Allie stood just inside the door of the interrogation room as Lord Beyon laid into the man who had helped to assault Walter and was attempting to kidnap him. She'd taken a moment upon entering the room when she smelled the scent of peaches and she walked around him sniffing. "Why do you smell of peaches?" She demanded before Lord Beyon started.
The man sighed. "A cook had burnt the crust of a peach cobbler and when it was thrown out it landed on my back. We didn't have time to get rid of the smell."
Allie shook her head even as she wanted to laugh out loud. Slowly she stepped back and waited.
Lord Beyon had started in on him. "Lady Paige and her husband helped to end the assault of the thieves' guild so why did you do this?"
"My Lord, understand this wasn't about you and it wasn't at the behest of the thieves' guild. Steph of the Black Rose was furious at the actions of the first Lieutenant and Ray. Not to mention Walter himself when he attacked and nearly killed her." The man told him.
"So she over looked her own involvement of poisoning the Lady Paige's son in an effort to get the poison transferred to the Lady so it would kill her. Not to mention she knew the plan of this Tim character to bomb a historic hotel and kill the Lady Paige and her family? And the Fates only know how many others who could have been caught up in it?" Lord Beyon demanded.
The man shook his head. "I am sorry my Lord, I have no information concerning what Tim had done, at least none that was from any reliable source. I was just one of three people who answered to a contract that had been put out on Walter the Bard."
Lord Beyon nodded. "Very well, I will have this Steph brought up from the dungeons to answer for her crimes then."
The man shook his head. "Steph had escaped within minutes of having been placed in the dungeon my Lord. She has people all over who owe her favors."
Lord Beyon growled as he turned to Allie. "Do you know where I can find this Steph Ambassador?" His eyes opened wide as he just saw his wife standing behind him. "Where is the Ambassador?"
Lady Juniper looked over and her eyes opened wide. "I don't know my Love. I didn't even detect her leaving."
"She's probably gone after Steph. The two women are enemies anyway. This whole thing has renewed their hatred for each other." The man told him.
"Where do I find this Steph then?" Lord Beyon demanded as he spun around.
"She has a hideout a few blocks north of the Black Rose. You'll have to be careful my Lord. The people working for her are not happy with the thieves' guild backing down from the confrontation. They are only about fifteen in number but they were among some of the more insane members of guild. They will not hesitate in killing you or anyone else. Most of the guild does not want to harm you or our Lady here. But she hides out in the Branshaw warehouse. You'll want as many of your Elite force as you can muster to go after them if that is your goal." The man told him even as he drew in a ragged breath.
Lord Beyon nodded. "While I can not condone what you have done here this day your words ring true and you seem to have some morals, which is surprising. I will have you moved to have treatment and see if we can't reverse what has happened to you. But you might not like your sentence when I get back."
The man nodded. "I understand my Lord and I accept whatever judgment you pass over me. Just know that I am truly sorry for having carried out this act."
Lord Beyon moved out of the room and gave the guard outside his order to get proper treatment for the prisoner. Lord Beyon looked at his wife. "I should go advise the Lady Paige what we know and then I will meet up with the Elite force and I will take this little war to this Steph's door."
Lady Juniper nodded. "I will come with you my Love."
Lord Beyon glared at his wife who returned his glare before he finally nodded his head. "Fine." He looked at another guard. "Go to the Master at Arms and tell him I want as many of the best Elite force in the great hall in ten minutes."
The guard saluted and turned and moved quickly down the corridor even as Lord Beyon and Lady Juniper made their way to the Healer's chamber.
Lord Beyon moved into the chamber quickly and stepped up to Walter's bed and saw him still out of it. "My Lady we have a situation. I didn't know if you wanted to be part of it. I know your heart is here."
Paige stood and turned to face him and she frowned not seeing Allie. "What is this situation? And what happened with Allie?"
"That is part of the situation. The man revealed that this Steph had managed to escape my dungeon and is hold up at a warehouse with a number of miscreants. The Ambassador slipped away upon hearing who had orchestrated this assault upon your husband. We are leaving momentarily to take this fight to those who thumb their nose at us."
"You can count on my magic my Lord." Cabe spoke up quickly.
Paige nodded at Cabe. "Of course my Lord, I would love to help settle this. Ray, I'm entrusting you and Sir Sylvester to keep an eye on Ralph and Walter, keep them safe."
Ray slowly nodded. "I'd rather go with you but I am not fully recovered and I might be more of a liability."
Paige kissed Ralph. "You stay with Happy and Toby until your Dad awakens."
Ralph's lip trembled but he nodded and then he turned to Happy as his Mother moved with the others to leave.
Happy handed Alicia to Toby and then pulled Ralph up and hugged him tightly to her as she closed her eyes. 'Wise Lady, hear my plea. This has gone on long enough and it is taking a toll on my godson. Please see my friends safely through their tasks and bring them back quickly.'
