Gwen tested her sword a few times before she readied herself for the fight. Adrenaline surged through her. Suddenly, the door to the bar was filled with soldiers as they rushed in.
She charged forward and slung her sword into the side of an amour- less soldier. He yelled in pain and tried to get Gwen but she dodged quickly aside and delivered another blow. He again lunged at Gwen, but she dodged him.
Twisting away, she attacked another, then backed against the wall to survey the scene. Soldiers were everywhere and they were fighting bravely. She saw Andy and Josh, fighting together, defending themselves against four enemies. Bowen and the woman were fighting bravely as well, and the monk had taken a position somewhere and was firing arrow bolts and doing a good job of it as well.
Gwen threw herself back into the fight, bringing down many soldiers and receiving only one blow to her shoulder.
Suddenly, the sound of shattering wood and a girl screaming took over the bar. Gwen turned to see the door to the back room open, and Zara screaming at a soldier that had broken the door open. Gwen was about to go and help Zara when Andy slammed his sword into the neck of the soldier. Bleeding, the soldier slumped to the floor, obviously dead.
Gwen's attention was drawn back to the fight as someone slammed into her. She kicked whoever it was off and spun around to counterattack. She brought her sword down onto his shoulder and followed it through with a left hook in his jaw. The man yelled as he fell. Suddenly, Gwen was swamped with soldiers all around her. She managed to fight some of them off, but they just kept coming back.
Slam!
A man fell.
Slam!
Another.
Slam!
The sound of clanging metal filled the room as soldier after soldier was cast to the floor. Gwen looked up at her savior, prepared to thank him, then groaned.
Zara stood before her, looking triumphant, holding a frying pan. "This works quite well."
Gwen just rolled her eyes and prepared to turn when she was suddenly thrown back against the wall. The soldier brought his sword up to cut off her head. Zara rushed forward, but she was stopped by more soldiers.
Gwen threw up her hands to defend herself. The bracelet with the black charm with purple swirls that she had worn since before she was born faced the man, the light glinting off the metal. The man brought the sword down—
—and it was stopped by a black and purple shield. The man stared at her with wide eyes before trying the sword again, only to be thrown back this time by a lightning force. Everyone had stopped fighting now and was staring at Gwen.
She brought her hand down and the shield disappeared. She stared in wonderment at her hand, and noticed the bracelet. The shield that had formed looked just like the charm in her bracelet: black with purple swirls in it.
With everyone staring at Gwen, they had forgotten about the fight. Now, more enemy soldiers rushed in, and in an instant, the fight resumed.
Gwen still stared in amazement at her own hand, not paying attention to the fight around her.
A man jumped in front of her, and a second later a blade sliced him through his stomach from behind him. The man fell to show Josh behind him. He smiled and then turned to continue fighting. Snapping out of her stupor, Gwen hefted her sword and resumed fighting.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zara. Her frying pan had been batted out of her hand and now she was backed up against the bar, a man with a sword advancing slowly on her.
She held up her hands and her face was pleading with him to let her go. She turned to run but he grabbed her cloak and it came off in his hands. Gwen was surprised to see that Zara hadn't been wearing her fancy clothes beneath the cloak, but a simple peasant dress, similar to what she had herself.
Then her eyes were drawn to something around Zara's neck. A necklace, one with a charm exactly like the one Gwen wore around her wrist, only instead of black and purple, it was bright orange and red. The metal around her charm was shaped into small triangles, making the charm appear to be the sun, when Gwen's was simply circular, with dragons forming a circle around the charm. It always made Gwen think of the moon.
Now as the man approached her again, Zara brought her hands up again. One brushed her necklace, and then, suddenly, a sword with a hilt the color of fire and in the shape of a dragon, with a blade made of rubies appeared before Zara. Without even a look of surprise, Zara grabbed the sword and spun. Her hair flowed out behind her like a fan. She spun her sword right into the man's side, and she had done it so fast that the man never even saw her.
Now Zara started to fight ferociously, charging into people and having them down as quickly as she moved. Her sword winked in the lights of the bar, making it appear to be a sword of pure fire. It winked in her eyes, making her eyes seem to have fire licking at them from her bottom eyelashes. Red reflections glinted in her hair and on her skin. She appeared to be made of fire.
Zara felt as if she no longer had control of her body. She was twirling and fighting and slicing, but she couldn't stop. She didn't want to stop.
The sword felt alive in her hands, and it flowed warm energy up her arm and through her body. She felt so at peace. She had never felt so alive and so calm at the same time before in her entire life.
