Episode 1: Part 2
The front door of the shop shuddered again as the spriggans threw their weight behind it in a loud thud. Kristen looked about quickly and gave a growl as she passed the box over to Connor. "Whatever you do, don't let anything happen to those rings."
The Druid took a few steps forward and raised her staff in a defensive stance to shield the four cowering students. As she did, the emerald atop the staff radiated a faint green barrier of energy as if it were some magic force field.
"Do you think the windows will hold those things?" Noelle asked, but her question was immediately answered as the windows shattered and the front door was smashed open by the spriggan warriors. The dark fey minions snarled and charged forward into the shop but several were thrown back as Kristen advanced and gave her staff a swing. The spriggans froze in momentary surprise, having not expected to fight a Druid and it gave Kristen a moment to skillfully smash her weapon into two more warriors blocking the way.
"You four! Go now! Get out of here!" she shouted as she twirled her staff and tried to fend off the rest of the evil faerie minions.
"You don't have to tell me twice," Laura replied grabbing Noelle's wrist and scrambling to her feet. Connor gave Quinton a nod and the four students made a fearful dash through the melee to escape through the shattered front window of the store. To their shock, they saw several more spriggans waiting outside along with a large monstrous goatman leading them. The long rays of the evening sun reflected off the beastman's thick polished leather armor, marked with the emblem of Balor's Evil Eye. While the monsters grouped together, the streets around the block emptied out with terrified cries of the local residents and students.
As they skidded to a halt in front of the monsters, Quinton gasped as he bumped into Noelle from behind, "Crap! What now?"
Laura glanced over and caught sight of a nearby park across the street leading back toward the main university campus. She gave Connor's sleeve a quick tug and gestured towards the trees, "Come on! Let's try to lose them there!"
The four students took off running in a mad dash and sprinted across the grassy field leading toward the woods. Hot on their heels came the spriggans and the satyr who gave a furious snort, "Don't let those children get away!"
A few of the spriggans halted and drew forth some shortbows with blackened arrows. They raised their weapons and fired a volley into the air and just as the four students neared the trees, the bolts struck the ground in front of them. To their surprise, the arrows erupted in a stunning burst of dark magic which threw the four young people backwards and knocked them off their feet.
Amid the smoke, the students scrambled to their knees and quickly huddled together while several of the spriggans surrounded them in a semi-circle. As they did, Noelle bent down for a moment to retrieve her beret, but found it had been completely scorched in the blast. "Yikes, I've been meaning to get rid of it... but not like this," she muttered in fear.
After the smoke cleared, the large satyr warrior approached holding a weapon resembling a hatchet and he gave a contemptuous snort while pawing the ground with his cloven foot, "There's no escaping Balor's Fomorian Host... especially not from me, the great Goraak."
"What do you want?" Noelle called out in fear.
Goraak frowned, "I've tracked that pixie to you and we know it must have been for something important. If you're keeping it in that box, then hand it over and I might let you live."
The others turned to Connor as he clutched the box protectively.
"Do it before I lose my patience, boy!"
Connor stared down the monstrous satyr for a long moment before giving a sigh and nodding. He grudgingly extended his arm and tossed the box at the monster's feet. Quinton and Noelle looked on in horror while Laura whirled around on Connor, "What is wrong with you? Miss Bloom said not to let anything happen to the rings!"
Connor gave a sly smile, and opened his palm exposing the four rings, "You're right. The monster only asked for the box… and that's exactly what I gave him."
Goraak stood in momentary confusion as he opened the box and found it to be empty. When he realized he had been tricked, he ground his teeth, "You're going to pay for that."
As the monster stomped forward, Connor quickly passed the silver rings to the two girls and a gold one to Quinton, "Kristen said these things were supposed to be worn by guardians… let's hope they can protect us right now."
As the four slipped the rings on, they stopped and stared in wonder as the colored gems began to glow and resonate. The sudden light of the rings also caused the satyr and his spriggan troops to freeze in their tracks.
"What is happening?" Noelle asked curiously as her ring radiated a brilliant orange light. The four students slowly rose to their feet and felt a surge of elemental energy wash over them, enveloping their whole beings. It was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. The sudden force of the transformation released a miniature shockwave that threw back the spriggans in a dazzling light. Even the goatman recoiled for a moment and couldn't help but shield his eyes.
