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Part 5:
~ One year later, the Mystic Knights are now a fact. Garrett has just joined them. ~
Inside the castle walls the knights were busy practising with their swords. Garrett had convinced the king that the swordswork of the knights was way below standard and needed all the practice they could get, to dismay of the warriors. So there they were fighting each other with long faces, Deirdre against Rohan, Angus against Ivar, Garrett constantly telling them what to do and what not to do, how to stand, how to strike, how to approach, etc. In fact, little that the knights did with their swords seemed to please Garrett much, he seemed to especially have it out on Angus.
'Angus, what did I just tell you! Give me that', Garrett roughly pulled Angus's sword out of his hand.
'If Ivar would've been your real enemy, you would've been long gone dead by now!', Garrett spat at Angus.
'When your opponent attacks, never lower your sword, keep it up! UP!', Garrett repeated, his face turning pink, demonstrating the 'right' way how to handle a sword with his right hand.
Angus merely snorted: 'Really? My mistake. I was just trying to make Ivar feel better about himself. Poor lad doesn't stand a chance against me.'
Rohan, Ivar and Deirdre sniggered, that and Angus's grinning face seemed to make Garrett more angry: 'You think you know all the moves then? Well, take your sword back, let's see how good you really are.', Garrett pushed Angus's sword back in his hand, and grabbed for his own.
Rohan and Deirdre now stopped practicing as well and leaned against the wall next to where Ivar had been standing for a while now. 'Go easy on him Angus!', Rohan laughed.
Angus rolled his eyes expressively: 'Of course Rohan, don't I always.'
This triggered Garrett to sway his sword right at Angus's waste. Angus looked up just in time from Rohan to block his move. 'Oy! You..', said a suprised Angus, not able to finish his sentence for Garrett tried to strike him second time. 'Stay focused peasent!', laughed Garrett manicingly. Ones again, Angus blocked it just in time. 'Who are you calling a peasent!' A bemused Angus now realised it was serious, and tried as well as he could to block the strikes that followed, and occasionaly attack himself.
The fight didn't take very long, after barely a few minutes Angus dropped his sword and cried 'Enough, you've taught me my lesson.' to Garrett.
Garrett though didn't seem to have heard him. With wide eyes Rohan, Deirde and Ivar watched as Garrett's sword hit Angus on his left side. The blow threw Angus of his feet. Garrett gasped and threw his sword aside. He approached Angus who now sat on the ground, looking bewildered.
Rohan ran to Angus's side. 'Are you injured, Angus?'
'W-what.. ', he said, not fully understanding what had just happened. 'No, I d-don't think so..'
'We should get him to Cathbad, now.', Ivar said, holding up Angus's arm. Garrett's sword had left a deep gash that ran from the palm of Angus's hand to his elbow. The blood was trickling from the wound onto the ground where now a small red puddle had appeared.
Angus spotted the puddle and moaned a soft 'Owh' as his eyes rolled into his head. He had lost consciousness. 'Ivar, a little help?' said Rohan, who took Angus's bad arm and swayed it carefully over his shoulder. Ivar took his other arm, lifted him and together they made for Cathbad's chamber.
Garrett not wanting to understand what he had just done tried to reinsure himself by saying aloud to himself: 'It's just a scratch, nothing serious, just a scratch.'
Deirdre, who was following Rohan and Ivar, carrying Angus inside, turned to face Garrett, her eyes standing furious.
'It's not a scratch Garrett! And even if it were, that doesn't make right what you just did.' Deirdre turned on her heel to Cathbad's chamber, leaving a guilty looking Garrett.
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The sharp sent of spices forced Angus to open his eyes. At first he saw nothing but inky darkness, but after blinking a few times his eyes adjusted to the light. He was standing in a small room, with rough walls made of red stones. He saw the vague shape of a low stone bench and approached it. Apparently he had woken up standing straight up but now his legs were failing to carry him.
A strange numbing but not unpleasent feeling climbed up from his toes all through his legs. Angus reached for one of his legs but came to the strange sensation that he simply couldn't feel it.
He stared at his hand stroking his leg when he realised something. He turned his left arm and stared at the palm of his hand: perfectly healthy skin. He made his hands to a fist and than stretched his fingers again. There was nothing wrong with his hand or the rest of his arm. Didn't Garrett just strike him?