On her chest, she could feel her necklace burning warmth into her skin. It didn't hurt; it was like the sword. She knew that they were connected somehow, but right now she was so content that she didn't want to trouble herself.
Finally, her body stopped flowing and she had control again. She marveled the sword in her hands and looked at the bodies sliced by it. The blade had already been red before, and now that Zara could look at it, she could see that it was made of rubies. She touched the edge of a blade with her finger ever so gently, but her finger came back with a small slice on it.
"It's so sharp, it must be magic!" she whispered to herself.
"Zara?" Andy asked, coming up beside her. She looked up at him and smiled.
"Hi, Andy," she said.
"Hi. Where'd you get that sword?" he asked.
She shrugged. "I'm not really sure."
Suddenly, Gwen screamed. She was back against a wall, weaponless. A man had her arm with the bracelet on it in his firm grasp. She struggled against him, but it was no use. Andy and Zara started to move forward to help their friend, but suddenly a black and purple light appeared and the man stepped back.
A black shield with a purple dragon against a black background with stars flecked in it materialized before Gwen. She grabbed it and slipped her arm through before she shoved the man back. He flew back and forced Andy and Zara to dodge out of the way. He crashed into the bar and started to moan. Zara brought up her sword and ran him through.
Josh, Bowen, and the girl stumbled from where they had been fighting and won. A few of the people who were originally in the bar were still alive, and they stumbled around as well. Usually after a battle, people generally stumble around anyway, but after seeing Gwen and Zara and their. . .well, everyone was in a general daze.
Harry and Linda came forward and stared at Gwen for a while before Linda started to tend to the wounds of the hurt men. Everyone besides the small group of conspirators and the men who couldn't walk left to go check on their families.
Bowen and the woman approached Zara. Gwen walked over to the small group, and Josh trailed behind Bowen. The monk came out from behind the door, where he had been shooting off arrows. Harry also stepped up.
"That was. . ." the woman began.
"Incredible," Harry finished. "Where did those things come from?"
Zara shrugged. "I don't know."
"I don't know either," Gwen said.
"How did you learn to fight like that?" Harry asked. "I thought you said you never fought before."
"I haven't. I've never even seen a fight before," she replied.
"Then how did you know to do all that?" Gwen asked.
Zara shrugged again. "I don't know. I just. . .did it. I think it was the sword that took control of me."
Gwen scowled. "Let me see that." Gwen reached forward and yanked the sword out of Zara's hands before her hand that was holding the sword fell to the floor.
This sword weighs a ton! thought Gwen. How can that brat pick it up?
"Gwen! Are you all right?" Zara asked worriedly. She took the sword from Gwen, who stood up. Her eyes grew big. Zara handled it as if it were nothing but a piece of string!
"Isn't that sword heavy to you?" Gwen asked.
Zara shook her head. "No."
"What's wrong, Gwen?" Andy asked.
"Feel that sword," she said. Andy reached over and took the sword from Zara. It had the same affect on him that it did on Gwen. Zara took the sword back.
"That thing is heavier than all of my amour put together!" Andy cried.
Zara appeared uncomfortable with all the attention drawn to her. She quickly pointed to Gwen's shield. "What about your shield, Gwen? Let me feel that," Zara said, reaching for the shield. Gwen reluctantly gave it to her before it, in Zara's hands, almost fell on Gwen's foot.
"Watch it!" Gwen cried, jumping back. She took the shield back and handed it to Bowen, whose hand was outstretched to take it. It had the same affect on him. Gwen took it back.
"That's weird," Josh said.
"It sure is," the woman replied.
"Excuse me, but who are you?" Zara asked politely.
The woman smiled. "I'm Kara."
"And I'm Brother Gilbert. I don't believe we've met either," the monk said, smiling and stretching forth a hand. Gwen shook it and so did Zara.
While they had been talking, the wounded men had left and now Linda joined the group, a sour look on her face. "I hope you don't expect to stay here anymore, girl," Linda sneered. "I won't have a witch in my bar."
"Linda!" Harry scolded. He came over and looked her in the eyes. "How could you say that?"
"I never wanted to take her in anyway!" Linda cried. "I had a feeling she was strange. Now I know she's a witch." She spat out the last word like sour milk.
Gwen shot her a mean look. "I don't even want to stay here anymore anyway."
Zara had gone to look out the doors. Now she turned back around with a worried look on her face. "I don't think you'd be able to, even if you could."
Gwen turned around. "What are you talking about?"
Zara pointed out the doors. "My father's head knights. They're coming this way."
"So?" Gwen snapped.
Zara shot her a nasty look. "So," she became serious, "one of them—Lord Richard—is holding a piece of paper. It's a warrant. Probably for our arrest. Conspiring against the throne is punishable by death."
