Episode 6: Part 2
A few light snowflakes drifted through the chilly air as the Winter and Autumn Knights sat in the far corner of the same little Italian bistro that Laura had taken Quinton to several weeks ago. While they had little cups of cappuccino and biscotti, they tried to keep a low profile as they watched Abigail finishing dinner with her new "boyfriend" Wendall.
Laura kept her eyes focused while Noelle took a moment to glance at her phone and check a text message from Connor. As she put the phone away, Noelle took a bite of biscotti, "Looks like the boys are still out on patrol but they haven't found anything yet."
After a pause, she asked, "Do you think another Fomorian is lurking around the valley eating people now?"
"We'll worry about it if the problem gets worse," Laura said taking a sip of her drink, "Right now we have other things to worry about."
Noelle smiled, "Like your sister? You know Laura, it's nice seeing this side of you... one that's so concerned for others."
The Winter Knight glanced over for a moment and shrugged, "Abi has always been one of the few people who have been good to me. I could probably do a better job of expressing my gratitude, but right now, it's my turn to look after her."
As she said that, Wendall glanced over and spotted Laura watching their table. Instead of getting upset, he gave a grin and tossed some money on the table before taking Abi's hand and quickly leaving the bistro.
"Hey, come on! They're splitting!" Noelle exclaimed as she rose from her table but she was stopped by the waiter who pulled out the bill from his apron.
"Excuse me miss, are you going somewhere?"
Laura gave an exasperated growl and quickly rose before shoving the waiter aside and pushing a handful of money into his chest, "We don't have time for this. Keep the change. Now come on Noelle!"
The two girls hurried outside into the chilly night and began to pursue Abigail and Wendall through campus town. As they pushed past a few small crowds of students and locals, they were eventually led toward a quieter edge of campus town near a little riverwalk. They stopped a moment under the light of a street lamp and looked around, "Where did they go?"
Moments later, they stopped a young man passing by carrying a long sports bag. He wore a gray coat and looked to be a local student like them with fair features and blue eyes. Had Quinton been around, he would have recognized him right away. Laura approached and cleared her throat, "Excuse me sir... can you help us?"
The young man stopped in surprise from the pretty young woman in front of him and straightened up with a polite smile, "Of course. You can call me Stephen."
"Stephen... yes... charming," Laura said quickly, "My name is Laura. I'm looking for my sister. Tall blonde girl? She was with another man and they might have passed this way."
Stephen frowned in thought for a moment before nodding and pointing down a forking pathway with a few more stores, "Yes... they went that way. Is something wrong?"
"I don't know, there may be trouble. Thank you though!" Laura called as she began to follow Stephen's directions.
"Wait! If there's trouble I'll help," he offered while walking quickly behind the two girls.
Noelle gave a confused look to Laura but the Winter Knight was in a rush and pressed forward anyway. The three hurried down the street until they came to the edge of campus town where they saw Wendall waiting for them by a treeline leading into the surrounding woods. He stood with a malevolent smile and gripped Abigail's arm tightly while she began to struggle against him.
"Let go! You're hurting me!" Abigail cried.
Wendall growled and tightened his grip causing her to whimper in fear. The Winter Knight hurried over and clenched her fists, "That's enough you creep. Let go of my sister."
The young man laughed, "Oh, I've been waiting for you. Now that you've been lured in, I can drop this tiresome little charm spell on your sister."
Moments later, Wendall began a horrible transformation back into his true form, a horrific demonic stag with white fur, serrated teeth, and jagged antlers. As she took one look at the red eyes of the beast, Abigail gave a horrified cry and fainted before the monster Finnebar shoved her over toward the three startled humans.
Both Laura and Noelle rushed over to help Abi as she lay limply on the cold street. After seeing she was okay, they watched as the stag began to make its way forward before an arrow flew through the air and stuck in the flank of the monster. As the beast roared in pain, the girls turned in shock to see Stephen had drawn a small bow from his sports back and was readying another arrow to fire at the monster.
The mysterious archer swallowed his fear and steadied his breathing before giving a smirk and letting loose another arrow at Finnebar. The demonic stag jerked its head sideways at the last moment deflecting the arrow before pawing the ground furiously. Stephen lowered his bow and blinked in shock before he heard Laura give a shout to him, "Hey Stephen, get out of here while you still can!"