He looked around him for a better look at the room. The stone bench seemed to be the only obstacle in the room. There was no window and the only light came trickling from the small bars on top of the door. Angus tried to stand up, which went reasonably well, concidering that he couldn't feel his legs, and slowly went up to the door. There was no handle so Angus tried to open it by leaning against the wood surface. Suprisingly the door went open, but not because of his own effort..
On the other side a cloaked figure stood holding a white fine fabric, presumably another cloak. A second figure appeared from behind the first and pushed Angus back inside. The faces of both men were not visible. There was no talking and when Angus tried to say something, nothing came out. He tried to yell.. nothing. Suddenly he noticed how the numbness penetrated his chest and arms as well. He felt it rise in his head. He started to feel awfully drowsy. He wanted to close his eyes but he couldn't. It seemed as if his body wasn't listening to him anymore.
The cloaked men layed him on the ground and undressed him. He couldn't feel the hands that touched him. A third figure approached, a woman this time. She was not cloaked, yet Angus couldn't make out her face. It was all in a blur now. A sweet smell penetrated his nostrills, he heard water splashing and suddenly he felt how two hands started to wash him. It wasn't ordinary water with which she washed him, it felt thick, soft and warm.
He felt movement stream back into his body. His muscles seemed to reactivate. He know felt the hands of the two men, they lifted him up and put him on the white cloak. The woman helt up a knife and cut him in the face, right across his cheek. Angus felt how the knife sliced through his skin but he felt no pain, just a strange sensation of something going through his face. The woman wrapped the bloodied knife in a small rag and backed out of the room. The cloaked men, each holding on to one of Angus's arms, dragged him out of the room, following the woman.
Angus, half expecting to find a hallway behind the prisondoor, like the dungeons had in Kells castle, stood in a great wide hall. A great marble stairway reached up on front of him. He looked up and noticed that he couldn't see the ceiling, it was either that high or the ceiling was painted pitch dark like the rest of the walls, if there were any. When he looked left and right of him, he noticed that the cloaked figures had gone, all he saw was the woman climbing the stairway. He followed her.
The Stairway didn't seem to come to an end. The hall felt incredibly hot, as if there were great fires surrounding him. Instead he saw nothing but cold black everywhere he looked. He started to sweat heavilly. Lifting his feet was becoming more and more of an effort. A great square marble rock the size of a king's tomb raised up before him. Finally he reached the end of the stairs.
He stood beside the stone and noticed that he was standing on what looked the top of a four-sided triangle. The woman holding the knife suddenly appeared beside him and nodded that he should lay down. Angus did so. The marble felt flaming hot. When he moved his hands, he felt bits of skin remaining on the surface. He felt no pain however and closed his eyes.
When he opened them again he saw a tall figure rising above him. The woman had gone and had apparently given the knife to him. He seemed to be wearing a mask in the shape of a white deer's head, antlers and all. He wore a robe, made entirely out of fur. Around his neck hung the exact same pendant as Elaenir had given him a year ago, the stone on Angus's pendant though was on the right, this pendant had it on the left.
The man ripped Angus's cloak open, baring his chest. He held up a bowl with some sort of powder in it, dipped his fingers in it and started to draw figures on Angus's chest. Angus tried to lift his head to see what was going on, but to his horror he could, for the second time, no longer move his body.
Suddenly the masked man took up the bowl and smashed it on the ground. With a fast movement of his hand he lifted up the knife that was still stained with Angus's blood and lifted it up, high above Angus's chest.
To his own surpise, Angus felt calm. It was all going to end now, he knew, all for the good. The knife lowered and cut a long deep gash in his chest. Angus saw how the man pulled back the knife, glittering with fresh blood, and layed it down beside his head. It was getting harder to breath as the man reached for his chest again. He gasped as he felt how something was ripped from his insides. He heard his own breath stop, everything around him was darkening. Above him he saw an arm reaching out, with his heart in its hand, still pomping. Darkness took over..
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Angus gasped deeply as he woke up. Rohan was sitting next to his bed, looking at him with fearfull eyes. 'Welcome back', he whispered hoarsely.
