Disclaimer: I don't own JN or any songs, or anything copyrighted.
No Way Out
"What was that?" Sheen asked, squinting through the dust that was swirling through the air.
"I think the TST overloaded!" Jimmy yelled over the din of steel on steel and horses thundering across the once-lush ground.
"Why can't you just make inventions that – " Cindy started, but Jimmy cut her off.
"Be quiet! We're in the middle of a battle in case you didn't know, head to that ruin over there!" He yelled, pointing to a stone tower that had been destroyed by catapults and battering rams and deserted.
Sheen pulled Libby up onto his horse, but Cindy started running in the direction of the tower, her elegant shoes in her hand.
Libby rolled her eyes, glancing at Jimmy. Sheen thought he heard her mutter something that sounded like denial before he jabbed his spurs into the horse and galloped after Jimmy.
He, Jimmy caught her without a problem, and he slowed his horse to a trot. "Come on Cindy, you'll never get anywhere on foot."
"Forget it Neutron." She snapped, panting.
"Fine, but how do you plan on outrunning them?" He asked, pointing with his armored and gauntleted hand at around twenty Saracens (These were the people fighting the crusaders for Acre and Jerusalem, they vastly outnumbered the crusaders and led by a brilliant strategist) five of which were on horseback.
She took one look at these people and allowed him to pull her behind him on his horse. She sat sidesaddle, holding onto his armored shoulders.
"Why are they chasing us?" She asked.
"One because we don't exactly look like we're from the middle east and are thus assumed to be on the Crusaders' side, and two Sheen and I are wearing Knights Templar tunics." He said, tapping the blood-red cross on the tunic he had been wearing over his plate armor for the demonstration.
"Oh." She said, what else was there to say. Jimmy dug his heels into the horse, and his spurs urged the horse faster and faster, steadying his steel-tipped lance.
Jimmy's mount sped, partly in terror from the din of fast approaching enemies and partly because of Jimmy's steel spurs. Sheen beat him there, crashing through the open door, and he dismounted, Libby behind him, as his horse collapsed. Jimmy too, made it, and he dismounted as well.
"Okay, we made it. Carl you…Carl? CARL!" Jimmy said absentmindedly, before he screamed his friend's name.
"Yeah Jim."
"WHAT!" Jimmy jumped, a remarkable feat in full plate armor. "How did you get here?"
"Oh, Waffles and I went, okay, I lost control and Waffles went galloping into the woods, but we circled around and came in from the back." Carl explained, panting with exhaustion.
"Okay. Waffles? What's that, the horse?" Sheen asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Well yes." Carl admitted, a sheepish look crossing his face.
"Why would you name a war-horse Waffles?" Sheen asked, stunned.
"Well, you see, when I was learning to ride her, I imagined her to be a huge waffle, with a mane of syrup, and a tail of butter, and I was a sugar cube…"
"ENOUGH! Too much information!" Jimmy yelled.
Sheen, looked at Carl as if he were insane and muttered softly to himself, rocking back and forth. "No amount of therapy will ever make this moment okay…no amount of therapy will ever make this moment okay…"
"Oh cheer up, I hear Butch has a great therapist." Carl attempted to reassure him.
"CALL THE MEN IN WHITE SUITS!" Sheen yelled, backing away from Carl.
"What?"
"You know, the doormen of the happy hotel, the sheaperds at the funny farm. CARL'S INSANE!"
"Sheen, snap out of it." Jimmy said, punching him in the shoulder.
"Look, I know you guys are having a moment, but WE HAVE A SITUATION HERE!" Libby yelled pointing frantically at the approaching Saracens.
Jimmy grabbed up his lance and dug the hilt into the weak ground; it stuck fast, pointing at chest height through the broken doorway that had once held gates to protect the tower. Sheen copied him, and Carl as well. Jimmy drew a broadsword, Sheen his mace and Carl, a sword as well.
Cindy ran over to the opposite wall and grabbed a flail (Also known as a mace and chain) from the pile there, whirling it over her head in a deadly circle.
"Damn she's strong." Sheen whistled admiringly, and Libby kicked him, running over to the pile and getting a short sword. Just then, the enemy horsemen charged, one's horse impaling itself on a spear, the other two thundering over the first's body. The second swung his curved scimitar and Jimmy caught the blow on his shield. Stabbing out with his sword, Jimmy's thrust was parried easily by the Saracen, three feet taller, as he was mounted and Jimmy was not.
