Ralph nodded. "Indeed, so if you are my Father why did you run out on my Mother? Why did you leave us defenseless to the hands of your Father's mercenaries who came to try and kidnap me? Left my Mom with no means of support? Seeking only to try and provide a vessel you hoped your Father would take in place of you to extend his life."
The men behind King Andrew began murmuring.
King Andrew sputtered.
Ralph sneered at him. "So then Father if that is who you claim to be. I've had ten birthdays without you. Where are all my gifts? Surely you brought something. Especially considering today is my birthday. Or have you forgotten? You probably never even bothered to learn it. How manly of you to cower behind a baby. Do all of your men know just what a spineless coward you are?"
A noticeable snickering went on in the ranks of his soldiers.
The Ambassador turned and glared at the men and they all quieted down.
King Andrew became embarrassed as Ralph insulted and demeaned him in front of his men. King Andrew looked at his second in command and whispered. "No matter what happens here, I want you to dispatch the assassins, I want Paige gutted. King Andrew turned and glared at Ralph. "You spoiled little brat, I'll take you over my knee."
Ralph laughed. "I'd like to see you try. I challenge you and you alone, myself. Here on this field. If you win against me then I will willingly go with you but if I win you must sign away any perceived right to me to my real Dad. Unless you are nothing more than the coward everyone seems to agree you are."
Paige's eyes went wide. "Ralph, no."
Walter caught her as she tried to push past him. "Paige. He is ten. He has the right to do this."
Baron stepped up along with the great Mother and Allie. "I'm afraid your husband is quite correct my Lady. The challenge has been issued and your son is ten. We must see how the King responds."
The great Mother put her arm around Paige. "Try to relax my Lady. We're here to support all of you."
Paige smiled wanly at her as Happy stepped up to stand on the other side of her.
King Andrew heard his men openly laughing at the taunts Ralph slung with deadly accuracy. And now being challenged by a child, he licked his lips. He looked at his second in command. "Select some men to take the arrogant brat."
Lord Walter's eyes went wide as he heard the order and he leapt out, drawing his hammer from his belt and thrusting into the air. He intoned, "By the wise Lady." His hammer erupted in power and light as he landed just in front of Ralph. King Andrew's men immediately backed up quickly leaving their King more than thirty feet away from them. "You cowardly knave, you dare to call on armed men to subdue my son. Either answer his challenge yourself now or revoke all claims upon him forever. But by the wise Lady if even one of your men takes a single step forward I will end all of your lives."
Baron and Sir Cabe walked out and stood next to Lord Walter and Sir Cabe drew his sword as Baron thrust his walking stick into the air. He intoned, "By the grace of Hera." The stick erupted in light much similar to Lord Walter's hammer. "I may be a retired Paladin King Andrew but I promise you I can make a significant dent in your men. You have brought much disgrace upon yourself. Now obey Lord Walter and either answer Master Ralph's challenge yourself or sign away all rights here and now."
Allie looked at the great Mother. "Great Mother, would you consent to stay with our Lady to protect her while I step forward?"
The great Mother smiled and nodded as Paige sputtered and stared at Allie in disbelief.
Allie and Sylvester walked out and stood next to Sir Cabe and her eyes were glowing like white fire. "Speak villain, the Earth goddess demands your answer."
Sylvester gestured towards Lady Paige and the great Mother as he intoned a spell. Suddenly a shield surrounded around them.
King Andrew licked his lips and he looked back at a sound and saw his men were now constantly moving backwards. He was now more than twenty yards from his men. "Fine, I will meet and contest with this impudent child. But when he loses I want your word of honor he comes with me."
Lord Walter looked at his friends and gestured and they all stepped back behind Ralph. Lord Walter gestured a finger at Drew. "This will be a fair fight, attempt even one trick and I will end you where you stand."
Walter stepped backwards three times and looked down at Ralph. "You have learned a lot my son. I trust you in this matter. Do you want my hammer?"
Ralph smiled as he looked up at his Dad and shook his head. "It's too heavy for me still Dad. It'll be okay."
Walter nodded and watched as King Andrew slid out of his saddle and drew his sword.
Ralph took two steps out and stood there glaring at Drew.
King Andrew sneered. "You should have taken his hammer. You won't stand a chance against me without a weapon. Not that you could with one."
"I have a weapon villain." Ralph copied Allie's word as he pulled up his shirt and grabbed the hammer head of Lord Markus's hammer and pulled it out and thrust it up into the air. He intoned, "By the grace of the wise lady." The hammer burst forth with the white light of Athena and most everyone was shocked.