Part 5:
~ One year later, the Mystic Knights are now a fact. Garrett has just joined them. ~
Inside the castle walls the knights were busy practising with their swords. Garrett had convinced the king that the swordswork of the knights was way below standard and needed all the practice they could get, to dismay of the warriors. So there they were fighting each other with long faces, Deirdre against Rohan, Angus against Ivar, Garrett constantly telling them what to do and what not to do, how to stand, how to strike, how to approach, etc. In fact, little that the knights did with their swords seemed to please Garrett much, he seemed to especially have it out on Angus.
'Angus, what did I just tell you! Give me that', Garrett roughly pulled Angus's sword out of his hand.
'If Ivar would've been your real enemy, you would've been long gone dead by now!', Garrett spat at Angus.
'When your opponent attacks, never lower your sword, keep it up! UP!', Garrett repeated, his face turning pink, demonstrating the 'right' way how to handle a sword with his right hand.
Angus merely snorted: 'Really? My mistake. I was just trying to make Ivar feel better about himself. Poor lad doesn't stand a chance against me.'
Rohan, Ivar and Deirdre sniggered, that and Angus's grinning face seemed to make Garrett more angry: 'You think you know all the moves then? Well, take your sword back, let's see how good you really are.', Garrett pushed Angus's sword back in his hand, and grabbed for his own.
Rohan and Deirdre now stopped practicing as well and leaned against the wall next to where Ivar had been standing for a while now. 'Go easy on him Angus!', Rohan laughed.
Angus rolled his eyes expressively: 'Of course Rohan, don't I always.'
This triggered Garrett to sway his sword right at Angus's waste. Angus looked up just in time from Rohan to block his move. 'Oy! You..', said a suprised Angus, not able to finish his sentence for Garrett tried to strike him second time. 'Stay focused peasent!', laughed Garrett manicingly. Ones again, Angus blocked it just in time. 'Who are you calling a peasent!' A bemused Angus now realised it was serious, and tried as well as he could to block the strikes that followed, and occasionaly attack himself.
The fight didn't take very long, after barely a few minutes Angus dropped his sword and cried 'Enough, you've taught me my lesson.' to Garrett.
Garrett though didn't seem to have heard him. With wide eyes Rohan, Deirde and Ivar watched as Garrett's sword hit Angus on his left side. The blow threw Angus of his feet. Garrett gasped and threw his sword aside. He approached Angus who now sat on the ground, looking bewildered.
Rohan ran to Angus's side. 'Are you injured, Angus?'
'W-what.. ', he said, not fully understanding what had just happened. 'No, I d-don't think so..'
'We should get him to Cathbad, now.', Ivar said, holding up Angus's arm. Garrett's sword had left a deep gash that ran from the palm of Angus's hand to his elbow. The blood was trickling from the wound onto the ground where now a small red puddle had appeared.
Angus spotted the puddle and moaned a soft 'Owh' as his eyes rolled into his head. He had lost consciousness. 'Ivar, a little help?' said Rohan, who took Angus's bad arm and swayed it carefully over his shoulder. Ivar took his other arm, lifted him and together they made for Cathbad's chamber.
Garrett not wanting to understand what he had just done tried to reinsure himself by saying aloud to himself: 'It's just a scratch, nothing serious, just a scratch.'
Deirdre, who was following Rohan and Ivar, carrying Angus inside, turned to face Garrett, her eyes standing furious.
'It's not a scratch Garrett! And even if it were, that doesn't make right what you just did.' Deirdre turned on her heel to Cathbad's chamber, leaving a guilty looking Garrett.
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The sharp sent of spices forced Angus to open his eyes. At first he saw nothing but inky darkness, but after blinking a few times his eyes adjusted to the light. He was standing in a small room, with rough walls made of red stones. He saw the vague shape of a low stone bench and approached it. Apparently he had woken up standing straight up but now his legs were failing to carry him.
A strange numbing but not unpleasent feeling climbed up from his toes all through his legs. Angus reached for one of his legs but came to the strange sensation that he simply couldn't feel it.
He stared at his hand stroking his leg when he realised something. He turned his left arm and stared at the palm of his hand: perfectly healthy skin. He made his hands to a fist and than stretched his fingers again. There was nothing wrong with his hand or the rest of his arm. Didn't Garrett just strike him?