When the light faded, the dark fey gaped in shock at the sight before them. In place of the four students, stood four warriors girded in resplendent fey armor. The spriggans fell back and cowered, immediately recognizing the magnificent designs of the armor and weapons crafted for the greatest knights of the ancient Elven courts.
Each knight wore form fitting suits of chainmail in different colors. Over their colorful feather-light hauberks was finely crafted plate armor consisting of gauntlets, pauldrons, and lamed cuirasses. Upon their heads were sleek barbute helmets with a visor to cover their face and a small crest adorning the top. Just like the knights' rings, the color of their steel plate armor matched the jewelry: the girls in silver, and the boys in gold.
"Wow… check us out," Connor gasped in awe of his red and gold colored armor. "We just transformed into medieval warriors or something..."
"Almost like Power Rangers..." Noelle added as she admired her own outfit.
Nearby, the satyr Goraak rubbed his eyes and tried to rally his dark fey minions, "No… it can't be. Those are not the Hibernian Knights! They are imposters!"
The spriggans exchanged confused looks before the four warriors stepped forward. Connor curiously glanced at his side and saw the hilt of a bladed weapon sheathed there. He reached for the handle and drew forth a fine Elven blade resembling a long scimitar, then took a moment to admire its slight curve and the flowing inscriptions which ran along the fuller. As the blade caught the light of the fading sun, the steel began to glow red and generate some heat.
"I don't know what's going on, but first thing's first you guys. I say we deal with these jokers and then help Kristen."
The others nodded and each knight reached over to draw forth their own unique bladed weapons. In Laura's hand was an icy rapier covered in blue frost while Noelle held a curved falcata sword which twinkled with shimmering orange light. Beside them, Quinton gripped a short green colored sword in one hand and a Celtic sickle in the other. Each of the teens had never actually handled any of those weapons before, but strangely enough, it was like they instinctively knew what to do with them. Maybe it was all the Faerie magic, but they could wait to ask Kristen later. Right now, they had a bunch of monsters to deal with.
"What are you waiting for? Kill them!" Goraak shouted in order to spur his foot soldiers forward.
The four knights surged forward with their weapons and clashed with the dark fey warriors. Despite the cumbersome appearance of their armor, each of the knights found that they could still move swiftly and easily in combat. Even more surprising, they fought with greater speed, agility, and strength than they knew they were capable of. The satyr Goraak could only watch in horror as the band or spriggans were easily taken down by the unique fighting styles of the four warriors.
Laura stood with her icicle shaped rapier and swiftly parried aside several spriggan lunges. As she swept her foes aside, she maintained her defensive poise and gracefully counter attacked, slashing them back with cold cruel efficiency. The Winter Knight moved swiftly making several lunges and backhanded slashes as if using a tennis racket. Any spriggans not caught by her blade were still struck by a wave of cold air and found their own movements slowed. As the air continued to grow cold around the Winter Knight, a gusting wind suddenly arose from nearby and swept up a cloud of fallen leaves.
The leaves quickly swirled around Noelle as she used quick feints and tricky evasive maneuvers to keep her enemies off balance. As she blocked and countered with her curved sword, the Autumn Knight swept her blade up to blind the spriggans with a burst of air and leaves. By the time they had recovered their wits, each of them were cut down by her punishing slashes. After seeing a few spriggans back off, Noelle charged her curved blade and hurled it like a boomerang with the wind. The lethal falcata spun in the air and destroyed several more minions before returning to the knight's hand.
Across the lawn, Quinton fought his own enemies using a dual wielding fighting style, much like a duelist of old. As each spriggan approached and committed an attack, Quinton would either deflect the blow with his sickle, or use it to disarm the foe to leave it open for a counter-attack with the short sword. Before any of the other spriggan warriors could get a feel for their enemy's fighting style, the Spring Knight charged both his weapons with the surging lightning of a Spring thunderstorm and unleashed it on the minions in a blinding thunderclap.
Goraak stumbled back from the momentary thunder and lightning before turning to witness Connor wiping out the rest of the spriggans. The Summer Knight moved with confident determination and slashed aside the dark fey with powerful aggressive blows of his red hot blade. For a moment, the satyr trembled at the young knight's fiery wrath witnessing Connor glow as brilliantly as the summer sun before sweeping aside the last of the spriggans with another searing slash. As the crowd of spriggans fell to the knights' onslaught, they simply dissolved into dark wispy clouds of evil magic.
