Ed woke up to the sounds of fighting coming from outside his house. Looking around, he found both his sword and Miriam missing. Doubt and worry flickered through his mind as he tried to force himself out of bed. No. Don’t tell me she... “Miriam! Where are you?” He cried, his voice still hoarse.

Miriam stepped in from the living room clutching his sword. “Sshh. It’s okay. I’m here.” She whispered. She planted herself between the bed and the doorway, still on high alert.

“What’s going on out there?” Ed asked worriedly, the fighting sounding distinctly different from what he would expect.

There were no sounds of swords clashing on mass like he would expect. Instead it was almost eerily quiet, only the rallying cries of the soldiers and the thudding of arrows letting him know that something was happening.

“I don’t know.” Miriam said, still keeping quiet. She worried that their conversation would somehow attract the attacker’s attention. “All I know is that something broke through the front gate.”

THUD.

The two tensed up as they heard something crash through their front door and slam it shut. They struggled to breathe, not wanting to alert whatever it was to their presence.

Miriam forced herself to remain calm, took a deep breath, and walked into the living room. She relaxed slightly when she saw Anthony’s familiar face.

“We need to leave. Now.” He said.

Calm down. What’s going on out there?” She asked.

“Someone’s fighting Lord Ingvar. I-i don’t know what’s going on but it’s not safe here.” A loud crash in the background caused Anthony to jump away from the door, knocking over the small table. “Ow.”

Miriam helped him up and gave him the sword.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” He asked in confusion, having never wielded a real sword in his life. The closest thing being that one time when he hit Ed in the stomach with a wooden play sword when they were younger.

“Defend us obviously. I can’t do it, I’ll be helping Ed.” Miriam walked back into the room and helped Ed out of the bed.

“Okay” Anthony said nervously.

Ed hobbled out of the room with Miriam’s help and saw the nervous look on Anthony’s face. “You’ll be fine, just pretend that it’s a really big kitchen knife.” Ed smiled, patting Anthony on the shoulder.

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“Yeah. Just a big kitchen knife.” Anthony whispered to himself, managing to somehow calm himself down.

“Do you have a plan?” Miriam asked.

“No... I didn’t really think that far.” Anthony said.

“It’s fine. We’ll get through this. Did you see anyone on your way here?” Ed asked Anthony.

“No. It should still be safe right?”

“Yeah. Just check the window first.”

Listening to Ed’s advice, Anthony peeked his head through the window to look at the street outside. The street was completely dead, with no signs of anyone passing through. “It looks clear to me.”

“Okay, here’s the plan.” Ed said. “Let’s sneak around to the wall, get in through one of the side doors and sneak around to the front gate.”

The others nodded and readied themselves to make a quick escape to the wall. Anthony slapped himself on the cheek to fire himself up and opened the door. Crouching down, he walked carefully over to the next building, his head on a constant swivel and his hands clutching tightly onto the sword.

He turned back around, waving to hurry them over.

Just as Miriam placed her foot out the door, Ed pulled her back in. The moment he did so, Calamity jumped down from one of the rooves and landed near Anthony.

Swinging out reflexively, the sword slid along the horse’s body, not even leaving a scratch.

Calamity turned to stare at Anthony, and before anyone could react, she bit clean through his neck.

Before Calamity could turn around, Ed pushed through the pain and dragged Miriam back into the bedroom. “Quick, hide under the bed.” He whispered.

He climbed into the bed, finally allowing the pain to take its hold on him. Please. Please. Too weak to move, there was nothing he could do but pray that the nightmare horse wouldn’t come for them.

Unfortunately, his prayers were not answered.

The sound of hooves tapping on the wooden floor echoed through the house, ringing in his ears.

Don’t come in here, please.

The horse stuck her head in the doorway and locked eyes with Ed.

Ed felt ice cold, the physical pain he was feeling was nothing in comparison to the pressure he felt staring into Calamity’s eyes. He felt his chest tighten as breathing became difficult. Moments away from passing out, he knew that he was about to die. So this is how it ends.

Calamity trotted around the room, her eyes constantly locked with his.

Ed breathed a sigh of relief and passed out when Calamity left the room.

~

“Stop... Kicking me... through the fucking walls!” Zara screamed in anger, her sentence cut off each time she had to block his swords.

Holes of various sizes littered the walls of the great hall, all from when Zara was sent through them. She had managed to pick up her axe at some point between the first hole being made and now.

Blood had been drawn on both sides, both fighters having been wounded to some degree. Blood stained Zara’s mouth and the lower half of her face from a cut and busted lip. Whereas the back of Ingvar’s calf had started to bleed fairly heavily from Zara’s repeated assault on it.

Despite the injuries, neither fighter had seemed to drop below their peak. Both of them could still move at unbelievable speeds with unmatched grace. They were locked in battle, with neither side able to determine the winner.

Fuck. Why is this old man so stubborn? Zara caught Ingvar’s sword with her axe, but before she could knock it back, she was forced to dodge when she sensed something coming from her left.

Rolling back as quickly as she could, a fireball flew over her head and crashed into the wall.

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.