Stephen held his ground a moment and began to shake his head. This was the second time now that he'd been around a monster attack and he felt he had to do something.
"I can't. I won't let that that thing at you girls."
Laura gave an exasperated huff and rushed over to give him a shove, "Now's not the time for chivalry! Just run!"
Taken aback by Laura's ferocity, Stephen swallowed again in shock before taking off running. Once he was clear, the Winter Knight turned to her comrade, "Noelle, please get my sister somewhere safe. Don't let her get hurt."
Noelle gave a nod and grunted as she helped hoist Abigail up and drag her clear, "I'll be back to help you as soon as I can."
At that, Laura turned toward the demonic white stag and brandished her ring to call upon her armor in a blue flash of light and snow flakes, "Athru!"
"You cannot hope to best me alone Winter Knight," Finnebar chortled as he approached and flexed his neck muscles.
Laura calmly drew her icy rapier and raised her guard, "You Fomorians all seem to have a rather high opinion of yourselves. Let's see if you can back up your claims."
The stag snarled and charged forward, trying to trample the knight or gouge her with his large jagged antlers. Using her incredible grace and agility, Laura easy sidestepped the monster and parried aside the antler attacks with ease.
"Is that all? I almost thought you'd be a challenge," Laura taunted before Finnebar whirled around and charged again.
The Winter Knight jabbed her blade into the ground causing the ground to freeze while creating a row of icy spikes to jut out against the beast like a natural row of spearmen. The demon stag roared as it smashed through the spikes and continued on with its attack despite the injuries. Laura gasped in surprise while she braced herself and felt the wind knocked out of her as Finnebar rammed into her with his head, then tossed her aside with a sweep of the antlers. The stunned knight went skidding along the cold hard ground and raised her blade just in time to deflect an enchanted projectile follow up attack from the monster.
"Not so prideful now, are you Winter Knight?" snorted Finnebar.
As he charged again to try and trample his downed opponent, Laura slashed her blade against the ground creating a small slick sheet of ice to impede the monster's attack. The stag gave a furious bleating cry as it slipped upon the ice and fell over, skidding headfirst into a nearby building. Under any other circumstances, the sight would have looked comical, but in this life or death battle, all Laura could think about was getting up and protecting her sister.
As the stag rose again, he bled from some of the spots the ice spikes had punctured but still looked ready to fight. From the other end of the street, Laura suddenly spotted a pack of spriggan foot soldiers approach and block off any means of retreat for her. This was not looking good.
"Surrender knight… there's nowhere to run," Finnebar grinned triumphantly.
His words were suddenly cut short as two more Hibernian Knights entered the fray, armed for battle and mounted on their magic summoned horses. Laura watched in shock as both Connor and Quinton galloped in, knifing through the enemy ranks and routing the spriggan troops.
"Sorry for the delay Laura but the cavalry has arrived," Quinton called as he bashed aside a spriggan.
The Summer Knight slashed away another enemy and gave a nod, "We'll take care of these guys and keep them off you. The Fomorian's all yours if you want him."
By now, Laura had recovered her senses and faced down the stag while gripping her blade, "That sounds brilliant to me. Come on you four legged wanker. It's time to end this."
The demon stag growled and began to charge the Winter Knight at full speed. Laura got low and readied herself before using her agility to duck around the antlers and swing herself up onto the back of the monstrous beast. As she did, she drove her blade into its neck to brace herself while it began to thrash and attempt to buck her off.
"You horrible child!" Finnebar screamed with a mixture of pain and rage as he continued to try and buck the knight off.
Laura held on to the rapier for her life while driving it deeper and charging it with a little more wintery energy. As the demon stag thrashed again, it looked down in horror to see that the blade in his neck began causing his whole body to freeze up and solidify into ice.
The beast came to an abrupt stop and gave Laura just enough time to pull her sword free and jump off before Finnebar froze over. Giving one last swing of the sword, Laura slashed at the head of the stag and shattered the entire monster into pieces which dissolved away into dark magic.
Having exerted so much of her power in the battle, Laura's armor dispelled and she gave a sigh of relief while she turned to see Connor and Quinton chase off the last of the spriggans. As the two knights cantered their mounts back over to her, Noelle rejoined the group as well after getting Abigail to the safety of a local cafe.
