Episode 30: Part 1

After a hasty retreat from the captured town of Somerset Valley, the knights and their Druid allies returned to the safety of the Faerie Realm and took refuge in the city of Solas in Summer. As negotiations continued between the fey monarchs of the Four Courts, the humans took the chance to recover from their harrowing experiences and rest within the relative safety of the Summer Palace.

Kristen and Mr. O'Doyle had already been busy attending the conference with a delegation of human Druids that had volunteered to act as mediators. They had taken Stephen, Quinton, and Noelle along for added support leaving the others to rest in the royal gardens. On that particularly warm sunny afternoon, Connor Walsh sat outside by one of the large fountains of the Summer Palace looking at his reflection.

Despite the sweet smell of flowers, the balmy air and the bright warm sunlight on his face, he glumly sat running his fingers along the cool water, watching his reflection ripple in the pool. He knew he had to try and rest his body and mind… especially after such a draining fight in Somerset Valley. No matter what he did, his mind kept going back to the final minutes of life for Leanansidhe… no, Leanne McClure. He thought of the promise he had made her as well as the consequences of that battle. In a way, they had defeated Morgana in a decisive battle, but it still didn't feel like much of a victory. Leanne was dead, their hometown was still captured, and the Fomorian army was likely continuing to mass its forces. If the Four Courts were going to unite, they would need to do it soon or risk fighting a battle on their own soil.

As Connor dried his hands, he sighed and looked up to the sunny skies, trying in vain to clear his mind before he felt movement at his side. He glanced down and found the two gargoyles Scratch and Yum-Yum coming to curl up beside him and offer some comfort to their unhappy human friend. The Summer Knight gave a small reluctant smile and gave both creatures a gentle pat on the head, "Hey… thanks guys. I'm afraid I'm not really in the mood to play right now. Hope you don't mind."

The two gargoyles didn't seem to object and quietly curled up next to him instead. As Connor gave them another scratch behind the ears, he heard soft footsteps approach and a familiar voice call out to him. "If you're not in the mood to play, would you at least mind some company?"

He looked up to see Laura enter the garden and approach the fountain. The Winter Knight wore a serene expression and sat down beside him while he gave a shrug and nodded.

"How are you holding up?"

Connor looked to the waters of the fountain and the reflecting light from the sun above, "I don't know. I've been better. How are the official talks going?"

Laura leaned back and sunned herself, "Quinton stopped in earlier for a quick moment to tell me things were looking hopeful. Without our mobile phones, we'll have to get our news the slow way."

Connor nodded and continued to sit glumly until Laura folded her arms, "Are you done trying to avoid the real issue here?"

Connor turned slowly and glared at her, "Why? Did you come to tell me to suck it up and pull myself together? To take things seriously and to stop acting sorry for myself?"

"Not unless you want me to," Laura replied defensively without backing down, "Did it occur to you that maybe I came because I was concerned about you? You might not believe it, but I do consider you a friend."

Connor stopped and looked down in shame as Laura continued in a gentler tone, "I thought I might be able to help… considering I had been in a similar situation."

The Summer Knight let out a long sigh as he stood up and walked a few paces, "I'm sorry Laura. I didn't mean to go off on you like that. That wasn't fair of me."

The Winter Knight reached over and picked Scratch up before placing him on her lap, "You shouldn't blame yourself for what happened. There was no other choice.

"I know that, but I can't help but beat myself up about this either. I failed Leanne."

Laura shook her head, "No. You didn't. Even to the end, you had done everything you possibly could to bring her back over to our side, and you did. If she didn't take the actions she did, it's possible Morgana might have killed us all."

"I know that, but that's not what I was getting at," Connor frowned to himself, "In that final minute, Leanne looked me right in the eye and asked me to end her and Morgana… and I couldn't. I knew it was wrong, and I didn't want to do it, but I knew it had to be done… and I choked. Leanne asked me to help end this war, but now I'm beginning to question if I really have the guts to do that. To do what needs to be done, especially if it involves a tough choice like that."

