AN: Its been a while since my last chapter, so this ones sort of long to make up for it. I'm also busy with some extracurricular activities, but I swear to Notch this story will be finished. I'm also... Feeling sort of sorry for myself because of the low view/review count. I'm pathetic for saying that, but hey, You're reading this, aren't you?
Well I guess I owe you some thanks for reading this far so... Thanks. I feel better now.
But you didn't come here to hear me ramble on, right? Might as well start:
[-I-] Chapter Four [-I-]
Blake was gently drifting through… Space? Where was he? What was he? Where was he? Blake couldn't comprehend his location; it was totally empty and devoid of any substance at all. His eyes couldn't detect any sort of color in this odd void, it was as if someone had sucked all the life out of this dismal place. Blake had never felt so alone, or so powerless. Suddenly, he-
Blake awoke from his dream, and rose suddenly. Unfortunately, he knocked heads with Sir Bicer. Blake fell back unto the bed and groaned, Sir Bicer looking at him curiously.
"You're awake." Bicer said matter-of-factly.
"Thanks for stating the obvious and hitting my head with your helmet."
Bicer shrugged innocently. "It didn't hurt you though, right?"
"Of course it hurt me! You probably couldn't feel it because YOU'RE WEARING THE HELMET!"
A wooden door creaked open, and a worried-looking servant peeked inside. "Excuse me," he said softly, "Are you ready to set off?"
"I guess we are!" Bicer said joyfully.
Blake carefully got up out of bed. Despite the recently-inflicted head wound, Blake felt miraculously healed.
Bicer must have noticed Blakes confused expression and held up an empty glass bottle. "We gave you a healing potion while you were asleep."
Blake felt a wave of fear.
"How long was I unconscious?"
Bicer shrugged. "About a day. You weren't hurt that badly, but for some reason you wouldn't wake up. A couple knights got impatient and decided to "meet" the Tactomancer on their own. I told them to wait but… Ah well, you're ready now so we can get a move on!"
"A day? How long does King Fyron have left 'till the curse takes him?" Blake asked worriedly.
Bicer shrugged for the third time. "Three or four days, or that's what we're guessing at anyways. The court physician barely understands what's happening to Fyrons body, which is understandable, since this is a magic-based illness and we have nobody with a speck of magic understanding anywhere nearby."
"Then there's no time to waste" Blake said suddenly, and sped out of the room with Bicer in close pursuit.
"We have the supplies necessary for the journey in the guard barracks!" Bicer shouted with glee.
Blake suddenly realized he had no idea where he was running, these stone hallways all looked the same and he was probably on the second floor of the castle.
"Which way is that?" Blake asked sheepishly.
Bicer didn't reply but simply ran in the opposite direction, with Blake struggling to keep up. How could a man in full armor run so quickly?
Bicer led Blake to an unlocked iron door, which the knight casually swung open. The barracks were currently deserted, with random pieces of gear and weaponry strewn everywhere. Bicer looked on in disappointment.
"A true warrior always keeps his tools in top notch shape, this is embarrassing to a knight like myself."
Bicer grabbed two leather backpacks, and handed one to Blake. Bicer also took a sword from the weapons rack, and looked at it reverently. Blake slung the backpack over his shoulders and noticed the sword was identical to the one he took from Bicer to fight the undead attackers.
Bicer sheathed the sword and jogged out of the room, with Blake following suit.
"Whats in these packs anyways?" Blake asked as the pair trotted down a set of stone stairs to the first floor.
"Mostly food and medicine, a potion or two, some backup weaponry, a Baladon orb, and a map!" Bicer replied without breaking stride.
The two reached the throne room and kept on going.
"See ya soon King Fyron, we'll get you a cure or something!" Bicer shouted as he and Blake ran out the huge double doors, leaving a very confused King and startled princes left to wonder if that had really just happened.
Blake and Bicer went through an open portcullis and exited the stronghold walls. They reached a massive wall of trees and vegetation.
"What's a Baladon orb anyhow?" Blake asked breathlessly as the two stopped for a brief respite.
"It's sort of like a- Huh. You know those guys?" Bicer asked.
Blake then noticed two people running towards them.
"It's me!" A voice shouted.
"And me as well!" A second voice shouted.
Blake instantly remembered who the people were.
"Don't worry Bicer, their friends."
Ross and Riggs reached Blake and Bicer, and Bicer held out a hand in greeting.