Baron stood there dumbstruck. "It is true."
The great Mother smiled as she hugged Paige from the side. "You must be so proud."
Paige nodded even though she was feeling sick.
King Andrew stepped back several feet. "You tricked me."
Ralph shook his head. "You tricked yourself. You only looked with your eyes and saw what you wanted to see. I am the son and squire of a real Paladin and I will teach you a lesson you won't ever forget."
King Andrew growled in anger and began running forward.
Ralph dropped the hammer and caught the thong. As he threw it without letting go he intoned, "By the wise Lady." The yellow energy of Athena leaped from the hammer and slammed into Drew sending him sprawling backwards into the dirt and gravel. With no where else for the energy to go it dissipated.
King Andrew struggled to rise up.
Ralph started to run out and Lord Walter coughed and he stopped instantly and stepped back the four steps he had taken.
King Andrew finally got back up and wiped at the blood running down his face from his nose. "You little bastard, I'm going to gut you in front of your Mother." He made an almost imperceptible gesture.
"Talk is cheap, just like you." Ralph told him.
King Andrew ran forward again and this time Ralph concentrated and the white fire of Athena ran down his body and spiraled out in a spider web design. King Andrew's eyes went wide. He tried to stop but ran right into it and he began dancing around and ran back out of the fire as smoke began issuing off of him and his legs began burning.
Baron began laughing. "By Hera, what a son you have my Lord."
Lord Walter grinned with pride in his son.
Ralph flung his hammer again without letting go. "By the wise Lady," he intoned again. The yellow energy leaped and slammed hard into Drew again knocking him down when suddenly the energy leaped from Drew and struck a figure moving through shadow towards Ralph and drove the man out of the shadow and to the ground. The energy leaped from the man and struck Drew as he struggled to rise and knocked him down yet again and then leaped back and struck the thief and leaped back to Drew as he lay on the ground groaning and leaped back over and struck the thief again who was trying to run away.
As soon as Lord Walter saw the thief running away he drew back with his hammer and threw it. "By the wise Lady," he intoned and the hammer emitted the sound of a crack of thunder as it looked to transform into lighting. It struck the thief hard in the back and drove him more than fifty yards away. He crashed hard into the rest of King Andrew's men.
Allie's eyes went wide and as she brought her hands together she swung her arms to the side and her eyes blazed white. She brought her arms back around and thrust them out and the men in Drew's army were struck one by one by the lightning bolt as it leaped from man to man.
Sylvester intoned a spell and gestured. Fire trails ran out from his hand and passed over the heads of Drew's men and erupted over them engulfing the area in a large fireball.
King Andrew stared back in disbelief at what was left of his men as everyone of them was burning in a roaring inferno.
"Sir Cabe, guard my son." Lord Walter yelled as he strode out towards Drew. "Garrison." His hammer flew back to him and Lord Walter caught it as Sir Cabe grabbed Ralph around his chest. He brought him struggling through the shield and stood with him next to the Lady Paige as she hugged him fiercely before checking him for any sign of injury. The great Mother stood there smiling as she watched her.
Suddenly Selase shrieked out loudly. Everyone turned and they saw her rise up and lash out with her talons. Three men were knocked out of the shadow right behind Lady Paige on the opposite side of the shield. Two of the men fell and struck two other men and knocked them out of the shadow.
The great Mother gestured and a yellow bubble appeared around Paige adding another layer of protection around her. Sir Cabe stared in disbelief that the men had maneuvered around well enough that they could have killed Lady Paige had it not been for Sylvester's shield and Selase's quick warning.
Ralph growled seeing the men and invoked the Consecration Fire and suddenly twenty other men were driven out of the shadow all around the shield surrounding Lady Paige.
Baron's eyes went wild as he focused and the white fire of Hera raced out of his body and encompassed the same area as Athena's fire and the men all began screaming and trying to move out of that double holy fire.
Lord Walter turned and began to run back when Baron held up his hand. "We have your Lady my Lord. Do what you must do. We will protect her until you are free."
King Andrew looked up and saw Lord Walter turn and began stalking up towards him coming for him and he struggled to move back and raised his sword.
Lord Walter's face was beyond dark. He'd never felt such anger before. Lord Walter swung his hammer and shattered the blade thrust out at him.
King Andrew's eyes went wide and he dropped what was left of his sword.