Laura remained quiet as he stopped pacing and turned back toward her, "That's one thing I admire and envy about you Laura. You know how to make the tough choices. Regardless of whether or not you're right or wrong, you still have the courage to do it."

The Winter Knight wrung her hands and looked down thoughtfully, "You know, when Stephen talked to me after killing Sir Tamlin, he told me to think of Tamlin's death as a sort of test for me. Tamlin allowed himself to die for the greater good in order to help the Four Courts unify. Leanne sacrificed herself in order to defeat Morgana and protect us. They did those things knowing that there are a lot of people counting on us to do our duty and defeat Balor. If we're going to do that, we need to be stronger and get through this. That's what Tamlin and Leanansidhe expect of us."

Connor stood in silence absorbing all of Laura's words. He closed his eyes and took a long moment letting the sun touch his face before giving a resolved nod, "You're right Laura… and thank you. That was some good insight."

"Stephen has his moments," Laura admitted with a small smile as she rose from the edge of the fountain, "You'll actually have to thank him."

Connor smiled slightly and walked over toward her, "I guess I'll be generous and give you some credit this time."

He extended his arms and halted a moment, "Umm, I hope you don't mind…"

Laura smiled slightly and nodded, "I'll make an exception this time, especially if it involves you humbling yourself towards me."

The Summer Knight laughed gently and put his arms around her in a grateful hug, "Just don't change too much Laura Gremory. I've grown kinda fond of you, so thanks for being such a good friend."

She snorted in amusement while returning Connor's hug, "Yeah well… if I have to be honest, you're not half bad either."

Their warm little moment was immediately ruined as the two knights heard laughter and other footsteps approaching. Noelle, Quinton, and Stephen entered the gardens wearing amused grins as Quinton called out jokingly, "Aww, see? Those two actually do love each other."

Both Connor and Laura let go of each other and cleared their throats in embarrassment while exchanging a stiff handshake. Stephen raised an amused eyebrow toward Connor while Noelle gave her fellow female teammate a playful nudge, "Hey watch it girl. Connor over here is spoken for already."

Laura rolled her eyes while feigning exasperation, "Believe me, you can keep him."

Quinton smiled and crossed his arms, "Anything important we missed here?"

Connor shook his head and put an arm around his friend, "No. Laura was actually cheering me up and giving some wise words too. Stephen, thank you as well."

"Err… any time," the Silver Knight shrugged in mild confusion while Laura graced him with a smile.

As the moment passed, Laura looked to the others hopefully, "So, any word on the treaty?"

Stephen cleared his throat and replied with a proud smile, "As a matter of fact, there is. The Four Courts have agreed to a temporary peace treaty. They've also agreed to form an allied front against Balor's army."

"That's terrific!" Laura exclaimed in joy while Quinton continued.

"They already know Balor is massing his forces in Somerset Valley and he wants to use the fey crossings there to invade the Faerie Realm. The current plan is a preemptive attack from our side. Strike Balor first and drive the enemy back underground. Come tomorrow, we're going to be leaving Solas and headed out to the frontlines to help the Alliance army."

Connor nodded and clenched his fist in determination, "All right. This is what we've been struggling for all along. Now it's time to retake our home and end this war for good."

Noelle placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Are you sure you're going to be okay? We know you were still pretty shaken up about Leanansidhe."

"I'll be all right," he said quietly while casting a glance toward Laura, "Of course I'm still upset about it, but I got a nice little reminder of how to put that in perspective for the coming battle."

The Winter Knight nodded and turned toward the exit of the garden leading back inside the palace, "Well come on then everyone. If we're going to recapture our town, we've got a lot of preparations to make, don't we?"

