Episode 29: Part 1
An unseasonably chilly autumn wind blew across Somerset Valley as a portal opened depositing the five Hibernian Knights back to their own home plane. The light of the mid morning lit up the skies and broke though the hazy smoke which continued to hang in the air over the now captured college town. After having spent the last few days in the Winter Realm, the five friends took a moment to acclimate back to the relatively warmer conditions of their world. Despite the nip in the air, they enjoyed the feeling of warm sunlight on their faces while it streamed through the red, gold, and orange leaves of the surrounding trees.
"Phew… it's good to be home," Quinton sighed contentedly while Stephen lazily stretched out nearby. As Laura took a moment to sun herself and warm up, Noelle stopped and looked around the glade they had emerged into. He remained silent for a bit before giving a frown, "Hey… this might sound kinda odd, but it's unusually quiet here. I don't hear any birds chirping, do you?"
The others exchanged puzzled looks and shrugged before Connor began walking over toward the end of the forest ridge they were standing on. It looked like they were at the edge of the valley in the hilly uplands overlooking the town, but that's not what concerned him. As he breathed the air, he thought he caught a faint hint of smoke or something burning. Upon reaching the lip of the valley hill, his heart stopped and his eyes went wide at the sight before he called his friends in alarm, "Hey! Everyone! Hurry!"
The others rushed over to join him and they froze, equally stunned at the horrific sight before them. Down below in the valley, they could see fire and plumes of smoke rising from their beloved town. If what they feared was true, then that meant Balor and his Fomorian armies had already mustered together to make their first move. All their friends, families, and loved ones would now be in danger and their minds began to race fearing the worst. Hopefully, the Fomorians were taking prisoners and the civilians there would be smart enough to surrender if that was the case. Still, the knights' homes, school, and familiar hangouts were now being put to the torch right before their eyes. In that moment, they felt powerless and unable to do anything against the Fomorians' insult.
Noelle put her hands to her mouth in fear while Laura scowled and hardened her features. She raised her ring as if she were going to call her armor, but Quinton caught her by the wrist and shook his head, "No Laura, we can't just rush in there headfirst swinging our swords like berserkers. If the entire Fomorian army is down there right now, we'll be badly outnumbered."
"Quinton is right," Stephen agreed with a grim expression, "We'll have to find a way to get closer and gauge their forces... or maybe find a hole in their defenses."
"But our friends and families are down there!" a visibly distraught Noelle protested, "We need to act!"
"We will," Connor said putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, "But until we can get any help from the Four Courts, we'll have to be careful. We're fighting on our own right now so we need to find as many allies from town as possible. Come on."
Having been shaken from the traumatizing sight of their town burning, the other knights solemnly followed Connor down the edge of the valley uplands and began a long hike toward their conquered home.
Later that day, the five made their way to the edge of their hometown and found a platoon of heavily armed spriggan warriors patrolling the roads leading into the town proper. A few of the houses nearby appeared to be empty. Whether the occupants had been captured or successfully escaped, it was hard to tell. What was clear was that windows were smashed and several of the nearby buildings appeared to have been looted. The knights all stayed quiet and remained behind cover waiting for the spriggans to pass by.
"Damn... this is worse than I thought," Stephen muttered while surveying the ruined yards, "I can only imagine what they did downtown."
Everyone stopped as dark thoughts of the antique shop and pub being torn apart flashed through their minds. Noelle urged everyone forward, "Come on everyone. We have to keep moving. Maybe we can try to find Kristen or Mr. O'Doyle."
The knights continued on for a short way down the empty residential roads ducking a few patrols of Fomorian soldiers who marched by. To their dismay, it looked like a sizeable force was occupying their town and it was only seeming to grow larger by the hour. As they ducked behind cover again, Stephen took some time to observe some of the enemy troop sizes and movements before a rustling was heard in the nearby bushes. Everyone stopped and froze as the rustling grew closer and Quinton nearly yelped in surprise when two small figures emerged and clamped on to his legs in joy and relief.
"Scratch! Yum-Yum!" Laura exclaimed in a hushed voice as she bent down to greet the two little gargoyles with a smile, "What's happened? What are you doing all the way out here?"
Both creatures greeted her before waving their arms frantically and speaking in their own jabbering language. Connor took a moment to reach out and calm them down, "Whoah... slow down little guys. Noelle? You getting any of this?"
The Autumn Knight elbowed him gently with a sigh, "I may be good with animals, but I don't exactly speak gargoyle. Boys? What happened to Kristen? Where is she?"
Scratch and Yum Yum paused and rooted around on the ground for some props. They draped some large green leaves around their necks while picking up sticks and standing upright. For a moment, they began to pantomime two familiar people causing Laura to frown, "Kristen and O'Doyle?"
The gargoyles nodded before Scratch took some read leaves, put them down his head and made cackling noises with threatening gestures. Now was Quinton's turn to guess, "Something to do with Leanansidhe? She's here?"
Scratch nodded again before pantomiming a spell with his hands that caused Yum-Yum to topple over. At that, Scratch grabbed his companion's leg and began dragging him a few feet before the two creatures jumped up and began waving their paws again. Noelle sat back in thought and nodded, "Are you telling us Leanansidhe attacked? That she took Kristen and O'Doyle?"
The gargoyles hopped about and nodded pulling at their pant legs to urge them on. Connor took a moment to take stock of the situation before turning to his two little friends, "Do you think you two can lead us to them?"