Ralph intoned, "By the wise Lady." He swung his hammer and the yellow energy flew out and began striking man after man.
Baron intoned, "By the grace of the great Mother." He swung his walking stick and the yellow energy leaped off and began striking a different set of men.
Selase bit the head off several of the men as Sir Cabe charge through the shield and began attacking with his sword.
Sylvester gestured and fire leaped from his hands and struck a man as the other Cleric of Hera gestured. "By the great Mother," yellow energy struck at one of the men.
Lord Walter reached out and grabbed Drew by the throat and yanked him up in the air. "You dare to try and assassinate my wife and dishonor a time honored tradition? Your action forfeits the contest and your life."
As his right hand swung his hammer, he stopped suddenly as he heard Paige yell out. "Walter." King Andrew was coughing and choking as he gasped for breath. All the while King Andrew was beating on Lord Walter's arm trying to get free.
Walter looked back and saw a pleading look in her eyes. "Please, not in front of Ralph.
Sir Fredrick had led the men of the Keep as they rushed forward and aided in attacking all of the thieves.
Walter didn't see any other enemy around Paige and he looked at Selase. "Selase, take Ralph back to school."
Selase flared her wings and Sir Cabe picked Ralph up and put him on her saddle even as he struggled to get free.
"Ralph." Lord Walter yelled.
Ralph looked up at his Dad. "I want to stay."
Lord Walter shook his head. "Return to school, now."
Before Ralph could say another word Selase turned and took four steps and leaped into the air and began beating her wings and took him back towards school. Sir Frederick and the other Cleric of Hera turned and followed along to maintain Ralph's safety.
Lord Walter looked back at King Andrew. His face was turning ashen color and his arms hung limply. The strain of holding Drew out away from his body was growing and Walter felt his muscles beginning to tremble. He finally brought him in close to him. Almost nose to nose Lord Walter stared into his eyes. He watched for a moment as the light in his eyes grew dimmer.
"You could have lived to have been an old man had you chosen. But you dared to cheat against a ten year old boy. And you plotted to kill my beloved. I'm not sure why I am surprised. Especially knowing you used Paige for the sole reason as to produce a child, just to save your own life from the despicable man who fathered you. You could have come to me and told me what your Father was doing to his kids and I would have protected you until I could have ended his miserable life. This world is better off without you in it." Lord Walter told him.
He was nearly dead but Lord Walter wasn't willing to just wait until the last vestiges of his life ran out. His hand suddenly jerked and everyone could hear the sound of something popping. Lord Walter opened his hand and Drew fell to the ground dead.
Baron walked out along with Paige and the great Mother.
Walter ordered his guards to move out and retrieve the weapons from each of Drew's men, if any weapons had survived what Allie and Sylvester had done. He further ordered them to search their horses and wagons for any other weapons and to confiscate them as well.
Paige wrapped her arms around Walter. "Thank you for not killing him in front of Ralph. I know Ralph doesn't value him but still, he knows Drew fathered him and to see the man he loves and considers his Dad to kill the other it might have been too much at his age."
Walter hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry I had to. I know at one time you loved him. I'd rather of let him live but clearly he had no honor and no matter how this turned out I am sure he would have kept coming for Ralph."
Paige nodded. "I agree. I'm sorry you had to kill him, I know you prefer not to unless you are pushed that far. But I am not sorry he is gone."
Greetings! Hoping this finds you all still well. We've had a bit of a challenge the last few days. High heat and stuffy air. Makes it hard for lungs to breathe. It is bad enough on me so I can only imagine how bad it is on the wife with all that fluid making it hard to breathe as well.
Franxine - hehe Sorry, yea I know last chapter was getting good and I ended it. Hope it was worth the wait! I actually haven't been keeping up with the other story. I've got so much going on I'm struggling to get chapters written and ready to post each day. I'm not sure yet if there will be a chapter tomorrow or not as I haven't even started on the next Lady Knight chapter and I haven't started the final chapter of this segment yet either so...*yikes*
Scorpling - Yep, looks like no decision this time! lol
I finally received another art commission I had made wow...quite some time ago, well over a month. The artist ran into some problems. But it is a cute scene of Lord Walter, Lady Paige and Ralph enjoying a family day along the bank of Lake Athena. There is a link on my bio page under my Twitter link if you want to see it. I'm working with the same artist who has done a number of pieces for me for another one that will be taken from the next segment of the Knight's Tale story line. I can hardly wait! lol
To the Adventure! -Tim