"Nice solo takedown Laura," Quinton said while the boys dismounted and powered down, "That looked like a pretty fierce creature there."
The Winter Knight nodded before turning to Noelle. "How is my sister?"
"Resting… Noelle replied, "I took her to a nearby café and there are a few people looking after her at the moment."
Laura nodded in relief as she spoke in a slightly quavering voice, "Thank you… all of you… thank you for helping me and Abi today."
Connor gave a smile and put a friendly arm over the Winter Knight's shoulders for a moment, "Don't mention it. That's what good friends do, right?"
Quinton chimed in too, "We know Abi isn't like the rest of your family and we knew how important she is to you… even if you didn't want to show it before."
For a minute, Laura couldn't help but give her friends a bright smile and she looked like her older sister. Once the moment passed, she cleared her throat and began to walk in the direction Noelle had come from, "Right then... I think I'd like to check up on Abi now, and I'd like to hurry. It's getting a bit nippy out here, don't you think?"
"Yeah… I agree. I am feeling a little cold here," Connor said as he rubbed his bare neck and gave a pointed look over toward Noelle who was still wearing his winter scarf.
"Hmm, too bad. I think I might just hold on to this for a little while longer," the Autumn Knight giggled mischievously as she hurried after Laura and dodged Connor's grab.
While he watched Connor chasing after her protesting, Quinton shook his head with a smile before glancing down and seeing the arrow that had fallen from the slain Fomorian. He picked it up a moment and frowned in thought before giving a shrug. For now, the important thing was everyone was safe and the danger had passed. Setting the arrow down, the Spring Knight turned and hurried after his friends to get out of the cold.
Back in the Underworld, the warlord king of the Fomorians furiously kicked over a table in his Great Hall. As he stormed back to his throne, Balor batted aside a brazier and growled to himself while staring at the dying embers that had fallen to the floor. The human knights had won several battles now and they only seemed to be growing stronger. Even more frustrating, he was still trapped in the Underworld and unable to coordinate his forces as well as he liked. Even if word of his return might have begun to spread in the Faerie Realm, it was a blessing that the Four Courts were still so divided and disorganized.
As the warlord stewed over those thoughts, he stopped when he heard the approach of a servant enter the hall. Unlike many of the monstrous Fomorians among the rank and file, the figure that approached the throne was a thing of beauty. She was a young slender woman with long flowing red hair and green colored eyes. Her skin was fair and unblemished and her features were just short of angelic. As she approached gracefully, her flowing green dress swept delicately over the floor accenting her comely figure in the light of the dying embers.
"What troubles you my lord?" the woman said in a honeyed voice as she bowed respectfully. "I was passing through and couldn't help but notice your anger."
"Leave me be Leanansidhe," the warlord snarled petulantly, "I have no need of your scheming and trickery right now."
The young fey woman ambled over to the fallen embers and picked up a hot coal, seemingly unaffected by the heat. As the coal glowed in reddish orange light that matched her hair, she turned it over in her hand thoughtfully. "Or perhaps you do Lord Balor. I understand you've been involved in a little proxy war against the human champions of the Faerie Courts. Perhaps you could use someone who can assist your warriors through planning and calculation."
Balor turned his one good eye on her skeptically, "Do you really think you have what it takes to do that?"
Leanansidhe put down the coal and gave a cat-like smile, "Of course. Both you and I know that I am rather unique and different as far as the fey go."
The Formorian warlord sat in deep thought for a long time until he finally gave a slow nod, "Very well Leanansidhe. You shall be given a chance. I want you to bring misery to the humans and to rid me of those accursed knights."
The young fey woman gave a dark smile and bowed again, "As you wish Lord Balor. I will not disappoint you."
A/N:
To answer the Guest review question, yes. I'm well aware that Celtic can be a catch all term for the Irish, Scottish, Welsh, etc. I won't be limiting myself to only Irish folklore so I will be taking ideas from those similar cultures too. About a specific "selkie" plot in the future, the best answer I can give is maybe. I haven't made a final decision yet.
Last but not least, we'll finish up the character focus chapters for now with our Summer Knight Connor Walsh and introduce the dangerous new Fomorian general Leanansidhe. Until then, thanks for reading everyone!