Tristan couldn’t believe their attacks managed to get that close. He glanced down at Tina who stared up at him with wide green eyes. He jumped to his feet and snatched his bow from his quiver. He planted Tina’s own quiver into the sand. He grabbed an arrow and notched it against the string, pulling it up to eye level. He aimed at the nearest deer like creature. A squad fawns dashed through the edge of the forest. The group of fawns held weapons, drawn in various attack positions.
Why were they attacking him and Tina? Last time he checked, the lake was a neutral meeting point from all the creatures of the forest because Merlin and Morgana had placed a ward around the lake to prevent any harm done. He had visited the lake many times before and he didn’t run into a problems. Something had changed for this allowed to happen. He fired the arrow. He turned to Tina who stared wide eyed at him. He snapped, “Get up and fight!”
He went back to the fight, watching as his arrow knocked a male fawn down, hitting the fawn in the chest. The male fawn was not getting back up again. Tristan felt the sand shift beside his foot, alerting him that Tina was getting to her feet.
Tina’s eyes lost the wide eyed stare and hardened. She nodded and slid a leg under as she sat up before she spotted a deer like creature darting around the large rock she had used to dry her clothes on. She ran her eyes over the creature as she rose to her feet. An eerily calm washed over her, however, this time, the calmness held a note of something darker. She had felt the eerily calm a few times before and welcomed it as she studied the attacker.
The creature was a two legged version of the deer animal, basically, but this male didn’t wear a shirt, and wore a pair of pants that were similar make to Tristan’s. His brown eyes burned with hatred as he charged at Tina, teeth bared. He held a bo staff in two hands, angled across his body. The way he held the bo staff informed Tina how he planned to attack her, one ended held up higher over his shoulder.
Tina’s mind darted as her eyes looked for an opening. She mentally cursed when she didn’t find one. She couldn’t dodged out of the way. Tristan would be right the path of the attack. She was barely aware of how fast her hands flew over to the rapier attached to her waist still. Her left hand wrapped around the sheath, her left thumb pushed hard against the cross guard causing the blade to inched out, her right hand grabbed the soft leather of the hilt, and pulled it out. She heard the blade hissed through the air as she tried slipping into a defensive position that she learned at college; left foot behind the right, the big toe of her left touching the heel of her right. One of her classes she was able to take was kendo, a Japanese swordsmanship class. She knew some of the principles couldn’t transfer over to holding a rapier, but she would try to make it work.
However, Tina didn’t bother positioning her feet in the correct way as she lunged forward. Her blade cut the space between herself and the two-legged deer creature and it reverberated as it bit into the bo staff. A dull thud echoed between them. The deer creature looked at her before he jerked the staff back at the same time, Tina drew her rapier back, holding it at her side. She stepped forward and raised her right leg before she shoved it forward. She couldn’t let the male attack Tristan’s back. She watched with a grim satisfaction as the male stumbled back into the lapping water. She wanted to see him bleed.
Tristan knew Tina was fighting behind him. He could sense that much. He notched another arrow form the quiver. He aimed at the far archer still standing beside a tree. Tristan smirked as he fired the arrow. His eyes flickered over to a swordsman fawn darting over the sand. The Knight stabbed the sandy ground with the point of his bow and withdrew his broadsword, stepping to the side. He brought the broadsword up in time to block the attack, still stepping backwards. He needed to create space between him and Tina to fight properly.
He couldn’t risk putting Tina in any more danger then she was already in. He didn’t know how well she could fight. He needed to draw majority of this group toward him. He knew they could still after her, but he would everything in his power to prevent that.
“What’s wrong, Knight,” the swordsman Fawn drawled, “Can’t face me like a swordsman.” He held his broadsword at his side.
“Oh, I can,” Tristan replied, “I just prefer to fight unhindered by others.” He bent his arm, resting his own blade flat edge on his shoulder. He tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword as he brought his blade up from its resting on top of his shoulder, swinging it down against the Fawn swordsman’s blade. It rang loudly on the beach. Tristan felt the vibration rattle up his sword arm. If he had been slightly weaker then his opponent, his sword would flown out his hand. He couldn’t overpower this opponent. His eyes hardened. He would have to slice the fawn up. He withdrew his sword from the Fawn’s before he tried to break through the other swordsman’s guard.Tina glanced toward where she heard clangs on metal against metal and saw Tristan engaged with a swordsman deer. She blinked. That was something she didn’t see in real life. She did in the various anime shows she had watched. A thought accord to her as she stepped to the side, closer to the rock. Her back was exposed. She resisted the urge to yell at Tristan. It wouldn’t matter if he did or not. She couldn’t rely on anyone to help her. That what happen to her in the last 6 years. She had to find her footing again, by herself. She snapped her attention back to her own fight and noticed that the deer with the bo staff smirked at her. Alarm rushed through her. Her sixth sense flared like a beacon. An enemy rushed at her from behind.