"Yeah, we know that. How do you know it's a warrant?" Josh asked.
"Because only Lord Richard would ever carry a warrant. That's about the only thing he'd ever carry anyway. And Sir Eryk is looking too happy for this to be anything else."
"Do you think they're onto us?" Bowen asked. They knights had stopped and were searching and asking people questions.
"There's someone else riding a horse with them," Zara said. "I can't tell who it is."
Bowen came up to look carefully around the corner. "No," he whispered.
Gwen came up behind him. "What is it?" she asked him.
"It's one of my friends. He helped me come up with the plot. Looks like he's turned against us." Bowen turned around and hurried to the back of the bar. "Is there a backdoor out of here?" he asked.
Harry nodded. "Sure." He went to the back room and opened a door.
Bowen came out and grabbed Josh and Kara. "Let's get out of here." He turned to Zara, Gwen, Andy, Gilbert, Linda and Harry. "Come on."
Everyone hurried out except Harry. He stood there. "Go on without me," he said. Bowen turned back and looked at him. "Come on, Harry!"
Harry shook his head. "Go, Bowen. I'll distract them." Bowen hesitated, but then Harry came and shoved him out the door. "Go! Save Zara and Gwen. I have a feeling about them, Bowen. I think they're important to us." The knights had started to thump around the bar. Harry looked over his shoulder, then back at Bowen. Urgency was etched across his face. "Go, Bowen!" He shoved Bowen out the door and slammed it shut.
Brother Gilbert and Josh grabbed Bowen and dragged him away. He snapped out of it enough for them to run. They ran as fast as they could into the woods, which luckily wasn't very far away.
From their distance away, they could hear Harry's screams of pain. Everyone's face was twisted with horror as they disappeared into the woods. They kept running until Linda collapsed.
"I can't run anymore," she panted.
They all stopped and then they realized how tired they all were.
"What happened to Harry?" Zara asked tentatively.
Andy turned to her. "What do you think happened to him?" he asked sarcastically.
"Linda's right. We can't run anymore," Gilbert panted.
Bowen nodded. "We'll camp here for tonight."
"Here?" Zara asked, a disgusted look on her face.
"What do you expect? A castle?" Gwen snapped.
Zara shrugged. "That's what I'm used to."
Gwen rolled her eyes. "Let's just start setting up camp."
She charged forward and slung her sword into the side of an amour- less soldier. He yelled in pain and tried to get Gwen but she dodged quickly aside and delivered another blow. He again lunged at Gwen, but she dodged him.
Twisting away, she attacked another, then backed against the wall to survey the scene. Soldiers were everywhere and they were fighting bravely. She saw Andy and Josh, fighting together, defending themselves against four enemies. Bowen and the woman were fighting bravely as well, and the monk had taken a position somewhere and was firing arrow bolts and doing a good job of it as well.
Gwen threw herself back into the fight, bringing down many soldiers and receiving only one blow to her shoulder.
Suddenly, the sound of shattering wood and a girl screaming took over the bar. Gwen turned to see the door to the back room open, and Zara screaming at a soldier that had broken the door open. Gwen was about to go and help Zara when Andy slammed his sword into the neck of the soldier. Bleeding, the soldier slumped to the floor, obviously dead.
Gwen's attention was drawn back to the fight as someone slammed into her. She kicked whoever it was off and spun around to counterattack. She brought her sword down onto his shoulder and followed it through with a left hook in his jaw. The man yelled as he fell. Suddenly, Gwen was swamped with soldiers all around her. She managed to fight some of them off, but they just kept coming back.
Slam!
A man fell.
Slam!
Another.
Slam!
The sound of clanging metal filled the room as soldier after soldier was cast to the floor. Gwen looked up at her savior, prepared to thank him, then groaned.
Zara stood before her, looking triumphant, holding a frying pan. "This works quite well."
Gwen just rolled her eyes and prepared to turn when she was suddenly thrown back against the wall. The soldier brought his sword up to cut off her head. Zara rushed forward, but she was stopped by more soldiers.
Gwen threw up her hands to defend herself. The bracelet with the black charm with purple swirls that she had worn since before she was born faced the man, the light glinting off the metal. The man brought the sword down—
—and it was stopped by a black and purple shield. The man stared at her with wide eyes before trying the sword again, only to be thrown back this time by a lightning force. Everyone had stopped fighting now and was staring at Gwen.
She brought her hand down and the shield disappeared. She stared in wonderment at her hand, and noticed the bracelet. The shield that had formed looked just like the charm in her bracelet: black with purple swirls in it.
