Episode 12: Part 1
Several weeks had passed since the last attack on Somerset Valley in which a horde of undead warriors was stopped with the help of a new knight and ally to the cause. While no one had expected the moody and aloof knight to seamlessly fit in, progress was slowly being made with another group outing to O'Doyle's Pub. On that particular late afternoon, Noelle Moreau led the way inside out of the chilly February air followed by Laura and Stephen. Over in the corner, they could see Connor and Quinton playing a game of darts while waiting for them.
After the others sat down at a booth, the Spring and Summer Knights joined them at the table. Stephen looked around the place and raised an eyebrow, "So... this is where you guys like to hang out, huh?
Laura shrugged, "Well, it's not the classiest or cleanest place on campus, but the others seem to like it and the food is pretty good too."
Quinton chuckled before glancing over to a flier hung up near the table, "Oh... hey guys, check this out. Looks like there are going to be some school sponsored Valentine's Day events coming up later this week. It says here there's a dance with live music being played by local bands. Who knows... maybe Eliza will be participating too."
Noelle gave a thoughtful look and then a cheerful smile, "Well, that sounds kinda fun. Maybe we should all consider trying to get dates and go."
"Ugh, Valentine's Day... don't remind me," Laura groaned in disgust, "I personally despise the holiday. Every year my parents will try to push off another hapless suitor on me in their never ending quest to marry me off."
"Well... that's awful. I actually really like the holiday," Stephen said defensively while crossing his arms.
"You? Mr. I'm-too-cool for everything?" Connor teased gently as Stephen scowled.
"Very funny. I like it because growing up I didn't get to see my moms that much. They were constantly working but they always took that day off to spend time with me and we'd do lots of fun things."
"Aww, that's actually really sweet of them," Noelle said.
Laura shrugged and grabbed Stephen's wrist pulling him up from the table, "Well then in that case, let me go introduce you to my older sister so you can pose as a fake boyfriend and get the rest of my family off my back."
The Silver Knight sputtered in surprise as he was dragged off amid the chuckles of the others. When they had left, Quinton scratched his chin, "You know... maybe I should try to go get some tickets to that dance. The only problem will be trying to figure out a good way to ask Kayla to go with me. I'll catch you guys later."
With that, the Spring Knight jumped up and left the table to go plan the next move in his own romantic pursuits. Just as quickly as everyone had gathered, they seemed to have disappeared leaving Connor and Noelle sitting across from each other blinking in surprise. After a pause, Connor cleared his throat, "Well... that was strange. I guess it's just you and me now, huh?"
Noelle gave a sheepish laugh, "Oh... right. Um, so now what? We've still got the whole rest of the afternoon free."
"Ah, I guess we could always just go out and find something to do together... I mean not together-together but as friends together, you know?" Connor fumbled.
"Totally... because any of us actually going on a date with each other would be really crazy, right?" Noelle nervously giggled feeling her own face grow a little warm from the idea.
The two exchanged another long awkward laugh before Connor tried to wave it off and decide on a neutral activity, "Okay then... um, wanna go back to campus? Maybe hit the bowling alley or the arcade?"
"Good idea, let's go!" Noelle quickly said while getting up and heading out the door, patting her own cheeks to regain her composure. Surely going bowling or playing some games would be a safe diversion and give her a little more time to make plans for that dance later in the week.
Meanwhile, in the Underworld Leanansidhe cringed as she left the Great Hall of the Fomorians listening to the sounds of Lord Balor raging. The sounds of growls, crashes, and things getting thrown echoed down the cavern while the deflated general took a calming breath. With the news of the Knight of Stars, along with the destruction of the Tenebrous Cauldron, Balor had been furious. After withstanding a withering tirade, Leanansidhe felt like she had just been cut down a foot shorter than when she entered the throne.
Right now, she had to figure out a new way to redeem herself and get back in the good graces of her warlord master. She eventually returned to her own dwelling and walked about, idly looking over all sorts of natural spell ingredients while she sulked. Eventually, her eyes fell upon a jar full of purple colored pansy flowers. That gave her a devious idea. She would concoct a sort of charm spell which would ease Balor's mood and make her more favorable to him again. She also had the perfect test subjects in the five knights as they could prove useful should any chaos or confusion arise. A cunning smile crossed her lips as she took the flowers and got back to work.
The next day after classes, Noelle made her way toward the Student Union by herself to buy a pair of tickets for the Valentine's Day events hosted there. As she entered the building, she walked down a busy hallway toward the north wing of the building where tickets were being sold. When she neared the booth, she froze when she saw Quinton walking by from the other direction. She was hoping she wouldn't run into anyone she knew and silently whispered a few choice curse words.
"Oh, hey Noelle! Are you here to buy tickets to that dance too?" the Spring Knight asked with a cheerful smile.
"Me? Oh... nah. I was just um... just passing through the Union because it's so cold outside," Noelle lied trying to give an innocent and unassuming smile.
