Mike shifted, stepping backward slightly as he bashed another hammer away with his shield. The shift put his shoulder in the way, blocking my view of the enemy knights. I'd only had time to register that the middle one was the orange bastard who'd stolen Nynyane back on the beach. Not that I didn't have better things to do than stare at the enemy like a useless chump. I needed to do something.

I didn't want to risk a yell. I wasn't sure my concussed ass could manage a decent shout, and I wasn't interested in doing anything that might make me pass out again. Fortunately, my armor's illusion powers don't require too much thought, and it was fairly easy to make my voice appear next to each of my allies.

"Three enemy knights above us!"

"We know!" Mike hollered in response. "Can you move?"

"We'll find out," my illusion voice told him.

With a sound that was definitely a manly grunt and not at all a pained whine, I managed to get my elbows beneath me and prop myself up a little. From there, with a only a few very manly noises, I manage to wriggle backwards, slowly extricating myself from the Red Knight's protective straddle. As soon as I was in the clear, Mike unbowed his legs, taking on a much more comfortable looking fighting stance as he hacked and batted away at big axes and the dead men who wielded them.

The Red Knight was holding the line, but he wasn't accomplishing much else. His flaming sword severed the occasional weapon haft, and the occasional limb, but the wounds he inflicted were mostly ignored by the dead men. He didn't have the instakill features the other two Knights could bring to bear. Still, blunting the charge of the Revenants was enough for William and Patrick to hit them from the sides. There were piles of dead men around them. With me moving out of the way, Mike started to back off, letting the Revenants past the piles so the other two Knights didn't have to clamber over so many bodies to get to the foe.

My head was pounding so hard I could barely think. Moving around didn't help. I didn't try to stand up, but just shifting to the side made my stomach react violently. I barely managed to drop Solais and flip my visor open before vomiting. The next thing I knew I was laying in a puddle of puke. My visor had half closed, obscuring my vision. I gingerly propped it back open, noting that both it and my face were smeared with the liquid remains of my last meal. Fortunately, I was in too much pain to worry about that much.

I wasn't sure how long I'd been out this time, either, but it looked like the fight was winding down. The last few Revenants sallied forth from the hole in the keep. They raised their weapons and joined the five or six still swiping at the Red Knight. William and Patrick moved in, finishing them off.

As soon as the last Revenant fell, the Green Knight ran over to me. A quick grab and a flash of healing fixed whatever brain damage I'd apparently suffered. As soon as he touched me, he whirled back to face the keep, shield ready and sword held high. The Red and Blue Knights backed up to join him.

I grabbed my own sword and clambered to my feet. Without the clash of steel on steel and the crackling of Mike's fire, I was able to hear a voice. The voice was coming from inside the keep. It was loud, sonorous, and chanting words that I couldn't wrap my mind around. The language was musical, but not one I recognized. The ritual. My newly unbattered body shot another bolt of adrenaline up my legs. The ritual had started. The Partition would fall, and the Lord of Wyrms would walk the earth.

"Do it." The words came from one of the Knights standing on the battlements. The Orange one, if I were to guess. The Knight on the left raised his sword. It was hard to tell in the fading light, but I thought his armor was brown. The ground shook, and a slab of rock almost fifteen feet tall ripped its way up through the dirt, blocking the wall of the keep.

The Orange Knight nodded. "Good," he told the others. "I'll handle the rest. You two will die if you get involved." The other Knights nodded, stepping back and out of view.

The Orange Knight drew his sword. "Alright, boys!" I could almost hear him grinning. He jumped from the battlements, the strength of seven men propelling him into the sky. At the apex of his mighty leap, he got a lot bigger. I had just enough time to curse and dive out of the way before the thirty foot tall giant slammed down. I looked up to find that my dive had been unnecessary, as the bastard had landed six or seven feet away, firmly between us and the keep.

"Let's play!"

