Note: I forgot to say that the female Ruler warrior I mentioned in the author's note for the previous chapter was Queen Isabella. At least, I think she is. I think she married a man named Ferdinand II of Aragon. I apologize for jumping back and forth, but it is on different perspectives, and so I must- even if I have to confuse the reader by going to one event, and going back in time to explain the event better, and then springing forward again. The Odyssey does this a lot too, and it completely confuses the reader. It's its fault that I'm doing it in this template. Plus, it makes things more interesting, depending on how you look at it, but I'll have to use it lesser if people say they don't like it.
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Chapter the Fourth
May the Twenty-first, 1496 C.E.
Rivendell, Lyokonis
Aelita rested against the rock, putting down the book beside her, closing her eyes and letting out a soft sigh. Her left ear twitched, and Aelita thought she heard something, but dismissed it, continuing to rest against the rock. Suddenly a black gloved hand covered her mouth, causing her eyes to open suddenly, finding a blade that was clenched by another black gloved hand at her throat, causing her to struggle in an attempt to be free.
"Now… just come along with us, and there won't be any trouble" a haughty voice whispered in one of her ears.
Aelita stopped struggling for a moment, as if thinking it over, all the while slowly opening her mouth. The next thing the General knew, a sharp set of teeth clamped down on his hand that was on her mouth, causing him to nearly yell out loud in pain. With a powerful elbow thrust backwards against his Solar Plexus, causing him to drop the blade and stumble backwards in pain, letting her go. Aelita leapt back up expertly back onto her feet, and quickly drew her blade.
"I don't think so" she snapped back.
--
Waldo heard the commotion outside, and rushed to the nearby window that was closest to the battle scene and seeing the scene, grinned as his mental battle ceased. He continued watching, but was ready to summon help, if needed, though he seriously doubted that the help would be necessary.
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"Have it your way then, Princess" the attacker replied, drawing out one of his curved blades that was discolored to a rusty reddish-brown color, which was unlike his other one which was clean throughout, because it was not cleaned in a long time. "Soldiers! Attack!" he yelled out to the soldiers that were hidden around the area.
The hidden warriors jumped out from the foliage around them, being disguised to look like the terrain around them. Each of them drew their fearsome weapons, growling fiercely in anticipation.
"Come on boys" Aelita taunted "make my day" before she dew out Watercress and held it at the ready, giving them a cheeky smirk as she swung it back and charged, yelling a battle cry to the heavens above.
--
"What is going on…?" Ulrich started to say as he saw the scene unfold before him.
Princess Aelita was charging at the oncoming soldiers, going onto a 9 versus 1 battle against each other, the odds not looking good for the sole fighter. However, she surprised them by leaping over the opponents, sailing gracefully through the air, before landing behind one of the soldiers and giving him a quick slash, only to find that the soldier had skillfully moved out of the way.
"The members of the Elite. I should have known" Ulrich heard her growl before she gave a little chuckle to herself before muttering "Well, I always wanted a good challenge. Let's see how they play…"
With that, Aelita dodged a swipe made at her leg before giving them a swipe of her own, managing to hit the soldier's helmet so hard that the soldier reeled backwards a few feet in pain before attacking again moments later.
--
"Alright, enough horseplay" the General yelled. "This ends now!"
"Oh, really? Gosh, I was just getting started" Aelita said sarcastically as the warriors and the general lined up horizontally facing her with their weapons beared.
Feeling much like a warrior, Aelita ran towards them as they charged towards her, equally determined to knock the other out. They were gaining speed as they ran, intently focused on each other, clutching their blades as they were on a collision course…
"Yaaahaaa!" Aelita yelled as she tacked one on her side, knocking him to the ground before charging the others.
"This Lady's mad!" one declared.
"Stay still!" the General growled, ready to do a massive downward strike.
"One, two, three! You can't catch me!" Aelita yelled, hitting one on the head with the blunt side of the sword, Watercress making a dull 'THUNK' noise as it hit.
"Yargh!" The General said as he tackled her to the ground. "Aren't so tough now, are ye?"
"That's what you think" she grunted in response before picking him up, and tossing him easily to the side.
"Uhm… should we help her?" she heard a voice say as she continued battling them.
"No," she heard another say as she knocked another to the ground so that he was bowling around in his armor, unable to get up quickly due to the armor's weight. "I think she's got it covered".
Angered by the mounting frustrations of what is supposedly an easy task, the General got all his warriors together by discussing a play. They would charge in a straight line like they had the first time, but they would stay together no matter what, and crowd en masse until the threat was eliminated. However, Aelita was catching on to their idea, and as she charged in pure rage that they still were trying to take her family away, and swung her sword, instead of her actual swipe, a large torrent of water came out from the side of her blade and pushed them back, surprising her, the soldiers, and the onlookers as well. Aelita, getting over her surprise, gave a devious smirk to them, and continued her torrential attack.
"Whoa!" she heard a young boy's voice yell out before the wave's side lightly pushed him to the side.
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Thoughts ran through Odd's mind as he said "Whoa" in plain surprise. The watery attack soon ceased afterwards, leaving heavily sodden soldiers and a drenched General on the muddy ground far, far into the training grounds. Soon, after they had regained consciousness, they clambered to their feet after much slipping and sliding, and they managed to get onto their horses, some having to remount again as they had slipped off the first time.
"This isn't over… I'll be back…" the General said in between gasps before lightly hitting the horse in its side with his boot, causing the horse to start of in a fast gallop, the defeated soldiers following behind.
Aelita wiped off the mud and grime from her cloak before noticing them still by the gateway leading to the Palace Gardens.
"Uhm…. hi?" she said, leaving an awkward silence before Odd answered.