"And now that just leaves you, goat boy!" Connor called out in a challenge while leveling his blade toward the monster. "It's over for you!"
"You're wrong Summer Knight," Goraak snorted as he sheathed his weapon and fell back on all fours. "I'll be back... and when I do, the rest of our host will crush you and the Four Faerie Courts!"
Before any of the other knights could respond, the satyr warrior took off in a hasty retreat and faded into the shadows of dusk that had now fallen over Somerset Valley.
Connor growled and lowered his red hot sword while his other friends gathered around to regroup. With the battle over, the knights' armor dispelled, reverting them back to their original civilian forms.
"Wow... what a rush," Quinton exclaimed while a stunned look remained plastered on his face, "Did we really just summon some kind of magic power and take those monsters down? I mean... this is like some wild King Arthur kinda stuff going on here."
Noelle glanced at the ring on her finger, "No... more like Faerie magic. That monster mentioned Faerie Courts and called us... Hibernian Knights?"
Connor furrowed his brow, "A Roman term. Hibernia refers to ancient Ireland... all this stuff... it's got something to do with Celtic folklore, and it's all getting more real by the minute."
"This is totally absurd you know," Laura cut in. The English girl had an indignant tone in her voice, "You mean to tell me that all the old fairy tales that my Mum read to me are now running loose here? What kind of insane country is this?"
"A country that won't last very long if we don't figure out what's going on," Connor said turning back toward campus town, "Come on... we've got to hurry and get back to the antique shop."
The four students exchanged a tense look before hurrying back to the shop, all while praying that the spriggans didn't claim a victim for themselves.
To their relief, they returned just in time to see the lights of several police cars gathered around the antique shop. Out front of the shattered storefront stood an exhausted looking Kristen. While she gave a statement to some of the officers, the young Druid leaned on her staff and gave the impression that she had simply pulled an antique walking stick from a corner to fight off the invaders. She had a small cut on the side of her brow, most likely from some stray glass that had sprayed in the melee and a paramedic stood by to put a small dressing on it when she was done with the cops.
When she spotted the four students, she gave a surprised look as they approached her, "Connor? I thought I told you and your friends to get to safety... I... where are the rings?"
"Uh... about that," Connor said nervously as he and others held up their hands to show the rings on their fingers. Kristen simply stared in shock and confusion. For a moment, it looked like her eyes were going to bug out of her head before she regained her composure and lowered her voice.
"Did anything happen when you put those on?"
Noelle cringed with a slightly nervous look on her face, "Uh oh. Were we not supposed to do that?"
Laura crossed her arms and sighed, "Assuming I haven't become a complete nutter just now, the rings summoned some magic swords and armor for us. Some goat man named Goraak tried to kill us so we fought back."
Kristen stood speechless for a moment before shaking her head in disbelief, "I can't believe this is happening..."
Moments later, a young well dressed man who was also in his thirties came over and put his arms around her in a relieved hug, "Kristen, thank God you're okay."
The four teens looked closer and saw that the handsome dark haired man had a police badge fixed to his belt. Kristen let go and gestured toward the four students, "Damon, these are some new friends of mine, students from the school. Everyone, this is my boyfriend Detective Damon Pierce."
Damon gave a quick nod to greet the kids while keeping his face neutral, "Hi. I don't suppose any of you were in the area and saw what happened?"
"Sorry Detective," Quinton lied, "We just came now to check on Miss Bloom when we heard the store got attacked."
Damon nodded and turned back to his girlfriend, "Okay. Why don't you just sit tight right now. We're going to tape off your store and make sure no one trespasses. We're going to need everyone to clear the area so we can do a full sweep. Stay safe, alright?"
Kristen nodded with an innocent look and kissed Damon's cheek before seeing him off, "You too. I'll call you later."
After Damon left to join the other policemen, Connor cleared his throat and faced his employer, "Kristen... there are druids, goatmen, and faeries running all over our town. I think it's time you told us what's going on around here."
The druid looked to the new four knights and nodded slowly before using her wooden staff to gesture down the block. "All right. It's getting late so let's all head over to O'Doyle's Pub for dinner. We can sit down, eat, and then I'll tell you everything."
A/N:
If anyone is curious about the design of the heroes' armor and you need a visual, it's heavily based on the armor of the 2nd Age Elven soldiers from the Lord of the Rings. I thought it was pretty cool and badass. Hopefully you do too ;)