Back in the ruined town of Somerset Valley, a horde of Fomorian soldiers made camp in and around the populated areas of the settlement. In the buildings that weren't completely torched or ransacked, the captured citizens of the town and students of the university cowered within. While many people had succeeded in fleeing the town during the invasion, many more had been left stranded and were caught by surprise in the attack. For now, the spriggan army kept the population rounded up and under guard while deciding what to do with them later.

In one of the auditorium buildings of the local university, a fearful crowd of people sat huddled in misery while their Fomorian captors swept through to make certain the people were subdued. As the evil fey made their rounds, Eliza McConnel picked up the small guitar she had carried with her and began to quietly strum a few chords. She was hoping a little music might help take an edge of everyone's nerves. Nearby, she saw Quinton's girlfriend Kayla wrapping a blanket around her to keep warm. The two had spoken quietly between themselves over the last two days over whether or not their knightly friends were going to return and help them. While they both held out hope and figured that the knights were off taking care of something important, they couldn't help but wonder where their friends had gone.

At the sounds of the stringed instrument, several spriggans turned abruptly and closed in on her. They gave menacing growls and roughly hauled her to her feet. Despite the intimidation attempts of the foot soldiers, the young woman stubbornly faced them down and held fast to her instrument as they tried to pull it from her hands. When another spriggan tried to put her in a chokehold, Eliza slipped free and wove under the monster's guard to give him a swift left hook to the chin. "Let go of me you creep! You're not getting my guitar!"

A few more spriggans hurried over to break up the scuffle but a young man in dark slacks with a shirt and tie intervened to help cover Eliza. As Eliza saw the man grab one of the spriggan's arms and toss it aside with an arm throw, she noticed he had a police badge clipped to the side of his belt. As more soldiers closed in, he reached for the pistol at his side but the fight was interrupted when they heard an angry voice shout out, "What's the meaning of this? What's going on here?"

Everyone stopped and turned to see a fair Elven looking man with pale features. He wore fine red clothes and a red brimmed hat upon his head. As he closed, the other spriggans fell back and sprung to attention, withering under his scowl, "Can't you idiots do anything right?"

One of the spriggans lieutenants snarled something in their own tongue before the red capped general Seamus gave a nod of understanding. He turned to Eliza and the police officer before scowling back at his own troops, "If the human wants to play a song, then let her. It's not going to make their chances of escape any more likely. If these two civilians are giving you enough trouble, then your troops really are useless. We don't have time for this nonsense!"

After berating his own troops, Seamus turned to Eliza with a narrow scowl, "And you two... don't get any ideas. If you try to cause trouble... well, pray it doesn't come to that."

Just then, an alarm was raised as the sounds of several soldiers were heard clattering by outside, many of the monsters' voices sounded troubled as several horns blew the Fomorians to attention. Seamus growled and clenched his fists, "Damn it all! What is it now?"

The redcap turned on his heel and quickly marched out of the auditorium building while the deflated spriggan guards went back to their posts at the doors. Eliza gave a deep sigh of relief and turned to the older policeman who had saved her, "I'm sorry I dragged you into that, but thank you for the help Officer..."

"Detective Pierce. You can just call me Damon," he said with a kind smile while shaking hands with Eliza, "And don't worry about it. I'm just doing my job. Serve and protect, right?"

Eliza gave a small smile as they sat back down and she tuned her instrument, "What do you think is going on out there Damon?"

He shrugged and kept his hand near his pistol while watching the spriggans, "No idea, but if the monsters are worried, I guess that's a good thing. To be honest, I've been more worried about my girlfriend Kristen. I'm hoping she was able to get away from town during the monster attack."

Eliza's eyes went wide in surprise, "Wait... you don't mean Kristen Bloom, do you? The girl who owns that antique shop in town?"

Damon nodded, "Yeah, that's her. Do you know Kristen?"

"I do," Eliza replied, "I'm actually friends with some of the local students who uh... work for her."

Damon rubbed his hands and sighed, "Well I guess there's no point in us fretting over something that's beyond our control right now. What we should do is try to find a way out of here."