Sheen swung his mace and it slammed into Jimmy's opponent, smashing his armor at the leg and knocking him off the horse and into a stone wall.
But the Saracen was not dead, and he struggled up against the wall with his uninjured leg, only to be met by Jimmy hitting his helmet hard with the butt of his sword.
Unconscious, but not dead, the Saracen let darkness take him.
"He'll live." Sheen said, wheeling around to look for the other mounted warrior. He was swinging his sword over his head; horse slowly advancing towards Cindy, he grinned maliciously. But he had gravely underestimated his opponent, and her flail whipped around, the steel, spiked ball smashing into his side, and smashing him off the horse.
The other two horsemen charged in, and Jimmy ran up the crumbling stone spiral staircase, followed by the others. They had made the second floor when the two horsemen dismounted and charged up after them, screaming in rage. Jimmy stood five stairs from the top, body half hidden by the pillar supporting the staircase, in the center. The first Saracen screamed, berserk with rage, but, if he had stopped for a moment, he might have remembered that spiral staircases, built in the Medieval era, were designed so that someone coming up, would have their sword, in their right hand, blocked by the stone pillar, but the defender, coming down, would have full ability to swing his weapon. (They were designed this way because the attackers would never be coming down, but going up, think about it, how could they charge down from the top, if they're storming the castle). It was this mistake that cost him dearly, and Jimmy swung his sword with all his might, the blade whistling through the air. He swung and got more results than he ever expected, the blade slashing sickeningly into the man's side, under the Saracen's abbreviated armor. He pulled it free, with a sickening squelch.
Jimmy recoiled, kicking the horribly wounded man down the staircase, where he slammed into his comrade, both flying down the stone steps, with a bone-crushing smash on every stone step.
Jimmy staggered. "What have I done? What have I done?" He asked miserably.
"You had to Jimmy, there was no choice, it was life or death Jimmy, life or death. And if we get back home, we can go back and stop all of this from happening." Cindy reassured him, nice to him for the first time in over a year, as if it was back in freshman year, when they were still going out, and she still loved him.
"You-your right." Jimmy said, regaining his composure.
"Come on." Sheen urged, and they followed him, up the rest of the stairs. When they reached the top, the battlements destroyed by catapults, now crumbling dust, they looked depressedly at the oncoming thirty some odd Saracen warriors. But as they prepared themselves for what looked like their final fight, their last battle, six knights in shining, silver armor, with red tunics, emblazoned with a golden roaring lion on a background of two crossed swords came charging out of the blinding dust. The tall one in the lead raised his lance high, a banner flying behind it, attached to the pole. The five behind him did the same, although their lances didn't have banners. They broke ranks, changing from an offensive pyramid to a straight line, the leader slightly ahead of the others. They lowered their lances and their horses sped up, charging.
The thirty some Saracens, started to turn, but too late, the six knights were upon them. The knights ripped into the mass of enemies and charged right through, killing many of the Saracens. They went about fifteen feet beyond the enemies, before wheeling around and charging again, they threw their lances like spears, the tips thudding into six enemies and they drew swords. This time, they didn't go through, but stopped, the horses circling in place, their riders hacking with broadswords. After around three minutes of furious fighting, the knights prevailed, riding towards the ruined tower, leaving behind thirty some odd dead and wounded enemies.
Jimmy spun around. "Hurry."
"Can we trust them?" Libby asked.
"Are you kidding, I trust those guys about as far as I could throw them, but we can't fight them, so let's try to make peace." He said, heading off down the spiral staircase. The others tried to follow, but just then, Carl stepped on a rotting wooden section of the floor and crashed through. Down on the bottom floor, the tall, leader of the six knights looked up, he surmised what was happening and thrust the magnificent broadsword he was carrying into the ground, just as Carl came crashing through two more levels. The knight leader, braced himself and jabbed his horse with his spurs, the animal trotted forward a bit and Carl came through the ceiling.
The knight caught him as easily as a child would a kitten. And set him down on the chipped flagstone floor.
"Carl! Are you okay?" Jimmy yelled, as he the three others came thundering down the stairs.
"Yeah, I think I'm good, thanks to…whaaa…who are you?" Carl asked, jumping, slightly.
"Mr. Delayed Reaction, delivering idiotic remarks at reasonable speeds." Sheen said in what he obviously considered a professional radio announcer's voice.
