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

I walked down the hallway, enjoying the sun of the late afternoon. I knew my comfort would only last until our journey had started. The reflective armor that I wore flashed in the sunlight. I suddenly became more aware of the weight of the heavy armor. I threw it off, revealing my comfortable toga. The metal clashed noisily on the marble floor. I knelt to pick it up, and rested it on my shoulder as I strode down the hallway. To my surprise, as I turned the corner, Isabel stepped into the sunlight.

    “Isabel? What are you doing here?” I asked her. She looked worried.

    “The maid said that we could explore the castle. And I... wanted to talk to you,” she said.

    “Well, let me just put this armor in our room,” I muttered, grunting under the weight of the metal. She leaned next to me, and put some of the armor on her shoulder. We walked up to a tall, marble door, which we recognized to be our room. I opened it slowly. Before I could do anything, two swords clashed in front of my face, one thick and heavy, the other small and thin. The holder of the smaller sword, who happened to be Bo, twirled his sword and struck again. Jake, who held the broadsword, slashed Bo’s away and tried to sweep it underneath him. Bo nimbly leaped out of the way. They danced off, still locked into fierce battle. Sam came up to us and sighed.

    “They’ve been doing this since they found the weapons. Want some lunch? They brought us a whole roast turkey.” I shuddered. I had always been a vegetarian. Don’t ask me why, I just like animals. Sam saw my reaction and winced a little.

    “Sorry. They brought salad too.” I sighed and heaved the armor to the ground.

“No thanks, we were just dropping this off. We were going to walk around.” Sam shrugged and closed the door. Isabel and I continued down the hallway. I felt kind of uncomfortable walking with a girl, but I ignored the discomfort.

    “So... what did you want to talk about?” I asked. Isabel sighed.

    “Look... ” She paused and thought. “I know you want to serve Altador and fight the darkest faerie, but... I found a portal to get us home. Just like the one we used to get here.” My heart sank.

    “I can’t just leave. I was just knighted and sworn to protect Altador!” She stopped walking and stared into my eyes.

    “I’m worried about you. You aren’t as powerful as you think you are. I’m afraid that you’ll die in battle.” I thought for several moments.

    “Think about it.” She left. I exited the gate and walked into the gardens of the castle. I could see in the distance where Altador ended into open plains. Across the plains I saw a jagged speck that must have been the Darkest Faerie’s castle. Somewhere in my mind, I could not ignore the fact that out on those plains, people were fighting already. At this moment, people are dying, slain in battle. I realized the chance that the same thing could happen to us. I couldn’t imagine never returning home. Home. My mother would hate herself for letting me go to Faerie City alone if I never came back.

    Maybe I should just find the portal and leave, before I got any more involved. I wanted to, but I felt a duty to fight, after accepting the hospitality that the king had given us. I also felt the need to fight in the war because I had already sworn to fight for Altador. The sun had begun to set into the horizon. I stood and prepared to leave. I saw Altadorians walking through the halls, carrying food or instruments. When I reached our door, I felt the cool, marble handle of the door, and pulled it open. Everyone sat around the table in the middle of the room, preparing to eat. On the table sat a meal of steak, goblets of Altadorian nectar, sun cheese, warm bread, and olive salad.

    “Aaron!” Isabel said. Bo smiled.

    “Come on, we were just about to eat.” I took my seat between Bo and Isabel. I ate cheese and bread, and had a bit of the olive salad. It was nothing like the dull bread and cheese back in Neopia central. The bread was warm, and fluffy, and the cheese was rich and fresh. No one uttered a word as we ate. The fog of war had settled, leaving us tired and hard-faced. The sun set completely, and I got in the huge golden-rimmed bed with my name carved in the top, ready for sleep. I knew that tomorrow, we would leave for the plains. A small Aisha woke us early the next morning. The sun had not risen yet, and she held a candle in the darkness. Jake groaned.

    “Who are you?” She pulled three packs, one larger than the others.

    “My name is Jasmine, and I am to accompany you on your journey. These two packs,” she gestured toward the two smaller packs, “...are filled with food and provisions. And this one,” she pointed to the larger pack, “...is our tent.” We dressed into our armor, and the girls into togas. I watched as Isabel strung a bow and a pouch of arrows on her back, and fastened a hard morning star to her chest. Sam strung a leather belt on, and attached two deadly battle axes with a sun carved on them.

Jake took a practice swing with a broadsword, and Bo twirled two small swords in his hands, spinning them into the two slots in his belt. I drew a sword as well, and nodded towards Bo, holding my sword ready. He smiled and spun his swords out of his belt like lightning. He leapt forward, spinning his swords around him like a steel barrier. I stabbed, but he blocked it away. He swung his swords at my arm like giant scissors, but I slashed my sword in between them. A broadsword struck our crossed weapons, and we turned on Jake. Jasmine seemed amused as she watched us fight. Sam saw her and said, “Trust me, it gets annoying.”

    She just smiled and said meekly, “We should get going before the sun rises. We need to reach there by nightfall.” I couldn’t imagine that it might take us all day before we reached the plains. We reached the huge entry door, and walked into the gardens. I saw the drops of dew on the grass and flowers, and heard the early birds chirping. It was hard to imagine that we were about to go to war on this peaceful day. The two guards at the gate held their pikes straight and lowered their heads. Ahead of us, stretched a long green valley. We walked through the valley for about four hours, and my legs started to ache. Everyone was tired.

    “We should stop here and eat a little,” I said. “I see storm clouds blowing in.” Suddenly, out of the bushes came trouble. About twenty tall knights in black armor leaped towards us, slashing us with their swords. Isabel was the first to react. She grabbed her morning star and swung it into the face of one of the knight’s helmet. He cried out in pain, and I drew my sword and stabbed him in the stomach. Bo’s swords flashed out of the sides of his belt as he drew them, spinning.

    Sam started swinging her battle axes wildly, slashing one knight in the stomach. Jake looked excited and drew his broadsword. He swung, and slashed two knights to the ground. I saw Jasmine crouching behind a nearby rock. I drew my sword, and started slashing, stabbing, blocking, and dodging. After a while, we had killed or fatally wounded all of them. Most of them were injured, and crawled back into the bushes. I wiped my bloody sword clean on the grass. Amazingly, the only one of us who was hurt was Isabel. She crouched over her left arm, which had a long, broad cut in it. We set up camp, and wrapped Isabel’s arm in a bandage.

    Soon, rain began to pour down on our tent. I looked around. The comfort of being in Altador, in the castle, was gone. Isabel was in the corner, dabbing her arm with a damp cloth. Bo sat a little bit in front of her, polishing a small sword. Sam had a piece of rope, and was tying a handful of extremely complicated knots. Jasmine just sat in the middle, looking terrified and dazed from the ambush.

    I sat in the other corner, nibbling a piece of hard bread. I suddenly realized what was wrong. I dropped the bread.

    “Where’s Jake?” I asked, panicking. No one said a word, and Sam pointed outside of the tent. I peered out. Jake was sitting on the large rock that Jasmine had hidden behind, staring out towards the city of Altador, which now looked very small. He was seemingly unaware of the rain that poured down on him. He had changed a lot since we arrived through the portal. We all had.

To be continued...