Tina spun on her left heel, bringing her rapier around in an wide arc. Her eyes flew to the rushing Fawn. Tina noticed one important difference about this Fawn then her bo staff opponent. This Fawn wore a low v shirt, covering her breasts. That was until Tina’s rapier sliced the female from hip to shoulder, slicing through cloth and skin like hot knife through butter.
Hot blood sprayed over Tina’s face and torso. Tina froze as she watched the other female arched back, her hoofed feet sliding out of under her, and she landed with a soft thudded at Tina’s feet. Tina blinked, raising her eyes to meet the doe’s blue eyes. They burned through Tina with a fierce hatred that Tina didn’t know what she did to deserve that kind of hatred. The eyes still held the same hatred until the light disappeared from them.
Tina, at first, didn’t understand what happen. She realized a moment later when one of the deer like creature roared out, “Sister!” She snapped her head and leaped to the right as an arrow scarped against her rib cage.
Tristan heard the roar of “Sister” and immediately glanced toward Tina. She managed to dodged the arrow, but she laid on the sand beside a Doe body, blood soaked up by the sand below the dead body. The tip of Tina’s rapier glinted in the dying sun’s light with red. Tristan blinked. He turned back to the swordsman to see him dashing across the sand.
“Tina! Get up!” Tristan roared as he spirited, right behind the swordsman. However, a robed Fawn stepped out of the shadow of the forest. Tristan saw the robed figure hold up a staff with a yellow crystal at the end.
Tina heard Tristan warning yell. She pushed herself back to her feet and saw the swordsman that engaged Tristan running at her. Her eyes widened in horror. She barely managed to bring her rapier up in time to block the sharp edge of the broadsword from slicing her in two. Her arm shook violently from the shock. The broadsword lifted from her rapier before it slammed back down. Her right knee buckled from under, slammed into the sand. Tina watched as the broadsword rose and she shifted her wrist up, slightly, turning her rapier to use the flat of the blade. The broadsword pounded down. Tina brought up her left hand and braced the flat of the blade with her left palm. Her arms were shoved downward. Tina watched the edge of broadsword inched toward her head. A few inches separated the tip of the broadsword from her head. If she gave up, now, she would be dead. She would never get to go back to her family.
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Tristan, she noticed, burled sideways into the swordsman, hard. The swordsman flew to the side. Tina glanced up at Tristan. He offered his hand to help her up. She took it.
“They have a mage,” Tristan commented, dryly. He jerked his head to the forest line where Tina spotted a robed Fawn holding up a staff and chanted in a foreign language.
“Lovely,” Tina said, nodding. She knew having a mage at hand was never good. It was never good in RPG she played unless the mage was on the same team, then it was an awesome thing. She figured the concept was the same here in Realm of Camelot. “The mage is going to be major trouble.”
“Yeah, he is,” the Knight replied, “But we do have other problems to worry about.”
Tina glanced to the deer group and saw most of them were creeping toward the duo, stating, “That we do, good Knight.” She paused before she went on, “Too bad Merlin couldn’t be here. Maybe he would be willingly to help us.”
“Maybe,” Tristan admitted, “Only if you would ask to him.”
“Why not you?” Tina asked as they slowly stepped toward the forest line and turned back to back.
“Merlin had a reputation with the ladies of Court,” Tristan commented with amusement, “I don’t know how many stories I have heard from the Lady Morgana about his troubles with the various ladies that come to visit Camelot.”
“So, the Greatest Wizard ever lived is a stinkin’ womanizer,” Tina snorted, “That is hilarious.” Her eyes roamed back to the Fawn Mage, wondering what type of spell he was casting. She blinked and saw it was growing darker. She tilted her head back and stared at the darkest storm clouds she had ever seen. “I have good news and bad news.”
“Oh?” Tristan said, “What is the good news?”
“I know what type of spell the mage is casting,” Tina commented, dryly. She looked forward and brought her rapier up as she spotted one of the deer warrior tried to take a jab at her. She blocked it. She didn’t bother returning the favor.
“That’s good,” Tristan replied. “Bad news?”
