yelled, nobody moved, paralyzed. He grabbed Evin's tunic.
"Round up your men and keep them back, they will die if they fight." He let them go and sprouted black magic from every corner of his being. Evin and the others scrambled back.
"Dear Horse Lords, Alanna, put a stop to this." Onua whispered in prayer, knowing prayer was not going to help them. The gods had left this up to the mortals this time.
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A little intense, the next will be worse, and with the capture of quote "that son a Stormwing who controls them".
Hope you liked it.
Review!
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Keep Reading,
xxTunstall Chickxx
9/06/09
P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!