"…Wow…"
--
-Nighttime, around 8 PM-
"… you saw it, dad?" Aelita said uncertainly.
"I'd say seeing it is an understatement. Witnessing it, however, was unbelievable!" Waldo exclaimed, not bothering to really eat his food, instead waving around the leg of mutton around, clutching it tightly before setting it back down onto the plate in front of him.
"Father!" Aelita replied back "You're scaring the guests!" she continued, gesturing with a flourish of her hand to Lady Yumi, Ulrich, Odysseus, and Jeremie.
"Nonsense!" Jeremie declared "I wanted to see it for myself!"
Aelita blushed as her hand held the blade's hilt, still in its sheath. It seemed like yesterday that training was a boring session of repetitiveness, but today, she had Xavier to thank for allowing her to unlock the hidden power within the blade.
"Well, I think I should tell you the legend… the most of it, however. Some of the inscriptions on the stone tablet made by Theodonnus are missing. I believe that they have been missing for quite a long time actually, for generations, in fact. I believe there was some meddling involved, and some of the missing pieces were more important than the rest. I do believe that the other side of our crest had done it."
"… Wha… what do you mean?" all the young ones asked, taken aback at the new piece of information.
King Schaeffer gave a long, weary sigh, massaging his forehead with his fingers. There would be a lot of explaining for him to do on his part, and for some of them, the information would be too much. There was a nagging at the back of his head that said that they should be withheld from the information, but King Waldo decided that it was about time for them to learn why Xavier wanted the rest of the family out of his way so badly.
"It all began with a schism, hundreds of years ago…" Waldo began, slightly leaning over the grand table as he spoke, swallowing every few seconds to get the words out. "There was division between our family on the question of nobility. The arguments on whether fighting evil was a necessary grew… and eventually our family divided into two sides- the noble side, and the not so noble side. The lesser noble side thought that if the lands fell under the rule of only one person, there would not be any fighting over the resources and the conquest of other lands. They thought that if they had united all the lands under one person, then they would be strong and would be able to crush any uprisings, meanwhile controlling the thoughts and persons with their strong, national army to keep everyone under control" Waldo said, taking a drink from his goblet after her spoke.
"So… so that means…" Odd started.
"Yes," King Schaeffer said as he wearily sighed once again, getting another drink before putting down the golden goblet down on the pine table with a 'clunk'. "I'm afraid that Lord Xavier is related to us… It's better not to dwell on these things…" the King said as he wiped his mouth with a cloth nearby on the table. "We should rest up, I'll tell the rest of the tale in the morrow. …May Thor grant that the night won't be riddled with his anger" he said, getting up from the table, the others doing likewise. "It's pretty dark outside, you can rest up here, since bandits are afoot at the time."
"But, sire, I am a knave, and my master would be getting rather angry and would think I abandoned him" Jeremie protested.
King Schaeffer turned around and shook his head, indicating that his mentor had already been informed of him staying there, and headed off to the upper rooms. He then stopped for a moment, as if he had forgotten something, turned around and beckoned to Yumi with his hand. Yumi, a little nervous walked up to him and King Schaeffer whispered something to her ear before leaving for the upper floor. Yumi, nodding as he left, went to the store room, and came back a few moments later, holding a small, light brown dagger-like blade.
Looking at the questioning looks of her new friends, Yumi shrugged, muttering something about not having a weapon, and being given one for self-protection. Odd then boasted about how his blade was much larger, due to his large ego. Yumi, a little agitated, gripped the hilt harder before the blade extended with a 'pop' to as large as Odd's. Odd blinked, his jubilance withering away in his mouth before he closed it.
Grinning good naturedly, Yumi gave the blade a squeeze again before it retracted back into its dagger-like form, Yumi sheathing it in the leather sheath attached to her belt. With that show of power, the five friends nodded to each other before saying a chorus of mutterings of 'good night' and departing to their respective rooms upstairs, preparing for bed before falling into a dreamless slumber.
Meanwhile outside, as they slept, a lone figure prowled on the ground, sharp eyes on the lookout. Creeping to the edge of the moat, he took out a piece of rope with curved metal pieces, swinging it around and hooking it to the top of the castle. He expertly climbed up, and stepped onto the castle floor on the rooftop, slinking down the castle to around the drawbridge area. Seeing guards there, he smirked, and pulled a blade, silencing them before they could warn the castle of his presence. Finding the drawbridge mechanism, he slowly released the chains, which in turn let the drawbridge down slowly so that nobody else in the castle would notice. Several men dressed in black attire to fit better into the night silently filed in, each dividing into groups to capture the intended targets.
The leader of the team, who had let the rest of his team in, pulled off the cloth around his mouth. Giving a toothy grin to nobody in particular, he smirked as he watched the groups file of.
"I'm back" he said softly, tauntingly, before he went with a group, blending in with the shadows that were not lighted from the torch light.
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Note: Forks weren't really used back then… I doubt forks were in France at the time. If they were, people might have not used them at all, confused them for weapons of dueling (probably like the British… I think) or had speared their food with a fork, and then plucked it off and ate it anyway with their hands. Hey, the Renaissance did not spread to their area yet, and yes, I took some ideas from the VFD on the schism. Theodonnus = Theo, if you didn't know already. I also mentioned the Norse Gods… don't know if they were in France back then, but hey, it's worth a shot (That's why I said mentioned "Gods" earlier in the story). … I think I spelled Schaeffer wrong earlier in the story… *sighs* Action scenes are hard to write for me, though I can visualize them just fine…
If you are confused on what color the blades are… here we go, alphabetical order.
Aelita- Light Blue
Jeremie- Light Red
Odd- Light Yellow
Others- normal silver color
Ulrich- Light silver, almost white
Yumi- Light Brown
XANA- Dark Purple/Black combo