Here's chapter fifty - one. I'm updating early because I'm going on a band trip to Boston for the next four days, so I won't be able to update on my normal day. Thank you caitlinkeitorin for reviewing last chapter!
Chapter Fifty - One: Moving On
Gillick rested his back against a tree, amber eyes glittering. A few feet away rested his sword, the weapon glittering in the moonlight. After the anger from the incident at the Dark Army fortress had faded, he'd remembered what had happened when he'd been battling Trevor, and what Senn had told him. 'The sword has power.' His eyes narrowed. "If what he said was true," he murmured aloud, "then it would explain why the runes glowed when I fought Trevor." His best guess as to why that had happened was it had responded to Trevor's awakening powers, though as to why it would respond to that, he wasn't sure.
He shook his head. "Well, even if it does have power, I don't have any idea what that power is." In fact, the only hint he'd ever been given that the sword even had power was when the runes suddenly started to glow. That didn't give him any hints as to what the weapon could actually do.
The fact that the weapon might have power, though, gave him hope that he hadn't felt in a long time. It might be enough power to combat the Keyblade, he thought. Fight it and counter all its powers, not just the ones of the normal sword. Then he reminded himself he'd sworn off fighting Keybladers. He brushed the thought away quickly. Well, it might get Senn off my back about using the Keyblade. Then again, Senn had known about the sword's abilities, and had still wanted him to accept the Keyblade. Gillick, however, knew that was something he could never do.
His amber eyes narrowed. Well, it's not like I know how to use its 'powers'. And there's no clear proof that it really has them. If it did, as Senn had said, then perhaps it was activated by extreme light, since it had responded to Trevor's eyes, and, he assumed, was the reason his own eyes had started burning.
He shook his head and re - sheathed his sword. Well, I'll leave it for another time. If the power's there, I have plenty of time to figure out how to use it.
A piercing cry rent the night. High above in the darkened sky, a figure spread its large, broken wings, its shadow blocking out the moon. It folded its wings and dropped, the glowing patch on its left arm the only piece of it that was cloaked in darkness. It let out another piercing screech as it let a fireball loose onto the land below, the light from it illuminating the figure. The Knight.
Below, on the ground, a small group of travelers looked up in horror after the fireball had flown. The Knight swooped down towards them, snapping its wings open and flapping them powerfully, creating and Aeroga spell that whipped the travelers around, sending them flying in assorted directions. The Knight's armored feet landed on the ground with a clank, its wings sliding into its back and armor plates falling over the holes they'd emerged from. It launched itself at the first human it came into contact with, the sharp tips of its armored hands ripping into her skin. She screeched as blood flew from the jagged wounds, but the Knight cut off her cry abruptly by breaking her neck. A strangled sob came from somewhere nearby, but no form made a move to go nearer to the monster.
Lightning flew down all around it, charring the ground and the limp body of the dead woman. The Knight shot forward, ice flying out in front of it with seemingly no target, the element killing the grass that it rocketed across.
The Knight spun around, its hidden eyes lighting upon a fallen human. The boy looked at it in horror, trying to scramble backwards. The creature didn't let him, lunging forward to grab him. It caught his leg and dragged him backwards, ignoring his screams of terror. It jerked hard on his leg, causing the boy to flying up, then scorched him with a blast of fire. The boy tumbled back to the ground, gravely injured, but still alive.
The Knight immediately drew him back to his feet, pummeling his small body into a bloody pulp.
The monster whipped around, snarling as it released random bursts of magic. The remaining travelers attempted to scramble away in terror, but few managed to escape its senseless wrath.
Eventually it stopped, and stood still amidst the chaos, its armored chest heaving slightly. Then there was the sound of grating metal as the plates on its back slid up and the black wings emerged. Then the Knight shot into the air, leaving behind a scene of senseless destruction.
"Alright, everyone, get up! We're moving out!"
Mala blinked open blurry eyes at Silver's snapped commands. She pushed herself up, stifling a yawn. Then she shook herself awake, grabbing her sheath if arrows and her bow and slinging them across her back. She slipped out of the tent and frowned as she looked up at the fabric structure; she wasn't entirely sure how to take it down. Slowly, she reach towards one of the polls and pulled at it. The entire structure shifted with the action.
"Need some help?" a voice asked.
Mala whipped around, startled, as she saw one of the Silver Fang warriors giving her an odd look. She gave a nervous nod, and the man stepped forward, reach for the fabric and instructing her on how to detach the cloth from the poles before gathering the supports from the ground. Mala continued to nod silently, feeling awkward, until the man left.
She had to give them credit; the Silver Fang packed up quickly and quietly. Silver surveyed her warriors after they'd gathered everything together. "Everybody ready?" she called out.
"Yes, ma'am!" the Silver Fang chorused.
"Everything packed?" she added, looking towards the back.
The large group of people who'd been put in charge of carrying supplies gave her a thumbs up and called out, "Yes, ma'am!"
Silver nodded. "Then let's move out."
Riun slipped up beside Mala as the Silver Fang began to move. "Hey, Mala. Where do you think we're going?"
Mala shrugged, unsure herself. "Away from Keybladers, I guess." The thought sent a pang through her, but she tried to push it aside. Keybladers aren't as good as they seem to be. No matter how many times she reminded herself of that, she wasn't sure she'd ever be completely convinced of it.
"But why?" Riun asked. "Aren't we…supposed to be fighting Keybladers?" From his tone of voice, Mala could tell he didn't like it, either.