Quinton shrugged and began to walk with her much the Autumn Knight's dismay, "Oh, well.. I guess that makes sense. Hey, if you're free do you wanna go grab some lunch in the food court? The ticket line is really long so I might as well try again later."
"Er, thanks but no thanks Quinton. I've got something I need to do here," Noelle sighed trying to think up of another excuse.
"But I thought you just said you were passing through and..."
They were suddenly cut off as Quinton stopped and pulled out his phone. As he checked the message, he looked up, "It's Kristen. We've got trouble. Fomorians on the east side of town."
Noelle mouthed a silent thank you to the sky before taking off after Quinton to respond to the newest threat.
A short time later, the two knights arrived at a park on the east side of town only to find their other three friends already locked in a fierce skirmish with Leanansidhe and a platoon of spriggans. The two knights hopped off their own faerie horses and called their armor in mid-stride, ready to wade into battle against their enemies. While Stephen shot volleys of arrows into the enemy troops and Laura fended off several more with her rapier, Connor hacked through the Fomorian rear guard and engaged Leanansidhe in combat.
"Drop your weapon Leanne! We don't have to keep doing this!" he said while trying to press his attack.
"You don't know what you're talking about Summer Knight! I am not the girl you think I am!" the young general snarled while pushing back against his sword. "But if you insist on staying committed to a fantasy, perhaps I could commit you to another cause... me!"
Connor blinked in confusion as Leanansidhe pulled out a stem of a flower with a large closed purple bud. She aimed it right at his face, "If you continue to resist, I will just have to make your heart mine."
"Connor! Look out!" Laura shouted as she rushed in and threw her shoulder into the witch to try and break up the grapple. As she did, the Winter Knight got right into the path of Leanansidhe's spell when the bulb burst open and sprayed her face with a sparkling dust. In the tangle of bodies, the witch staggered backwards while Laura reeled sideways and fell over on Connor into the snow.
"No!" Leanansidhe growled while pulling out another flower bulb from her side satchel. As she prepared to aim it again, she was stopped as a firm hand grabbed her wrist from behind and twisted it, trying to wrench the object from her hand. Leanansidhe turned to see Stephen try to wrestle her grip causing the second bulb to burst open and blind the Silver Knight in a cloud of enchanted faerie dust.
The red-headed witch gave a furious shout and stamped her foot on the ground, "No! You idiots! You stupid knights are ruining everything!"
With that, she whipped around her green gown and retreated from the battlefield in a jet of green smoke.
Once the witch and her spriggan bodyguards were gone, the knights all dispelled their armor while Quinton and Noelle hurried over to help their dazed friends. The Spring Knight pulled Laura back up to her feet as Connor got up next and steadied her. "Hey, thanks for the save back there Laura. Are you okay?"
Laura wiped some of the faerie dust from her eyes and blinked a few times before giving an unusually bright smile, "I've never felt better Connor. Thank you for your concern."
The Summer Knight raised his eyebrow slightly, "Right... Noelle? How is Stephen doing over there?"
Several feet away, Noelle had helped Stephen rise but shied away slightly as the Silver Knight stepped forward still gripping her hand, "Noelle... I had never noticed how soft and gentle your hands were. Please, don't be scared. I just wanted to hold them and..."
He was immediately pushed aside as Quinton stepped in with a mild frown, "Okay break it up. What's gotten into you Stephen? You're kinda acting like a weirdo now."
Noelle glanced over to Connor for answers but the Summer Knight suddenly found himself being pulled aside by Laura who hugged his arm and gave a playful giggle, "Oh, forget about them Connor. Everyone's suddenly getting so serious and uptight. Let's go do something more fun... just you and I, hmm?"
Connor swallowed hard and broke free of her grip for a moment, "I... huh? What the hell is going on here? Is everyone suddenly losing their minds or something?"
Stephen immediately began prostrating himself on the snowy ground and started hugging Noelle's ankles, "Oh no! Please forgive me my dear Noelle! I didn't mean to scare you or upset you. I just wanted to give you a nice compliment and make you happy."
The Autumn Knight blinked in bewildered shock and looked to her other friends helplessly, "Uh... guys? Help?"
Quinton again walked over and pulled Stephen away, "You know what? I think we'd better go see Kristen. I have a feeling that magic flower pollen Leanansidhe was carrying did something to Laura and Stephen. Remember how she was talking about making us commit to her?"
"Well... let's not waste any time," Connor nodded in agreement, "Whatever happened, we've got to figure it out and come up with a way to reverse the spell."
He was halted as Laura suddenly threw her arms around the trunk of his body. She clung to him tightly while desperately pleading, "Oh darling... wherever you're going to go, take me with you. Please... don't leave me? I couldn't bear the thought of being separated."
Connor shook off the surprise and suppressed his own gag reflex, "Oh... okay... I promise."
