I know this isn't what you all were expecting for the next chapter, but I just had to do it. It's short, but I hope you all like it.
For once in his life, battle loomed on the horizon and Charles Eustace Fotheringale le Malvois III was unafraid. Well, perhaps "unafraid" was too strong a word. He was scared to death, but still stalwart in the face of danger and possibly his imminent demise. Justalice, who most certainly was the Alice of Legend despite her many protestations to the contrary, was being held within the enemy fortress and he, as a knight sworn to protect the fair lady, must come to her rescue. It was his duty and his honor. The White Knight's armor had never felt so much a part of him as it did at this moment, riding proudly atop his mighty steed onto the field of battle. How many years had he waited for this day? Quite a few, actually.
To be perfectly honest (as a knight must be), he had not been all too certain things would work out so well as they had. His plan was sound, make no mistake, but Charlie had not been sure he possessed all which was required to see it through. Honor, valor, courage, and purity - chief and indispensable virtues of a true knight. Until this morning, the old man had not quite believed he had been endowed with such noble descriptors. It was rather a pleasant surprise to find that he had.
His vast army awaited his command; row upon row of gallant sirs and ladies, knights of the realm. The armor and weaponry he had been so painstakingly maintaining all these long years shone brightly in the noontime light. Each blade was at the ready, each ax held within a tight, albeit bony grip. He trotted Percival up and down the front line, gazing out over his troops, all anticipating his orders, ready to lay down their … uh, lives? Under his lead.
"Good knights of the realm!" he called to them, unsheathing his sword. "Long has this war waged in silence and fear, long have you waited for your rightful justice, long has a tyrant held the throne of Wonderland in a grip of cruelty and oppression; but no more! Today, we face our enemy once again on the field of battle, to return peace and freedom to the good people of our beloved realm! Your death masks and skeletal grins are fitting, for you honorable warriors shall strike a fatal blow to the evil which reigns unjustly over the wonderous kingdom of Avalon!
"Noble knights of the Red King, we go to save the Alice of Legend! For freedom! For justice! For Wonderland!" The knight raised his sword high and was met by the eager roar of his army. Wheeling his stallion around, Charlie led the charge towards the Happy Hearts Casino, a thousand and more soldiers at his heels.
The fallen paladins of the Kingdom had risen to his call, come to his aid, followed his command. This they would only do when summoned by a true knight. The day he had so long yearned for had finally arrived with the small spitfire Justalice. Charlie would reclaim his honor at last. He just hoped he would live long enough to enjoy it.
The wicked Queen's Suits were ready and waiting for his army, but foolishly they had long since forsaken the blade and ax, weapons of old, for mere pistols. Bullets, they would find in a moment, did very little against those without flesh to pierce and internal organs to rupture. His undead troops fell upon them like wild dogs, blood spilling on the grass as it had not for two hundred years. The sword of the righteous hewed both life and limb from the partisans of evil.
The ill trained and cowardly Suits quickly retreated back into their stronghold and a shout of triumph went up amongst the White Knight's warriors. Charlie ordered them onward, to infiltrate the castle - er, casino - and retrieve Justalice, her Harbinger, and all those captives held within. Himself, the old paladin pulled Percival back, galloping up the hill to the line of ballistas waiting to repel the imminent air strike.
Not a moment too soon, as the fuchsia birds of the Empyrean swarmed from the casino roof, more pouring out of the Royal airship. Like bees from a hive, they attacked, swooping low and dropping explosives on the army. Where the hand to hand combat had been extremely skewed in favor of the sword and ax wielding paladins, the ground to air assault was sorely lacking. Grenandes tended to beat out spears and rock slings every time. But Charlie and his troops did not flag, holding their ground and launching volley after volley at the bombarding flamingos.
Percival reared and shrieked in terror as the ground exploded around them. The White Knight quickly dismounted and sent the horse on his way with a firm slap to the flank. He was a good, strong steed, but not at all suited to such violence. The White Knight manned a ballista himself, taking careful aim at his advancing enemy and fired. The Suit banked to the side just in time to avoid being skewered like a borogove roast.
"Grizzly, cat-handed onions!" he shouted at the enemies swooping overhead. Beside him, a knight twirled his sling above his head, waiting for the right moment to throw the stone within. The moment came, but when he went to fire, instead of letting loose his weapon, the spindly paladin's arm was pulled free of the socket and fell to the grass behind him. Charlie huffed, retrieving and reattaching the limb. "We can't fall apart in the face of the enemy!"
The skeletal combatant nodded, shrugging apologetically. His commander returned to the ballista, loading it for another volley. Some of the other spear launchers and sling carriers had better luck, sending the aerial Suits spiraling out of control and crashing into the ground. Two slammed into the casino itself, blasting out windows and showering glass on the battle below.
Inside, Sir Charles was certain his soldiers were bringing down the Queen's pathetic excuse for an army with ease. In her sureness and pride, she had allowed herself to become complacent. Once a brilliant military leader, the woman had let her guard slip, her forces to become lazy and overly dependent on modern weaponry and fear tactics. How could one defend against an opposing army who was unaffected by either? One couldn't; which is why Charlie knew the great Knights of the Red King would win the day. The Queen of Hearts had committed the cardinal sin of Wonderland - she had taken something, her superiority, for granted. Thus, she was doomed.
The White Knight took aim once again, waited for just the right instant, and fired. Direct hit! His launched lance speared a Suit right off his flamingo. The man fell to the ground, but his bird, unmanned, wheeled away. The machine crashed against another, causing the Ace at the stick to loose his control. The pink speeder swerved sickly to the left and right, gaining altitude so sharply the pilot passed out. As Charlie watched, the flamingo winged its way back towards the building at top speed. Its trajectory was so steep, it missed the building completely and smashed, full force, into the Royal airship itself.
A large chunk of the ship exploded outward, snapping several of the suspension cables nearby. The balance of the ship was completely throne off, one side dipping too low, snapping three more of the wires which held it to the balloon. With an unearthly groan, the massive dirigible swung away from the casino, but the anchor lines that ran the lift were still attached. The very air around them shook as the narrow foundation of the Happy Hearts Casino cracked under the strain. When the ship crashed, it would bring the whole building down.
People had been streaming out of the edifice steadily since the fighting had begun, but within seconds, they were pouring out in torrents. Confident in his troops abilities, the aged paladin was not worried about Justalice. She was likely out of the building already and would be safely away before it all collapsed. A soldier at the ballista to his left took almost the full blast of a grenade, knocking him back from his post and his skull from his shoulders.
Charlie rushed to his aid, grabbing up the errant cranium. As he plunked it back in place on the knight's spinal column, he admonished. "Keep your head, man! Keep your head!"
As he was assisting his comrade, he did not see the flamingo diving towards him until it was too late. The world exploded around them, tossing him to the ground. As the world faded into black, the final battle of Sir Charles, the White Knight was over. The war, however, was yet to be won.
I thought the "army" in the mini, while kind of clever, was a bit lackluster. Not to mention kind of impossible to pull off in the time Charlie had to do it. I thought this would be a bit more impressive and befitting of such a great knight.