The Blue Knight moved first. He darted forward, his rapier spearing out. The Orange Knight moved with alarming quickness. His massive blade swept down, catching Patrick's sword just above the hilt. The rapier was swatted out of the Blue Knight's hand, flying into the distance. Patrick was thrown off balance, his now weaponless arm flung out to the side. A massive orange metal boot snapped out, catching him in the chest and launching him behind us. Patrick hit the ground twenty feet away, tumbling helplessly down the slope.

The Green Knight cursed. The Red Knight ignited his sword. "Go," said Mike. "I got this."

The Giant laughed. "I got this, he says..." The Orange Knight changed size, resolving into an a normal sized man in armor. Well. Relatively normal. He was still a head taller than me, and looked like he could bench press a truck. "Alright, boy. Let's see what you can do."

Mike stepped forward. The Orange Knight stayed where he was, shield up and sword at the ready. With a shout, the Red Knight raised Drynwyn. The ancient blades' flames burned brighter, and a wave of fire crashed down onto the Orange Knight. Mike jerked his head at me. I nodded and turned myself invisible.

The Orange Knight was dangerous, but he wasn't our real problem. Our real problem was getting into the keep to stop Roderick's ritual before he ripped open the Partition and let the Devourer make the world his bitch. Mike would keep this guy busy, The rest would be up to me.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

I wasn't looking forward to this. I hadn't met Roderick yet, but he was supposed to be some kind of badass, and there were two other Knights around to back him up. Worse, someone had made the Revenants able to see through my illusions. If they could do that for the dead men, it was a good bet they could do it for the other Knights, as well. Nullifying my illusions meant I was just an out of shape idiot with a magic sword against three trained and experienced warriors who all had special powers and magic weapons of their own. I was probably screwed.

I sprinted for the front of the keep, mind working furiously. If I could get around the big rock, I could cut holes in the walls and get to the courtyard without having to deal with the gate and whoever was guarding it. Once I was in, I didn't really need to beat anyone. I just had to disrupt the ritual and buy enough time for the other Knights to get there. Assuming the Jolly Orange Giant didn't kill them, first.

I heard the clang of steel on steel. It made me want to run faster, but I was already pushing as hard as I could. Gunshots came next. Loud, but not as loud as the shotgun. Mike must be using his pistol. I was almost there. A few more seconds and I'd round the corner of the keep. Come on, Kevin. You can do this.

Something smashed into me from behind. I went down. The thrill of terror that went through me as I was buried switched to confusion when I realized I wasn't hurt. Then the smell hit, and I knew what happened. Revenants. Someone had thrown a whole pile of dead men at me. The good news was, they were all the way dead. Or at least they weren't moving. The bad news was, the Jolly Orange Giant knew where I was and what I had been trying to do.

I pushed my self up, a flood of putrid fluids washing over me. Solais was still in my hand. It had sliced through everything that had touched it. The bodies weren't heavy. Not with the armor pumping my strength up seven fold. Corpses and parts of corpses slid off me as I got to my feet. Rapid tremors snapped my attention to a fifty foot tall inferno wrapped around orange armor that was running my way.

I didn't know how he could see me. Sure, he probably had some kind of juju that let him see through my illusions, but he was still on fire. I could barely make out his arms and legs pumping through the Red Knight's flames. His head and torso were completely obscured. The Orange Knight should have been blind as a bat, but the way he moved told me he wasn't.

I had two seconds to make a decision. No way I could reach the keep and cut my way in before he got to me. Running was out. I'd make it two steps before he crushed me. That left one option. Attack.

I didn't like that option, but I was out of time. I took a step and jumped, using every ounce of strength my legs could muster. Solais flared to brilliant light as I sailed through the air. I'd been planning to go for his knee, but my leap was higher than I'd expected. I was headed for his hip. I half expected the man's oversized longsword to swipe me out of the air, but that didn't happen. The Orange Knight shrunk down to man size at the last moment, and my sword caught nothing but air.

I tried to land on my feet, but ended up skidding along the ground. Mike ran past me, shotgun in hand. The Orange Knight still had his back turned. Mike tucked the gun into his shoulder.