"You have a plan?" Eliza asked in a hushed whisper as she finished tuning her guitar.

Damon shook his head, "No. Still working on it. But until I do, maybe it's best if you try playing that guitar of yours. I think we could all use a little pick me up right now, don't you think?"

Eliza gave a nod and took a deep breath before she plucked the strings and began to play.

Meanwhile on the flat grassy plains leading into Somerset Valley, a large Faerie army assembled in the morning sunlight. The combined forces of the Four Courts grouped together into large battalions forming an impressive field army. Amid the glittering light at their backs, the pennons and flags of the Courts fluttered in the breeze: Summer red, Spring green, Winter blue, and Autumn Orange. At the center of the array of flags was a banner with five silver stars symbolizing the unity of Faerie as well as the aid of some of their human allies like the knights and the Druid orders.

Having called on their armor, the five knights cantered out at the head of the army on their own fey mounts while watching in amazement the force they had helped to bring together. Leading at the rear were the two high generals commanding in the name of the Summer and Winter Courts, Generals Lugh and Nuada. In the frontline, Lords Gwydion and Sigurd led the columns of Summer and Winter infantry. Both forces marches side by side and formed the powerful center of the Alliance battle line. Along the flanks were companies of centaurs from Spring armed with lances while on the other end of the army, the Erlking of Autumn and his savage horsemen trotted forward, eager to charge.

As the Alliance army advanced forward into range of the town, they halted as they were met by their opposition. Standing arrayed before them was a large horde of Fomorian warriors made up of spriggans and lesser savage monsters. At the head of that monstrous army, General Seamus lumbered out in his true troll form, commanding in the name of Lord Balor. Black flags with the red eye motif of the warlord were raised and held defiantly against their fey enemies on the other side of the battlefield. What they lacked in discipline, the Fomorians were going to compensate with numbers and sheer savagery.

Upon making contact with the Fomorian horde, the Alliance army halted and took several minutes to reorder their forces and adjust for the coming pitched battle. While they waited, Stephen made an observation and gave a quiet snort, "Neither side is sending out heralds or messengers. It looks like it's going to be one of those take no prisoners battles."

"Then that just means we'll have to stick together out there and protect each other, right?" Noelle said trying to encourage her comrades.

Quinton nodded and looked out past the formidable ranks of Fomorian soldiers toward the town, "Hang on Kayla. I'm coming."

As the Alliance forces finished up their adjustments, two more riders trotted up to join the knights and position themselves behind them. Kristen and Mr. O'Doyle sat atop their own mounts dressed in their green Druid robes and carrying their staffs into battle. Their mentor gave a wink, "You didn't think I'd let you go off into battle without me, did you? This is my home too."

"Glad to have you along," Laura smiled as she and the other knights drew their swords. The five trotted out at the head of the Alliance forces and formed a wedge formation to lead the charge. In the rear, Alliance archers loaded their arrows and drew back their bows while the cavalry at the wings waited impatiently. The Erlking gave a friendly nod toward Noelle and raised his spear before she replied with a respectful salute of her sword too.

Laura cleared her throat, "I guess this is the time for some kind of heroic speech. Connor? You want to field this? This sort of firing up the troops thing isn't exactly my forte."

The Summer Knight nodded and hesitantly trotted forward. He took a deep breath and raised his sword before the whole Alliance army behind them, "To all of you fighting on behalf of the Faerie Courts, hear me! The Warlord Balor is meeting us here to throw all of his might at us. I know some of you might be afraid and uncertain of the strength of this alliance we've built. But you must remember why we're here and what we're fighting for. We must stand firm and put an end to this war with the Fomorians which is hundreds of years overdue... and I tell you we will. I'm proud to see all of my friends and allies standing together in pursuit of that goal. Now let's drive the Fomorian Host from our world and retake our home!"

The Alliance gave a cheer as the Summer Knight leveled his sword toward the enemy and the other knights formed up alongside him, "Forward!"