The gargoyles continued to nod and chatter, encouraging their human friends to rush to the rescue. The Summer Knight turned towards the others, "This is really bad. The town is captured, and now this?"
"What do we do?" Quinton asked hesitantly.
Laura crossed her arms and paused with a long pensive look, "I say we rescue the Druids and get out of here. Even with their help, we can't hope to beat the entire Fomorian army here."
"I agree," Connor said grimly, "Kristen has helped carry our team this far. I'm not going to leave her and Mr. O'Doyle behind."
"And what about Leanansidhe?" Noelle asked in concern, "Or rather, Morgana? After what we did to her, she's not going to give this one up without a hell of a fight."
Connor took a deep calming breath and looked out to the ravaged neighborhood around them while. Smoke still hung in the skies and he nodded while watching it, "If that's what it takes... then we'll fight. We don't have much of a choice anymore, do we?"
"Well whatever we're going to do, we'd better do it soon," Stephen chimed in from his lookout post, "The spriggans should be coming this way again soon so we'd better clear out if we don't want to raise the alarm."
Quinton turned to the two gargoyles and urged them on, "Okay guys... you heard Stephen. It's time for you to do your thing."
The two creatures turned and scampered off into the brush with their human companions following close behind.
After some time of using their magical senses and intuition, Scratch and Yum-Yum led the knights around the edge of the town toward the other side of the valley. Upon reaching a densely wooded park just on the edge of town, the gargoyles stopped and sniffed the ground, trying to lock on to the scents of the two Druids. As the five knights ambled forward and took a moment to survey the area, they were stopped as several bolts of dark magic flew out of nowhere and exploded in front of them. The five recoiled back and shielded their faces until the smoke cleared before hearing a familiar voice, "That's far enough humans! I've been waiting for you."
Scratch and Yum-Yum scrambled for cover behind some trees while clutching each other fearfully while their human friends advanced forward to confront the fey witch. Connor waved his hand through the smoke as he emerged and called back sternly, "We're here Morgana! What have you done with our friends?"
The five halted and stood paralyzed in shock as they looked at the sight before them. In the near distance just ahead of them, both Kristen and Mr. O'Doyle stood balancing precariously on a high tree branch. Their arms and legs were bound and their mouths were gagged. Even more distressing, thick rope-like vines had been tied around their necks like nooses and strung up from a higher branch above. If the branch the Druids were standing on were to break of give out, they would be in serious trouble. It was quite possible those vines were thick enough to strangle them to death like a hangman's gallow.
The entity known as Morgana stepped from the shadows of a nearby tree underneath her victims and lazily leaned against the trunk. While they knights had foiled her plans to recover some of her lost powers before, she was still in possession of the body of Leanansidhe: her student, the-ex general of the Fomorian army, and Connor's lost childhood friend. From deep inside, Leanansidhe pleaded with her mistress and pushed desperately to try and psychically restrain her, "Morgana, why are you doing this? There are other ways to recover your strength! Fighting the knights and killing those Druids isn't going to accomplish anything."
Her ego was forced back down as Morgana took control with an inward snarl, "Silence girl! I don't care about that! All that matters is that I get revenge. Those insolent mortals have crossed me one to many times. For them to continue insulting me and defying me... it has to end now! I will make an example of them to all the Faerie Realm!"
The witch raised her eyes and gave a sadistic smile over toward the horrified knights, "I hope you don't mind my little arrangement. I thought we'd all have some fun today."
"Fun?" Laura exclaimed in outrage, "I think you're sick in the head! Let the Druids go now!"
"You will not make demands of me Winter Knight," Morgana sneered as she glanced at her two captives, "I honestly don't care whether those two live or die. What I'm more concerned with is you five."
Stephen shook his head incredulously, "Us? Why have you brought us here like this?"
Morgana bared her teeth in a grin, "Isn't it obvious? I've come to eliminate you once and for all. You've been a thorn in the side of Balor, you've interfered in the politics of the Faerie Realm, and you continue to stop me at every turn. It's time that you human mortals learned your place. You think that just because you have magic armor and weapons that you are the equals of the rest of us fey? Without your powers, you'd be just like the rest of your miserable kind... ignorant, cowardly, and helpless. How arrogant you five are."
Connor growled before calling out, "Leanne! I know you're in there! If you can hear me, then I need your help! Please!"
He was halted as Morgana swiftly drew her sword and pointed it toward him, "Enough Summer Knight! She can't hear you. You can't hope to undermine me like that so give it up. She will not help you."
Quinton gritted his teeth as he continued to watch the Druids teetering on the branch, "You have us here now Morgana! If you wanted to fight with us, then let's stop wasting time! Just leave the Druids out of it!"
Morgana sneered and laughed, "You're right Spring Knight. I might as well take those two out of the equation, shouldn't I?"
She gestured above her and cast a spell. The vine nooses tightened and the branch holding the weight of the Druids broke. Both Kristen and O'Doyle gasped as the rope tightened and they fell downward. While their necks had not been broken by the fall, the vines around their throats squeezed the life out of them as they dangled helplessly in midair.
"No!" the knights cried out in horror as Morgana laughed sadistically and stepped forward. She raised her sword arm and channeled a column of dark necrotic magic within in before turning on her human adversaries.
"And now that the Druids are out of the way, the five of you will join them next!"