The instant Mike squeezed the trigger, the Orange Knight shrank. The fire wrapping around him shrank with him, making him easy to see. Mike aimed in and fired again. The tiny flaming man dodged it. As Mike pulled the trigger a third time, the little Knight went giant again. The steel slug slammed into orange platemail, but it didn't do much to the thirty foot tall man.

The Giant went for a kick. I lashed out with Solais. The Orange Knight whipped his foot away just before my blade connected. I saw the Green Knight, coming in from the side. I wondered what had taken him so long, then realized only thirty seconds had passed since the fight started.

The Orange Knight jumped just as William slashed at the back of his ankle. The giant switched back to man size and engaged. Swords crashed and flickered, blades flashing faster than I'd ever seen before. The Green Knight had been swordfighting for hundreds of years. He was skilled and experienced in a way Mike and I would never be. Could never be. It didn't matter. The Orange Knight was his better.

Mike tried the shotgun again. He fired three times. The Orange Knight juked them all, seeming to move half an instant before the Red Knight pulled the trigger. The prick wasn't even looking at Mike. How the hell was he doing it?

I should have been rushing in. Trying to help somehow, even though I was outclassed. It's what the others would have done. I didn't. I needed to think. This guy was kicking our asses. I needed to figure out how he was doing it and how we could stop him. So I stood there, watching, racking my brain. It was the best I could do.

The Red Knight reloaded his shotgun while William was getting his ass kicked. The Orange Knight's sword didn't seem sharp enough to penetrate the Green Knight's armor, but that didn't stop the man from knocking William around like an extra in an action flick. As soon as Mike finished, he raised the shotgun again.

Before the trigger was pulled, the Orange Knight ducked under William's arm. Dropping his weapon, the literally flaming bastard grabbed the Green Knight and chucked him at the Red one. He spasmed slightly as he did so. My eyes narrowed. No, not spasmed. He flinched. He flinched when he put his hand on him.

Several things clicked into place. The enemy had known exactly where and when we would show up. First at the beach, then at the keep. The Giant Orange Prick had warned the Pink Knight to keep moving, and had warned his two buddies they'd die if they tried to fight us just now. The Pink Knight had died, and the others had heeded the warning.

The son of a bitch had been one step ahead of us this whole time. He'd known everything we'd try before we tried it. He'd reacted to moves before we started making them. That was how he'd kept Mike from shooting him. He knew exactly what was about to happen, and exactly what he should do about it.

"Guys!' I shouted, readying Solais. "I know what he is!"

The Orange Knight got big again. Still on fire, the giant ran back to the keep and vaulted over the battlements. He shrunk down again, disappearing from sight.

"Damn it!" Mike cursed, climbing to his feet. "Someone put the fire out."

"Who cares?" asked William. "Your fire wasn't doing anything."

"My fire was burning up all the oxygen, dumbass," the Red Knight informed him. "You didn't wonder why he stopped talking? The son of a bitch couldn't breathe."

"Oh." The Green Knight considered. "Neat trick, that." He looked over at the keep. "Didn't work, though."

"Shut up, both of you." I told them. "I know what he is. I know why he was kicking our asses."

"He's a prophet!" The Blue Knight's shout ruined my big reveal. He jogged up to us, his rapier back in it's sheath. "He's a prophet," he said again, shaking his head in disgust. "He's a god damned prophet!"

"What makes you say that?" The Green Knight wanted to know.

"He left me a note." The Blue Knight held a hand out to William. There was a piece of paper in it. "Pinned to a tree right next to where my sword landed."

William took the piece of paper. He unfolded it. He started swearing uncontrollably.

"What's it say," asked Mike.

"It says, time's up dipshits." William crumpled the paper into a ball. "And there's a picture of a butt."

We all looked at each other. We looked back at the keep. The sky was still painted in reds and purples, but I couldn't see the sun anymore. I realized something else. It was quiet. The chanting had stopped.