With everyone staring at Gwen, they had forgotten about the fight. Now, more enemy soldiers rushed in, and in an instant, the fight resumed.
Gwen still stared in amazement at her own hand, not paying attention to the fight around her.
A man jumped in front of her, and a second later a blade sliced him through his stomach from behind him. The man fell to show Josh behind him. He smiled and then turned to continue fighting. Snapping out of her stupor, Gwen hefted her sword and resumed fighting.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zara. Her frying pan had been batted out of her hand and now she was backed up against the bar, a man with a sword advancing slowly on her.
She held up her hands and her face was pleading with him to let her go. She turned to run but he grabbed her cloak and it came off in his hands. Gwen was surprised to see that Zara hadn't been wearing her fancy clothes beneath the cloak, but a simple peasant dress, similar to what she had herself.
Then her eyes were drawn to something around Zara's neck. A necklace, one with a charm exactly like the one Gwen wore around her wrist, only instead of black and purple, it was bright orange and red. The metal around her charm was shaped into small triangles, making the charm appear to be the sun, when Gwen's was simply circular, with dragons forming a circle around the charm. It always made Gwen think of the moon.
Now as the man approached her again, Zara brought her hands up again. One brushed her necklace, and then, suddenly, a sword with a hilt the color of fire and in the shape of a dragon, with a blade made of rubies appeared before Zara. Without even a look of surprise, Zara grabbed the sword and spun. Her hair flowed out behind her like a fan. She spun her sword right into the man's side, and she had done it so fast that the man never even saw her.
Now Zara started to fight ferociously, charging into people and having them down as quickly as she moved. Her sword winked in the lights of the bar, making it appear to be a sword of pure fire. It winked in her eyes, making her eyes seem to have fire licking at them from her bottom eyelashes. Red reflections glinted in her hair and on her skin. She appeared to be made of fire.
Zara felt as if she no longer had control of her body. She was twirling and fighting and slicing, but she couldn't stop. She didn't want to stop.
The sword felt alive in her hands, and it flowed warm energy up her arm and through her body. She felt so at peace. She had never felt so alive and so calm at the same time before in her entire life.
On her chest, she could feel her necklace burning warmth into her skin. It didn't hurt; it was like the sword. She knew that they were connected somehow, but right now she was so content that she didn't want to trouble herself.
Finally, her body stopped flowing and she had control again. She marveled the sword in her hands and looked at the bodies sliced by it. The blade had already been red before, and now that Zara could look at it, she could see that it was made of rubies. She touched the edge of a blade with her finger ever so gently, but her finger came back with a small slice on it.
"It's so sharp, it must be magic!" she whispered to herself.
"Zara?" Andy asked, coming up beside her. She looked up at him and smiled.
"Hi, Andy," she said.
"Hi. Where'd you get that sword?" he asked.
She shrugged. "I'm not really sure."
Suddenly, Gwen screamed. She was back against a wall, weaponless. A man had her arm with the bracelet on it in his firm grasp. She struggled against him, but it was no use. Andy and Zara started to move forward to help their friend, but suddenly a black and purple light appeared and the man stepped back.
A black shield with a purple dragon against a black background with stars flecked in it materialized before Gwen. She grabbed it and slipped her arm through before she shoved the man back. He flew back and forced Andy and Zara to dodge out of the way. He crashed into the bar and started to moan. Zara brought up her sword and ran him through.
Josh, Bowen, and the girl stumbled from where they had been fighting and won. A few of the people who were originally in the bar were still alive, and they stumbled around as well. Usually after a battle, people generally stumble around anyway, but after seeing Gwen and Zara and their. . .well, everyone was in a general daze.
Harry and Linda came forward and stared at Gwen for a while before Linda started to tend to the wounds of the hurt men. Everyone besides the small group of conspirators and the men who couldn't walk left to go check on their families.
Bowen and the woman approached Zara. Gwen walked over to the small group, and Josh trailed behind Bowen. The monk came out from behind the door, where he had been shooting off arrows. Harry also stepped up.
"That was. . ." the woman began.
"Incredible," Harry finished. "Where did those things come from?"
Zara shrugged. "I don't know."
"I don't know either," Gwen said.
"How did you learn to fight like that?" Harry asked. "I thought you said you never fought before."
"I haven't. I've never even seen a fight before," she replied.
"Then how did you know to do all that?" Gwen asked.
Zara shrugged again. "I don't know. I just. . .did it. I think it was the sword that took control of me."
Gwen scowled. "Let me see that." Gwen reached forward and yanked the sword out of Zara's hands before her hand that was holding the sword fell to the floor.
