Death or Doom? Chapter 12: Fall of the Knight in Shining Armour, a ranger's apprentice fanfic

HI AGAIN!!!! Time for chapter 12! That's one number away from my lucky number! YAY!

To Hades Krazy Daughter: How many times do you check your emails? You must either have a lot of important stuff coming in or be really really bored. And it's NOT Horace and Cassandra.

To MacNashi: How many times do you check to see if I've updated? Oh, and Hedwig says: 'Stop being a poopy head and don't blame the human who doesn't remember every detail that weirdos say.'

To Sammy-Pip: ..... read MacNashi's

Anyway, chapter 12! It's chapters like these that make it rated T! Sorry for my over use of exclamation marks. I don't like putting them in the story, and I'm a bit high.

Chapter 12: Fall of the Knight in Shining Armour

'Will!' Cassandra finished. Horace turned white, then green, then red.

'You what?!' Horace exclaimed. It's just a dream, just a dream! Horace thought desperately. This could not be happening.

Cassandra looked at his face, gave him a sympathetic smile, and touched his arm to get his attention. 'I'm sorry.' she said, then ran, leaving him utterly alone.

Foldar's head had cleared, and the girl had disappeared. He lay on his bunk in his small cabin and moaned. How could he have given in so easily? He thought back. Foldar didn't remember exactly what had happened, because his memories were blurred and filled with blue. Such a pretty blue. He would do anything for that blue. Foldar had meant to tell Slagor II about the girl, but every time he tried, his mind would go blank.

Horace ran. He whispered to every non-Araluan he met. He hated Cassandra. And soon she would be queen, and revenge would be impossible. But Horace had thought of a way. By undermining the kingdom, he would create chaos and vulnerability in Araluen, therefore considerably lessening the ruler's power. Horace decided to turn traitor.

He turned and knocked on the door of a small farm. He would spread rumours about the princess, cut her down to size, then disappear into Picta, beyond the power of Araluen.

The door opened. In the doorway stood Cassandra, the Crown Princess, Will's lover. She looked at Horace, clearly confused.

'Princess?' Horace blurted out incredulously.

'You're a knight of Araluen! Help me! She's pretending to be me! She ruined me!' the girl exclaimed.

'What? Who's she?'

'Evanlyn. My maid. She betrayed me! Oh, Sir Knight, help me ruin her!!'

'Well,' said Horace, sensing a chance to ruin Araluen further. 'We could bring dishonour to her future kingdom, and then run to Picta.'

'Oh, yes!'

Casca'de had heard every word Horace and the real Cassandra had exchanged. She watched Horace as he entered his room in the inn to dump his belongings, and prepare for dinner. She followed him in. She had a plan.

Horace washed his face, and changed out of his stiff knightly riding clothes, and into a soft cotton shirt and pants ensemble. He walked down the stairs into the main dinig room, and glanced around. A black-haired girl sat in the corner. He knew her. She was the one who had tried to kill Halt, and nearly gotten herself killed. He had not yet heard of Casca'de's new alignment on the Ranger side. He sensed a possible ally. Walking over to her, he casually asked if she would mind him sitting with her. She glanced up, then smiled.

'Go ahead.' she said.

'Thanks. I hear this place has really good food.' he replied, starting a casual conversation. It wouldn't do to arouse her suspicions too quickly. They ate, and he started to talk about his plan. She smiled, tentatively at first, then when he'd finished, she grinned at him. He invited her up to his room, and she agreed. Horace led her up, opened the door, and in they went.

Casca'de entered Horace's room, dragged him in, and slammed the door. She pinned him to the floor quickly, taking advantage of his shock. She straddled him, her long black hair falling to pool around his head. Horace looked into Casca'de's eyes, and saw a deep hunger there, one he thought he understood. His breaths came fast and heavy, then he stopped breathing all together. Her hands were around his throat, and she squeezed. His faced changed colour, from pale-not-quite-white-but-definitely-not-yellow to a purplish-blue. He tried desperately to throw her off, but he was weak from lack of air. His eyes bulged, he gasped, and went completely limp. Casca'de's eyes no longer burned with a hungry fire, she had done her work, and the traitor lay dead at her feet, strangled.

