Episode 21: Part 1
Quinton Wallace gave an easy sigh as he rolled slowly down the streets of the town while Noelle walked beside him. It was a beautiful summer day and everyone had dressed down for the warm weather. Both knights wore khaki shorts with Quinton in a green polo shirt and Noelle with an orange tank top. As the two friends rounded the corner to swing by Kristen's shop, they made ready to part ways. Quinton idly spun on his board and continued to roll, "Are you sure you don't want to come and watch Laura's tennis match with me and Kayla today? I'm guessing Laura's going to wipe the floor with people in the local tournament."
The Autumn Knight shook her head gently, "Nah. I'd actually be more concerned with cheering Stephen on. He's going to need it today. Do you have any idea why she even considered letting him play with her in the doubles matches?"
"Who knows? Maybe she's in need of a useful minion?" Quinton shrugged before they reached the antique shop.
"And she didn't choose you? You're not jealous are you Quin?" Noelle teased gently with a laugh.
Quinton sighed and gave her a playful little shove before getting back on his skateboard.
When Noelle opened the door, Quinton gave a cheerful wave goodbye and began coasting down the street back toward the campus. As the Autumn Knight walked inside the familiar shop she took a moment to enjoy the cool refreshing feeling of air conditioning before coming across a little trouble at the front counter.
A portly older lady stood having a civil argument with Connor as she tried to coax a small stone statue from his hands. If Noelle didn't know any better, that statue looked exactly like their pet gargoyle Yum-Yum. Fortuntely, the little creature froze and didn't move. Connor kept his grip firm and tugged back while trying to keep a polite voice, "I'm sorry Ma'am. Like I said before, this statue just isn't for sale. There's no price tag and the store's owner… well, she keeps it around for um… sentimental reasons."
Despite his best efforts, the difficult customer kept insisting, "You must be joking son. I'm willing to pay top dollar for that thing and you want to keep it around here in this dusty old shop?"
"Ma'am please…"
As Connor pulled back again, Yum-Yum quietly moved his head and gave the woman a little bite on her finger making her lose her grip and jump in pain.
"Ouch! What was that?" she cried in surprise at the red nip mark on her hand.
Connor stopped and pointed to the little horns on the gargoyle's head, "See these things? One of the horns must have scratched you. You should probably forget about buying this one since it might hurt you again… or start a liability issue. It's probably best to forget about all this, don't you think?"
The shopper eyed him a moment before giving a shrug and stalking out of the shop. Once the lady customer was gone, Connor picked up the little gargoyle and eyed him, "You're in big trouble mister. I thought we told you and Scratch to stay out of sight during business hours."
The creature gave a contrite look and shrugged causing Connor to sigh patiently. The Summer Knight placed Yum-Yum down and gave him a gentle swat in the rear to get him moving, "All right. Go on now, scoot… and stay out of trouble, okay?"
After the gargoyle ran off, Connor looked up and gave a tired smile, "Hey Noelle! What are you doing here? I didn't expect to see you today."
"Well, I was passing through and I figured I'd surprise you. Are you busy?"
The Summer Knight pulled off his green clerk's apron and tossed it on a nearby chair, "Actually my shift is almost over. I came in really early to get a new shipment this morning so Kristen was going to let me go after lunch."
Noelle nodded and poked at an antique, "Great. You wanna grab something to eat at O'Doyle's then?"
"Sure. That sounds good," Connor shrugged, "You think the others might want to come too?"
The Autumn Knight waved it off and gestured for the door, "Nah. They're going to be busy this afternoon. Quinton and his girlfriend were going to go cheer on Laura and Stephen at a tennis tournament on campus today."
"Well, good food and air conditioning does sound preferable," Connor grinned as he gave a passing wave to Kristen and held the door open for his teammate, "Let's go!"
The waters of the quiet forest spring rippled as Leanansidhe brushed her hand along the surface of it and looked deeply at her reflection. Amid the bright warm light of the June sun above, the Fomorian general frowned as she tried to make sense of the reflection. Here and there, she would catch glimpses of someone who was her, but not exactly her either. It was difficult trying to understand who she was, especially now that her former disembodied mentor inhabited her very being. By now, Morgana's presence had brought back more memories but despite all that, she needed to speak with someone else about all this... she needed a constant factor to link her past and her present and her thoughts began to linger.
"You're troubled child," Morgana said beginning an internal dialogue between the two minds of the women. "I can sense it in your thoughts. You're dwelling on the thought of that Summer Knight... Connor."
"I am... confused," Leanansidhe frowned, "There was a time when we were children and I think we were friends. But whenever I see him now, my will to fight grows weaker. It makes me question who I am and what I'm doing... how it is that we wound up on two different sides of this conflict and if we need to be."
Morgana sighed, "My dear girl... I've told you before that these feelings of affection or friendship are weaknesses. They are distractions to blind and confuse you from getting what you want."
"That's just it! I don't know what I want now!" Leanansidhe replied petulantly as she swiped the water.
"Do you? I would think you desire seeing this Summer Knight again... to speak with him."
"If I'm going to understand what to do from here then I need to try and make him understand," Leanansidhe said firmly.
Morgana began to laugh, "You wish to tell him the truth? About how I found a poor little girl lost in the Faerie Realm... one that in fact turned out to be a Changeling herself?"
Leanansidhe paused as Morgana inwardly smirked, "You were destined to return to your real home in Faerie. To forsake your mortal life here and to choose and become one of the fey. You would be willing to tell him all that now?"
The younger witch exhaled deeply and gave a pained frown, "I... if he was my friend... then yes. He deserves to know."
Morgana sighed, "Very well child... but perhaps we may be able to benefit a little further in our goals."