This sword weighs a ton! thought Gwen. How can that brat pick it up?
"Gwen! Are you all right?" Zara asked worriedly. She took the sword from Gwen, who stood up. Her eyes grew big. Zara handled it as if it were nothing but a piece of string!
"Isn't that sword heavy to you?" Gwen asked.
Zara shook her head. "No."
"What's wrong, Gwen?" Andy asked.
"Feel that sword," she said. Andy reached over and took the sword from Zara. It had the same affect on him that it did on Gwen. Zara took the sword back.
"That thing is heavier than all of my amour put together!" Andy cried.
Zara appeared uncomfortable with all the attention drawn to her. She quickly pointed to Gwen's shield. "What about your shield, Gwen? Let me feel that," Zara said, reaching for the shield. Gwen reluctantly gave it to her before it, in Zara's hands, almost fell on Gwen's foot.
"Watch it!" Gwen cried, jumping back. She took the shield back and handed it to Bowen, whose hand was outstretched to take it. It had the same affect on him. Gwen took it back.
"That's weird," Josh said.
"It sure is," the woman replied.
"Excuse me, but who are you?" Zara asked politely.
The woman smiled. "I'm Kara."
"And I'm Brother Gilbert. I don't believe we've met either," the monk said, smiling and stretching forth a hand. Gwen shook it and so did Zara.
While they had been talking, the wounded men had left and now Linda joined the group, a sour look on her face. "I hope you don't expect to stay here anymore, girl," Linda sneered. "I won't have a witch in my bar."
"Linda!" Harry scolded. He came over and looked her in the eyes. "How could you say that?"
"I never wanted to take her in anyway!" Linda cried. "I had a feeling she was strange. Now I know she's a witch." She spat out the last word like sour milk.
Gwen shot her a mean look. "I don't even want to stay here anymore anyway."
Zara had gone to look out the doors. Now she turned back around with a worried look on her face. "I don't think you'd be able to, even if you could."
Gwen turned around. "What are you talking about?"
Zara pointed out the doors. "My father's head knights. They're coming this way."
"So?" Gwen snapped.
Zara shot her a nasty look. "So," she became serious, "one of them—Lord Richard—is holding a piece of paper. It's a warrant. Probably for our arrest. Conspiring against the throne is punishable by death."
"Yeah, we know that. How do you know it's a warrant?" Josh asked.
"Because only Lord Richard would ever carry a warrant. That's about the only thing he'd ever carry anyway. And Sir Eryk is looking too happy for this to be anything else."
"Do you think they're onto us?" Bowen asked. They knights had stopped and were searching and asking people questions.
"There's someone else riding a horse with them," Zara said. "I can't tell who it is."
Bowen came up to look carefully around the corner. "No," he whispered.
Gwen came up behind him. "What is it?" she asked him.
"It's one of my friends. He helped me come up with the plot. Looks like he's turned against us." Bowen turned around and hurried to the back of the bar. "Is there a backdoor out of here?" he asked.
Harry nodded. "Sure." He went to the back room and opened a door.
Bowen came out and grabbed Josh and Kara. "Let's get out of here." He turned to Zara, Gwen, Andy, Gilbert, Linda and Harry. "Come on."
Everyone hurried out except Harry. He stood there. "Go on without me," he said. Bowen turned back and looked at him. "Come on, Harry!"
Harry shook his head. "Go, Bowen. I'll distract them." Bowen hesitated, but then Harry came and shoved him out the door. "Go! Save Zara and Gwen. I have a feeling about them, Bowen. I think they're important to us." The knights had started to thump around the bar. Harry looked over his shoulder, then back at Bowen. Urgency was etched across his face. "Go, Bowen!" He shoved Bowen out the door and slammed it shut.
Brother Gilbert and Josh grabbed Bowen and dragged him away. He snapped out of it enough for them to run. They ran as fast as they could into the woods, which luckily wasn't very far away.
From their distance away, they could hear Harry's screams of pain. Everyone's face was twisted with horror as they disappeared into the woods. They kept running until Linda collapsed.
"I can't run anymore," she panted.
They all stopped and then they realized how tired they all were.
"What happened to Harry?" Zara asked tentatively.
Andy turned to her. "What do you think happened to him?" he asked sarcastically.
"Linda's right. We can't run anymore," Gilbert panted.
Bowen nodded. "We'll camp here for tonight."
"Here?" Zara asked, a disgusted look on her face.
"What do you expect? A castle?" Gwen snapped.
Zara shrugged. "That's what I'm used to."
Gwen rolled her eyes. "Let's just start setting up camp."