By now, Noelle gave a mild frown of disapproval before marching past them hooking her arm around Laura's and dragging the Winter Knight away down the street, "All right. Come along then Laura. Time's a wasting."
"Wait for me Noelle! I..." Stephen called before he was forcefully grabbed by Connor and Quinton then escorted down the street after the girls.
Some time later, the five young people convened back in the antique shop where Kristen had temporarily closed the store for the lunch hour. After relating the events of the last skirmish with Leanansidhe, Connor, Noelle, and Laura sat while Kristen thought it over.
"Hmm… that story does sound very odd," their mentor mused while she examined the samples of residual faerie powder from Laura and Stephen's clothes.
"No. The odd thing is the way that Laura and Stephen are acting," Noelle said while she watched Laura go off in the corner to apply some lipstick in a mirror, "They've been behaving more like annoying lovesick puppies."
The Druid nodded and ambled over to a workbench beginning to assemble some pans, potions and bottles of other strange liquids, "My guess is that it has to be some sort of charm spell but I'll have to experiment and run some more tests to figure out what we're dealing with. Then I've got to figure out how to reverse it."
"You really think you can figure that out?" Noelle asked hopefully.
Kristen looked up and gave a confident wink, "Sure! We Druids are experts when it comes to magic herbs and concoctions, remember?"
"Well… the sooner the better. It's making things a little weird for all of us," Connor complained from where he sat on a small couch before he felt two hands reach over and begin massaging his neck from behind.
"Connor dear... you look so stressed," Laura cooed gently, "Just relax. Let me help you loosen up some, hmm?"
Noelle rolled her eyes before the shop door burst open and Stephen marched in with Quinton straggling behind trying to keep a leash on him. They had been across the street running an "errand" and Stephen strode up presenting a small bouquet of mixed flowers for the Autumn Knight, "Noelle my dear, a colorful batch of unique flowers to match your wonderfully unique eyes."
Noelle forced a gracious smile and accepted the flowers, "Thank you Stephen. That's very thoughtful… um, do you think you can do something else for me?"
"I'll do anything you ask me to!"
Noelle thought of a way to get rid of him for a little while and gestured to the rear rooms of the shop, "Do you mind going in back to boil some water and make tea for everyone? It's cold out and we could all use something warm to drink."
"Right away!" the Silver Knight said gallantly while rushing off to carry out the task.
"Sorry Noelle. I tried to stop him, but he was acting like a total lunatic," Quinton sighed while taking the flowers. He walked over to the counter to put the bouquet in a vase only to see the two little gargoyles Scratch and Yum-Yum digging through Laura's purse. Quinton sighed and shook his head at the sight of Scratch toying with a small pocket mirror while Yum-Yum gnawed at a tube of Laura's lipstick thinking it was some kind of food.
While the Spring Knight walked over and tried to shoo the gargoyles away from Laura's things, Connor tried to sit up from his chair and escape from Laura, "Kristen, you look like you could use a hand over there. Mind if I help you?"
Laura clamped down firmly and kept Connor in place before plopping herself down on his lap and slinging her arms around his neck. "You've been running around in circles since the Fomorian attack this morning and now you want to work some more? Remember what I said about getting stressed?"
"Hey Laura, too close. Personal boundaries… remember?" Connor yelped meekly.
"Oh Connor, you really are being a bit of a prude now," she giggled while she started to cover his entire face in affectionate kisses, "But playing hard to get… I actually think it's kind of a turn on."
"Well I actually think you're freaking me out right now," the red faced Summer Knight protested as he tried in vain to pry her off and prevent her from kissing him on the lips.
"And I think I'm actually feeling a little nauseous too," Noelle added with a sour expression and another grumble of displeasure.
She took a breath, then decided to take temporary command of the team, "Okay… I'm going to go out on patrol to see if I can't lure Leanansidhe out and get her to talk. She's gotta be able to give us more clues about this enchantment. Quinton, you're with me."
"Wait… what about me?" Connor pleaded as he tried to sit up from the couch before being pulled down by Laura again. "What am I supposed to do?"
Kristen continued to work with the potions and magic ingredients without looking up, "I guess you can stay and keep Laura and Stephen occupied. As long as they're stuck acting like love struck little schoolgirls, they're not going to be much good on the battlefield."
"I think I'd rather lock swords with Balor himself right now," the Summer Knight sighed in dismay.
Laura giggled and continued to snuggle closer to him, "Oh Connor, you're such a kidder."
"Oh for God's sake… let's get a move on already Quinton!" Noelle snapped as she gave the Spring Knight a stern look and headed for the door.
Quinton met his roommate's pleading gaze with an apologetic shrug and headed out the door after Noelle. No sooner had the shop's front door closed was when Stephen marched out from the back rooms looking very pleased with himself and addressing the half-empty shop, "Everyone… tea is served!"
A/N:
Chapter title: the male and female versions of saying "My Darling" in French.