Riggs took the hand eagerly and shook it, Bicer gave an echoing laugh.
"My my, you're a strong one!" Bicer said.
"Thank you" Ross said, attempting to shove Riggs aside so that he could shake Bicers hand. The attempt was ineffective, and the chatty warrior slipped and fell.
Bicer helped Ross back up to his feet.
"It's good to meet you too, archer. My name is Bicer."
"It's Ross, nice to meet you too." Ross said genuinely.
"I'm Riggs." The veteran miner said.
"Great to make your acquaintance as well." Bicer said.
"Great" Blake interjected, "We all know each other, so why are you two here?"
Ross laughed. "We're here to help you get a cure for King Fyron. We heard the whole thing in a bar, the story of a stranger defeating two undead and saving the kings life spread like wildfire throughout the city."
"That's great news!" Blake said happily, "I was going to ask you two for help anyways, but now that you're here we have an even better shot of getting to the Tactomancer and getting some sort of cure."
"Ah yes, about that whole "cure" business, how do we know that Tactomancer even knows how to cure this curse?" Ross said doubtfully. "We don't even know what the curse is called, plus we're going to invade his domain after three other knights went to see him just yesterday, and let us not forget the most important problem: He probably won't decide to help us in the first place, and will simply kill us and turn us into zombies or something."
"Right… He can raise the dead." Blake said mournfully.
"Actually, nobody has ever seen him raise a corpse or perform black magic." Bicer said methodically, "For all we know, the Tactomancer may have grown weak in the past few years, for despite the terror that fills the Kingdom of Tearstone, the undead attacks have waned recently. Those two red monsters were the first serious attack since four weeks ago."
"But Fyron was talking about a zombie horde at the meeting." Blake countered.
"He was talking about a possible zombie attack. We haven't seen significant undead movement in a while."
"If they were all speaking hypothetically, and if there hasn't been an attack in four weeks, why is everyone so terrified? Why do the people hide? What aren't you three telling me?"
Sir Bicer shifted nervously, Riggs avoided eye contact, and Ross laughed.
"It's the Black Knife." Ross said cheerfully. "They've had everyone scared out of their skins recently.
"Black Knife?" Blake asked. "Why is everyone scared of a knife?"
"It's not a knife, it's an organization that named themselves after an accursed weapon. The Black Knife is essentially the kings secret police. They make sure everyone's working on the defenses twenty four/seven."
Bicer gave a thoughtful sigh.
"Tired already?" Ross asked in a cheeky voice.
"No, not tired. Just confused. I have heard of the Black Knife before, but never have I laid eyes upon one of their members. I used to be in the inner ring of knights before my tragedy, and never was this "secret police" brought up. Plus, King Fyron is an honorable man. He would never terrorize his own people."
"You never heard it brought up because it's a secret. Duh." Ross said, making a ridiculous face.
Everyone ignored Ross.
"You had a tragedy?" Blake asked. "I heard a knight say "go get your honor back." Did you lose your knighthood or something?"
Bicer shook his head. "I'd rather not relate what happened at this time. I'm still stuck on the issue of the Black Knife though."
"Forget about it for now." Riggs said in his gravelly voice. "If we don't get a move on to the Tactomancers domain we won't make it there before sunfall."
"Of course." Bicer said, new life in his voice. "Let's start our trek!"
The four companions began their descent into the forest, their boots crushing the thick undergrowth. It was obvious that somebody or something had walked through here before: The great spindly branches that grew from the trunks of giant trees were covered in small tears of clothes, and a great decaying smell seemed to fill the entire forest.
"So what supplies do you guys have?" Ross asked suddenly, as if trying to keep a constant conversation flowing.
Bicer yawned and recounted the items aloud. "Some small arms weaponry. Arrows. Some potions, a map, medicine and food. Plus a Baladon orb!"
"A Baladon orb?" Ross asked incredulously. "Surely King Fyron is a rich man."
"Okay, seriously, what does a Baladon orb even do?" Blake asked exasperatedly.
"Well its usually used for…" Riggs began.
"Hold up guys." Ross whispered in an attention-commanding voice. "Don't turn around, but we're being followed."
Blake was glad Ross had given him a preliminary warning, had the archer not said what he did Blake probably would of swung around like an idiot.
"Do you know who it is?" Bicer asked in a casual voice, attempting to make the stalker believe they were holding a normal conversation.