She sighed, shoulders slumping. "I guess it's because of-" she cut herself off, remembering in time that most of the Silver Fang didn't know about the X - blade. "…because of the attack," she finished lamely, unsure of what else to say.
Riun frowned at her, looking confused for a few moments, then seemed to realize why she'd chosen something else to say and responded, "Yeah. I guess." Mala nodded, and she, the boy, and the rest of the Silver Fang continued on in silence.
It was about midday when the Silver Fang came to an abrupt halt. Mala suppressed a sigh of relief. A break. Finally. They'd been walking nonstop for most of the day, and Silver had seemed almost incline to let them continue.
Silver's shocked exclamation from up ahead, however, dashed her hopes. "What the hell happened here?"
Several of the Silver Fang surged forward at their leader's surprised remark, and Mala, curious and nervous, followed their lead with Riun beside her. She gasped at what she saw, feeling suddenly sick. She felt Riun latch onto her shirt, shaking, and knew without looking that his eyes would be wide.
What they saw before them on the edge of the trees was a large swatch of destruction. Large parts if the ground appeared to be either charred, frozen, or ripped up, destroying the landscape. And then there were the bodies. Bloody corpses, mutilated into figures that seemed barely recognizable as human. She swallowed back bile, growing pale. She recognized carnage like this; she'd seen it before.
She hated every time she had to see it.
"Y-you want to know what happened?"
Dozens of eyes were now trained on a lone man who came slowly out of the woods, rubbing his hands together and eyes darting around nervously, as if he expected something to jump out at him at any moment. Silver stepped forward, eyeing him carefully. "Yes; I'd like an answer to…this." She gestured towards the destroyed area, looking as if she weren't sure what to make of it.
The man swallowed. "It was…a monster. It swooped down on black wings; we were totally unprepared. It just attacked. We don't know why. It didn't even seem to have a target." He was blubbering by the end, tears streaming down his face.
"Control yourself!" Silver barked. "What was this monster? Could you tell?"
The man shook his head, sobbing. "I don't know. I don't know."
"M-Mala, was it…?" Riun trailed up at her, looking up at her with eyes that brimmed with tears.
Mala nodded, shaking. "Y-yeah. It was."
Silver apparently heard their exchange. She looked back at them, a quizzical expression on her face. "Well? Do you two know what did this?" Mala swallowed hard and gave a jerky nod. "It was…the Knight."
There were a few murmured comments from behind her, but not as much of an uproar as she thought there'd be. Silver narrowed green eyes in thought. "The Knight…I think I've heard of it. An angel of death, who appears at night to destroy." Silver turned curious eyes to her. "But why are you telling me a legend?"
"Be-because the legend's real, ma'am," Mala replied haltingly. "I've seen it before; it's done stuff like this." She looked out to the open field, wondering why she chose to afterwards.
Silver, however, seemed to take her looking away as a sign that she was lying. "You don't really expect me to believe this story, do you?"
"I've seen it, too!" Riun spoke up from beside her.
Both Silver and Mala turned surprised eyes to him. Silver frowned, but apparently decided it wasn't worth arguing over. "Well, whether it's true or not," she commented, "we have to keep moving. Silver Fang! Quit dawdling an move out!"
The Silver Fang slugged forward, a morose mood settling over them. Trying not to look at the carnage, Mala silently wondered who - or what - the Knight really was. She glanced up towards Silver. I know Gillick thought she was the Knight, she thought, but if she were, would she have acted like that. Or maybe it was just a trick. But she seemed so sincere… She sighed heavily. Things were so confusing.
Maybe it's not even a person, she decided silently. It doesn't even show any signs of being human. Could it just be an animated suit of armor, then? Or some strange form of magic? She had to admit that it held a vague resemblance to a Keyblader's armor. Then she shook her head. But what about the wings and eyes? That doesn't match any armor I know.
She gripped her head with one hand. She didn't know what to think anymore.
When the Silver Fang finally settled down, it was nightfall. "We'll have to stop here, for now," Silver grumbled. They'd stayed along the edge of the trees all day, and had moved into it to set up camp. Riun looked at the warriors moving around to set up camp, and slowly moved to go help them, feeling subdued. He still hadn't gotten over what he'd seen that afternoon.
Jish suddenly appeared beside him, making him jump. "Riun, we'll need to find a time to continue working on your magic," the cat man told him.
"While walking?" Riun asked, looking up at him. Much as he liked his odd new teacher, he'd rather stay close to Mala, who he knew better.
Jish shook his furry head. "Silver agreed to staying here for a few days while we scout the area. We'll have some free time to practice."
Riun nodded a quick affirmative. "Ok."
After the tents were set up, Silver's voice rang out across the Silver Fang. "Alright everyone, listen up!" The warriors grew quiet, milling around their leader with curious stares. "Now, I want you to push what you saw earlier today out of your mind; there is nothing you can do about it, and it had nothing to do with us." Everyone seemed to start talking at once after that statement, and Silver had to lift her voice to make herself heard again. "There is one more announcement I need to make!" The Silver Fang quieted again, and Silver continued, "Allia would like to officially become a member of the Silver Fang." There were a few murmurs as the assassin stepped forward, looking out over the crowd. "I have agreed to it, and she will start duties tomorrow. Dismissed."
The Silver Fang fanned out, but Riun kept his eyes locked on Allia. She may seem Ok now, but he would never get out of his head the day when she'd attacked them; the day he'd lit her on fire.
And that's the end of chapter fifty - one. Reviews would be great, please?