"You mean your goals," Leanansidhe corrected, "Whatever it is you're planning you must promise me that you will not harm Connor. Leave him out of it."
"My girl, I will make you a solemn fey oath that I will not attack or harm your little knight."
Leanansidhe glanced again at the pond in deep thought before nodding, "All right then. It's time to go. I have a little meeting to prepare for."
Later that day, Connor and Noelle took a walk and passed by the large fountain in Ivy Lane Plaza. They had decided to get some ice cream cones to stay cool and debated heading toward one of the parks at the other end of the district. As they chatted and strolled, the Summer Knight gave a content sigh, "You know, it's been a great day so far. The weather's been perfect, I've got the afternoon off and lunch was awesome. You really didn't have to buy me a meal today, but thank you."
"Oh don't mention it," Noelle replied with a sheepish smile, "I was glad to do it."
The Summer Knight took a lick of his chocolate chip ice cream, "Still, it's okay. There's no need for any special treatment here."
"Well, you're my friend and your birthday is coming up really soon. I uh… wanted to take an opportunity to just hang out and personally do something nice for you… you know?"
"Well, it was very sweet and thoughtful of you Noelle. Thank you," Connor said gesturing toward a nearby bench to sit.
Noelle took a thoughtful lick of her rocky road ice cream and shook her head, "You know, it's nice out. Why don't we go a little further and take a stroll out to the grotto?"
The two continued on, passing by the large fountain and out toward the wooded parks. They hadn't gone very far when they suddenly saw the air begin to ripple a little bit with magical distortions. To their shock, they noticed that some of the other people in the park had seemingly frozen and become motionless. Had Stephen been around, he would have recognized a similar spell used by the fey lords Gwydion and Sigurd to seemingly slow down time.
"What the hell?" Connor gasped, "What is wrong with everyone here?"
"Something tells me this isn't the mannequin challenge," Noelle quipped, " You think it's one of the fey?"
She was immediately silenced as she was hit by the spell and seemingly frozen in place too. "You would be correct Autumn Knight."
Connor whirled around in surprise to see Leanansidhe approach from the treeline, walking calmly while wearing an amused smile. He swept his ring around and immediately summoned his armor in a flash of red light and a cloud of fire. The witch neared and continued to watch him calmly while he drew his sword and leveled it at the intruder. "What are you doing here? What have you done?"
She strolled idly around the frozen form of Noelle and lightly toyed with the girl's long brown hair, "Don't worry. I didn't hurt anyone and I'm not going to harm you either."
"You've got my attention," Connor replied while keeping his guard up, "What do you want?"
"I want to talk... to you."
The Summer Knight blinked in surprise and lowered his sword slightly, "And who exactly am I talking to right now? Morgana? Or..."
"Leanne MacClure," the fey witch replied while looking him right in the eyes, "I've remembered some things... at least I think I have and I need to make sense of it with you."
"How do you know this isn't one of Morgana's lies?"
"I don't, but she gave her word she would guarantee your safety while I speak to you. I'm asking you to trust me... as your friend."
Connor stood in place for a long moment trying to make sense of everything and weigh his options. He had to make sure Noelle and the other citizens in the park wouldn't get hurt and if Morgana had agreed to behave for now, perhaps it wouldn't hurt to learn more. He lowered his sword tentatively before giving a wary nod, "All right... let's talk."
Meanwhile, in the dark shadowy corridors of the underground caverns, the redcap Seamus made his way toward Lord Balor's Great Hall and passed the outer detail of armed guards. As they passed and allowed him entry to the cavernous hall, Seamus made his way forward to find the warlord king hunched over several maps planning new battle strategies for use in the Faerie Realm. When he heard his subordinate approach, Balor glanced up slowly and fixed him with the baleful glare of his good eye and the glowing one hidden behind a patch. The flickering lights of the torches lining the hall cast sinister dancing shadows and only did more to enhance Balor's menacing aura.
"You wanted to see me Seamus," the warlord began with a threatening edge in his voice, "I am busy making plans and I don't like to be interrupted."
"Forgive me Lord Balor. I won't take much time," the redcap said with a fearful bow while removing his feathered red hat, "I needed to speak with you about Leanansidhe. I have reason to believe that she may be compromised."
Balor straightened up and grew quiet. A more serious shadow crossed his face as he rumbled, "Go on."
Seamus nervously cleared his throat, "My lord... she's been acting very strange of late and in my presence, she even spoke in a sort of... well... a double voice."
"You waste my time with this? Manipulating sights and sounds is common faerie magic. You know that," Balor growled irritably.
"Yes, but in our last battle against the knights they kept referring to someone by the name of Morgana when confronting her."
Balor froze and slowly clenched his fists, "Did you say Morgana... so she still lives?"
Seamus blinked in confusion, "Lord Balor?"
"Morgana Le Fay is a powerful witch. She is ancient, cunning, and cruel beyond measure. If she is really here in Somerset Valley, there's no doubt she will be causing trouble for all sides in this conflict. I wonder what she's here for?"
"If she's going to get in your way, then what are we supposed to do?" Seamus asked curiously.
Balor idly paced over to a nearby weapon rack on the wall and plucked a spear out before handing it to the redcap, "What you will do is to level the battlefield again. I want you to go and kill Morgana."
"Even at the risk of losing Leanansidhe?" Seamus asked curiously.
Balor nodded, "I'd rather she not be sacrificed too, but if that's what it takes then so be it. Any warrior who serves under me knows that their lives could end at any time and that they give it for the War Host. Best we be pragmatic about all this."
Seamus gripped the spear and nodded, leaving the warlord back to his maps and plans, "As you wish Lord Balor. I will do as you ask."