As they entered the great hall of Lord Beyon Lady Paige saw the Master at Arms and fifteen women in the garb of the Elite force. Lord Beyon ordered the castle sealed no one was to enter or leave without his direct permission for the next twenty four hours. Quickly he briefed the assembled force on what they were going to do. They all saluted Lord Beyon before five of the sisters stepped up and pulled Lord Beyon, Lady Juniper, Lady Paige, Cabe and the Master at Arms into the shadow. The other ten sisters slipped inside of the shadow to keep hidden where they were going. They moved down into the basement and the sisters took them into one of the fast travel tunnels.
They emerged from the shadow so they could travel the tunnels even faster as Lord Beyon summoned the power of swift travel. Each member glowed with the white light of Athena and then they moved out. They passed several check points before they moved up an incline and then came to a guarded door. The sister standing guard saluted even as she pulled a lever that allowed the door to silently slip into the wall it was against. They saw the illusion that maintained the secrecy of the tunnels. All of the sisters slipped into the shadow taking their Lord and his companions with them.
Lady Paige saw they weren't far from where they had turned to go to Breuba's Cellar but instead of turning east they turned west.
One of the sisters pointed and they looked up and saw a man in black leather lying on a roof blood running down the slate. Another pointed towards another roof where they saw a figure in black leather bent over the ridge of the roof and blood running down from the body. There was a sharp ringing of steel against steel and they looked up on the roof of a warehouse and saw three men in black leather fighting a member of the Elite force. It only took Lady Paige a half second to see it was Allie and she took off running and surprising the sister who had her in the shadow so badly she fell to the ground.
Paige took three steps before the shadow faded from about her and she leaped up and her free hand grabbed the edge of the roof and she pulled with all of her strength and flipped up and over the edge and landed on the roof. "By the wise Lady!" She yelled holding her massive two handed hammer aloft in her right hand. She charged towards the three men. One of them disappeared from sight and Paige didn't even slow as she spun swinging that massive hammer and it struck the side of the man solidly as he had used the shadow to appear behind her. The power with which the hammer struck crushed all eight ribs it impacted against and the man collapsed instantly and rolled down the roof and fell to the street below.
Paige leaped up in the air and brought the hammer down on the roof of the warehouse they were on. The massive twelve inch timber under that section cracked and broke sending a tremor up along it and both men's arms went out to recapture their balance and Allie struck instantly as she had jumped straight up to avoid the tremor she was coming. As she came down she drove her daggers into the throats of both men.
Paige grabbed Allie and looked her over. "Are you okay?"
Allie nodded. "We've got to hurry my Lady, Steph is inside."
Paige nodded even as she turned and struck that same point in the roof and the timber gave way and they both fell down into the warehouse as the roof gaped open. The women tucked and rolled as their feet touched the wooden floor and sprung up. Paige swung her hammer as she did and caught three of the men wearing black leather with her hammer and sent them sprawling along the floor.
Allie struck one man with her blades plunging down into his chest, she allowed her momentum carry her as she angled her daggers in the man's chest before she came down on the floor just past him and she whipped him up off the floor and flung him back where he crashed into the wall.
Steph's eyes went wide seeing both Allie and Lady Paige and she turned and ran for the exit. Two of the men with her turned and ran behind her. The man guarding the exit pulled it open so they could escape and they were met with Lord Beyon's hammer as it flew in through the opening. Steph dropped down onto her hip and slid along the floor seeing it coming towards her. Her head tilted backwards as the hammer passed over her and slammed into the man on her left. The man screamed out as the hammer smashed his right hip.
Steph leapt up with her daggers out and she was flying through the air towards Lord Beyon when suddenly a golden bubble enveloped Lord Beyon and Steph's eyes went wide seeing the shield and then the magic energies flying towards her from Cabe. She quickly drove her daggers up into the bottom of the awning and she pulled against them bringing her body up until the magic passed under her. Her legs stretched out and she kicked off the brace on the awning. As she passed over the head of the man following her she saw the magic had struck him and he stood there as his muscles convulsed back and forth. She came down on the floor behind him as she tucked and rolled and sprung up just in time for Lady Paige's hammer to slam full force into her chest.
Steph's body was flung backwards from the impact and crashed into the man who had opened the door for her to escape. The Elite force moved in quickly but found that the guard lying under Steph was the last member in the warehouse still alive.
Lady Paige looked about even as she brushed her hair back out of her face. Allie stood a short bit away breathing hard from all the exertion after pulling her daggers out of two of the bodies. She walked purposely towards Allie anger on her face. She dropped her hammer beside her before she reached out and grabbed the front of Allie's leather and yanked her to just within inches from her face. "If you ever do something so reckless again you and I are done. Do I make myself clear Allie?"
Allie stared at Lady Paige her eyes open wide in shock before she slowly nodded. "I understand my Lady."
