Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Fellowship, the majority of the demons they're fighting (I may be improvising for some of them from here on in), or Morgraine and Mordred. The plot is mine, and that's it.
Feedback: Is Skinner slightly annoying? Of COURSE I want some!
Funky in Fishnet: Glad to hear that the Prince thing went well; I was a bit uncertain about that.
The Fellowship of Extraordinary Men
As soon as they were out of the room, Marcus took up position behind the other members of the Fellowship, the Prince taking up his place at the front while Robin, Ivanhoe and the Black Arrow waited in the middle. It was an instinctive placing, but everyone saw the sense in it; Marcus was the best equipped of the Fellowship to handle surprise attacks on them, and the Prince's time-bending powers would help the Fellowship escape any demons approaching them from the front if the need arose.
"Go," the Prince whispered, his sword drawn as he looked around the corridor in front of him. The Fellowship ran forward, diving through the door opposite them as fast as they could. Marcus thought he heard something walking along the corridor they'd just left as he shut the door behind him, but he decided not to mention it; it wouldn't help anyone to get nervous about being caught before the main fight.
Eventually, after diving through various other doors, gradually heading deeper and deeper into the tower, the Prince froze, raising one hand in a holding gesture.
"What?" the Black Arrow whispered. "Are we there?"
The Prince looked back at his friends, and nodded.
"We're there," he said simply. "Grab my hands."
"You're going to freeze time?" Ivanhoe asked, as he reached out and grabbed the Prince's left arm.
"Yes," the Prince nodded. "It's going to be easy enough to get in there, but I'm sure we'd all prefer to know what we'd be dealing with before we actually charge in, arrows flying and swords slashing."
Robin nodded. "A sensible decision," he said to his friend. "Do it."
The Prince nodded, grabbed the other Fellowship members by the hands, and walked into the door as the air around them began to shimmer, and everything around them froze in motion.
Instantly, the Fellowship dived into the room, the five of them looking around the room as they entered it…
And staring at it in horror.
It was massive. It appeared to stretch all the way from the top of the tower to the bottom, but seemed to stretch to a width and height that was even greater than that of the tower they were inside in the first place.
The Fellowship were on a large stone path that stretched in a circle around the walls of the tower, only a hundred or so metres away from the bottom of the tower, which was full to near-bursting point with all kinds of demons. At the bottom of the tower, there was a large swirling portal, currently crackling with purple energy. The Fellowship looked down into the portal curiously, and were shocked to see a large clawed tentacle reaching out of it, twisted in a manner that suggested terrible pain and agony.
However, their attention was soon drawn to the other end of the bolt of energy; specifically, a large throne, several hundred feet above the Fellowship, above which was hovering- literally hovering- a tall, beautiful woman in black robes with magnificent, long red hair and a content grin on her face, surrounded by the pale purple glow from the portal.
(AN: Picture Morgraine as looking like a red-haired Jennifer Connelly, similar to her appearance in 'Hulk'.)
About two hundred feet below her, and almost directly opposite the Fellowship, Mordred was standing, watching the claw below him with an arrogant smirk on his face. He had apparently discarded his robe, which was now lying beside him in a heap, and was dressed in black armour, totally covered save for his head, and held a long, deadly-looking sword in his hands as he held it in front of him.
However, before any of the Fellowship could do anything else, the Prince dragged them all back out the door, slamming it shut behind him, and then restarting time as soon as he'd ascertained that nobody was watching them.
"What… was… that?!" the Black Arrow said, looking over at Marcus in horror.
"Presumably, Morgraine has decided that she's prepared to settle for just one of the Old Ones for the moment," Marcus said, as the rest of the Fellowship looked around at each other in horror.
"But… but you said she would require human sacrifices to awaken the Old Ones!" Ivanhoe said, almost sounding like he was panicking now.
"If she was sane, that would be her most sensible option, yes," Marcus said. "However, it is possible to summon the Old Ones without sacrificing humans, although the strain on the human casting the spell would be phenomenal- it would come remarkably close to killing them-, and they would only be able to call one of the Old Ones, rather than all of them." He sighed. "Of course, even one of them would be too much for anybody to stop them." He looked around at the Fellowship, his expression as fixed as stone. "We have to strike now, before that… thing comes through."
Robin nodded. "Let's go," he said, as he checked the arrow in his bow. The Black Arrow did the same, and the other three pulled out their swords and daggers as they looked at their leader.
Robin swallowed. "You have all seen what we face beyond that door," he said, as he looked around at the Fellowship. "We are all aware of the stakes, and we are also aware of the odds against us achieving success. However, I have one thing I wish to say." He smiled slightly, a dry, humourless grin that didn't quite suit him. "Think of what you are fighting for. Picture what will happen to your loved ones if you fail in this struggle. And above all, remember that you are now part of a whole. Whatever happens in there, you shall not face it alone."
He held out one hand, palm down, in the centre of the circle formed by the Fellowship. The Prince followed it, placing his hand on top of Robin's, Marcus, Ivanhoe, and the Black Arrow repeating the gesture.
Robin looked the Fellowship, and they all nodded before pulling back.
"Remember; Morgraine is mine," he said simply. The he turned to Marcus and jerked his thumb towards the door. "Break it down."
Marcus nodded, turned towards the door, and charged forward, turning his shoulder to face the door. It cracked in half, the two pieces flying into the room, striking a nearby demon with two large horns on the sides of its head, knocking it back into a collection of small hedgehog-like creatures carrying swords.
As the Fellowship tore through the door, all the faces of the army turned to look in their direction, raising their weapons in preparation for battle, and about half of the Fellowship- the Black Arrow and Ivanhoe specifically- thought the same thing.