He looked around him for a better look at the room. The stone bench seemed to be the only obstacle in the room. There was no window and the only light came trickling from the small bars on top of the door. Angus tried to stand up, which went reasonably well, concidering that he couldn't feel his legs, and slowly went up to the door. There was no handle so Angus tried to open it by leaning against the wood surface. Suprisingly the door went open, but not because of his own effort..
On the other side a cloaked figure stood holding a white fine fabric, presumably another cloak. A second figure appeared from behind the first and pushed Angus back inside. The faces of both men were not visible. There was no talking and when Angus tried to say something, nothing came out. He tried to yell.. nothing. Suddenly he noticed how the numbness penetrated his chest and arms as well. He felt it rise in his head. He started to feel awfully drowsy. He wanted to close his eyes but he couldn't. It seemed as if his body wasn't listening to him anymore.
The cloaked men layed him on the ground and undressed him. He couldn't feel the hands that touched him. A third figure approached, a woman this time. She was not cloaked, yet Angus couldn't make out her face. It was all in a blur now. A sweet smell penetrated his nostrills, he heard water splashing and suddenly he felt how two hands started to wash him. It wasn't ordinary water with which she washed him, it felt thick, soft and warm.
He felt movement stream back into his body. His muscles seemed to reactivate. He know felt the hands of the two men, they lifted him up and put him on the white cloak. The woman helt up a knife and cut him in the face, right across his cheek. Angus felt how the knife sliced through his skin but he felt no pain, just a strange sensation of something going through his face. The woman wrapped the bloodied knife in a small rag and backed out of the room. The cloaked men, each holding on to one of Angus's arms, dragged him out of the room, following the woman.
Angus, half expecting to find a hallway behind the prisondoor, like the dungeons had in Kells castle, stood in a great wide hall. A great marble stairway reached up on front of him. He looked up and noticed that he couldn't see the ceiling, it was either that high or the ceiling was painted pitch dark like the rest of the walls, if there were any. When he looked left and right of him, he noticed that the cloaked figures had gone, all he saw was the woman climbing the stairway. He followed her.
The Stairway didn't seem to come to an end. The hall felt incredibly hot, as if there were great fires surrounding him. Instead he saw nothing but cold black everywhere he looked. He started to sweat heavilly. Lifting his feet was becoming more and more of an effort. A great square marble rock the size of a king's tomb raised up before him. Finally he reached the end of the stairs.
He stood beside the stone and noticed that he was standing on what looked the top of a four-sided triangle. The woman holding the knife suddenly appeared beside him and nodded that he should lay down. Angus did so. The marble felt flaming hot. When he moved his hands, he felt bits of skin remaining on the surface. He felt no pain however and closed his eyes.
When he opened them again he saw a tall figure rising above him. The woman had gone and had apparently given the knife to him. He seemed to be wearing a mask in the shape of a white deer's head, antlers and all. He wore a robe, made entirely out of fur. Around his neck hung the exact same pendant as Elaenir had given him a year ago, the stone on Angus's pendant though was on the right, this pendant had it on the left.
The man ripped Angus's cloak open, baring his chest. He held up a bowl with some sort of powder in it, dipped his fingers in it and started to draw figures on Angus's chest. Angus tried to lift his head to see what was going on, but to his horror he could, for the second time, no longer move his body.
Suddenly the masked man took up the bowl and smashed it on the ground. With a fast movement of his hand he lifted up the knife that was still stained with Angus's blood and lifted it up, high above Angus's chest.
To his own surpise, Angus felt calm. It was all going to end now, he knew, all for the good. The knife lowered and cut a long deep gash in his chest. Angus saw how the man pulled back the knife, glittering with fresh blood, and layed it down beside his head. It was getting harder to breath as the man reached for his chest again. He gasped as he felt how something was ripped from his insides. He heard his own breath stop, everything around him was darkening. Above him he saw an arm reaching out, with his heart in its hand, still pomping. Darkness took over..
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Angus gasped deeply as he woke up. Rohan was sitting next to his bed, looking at him with fearfull eyes. 'Welcome back', he whispered hoarsely.