Chapter Twelve: Fight at the Tavern

Escanor holds his breath as Gilthunder shouts, "Princess Elizabeth! We know you are in there. You are being arrested under suspicion of conspiracy and treason. If you come out willingly you will be in no danger."

"Conspiracy and treason," Merlin mutters beside him. "How dare he say that!"

"What do we do?" Escanor whispers. "If we attack, they'll raid the tavern for sure."

He glances down at her, but her face is drawn with worry. Her eyes dart from the scene in front of them to the orb and back, her lips parting slightly as she takes a tight breath. "I don't know."

Swallowing thickly, he turns back to watch. His eyes widen as the door opens and Meliodas steps out. "Hey there, Gil!" he calls with a wave of his hand. The knights that surround the tavern position their weapons at him and he chuckles. "This is quite the reception. You guys want to come in and order something?"

"Send out the princess," Gilthunder says.

Meliodas puts his hands in his pockets as he shuffles his feet. "I'm not sure what you mean, Gil. I thought the royal family was dead. Didn't you guys kill them?"

The air tenses considerably at the accusation, but Meliodas keeps his smile easy, even as Gilthunder growls, "You're under arrest for obstruction—"

"What are you doing, Gil?" he asks. There is a little twinge of sadness that makes Escanor's heart clench. "I thought you loved her."

Gilthunder was in love with the princess. Escanor frowns when the knight seems more angry than upset. "It's because I love her that I must do this!" he yells wildly as his cool demeanor begins to slip. Such a reaction will make this all the more dangerous. "Now hand over the princess!"

Something passes over Meliodas' face, so brief Escanor wonders if he imagined it. "I see," he says quietly. He looks at the ground for a moment, as if in thought. "I'm sorry, Gil."

The two gazes connect and Gilthunder says, "I am now more powerful than the Seven Deadly Sins."

"Seven Deadly Sins?" Escanor whispers. "What is that?"

He is alarmed to see Merlin go a bit white. "It's a code word. This is bad."

"What does it mean?"

Merlin shakes her head. "Something is wrong. Really wrong."

Before he can ask any further, Gilthunder calls, "Holy Knights! Attack!"

A roar goes up as the knights advance, a blast of magic knocking them backwards. Escanor's arm flies out to protect Merlin as he whips back around to watch. Meliodas has a sword in his hand as he follows through on a magic attack, and then he jumps into the air to land in the center of the circling soldiers. They advance one and two at a time as Meliodas engages them in a mix of hand-to-hand combat and magical skill, easily keeping any of them from getting close enough to hurt him. It is a rather amazing sight, seeing a simple tavern owner taking on two dozen soldiers at once with such ease.

But it is not to last, and after a minute of fighting the rest swarm in. One catches Meliodas with a gravity attack that sends him to his knees, and before he can do a counter strike three more pile in, grabbing to restrain him and knocking his sword from his hands. With Meliodas out of the fight, Gilthunder shouts another order, and another dozen men rush into the front of the tavern.

"No!" Merlin screams, jumping to her feet.

Escanor steps in front of her with his palms up. "Merlin, there's too many!"

"We need to stop them!" she hisses.

Merlin pushes him out of the way, but Escanor grips her arm to stop her. "We need a plan!" he insists. "You can't just rush in there!"

"Let go of me!" She yanks from his grip and hurries forward, leaving Escanor to bite back a curse as he follows.

The fight is well on as they rush into the fray. Meliodas shakes the soldiers off and takes out two with a single punch. Meanwhile, the front door is pulled from its hinges as several more are sent flying out of the front, Ban leaping from the front step behind them. He crashes into the pile of bodies, his fist flying with a roar, as Gowther stands on the top steps, his bow sending arrows flying at the rest.

A flash of color catches his attention and he sees Merlin sending bursts of magic from her fingers, the other hand clutching the orb tightly. For a moment he is mesmerized, the bright blues and yellows lighting her face and hair. But he shakes himself when one of the Holy Knights rushes her from behind, running in between them and slamming his fist into the man's face.

They work back-to-back for several minutes, covering each other's blind spots as they engage with the knights. Escanor is pleased that she is holding her own, enjoying grabbing a knight by the throat as he draws his sword on her, ducking at her command when she sends a freezing blast towards one over his shoulder. The fight feels good, his muscles humming and warm. If it was closer to morning, then he would have no trouble dispatching the entire group on his own. But dusk has arrived, the field about to tip into night with the last rays of the sun disappearing over the horizon.

Nearly half of the soldiers are on the ground now, and when Escanor pulls Merlin out of the way of a well-timed axe, he sees Ban regrouping with a ring of soldiers surrounding him and Gowther just holding off the rest from getting inside the tavern. Why doesn't it just move on its own? he wonders, but that question is cut off when a lightning strike hits near where they stand. With a yell he lifts Merlin by the waist and turns to deflect the debris that flies upwards from the ground, most of it hitting his back as he cradles her against his chest.