The anger on Paige's face softened and she pulled Allie on in and hugged her tightly. "Let us return to the castle and check on Walter." Paige finally whispered into her ear.
Allie nodded as they parted and they turned as Paige picked up her hammer before they stepped over to join with Lord Beyon. She looked down at Steph's body and saw how Lady Paige's hammer had sunk into her chest clearly crushing her sternum and surrounding ribs driving them deep into her vital organs. "Good riddance." She said finally, her words seemed to echo about the expanse of the warehouse.
Lady Paige watched as Cabe and Allie came together and kissed. She joined with Lord Beyon and Lady Juniper and they began walking down the street with the Master at Arms and ten of the Elite forces while the rest stayed to take care of the scene. With the threat neutralized Lord Beyon lifted the lock down of the castle after they returned to the great hall. Paige moved quickly on back to the Healer's chambers and moved down the row of beds and took Ralph up in her arms and kissed him soundly. She stepped on over and sat down beside Walter and sat Ralph on the bed next to his shoulder.
"Has he regained consciousness yet?" Paige asked looking at Toby.
Toby nodded. "He did very briefly my Lady."
Happy stood there watching her for a moment and then her mouth opened as she thrust her arms out. "Well aren't you going to tell us what happened? Where are Cabe and Allie?"
"We're right here." Cabe called out as they moved down the row of beds towards them.
"Our Lady has ended the threat of Steph once and for all." Allie told them.
"It was a group effort." Paige said simply as she reached out and stroked Walter's cheek. "Wake up my Love."
Happy looked at Allie and mouthed. "Is she okay? Did everything go okay?"
Allie nodded slightly.
Walter made a slight humming noise and then his hand came up and pressed against the back of her hand. His eyes blinked several times and then opened slightly and he smiled up at her. "There you are."
Paige smiled. "You need to quit doing things like this you are going to give Ralph and me heart attacks."
Walter smiled. "I will do my best."
By supper time Walter was back up in their suite and they had a large dinner together including Sara and Victor. After they ate Lady Paige took Walter and paid their respects to Lord Beyon and Lady Juniper as they planned to be on the road at first light.
The next morning found them riding out of the City and as they came to a fork where the road branched to go south to Hesperia and they rode south. Paige was excited to get to see her parents and to introduce them to Walter.
Greetings! I hope this conclusion of Lancaster finds you all well! The end of this chapter probably seems a bit rushed. It was, I'd saw one more chapter for it, but as I'll explain below I decided to bypass what I had thought (a lot of dialog that most of it could happen out on the road) and just go ahead and move them out of the town to end this segment.
Railman - Indeed, there would be a lot of Paladins needed to help with this pandemic without a doubt. Poor India is really going through it right now. hehe Indiana is definitely a "Hold my beer" state. It can create quite the mess.
Margaret - Indeed, but just a point of clarification for everyone, the blue energy that was on the doors and windows last chapter wasn't a curse but a safety measure for those dignitaries staying at the castle. Normally dignitaries are not people who can not only defend themselves but others as well so in this situation it actually hampered things.
2LawDog - Thank you! But this is the finale for this leg of the journey. hehe Yep, 1840s in our world saw indoor plumbing coming to the rich which is where technology of this world is at roughly. A little closer to 1870. I could not imagine living without indoor plumbing! lol The other thing that helps with fantasy and this world especially are elementals. While we've not seen any (yet) in Lady Knight, we did see 2 earth elementals in Knight's Tale. Their ability to alter and transform the earth around them helped make the sewers (and fast travel passages of the Elite force) of Lancaster.
Heleen - Thank you! I'm still amazed a bit at the dedication of the 7 of you who constantly read and comment and keep giving KT and LK hope!
So, something only a few of you know, I had been considering no longer posting Lady Knight and Knight's Tale moving forward. Metrics just weren't encouraging. And I thought they were more of a waste of FF's resources. But because both stories matter to me I was going to continue writing them and just share with the few who I knew wanted the stories.
From the start I knew both stories were a big gamble, especially Lady Knight as it changed the dynamics of core characters and shifted the power center from Walter to Paige, which some really didn't care for, right Franxine? hehe I think because of that it is why Knight's Tale always enjoyed a bit better metrics than Lady Knight.
And I think that is one reason I actually kind of like Lady Knight a little more. From a more mature Toby, to a Happy who is actually more functional but still a bit of a hot head and a Walter who is more fun loving and adventurous and yet has that focus on Paige.
No, this hasn't been a plea for comments or anything else. But as I was writing up a big note going into why I wasn't going to post them anymore I decided to go back and look at the metrics and I also looked back on the last couple of months and getting totals since I started writing new chapters and viewed in that context the metrics aren't that bad. So moving forward, probably around July if I am counting days correctly, I will be coming back to either KT or LK. KT I have some ideas about, LK still has to get to her parents, then back to Scorpion Keep so plenty of writing to be done. As always.
To the Adventure! -Tim