The tall knight dismounted and removed his helmet. "Who am I? My name is Sir Christopher, surely you must know that." He said, surprised.
"We apologize sir knight, but we have been away for a considerably long time. Ought we to know you?" Cindy covered in a good impression of old English.
"I would humbly say so, but if you have been traveling for as long as you say, than perhaps not. I am the warrior leader of the Crusader army, just under the king himself." He said.
"Apologies lord, we did not know." Jimmy said, kneeling. "I am Sir James of Wales."
"And I Sir…Sir George of Spain." Sheen added, inventing on the spot.
"And this is my squire, Alexander, he is an armiger, which explains his weapons." Jimmy said, (An armiger is a squire permitted to joust and do battle).
"And these fair ladies are?" Sir Christopher asked.
"Princess Aurora." (I got it from her middle name not from the story, you know).
"And I Princess Ambrose, or Rose, as you wish." Libby said.
"These are my comrades, Sir John, Sir Justin, Sir Richard, Sir Julius, and Sir Robin." The leader said, pointing at each of the five knights in turn.
"I see you are knights templar, what are you doing here, away from the battle." He asked.
"We were attacked by the Saracens that you killed, and we were forced to fall back to ensure the safety of our charges." Jimmy said, gesturing to Cindy and Libby.
"I see, will you now join us in the melee."
As the alleged Sir Christopher said this, Jimmy took in his face, he had long, light brown hair and brilliant green eyes eyes, his features were strong and he bore a long scar down his cheek, he was tall, maybe six foot three, and very strong. Jimmy vaguely recognized him, as if from a dream, or a dream of a dream. Cindy looked intently at him as well, and she felt something nagging at the back of her mind, as if she should know this man, but she couldn't quite place it. A thought crossed Jimmy's mind, but he quickly dismissed it.
Sir Christopher studied the five people in front of him. They appeared too young to be knights, but then again, so did a lot of knights, new ones, not yet experienced in warfare, perhaps they had just been knighted, those two, maybe during this very crusade. Yesterday or the day before perhaps, it was not unusual for a squire to be knighted in the midst of battle. But this squire, he was much to close in age to the two knights to be authentic, he dismissed it though, did it matter. No, of course not, but he knew something they didn't. He knew, and this brought a smile devoid of happiness to his face, as he strapped on his helmet once again and re-mounted his horse, his slightly bloody recovered lance in right hand now, shield on his left arm and sword sheathed.
"Yes, yes we will, you ride ahead and we will join you shortly."
They waited until the knights had left before speaking again. "Well Princess Aurora, care to join us, or will you stay here?" Jimmy asked, teasingly.
"Oh shut up, I'm coming, I've just got to get some armor. Nice name by the way, Sir James."
"Hey, that's my real name." He said, offended.
"I know." She said.
"So genius, why can't we just use your rings to get back to our time period?" Cindy asked.
"I already tried, that, but if it overloaded it must be a smoking ruin by now, and thus can't transport us back." He said, slowly, as if explaining to an ignorant child.
"Don't you dare patronize me Neutron!" She warned; her hand clenched in a fist.
In a dark, quiet castle, a short distance the halls illuminated by a few insubstantial, flickering candles, that transformed the bare walls into ominous, hulking bemoths, a figure in armor wearing a hood, pulled down to mask his face spoke.
"You followed through then."
A younger, shorter person answered him in cold tones.
"Of course I did, why do you think they're here? I held up my end of the deal, now you hold up yours."
"Don't pretend you're smarter than me, do you know who I am?" The first man said, his voice enraged and threatening.
"Ha, don't make me laugh, you seem to have forgotten just who I am. Now I brought them here and destroyed their machine, now it is your turn to fulfill your promise."
"Fool." The armored man spat the word, as if it were a challenge, and, before the other had time to even blink, he had drawn his sword and thrust it through the younger man's gut.
He bent over, gasping in pain, and slumped against the wall, jerking uncontrollably in death throes.
The armored man yanked his bloodstained broadsword and wiped it with the dead man's shirt, he coolly thrust it into his sheath and surveyed the corpse mildly as if it were some vaguely interesting play or television show. He then turned on his heel and strode out of the dimly lit room.
The torch bracketed to the wall in the room he had just left flickered particularly brightly, illuminating for a moment, the dead form of Jimmy's evil clone.
A/N: Bet you didn't see that one coming! So, what'd ya think? R+R!