He looks over his shoulder and sees that Gilthunder has dismounted, his sword drawn as Meliodas faces him. Escanor keeps Merlin tucked safely against him as he watches Meliodas hold out an arm, bringing his sword in a curved arc around his body—

—just as black marks begin to snake along Meliodas' skin, sliding out from under his torn sleeve.

The reaction is immediate. Escanor's stomach lurches as something inside of him twists painfully. He cries out, hearing Merlin call his name, but it sounds very far away, the hands gripping his arms and shaking him like a dream. The black marks create dark patterns, reminding him of spilling ink on his desk as a child, or the way the ground was scorched when he had returned to Castellio, after the castle had been burned to the ground.

Something inside of him reaches out, moving his hand up as his palm heats to an almost agonizing temperature. A ball of light begins to form in his fingers, but how? The sun is not up, how is his power doing this? Fear grips his mind as it rushes through him uncontrollably, because as sure as Escanor is that he must stop the demon fighting the knight just steps away from them, he knows if he lets loose this sudden power he does not understand that they will all be killed.

It grows within him, shooting through his veins like white hot lava and pounding inside his head. Demon, demon, kill it, destroy it, a voice not his own echoes again and again. Meliodas and Gilthunder are fighting now in a flash of steel and magic, but his own power is rushing to escape his body and shoot towards them both. Escanor reaches with every ounce of his will to catch and hold it, the sensation like trying to grip flowing water, until finally he manages to put up a wall to stop the deadly blast.

"Merlin!" he rasps, fighting the panic rising in his throat. "Merlin, help me!"

The mage sends magic across to the left before spinning back to him. She jumps back when she sees him, and it pains him when he catches the fear on her face. "Escanor! What are you doing!"

"I can't stop it!" Sweat is running down his face as he struggles to lower his arm, to close his fingers, fighting to hold the magic back, feeling it as taut as the string of a bow. "I don't know what is happening!"

Demon, the voice whispers, and his arm begins to shake. His eyes narrow, his vision growing tunneled as the fighting around them ceases, his focus sharpening on the tavern owner. The tavern owner, who stole a princess from a kingdom. "Is Meliodas a—"

"Escanor!" Merlin's hands are on his face, and she wrenches it downwards as his gaze falls on her. Her eyes are wide and shining, but her mouth is set and determined. "This is your grace, it's reacting to all the magic. You need to control it!"

"I can't, I—I don't understand!" He closes his eyes, checking the grip he has, secure for now, but for how long? "I've never—I don't know if I can stop it!"

Her palm lays on his outstretched arm, sliding along the muscle pulled tense and tight. "You'll kill them," she breathes. Her other hand cradles his face, stroking his cheek, and Escanor wonders when the last time someone had touched him like this, if anyone ever had. "I know you can do this," she says. "This power is yours. Make it yours."

"I… I…" he pants. The struggle builds, but he overcomes it, all while her fingers glide soothingly on his skin. After another moment, he can close his fingers, the joints aching as they slowly curl inwards. Merlin takes his hand despite his yelp of protest, holding it in her own and pressing her lips to his fingers.

"There," she says. They are both breathing heavily, Escanor still shaking with fear and adrenaline and a side effect at the incredible amount of power that had just manifested inside of him. He blinks and looks around, realizing it's been only a minute since it began, and the fight is still going on around them. His senses return suddenly, reaching out to pull Merlin against him and turning to continue the fight.

But he stumbles, his body going weak, and he bends over with his hands on his knees as the world spins. Merlin presses on his back and says, "You're almost at your limit. You can't recover as well at night. Let me protect you."

"No—"

He leans against her, but Merlin is looking away. "Just stay behind me and try to recover!" she yells, pushing off of him to send a flash of power at two soldiers to their right.

Escanor's eyes dart up as he struggles to stay upright. It seems as though the Holy Knights are retreating, or perhaps defeated? He spies Ban kick a soldier from the steps, Gowther nowhere to be found. "Where are the rest?" he gasps as he stands.

A flash of metal has him lunging, calling, "Merlin, look out!"

Escanor knocks her away, his eyes only on the edge of the sword that is headed straight for her. He grabs it with his bare hands, the sharp blade drawing over the flesh of his palms, blood slipping between them and dripping off the tip. Escanor looks up to see Merlin on the ground, her expression in shock, but unharmed. He smiles, knowing he stopped the blade, but his lungs won't seem to work as he laughs in relief. "Merlin," he pants, "don't do that again—I'm your bodyguard—"

She fades in and out, making him blink as gold and black bursts enter his vision. Is this another spell? "Damn it, woman… would you j-just lissssten…"

Then pain, unbelievable pain sears through him, and Escanor pitches forward with the sensation that he is being cut in half. He looks down to see the sword he caught moving through him, backwards through his torso, leaving a pool of blood unlike any he had seen. But Merlin isn't hurt! Does that mean…?

He falls to his hands and knees, blood spattering the ground as he coughs. "I'm s-sorry," he gasps, her voice so very far away as his eyes close.