Ross gave an incredibly fake yawn and stretched his arms widely. Blake noticed his right eye flicker towards the denser bushes.
Ross scratched his stomach and coughed. Halfway through the cough, Blake was sure he heard Ross whisper "Right."
Blake was surprised at the skillfulness of his companions, to any normal person it looked as though the four men were totally unaware of the stalker, while in reality they already knew the stalkers location.
Bicer had an additional advantage over the other three: Since his face was obscured by his helmet, he could easily sneak glances at the stalker.
Ross opened his mouth like he was about to speak, when suddenly a man cloaked entirely in black walked out of a bush. The man had moved so quickly and silently Blake would have thought he had just appeared out of thin air, if it weren't for Ross's warning.
Bicer drew his sword, the blade making an awe-inspiring SHHHHHRRRIIIIIIIINNG!
Ross unslung his bow and drew an arrow to full draw in roughly four seconds.
Riggs drew a massive iron knife from a hidden sheath. The knife had a blade that probably measured to about three feet. The blade was straight for two of the three feet, but the rest of the blade curved backwards sharply.
Blake noticed that he was essentially unarmed compared to his friends, but he drew his throwing knife anyways.
The man put up his hands defensively. "I have no quarrel with you." He said with a surprisingly calm voice. The other surprising thing about his voice was how warped it was, it was as if the man was calling from the bottom of a well.
The voice wasn't the only odd thing about the man. The stalker was wearing a skintight silk shirt and pants, along with some very comfortable black leather boots. The man also wore an odd helmet crafted from obsidian. The helmet was shaped like a horizontal football with the edges nearly cut off.
When Blake peered into the helmet, the thousands of black hexagons gave a distorted image of his own face. Blake thought that if he looked hard enough, he could almost make out a light blue outline of the man's face. For a moment he saw a nearly perfect, (albeit very blue and black), version of the man's face.
He had surprisingly weak features.
Ross's voice brought him back to the present.
"ind that hard to believe from the guy who was stalking us for the past five minutes. Maybe you'd mind telling us your name, what you're following us for, and where you bought those comfortable looking boots."
The man considered this for a moment.
"Shade. Help you on your quest. Made them myself."
Ross blinked. "I didn't expect you to answer. Sweet."
"So your name is Shade?" Bicer asked. "And you want to help us on our quest to save King Fyrons life?"
Shade laughed. The noise was distorted and probably broke Blakes eardrums. "That is what I just said, correct?"
"Why did you wait until we were in the forest to join us? Why'd you stalk us instead of coming out at the beginning? Why haven't I ever seen you before? And most importantly of all, where can I get a helmet like that?"
"I was late. I was making a point that you need me. I'm good at sneaking. Obsidian Arts and Crafts."
Ross frowned. "Of course you bought the helmet at a store, but the boots are custom made."
Shade shrugged.
Riggs brought everyone back to the topic at hand. "So how do we know we can trust you?"
Shade laughed again. Blakes eardrums popped again.
"Because I'm the sneakiest man you'll ever meet, you'll definitely need me on this quest. Plus, I hate the Black Knife, and once this whole Tactomancer thing is over I can give you all the dirt on them you'd ever want to know."
Riggs nodded sagely. "We'll need every person we can on this quest, and stealth may serve us well if we are to survive."
Ross chuckled. "You wouldn't know stealth if it dropped a very damaged anvil on your head."
Riggs swung his gaze to Ross. "Stealth may not drop an anvil on my head, but you and I both know I could drop one on yours."
Ross involuntarily backed up a pace and shut up.
"I like you guys already." Shade said jokingly, but as he spoke Blake couldn't shake the suspicion that the black-clad man was looking right at him. Creepy.
"Let's keep moving." Bicer said, and the now-larger-party continued traveling through the forest.
Ross finally rediscovered his voice and spoke to Shade.
"So I guess you should know our names. I'm Ross, the charismatic archer with mad skills. That's Riggs, a super strong miner guy who doesn't mine anymore. It's complicated. That's Bicer, he's a knight who wishes to regain his honor. And that's Blake. He's quiet and spaces out a lot, but he can beat the crap out of undead monsters. Plus, if this was a story, he'd probably be the main character."
Shade laughed again. "What brought that last comment on?"
Ross shrugged. "Archers intuition."
Bicer punched Ross in the arm.
-O-O-O-O-O-O-