Evanlyn searched in vain for Will. She needed him to hold her, tell her that she was wonderful and perfect, tell her how much he loved her, and how they would spend the rest of eternity together. She enjoyed the feeling. When she had been a maid, she had seduced either messengers or guards to stay with her, love her, and kiss her gently as they told her that she was beautiful and perfect. Of course, there were many messengers and guards, so she usually never saw them after that one night. Now she was a princess, maybe not entirely legally, but still, she had the role of a princess, so it was time to settle down and be good with a person she truly loved. Will. It was all because of him that she was a princess, living in luxury. It was because of him that she had turned towards a long lasting relationship, rather than one night stands. And it was with him she wanted a relationship.

Will passed the inn where Horace had spent his last moments. Just a few minutes ago, Casca'de had moved his body into the bed, and covered him, to delay the discovery. Sure, people didn't sleep with their eyes open, but she didn't want to touch him. She'd nearly thrown up after the kill. Will glanced around, feeling uneasy, without knowing why. A black mare trotted out of the inn's stable, with a rider cloaked anonymously in dark grey. The rider's hooded head lifted, the hood shadowing the rider's face.

'Greetings, Will.' The rider knew his name. Will felt a surge of fear shake him. His hand dropped to the hilt of his saxe knife, but the rider threw back the hood, revealing familiar features.

'Oh, it's you.' Will said, relieved.

'Did I scare you, O Fearless Ranger?' Casca'de smirked, knowing perfectly well she had.

'No. Well, maybe.' Will said a little too hastily. Seeing that she hadn't fallen for it, he tried to defend himself. 'Just a bit!' he protested. 'A besides, you never know who could be out here!'

'Oh, yes, you're right. You can never be too careful. There could be highwaymen, stalkers, serial killers, hooded anonymous riders with various hidden knives.'

'Stop it! Do you enjoy tormenting me?'

'Absolutely.'

'Anyway,' Will said forcefully with a glare, 'What news of Slagor II and Foldar?'

'Not much. They have your friend, they are planning to take him to Skandia, and Slagor II has connections to an expert poisoner. I'll find out more tonight.'

'You're going back there? But it's dangerous! You were lucky to get out alive.'

'No. I have this.' She held up the blue stone. 'Gilan had two, so he gave this one to me to, let's say, persuade either Slagor II or Foldar to tell me their plans.'

'Still! You could be killed!'

'At least I won't have wasted my life.'

'Please. Don't go.'

'Give me a good reason not to.'

'You could get killed.'

'You said that, and that's not a good reason.'

'I love you!' Will blurted. Casca'de looked amused.

'No, you don't. You love Alyss. Even a blind man would be able to see that.' Will had no reply. 'I thought so. Oh, and Horace turned traitor against Araluen. He was trying to get back at the future queen for rejecting him.'

'What happened to him? Was he caught?'

'He's dead. And Will? Do me a favour?'

'Sure.'

'Look after Nightshade. Get reinforcements. You have someone and something to live for. Don't waste your life. Farewell.' Then she dismounted, and left, leaving her horse, Nightshade, with Will. Will sent a messenger pigeon to Gilan and Halt, then headed off to the inn, where he would sleep and wait. Casca'de was right. He had someone to live for. That night, he wrote to Alyss.

Aaron had found out where Will had gone, so he followed him on a 'knightly quest to protect the inferior'. Pretty soon, he had seen Slagor II's ship. Curious, he boarded.

Casca'de set her messenger pigeon loose. She had found out what she needed. Now her job was almost complete. Metally, she ticked off what she had done. Now all she needed to do was get herself captured, and the rest of her plan would fall into place. She boarded the ship, and climbed down below the deck. Almost immediately she heard footsteps behind her. Perfect.

Aaron found himself face to face with a large man. The man looked surprised, then grabbed Aaron with a grubby hand, and knocked him out with his other big grubby hand.

Slowly, everything focused, and Aaron could see his surroundings. 'HELP! HELP!' he called.

'Shut up.' A girl's voice came from his east wall. He peered through a tiny hole in his cell. He saw a dark-haired girl sitting on her bunk in an identical cell. Aaron looked through a hole in his west wall and saw a boy stretched out on his bunk, moaning and looking rather unhappy and sick.

Suddenly, the floor lurched, and Aaron remembered he was in a boat. The boat rocked violently, and Aaron fell to the floor, bemoaning his luck. He was stuck on a boat that was getting further and further away from land, into an unknown ocean.

HA! Poor little Aaron gets what he deserves, a 'knightly quest'. Anyway, I'll update eventually, and please review! REVIEWS MAKE ME HAPPY!!!! (Next chapter is my lucky number!) Unfortunately for all of you, I have to finish this chapter, because no one else could be bothered. Everyone's done a bit. ANYWAY, REVIEW!!!!!!!