Knights of Altador: the Darkest Faerie's Wrath - Part Four

The Battle

Night fell, and we slept, listening to the patter of the raindrops falling onto the roof of the tent. Something inside me stirred, and I felt a pain in my head. I had a feeling that something was wrong. I tried to move, but I couldn't feel anything. My body ignored me as I commanded them to move. I panicked, but then, to my relief, I woke up. I didn't hear anything. The rain must have stopped, the storm passed over.

     I saw that it was still night, and everyone slept soundly. Everyone, except Isabel. She was gone. Again. She disappeared in Fyora's castle in Faerie City, Faerieland, which is how we got here, but now was not a good time to disappear. I realized that something could have happened. Something bad. A shiver ran down my spine. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, and stood up to leave the tent. She stood outside.

     "Isabel!" I whispered. She turned and glared at me, drawing one of Sam's battle axes that stood in a tree stump.

     "Isabel, what's wro-" I leapt aside as she slashed the ax into the tree behind me.

     "You are not going to war," she panted, pulling it out of the tree.

     "You know that I need to! I have pledged loyalty to Altador!" She swung the ax again. This time I ducked as it embedded itself in another tree.

     "Why don't you draw your sword and fight me, knight of Altador?" she hissed. I laughed, dodging another attack.

     "You know that an ax like that could easily break my sword."

     "Exactly. The Darkest Faerie's followers will carry axes too!" I stepped left as the ax stuck in the tree, not a foot from my head. She let go of the ax and glared at me, tears in her eyes.

     "You have the responsibilities of coming home, and seeing your mother! She needs you as much as you need her! You have friends to come back to! You have a great life that you are throwing away! Do not go into war. If you do, you WILL die."

     I sighed. I was worried too.

     "Come with me. We can sneak back into the castle, and pretend that we were injured from the battle. By the time they realize that we aren't hurt, we will be back in faerie city! We'll get another cloud to take us back home." I thought about it for a while. It was tempting.

     "We would have a lot of questions to answer if we came back without Jake, Bo, or Sam."

     "One of us is going to die if we go on anyway!" she retorted. "And we can bring them with us! Did you think I was proposing that we leave them behind?" I felt my face heat up and turn a shade of red.

     "I-I mean... uh... I thought..."

     She stormed deeper into the woods. I sighed and followed after her.

     "I am going to war whether you like it or not," I said, remaining firm even in my fear. She held her head high and let go of the heavy ax.

     "Then so am I."

     I glared at her. "You can't!" I searched for the right words. "I... couldn't let you do that. You would be killed for sure." She stopped dead in her tracks. She turned around to glare at me, her eyes burning through my skull.

      "How would you feel if I said that I wouldn't let YOU fight because I thought YOU would be killed for sure? Do you think that just because I'm a girl, I can't fight? Stop trying to be manly or whatever! If you fight tomorrow, so do I." With that, she stormed back into the tent. I watched her go, then decided that I should probably get some sleep too. I yawned, and walked towards the tent.

     * * *

     We all awoke the next morning to sunlight pouring into our tent. I sat up and saw that Isabel was already up, and eating, looking stony-faced. We all ate, got our weapons, and walked for a few hours more. At noon, we reached a place where the green grass stopped, and long, dead grass continued for many miles. Not far up ahead, a huge battle raged. There were bold knights in Altadorian armor, and knights in black armor, like the ones we were ambushed by. Towering over the battlefield, was a scraggly cliff. On top of it sat a jagged black palace, the Darkest Faerie's realm.

     "It is here that we must leave you," said Jasmine hurriedly. "You will fight, and hopefully return to Altador. You have the provisions already. Come on, Sam and Isabel." I bit my lip as Isabel stepped closer to the dead grass with Bo, Jake and me.

     "I'm fighting too," she stated, and drew her morning star. The iron ball covered in spikes dangled by a short chain from the metal handle.

      Sam looked worried, then said, "Then so am I."

     Jasmine frowned. "All right, I will tell the king of your decision. Good luck to all of you!" With that, she left. I glared at Isabel.

     "Why did you do that? You'll be cut to ribbons!" I protested. She didn't say a word. She fastened the morning star to the leather band tied across her chest.

     "What about your arm? Are you crazy?" She still ignored me. My stomach dropped as she rushed toward the raging battle, without saying a word. I stared after her, knowing that I may never see her again. She never even turned back to look at us before diving into the fight. Jake looked bold and drew his broadsword.

     "It's now or never," he said, and leapt upon one of the Darkest Faerie's knights, bringing down his sword. I knew Jake could protect himself, but I was worried anyway. Bo spun out his swords, and nodded.

     "It's time to fight." He stepped forward, and the battle rushed around him. I struggled to think about the meek spotted Kacheek fighting for his life. Sam took out two axes and charged. I saw what could have been a knight throwing her to the ground in the middle of the huge battle, but tried to assure myself that I was only seeing things. I glimpsed Isabel in a tree, holding a bow. She started firing arrows into the fight. It was time to fight. My heart pounded quickly. I reluctantly drew my sword, and charged into battle. It was amazing. I saw spears and swords pointed toward me as I ran through them, slashing them away with my sword. I slashed at knights and leapt over the bodies of not only black knights, but Altadorian ones too. It was a fight for land, power, and survival. People died left and right, and there was always danger of death.

     A black knight lunged at me, sword drawn. I slashed it aside, but he still charged. He stabbed again, but I nimbly leapt out of the way. He raised his sword to strike again, but stopped suddenly. He dropped his sword and fell forward, landing on his face. An orange arrow protruded from his back. Standing over him, holding a bow, was Isabel. She slung her bow on her back, pulled out her morning star, and ran off into the battle.

     I didn't have much time to think, because two more knights charged at me without warning. I raised my sword and slashed one to the ground. I blocked the strong blow of the second one, and then bashed his helmet in with the handle of my sword. I was doing well until one knight on horseback charged at me, extending an iron spear, coated in smooth black paint. I slashed it away, and his horse kicked me to the ground. He turned around, and charged again. I grabbed my sword, but before I had enough time to react to the vicious attack, the head of the jet black spear buried itself in my shoulder.

     The knight pulled it back out, and rode his midnight horse away. Suddenly, I could hear nothing. I rushed forward, and started slashing knights left and right, driven by solid rage. More excruciating pain erupted from the wound in my shoulder, flowing through my entire body. I fell to my knees, and tried to scream. In my agony, no sound came out. I saw the raging battle, but heard nothing but the soft thud of my sword hitting the ground. I thought of my friends, Bo, Jake, Sam, and Isabel, who I would never see again. I thought of my poor mother, and how she would feel if I never returned from my trip. I felt pain, and I knew I had failed everyone.

     I had failed Altador, I had failed my friends, and I had failed my family. Most of all, I had failed myself. I proved to myself that I was completely useless. I would never be an adult; I would never return to Altador, I would never have a chance at feeling joy again. I fell, and my view slowly faded into blackness.

To be continued...