Did we just make a terrible mistake?
"WHAT?!" Morgraine Le Fay roared, as she turned to look down at the five figures. "You five DARE to defy ME?? ME??!! When I am the controller of this army of darkness??!!" she added, as she waved her hands around to indicate the mass of demons that were already turning to face the Fellowship.
Robin simply smiled a little as he walked forward to look up at Morgraine.
"We dare, Morgraine," he said simply. "We dare because we are all representatives of the world you seek to destroy, and we shall not tolerate any damage to the people we have sworn to lead and protect. We dare because we were formed to save our world, and we shall never give up until you have fallen." Then he smiled and raised his bow. "But mainly, we dare because we simply hate you."
And he fired the arrow at the woman in front of him.
Morgraine's arm raced up, catching the arrow in her hand before it could strike her. Breaking it in two, she threw it aside as she looked at Robin, a smirk on her face.
"You thought that could stop me?" she asked him, as she started to lower herself down to face him and the Fellowship. "I have survived countless magical battles with Merlin himself; you thought an arrow could hurt me?"
Robin simply sighed as he faced Morgraine, slinging his bow over his shoulder as he drew a sword.
"Maybe it could not hurt you," he said to his foe, as he shifted into a combat stance. "The question is, in a fair fight, could you hurt me?"
Morgraine looked at Robin with a smug expression on her face. Then she nodded.
"Very well," she said. "I shall face you in combat, Robin Hood, on two conditions."
"Name them," Robin replied.
"One; none of your fellows shall interfere with the struggle," Morgraine said.
"Agreed, so long as yours agree to do the same," Robin said. "And the second?"
"I choose the battleground," Morgraine said.
Robin simply nodded.
Morgraine smiled and waved her hand in mid air.
Instantly, a large hole formed in the air in front of Robin, through which could be seen a barren landscape covered with rocks and grass. It resembled the portal through which Morgraine had been channelling energy to awaken the Old Ones when the Fellowship had arrived, but orange, and a great deal smaller; it looked like it could only transport a couple of people at a time.
"In here," Morgraine said, looking at Robin from above the portal. "I shall leave it open so that you may depart if you should win the combat, but you may not leave while I still live, and I may not use my magic. You shall be free to go when, and only when, I am dead. Agreed?"
Marcus leaned over to Robin's ear.
"Don't do it!" he whispered at his friend. "She's bound to have set up a catch! She's evil through and through; we can't trust anything she says!"
Robin sighed. "I have no choice, Marcus," he said. "If I fight her here, there is no guarantee she won't just destroy us all in the crossfire. At least this way, I can insure none of you are hurt." He looked over at the vampire. "Promise me one thing."
"Yes?" Marcus asked, as Morgraine rose over the portal and lowered herself down to face its entrance.
"If I fail, tackle her yourself," Robin said. "You would stand the best chance of vanquishing her for good, and I shall not have anyone else risking their lives because I was not good enough."
Marcus nodded. "I shall," he said. Then he reached up and clasped Robin's shoulder. "Good luck, Robin Hood."
"Thank you, Marcus," Robin said. Then he turned to face Morgraine. "I am ready."
Morgraine smiled. "Let's go," she said simply.
Then she spun in a brief circle and dived into the portal. Robin took a deep breath and leapt in after her, the portal briefly turning red as the two of them entered it. Then it swirled around for a few brief seconds, before shrinking to barely a quarter of its original size.
The Black Arrow blinked in surprise, and looked over at Marcus and the Prince.
"Is that going to be a… problem?" he asked them, looking a bit nervous for the fate of his new friend.
"Oh, no worries," Marcus said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. "In the majority of cases involving portals like these, they normally shrink down on the 'exit' side to transfer all energy to the side people will be entering it by. Don't worry, I'm sure Robin will be fine!"
He grinned widely at the other three Fellowship members.
"Stop that," Ivanhoe said, raising his sword slightly. "It's not helping matters. Besides, the vampire thing makes you look like you want a meal."
"Excuse me?" a voice said from the side. "Are you going to talk all day, or can we kill you yet?"
The four remaining members of the Fellowship turned around to look at the vast army of demons standing around them, the forces either armed and dangerous or just simply dangerous.
"Oh, nuts…" the Black Arrow whispered, as he looked at the forces around him. "We're in trouble now."
Marcus shrugged and looked over at the others. "Well, if this is the way it has to end, I'd just like to say it's been a pleasure to work with you all," he smiled. "I have never known a braver collection of mortals."
"Thank you," the Prince nodded. Then he turned to face the surrounding demons. "Beware," he said to them, "we are the four deadliest non-demonic beings on the planet, the deadliest of fighters from all over the world. We shall not fall easily."
The demons looked around at each other, and burst out laughing.
The Prince looked back at Ivanhoe. "That's not the reaction I was hoping for," he said, looking a little dejected.
"Oh, for the love of our Lord…" the Black Arrow groaned, as he pulled an arrow out of his quiver and slid it onto his bow. "If you want to make an impression, my friends," he said, as he walked forward to stand in front of the others, "don't stand around and talk to your foes."
He raised the bow and fired the arrow, striking a particularly large, muscular demon directly in the eye. The demon screamed, reached up to its eye, coughed up some blood, and then collapsed onto the ground, the demons behind it stepping out of the way of its collapsing body.
The demons looked over at their fallen comrade, and then turned to face the Fellowship.
"Well, that certainly got their attention," Marcus muttered to the Black Arrow.
Then the entire army roared as though they were all one beast, and leapt onto the Fellowship.
Instantly, the three humans and the vampire launched into action, their swords flashing desperately as they fought against the onslaught of dark opponents.
The final battle had begun.