“Well, the shocking thing is the spell if it acts like its natural counterpart, could damn well kill us,” Tina said, “It also doesn’t help the fact we are holding metal objects.”
“Lightening?” Tristan’s voice held a note that Tina couldn’t identify. She watched as the deer warriors hurried back, creating a large circle.
“Yup,” she replied. She felt the hair on her arms stand up on end and knew the spell was nearly ready to set loose on them. “Nice knowing you, Sir Tristan.” Her left hand went back and patted Tristan’s hip. She felt his hand slipped into hers. At least, she won’t die alone.
“You too, Lady Tina,” Tristan said, tightening his grip on her hand.
Ten bolts of lightening pieced the sandy ground and twisted around, craving a glass path. The lightening bolts spun in a circle. Each lap the bolts made caused them to close in on Tina and Tristan, standing in the middle of circle until the bolts brightened. She tried to watch, amazed at the spell, until she had no other choice, but she closed her eyes, hunched her shoulders, and held onto Tristan’s hand tightly. She felt energy zap through her. She didn’t know if she screamed or not. She could have sworn something unlocked in her, but she was carried off by darkness as the static energy left her body and a cry echoed silently.
Merlin cracked his neck as he walked along the last stretch of the funeral parade path. Each step was a challenge. His magic drained causing his body to feel achy. To make things worst, he felt every bit of his old age. He couldn’t wait until he managed to get back to his rooms and curl up in his bed and sleep through the next week.
Merlin’s knee popped as he covered the distance to the castle guard. He had nearly drained himself of magic, renewing the protection spells. He knew they needed to be done nearly a year ago, but he had been putting it off. He raised his head, peering toward the drawbridge.
Morgana stood by one of the towers, looking as tired as he felt. However, dark storm clouds gathering over Dead End Forest caught his attention. Merlin stopped walking and stared out at the clouds. He sensed Morgana walked over to him. He frowned as he casted his gaze over the rest of the horizon. He knew from countless hours of watching the sky, dark storm clouds would spread across the horizon, not gather in one place like they were. He watched as several bolts of lightening shot down. There was a bright white light followed by a loud booming sound then the lightening faded away.
“My goddess,” Morgana whispered, “That was an impressive Lightening spell.”
“I believe it was called, Thor’s Hammer,” Merlin commented in the same volume. He hadn’t seen a spell casted that powerful since the days of Arthur the First ruled. “I am going to check it out.” He activated the last magical storage rune he had and felt the familiar rush of magic coursing through his veins. He just hoped he didn’t make a mistake, by not saving that in case the worst did happen. “It might be Rowena.”
“I hope not,” Morgana said. Her skin glowed and her blue eyes took on a brighter glow. She had done the same. “That is the last thing we need, right now.” She jumped, transforming into an owl and flew off.
Merlin agreed with his former student and shifted into a raven. His black wings flapped as he followed Morgana.
Morgana reached the beach first and settled down on a tree branch, waiting and watching as a group of Fawns carried one body while dragging two bodies behind them. She noticed the Fawns were warriors and frowned. Why were they in the neutral meeting place for all the creatures and was able to fight in it?
She felt Merlin settle on the branch beside her and study the area before he shifted and landed on his feet. She followed his example. They walked along the beach and saw the damage.
“They shouldn’t have be able to fight here,” Merlin growled. He stalked over to the large rock.
Morgana knelt beside the sand, amazed at the fact she was looking at her reflection. She didn’t know there was a spell that could do this large amount of damage. She knew it took a lot of heat to create glass from sand. That lightening spell had been extremely powerful. She stood up and looked in the direction of where the Fawns disappeared to. Who had been here? Who had managed to survive that lightening spell?
She heard Merlin cursed under his breath and turned to him, asking, “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, the spell that prevents like this had expire four years ago,” Merlin snapped, waving his hand about. “If it is not one thing, it is another.” Morgana let him rant. He obviously needed this. “It will have to wait until after the funeral for me to renew the spell on this place.” He walked over to Morgana and suggested, “Let’s head back. There is nothing else we could do here.” He transformed back into his animal form and flew off.Merlin flapped his wings and tried to relax. He knew there was so much going on. He couldn’t wait to reach his rooms. However, there was one more stop he needed to make. He watched as the bell tower grew larger in his vision until he reached it. His claw feet reached out in front of him and touched the stones of the tower. He transformed back to his humanoid form and stretched. A small smile crossed his lips. He really needed that, even though it was a short flight. He flexed his remaining magic and watched the walls glow a gold light. His eyes roamed over the various runes he had worked hard over the years to place there. He knew there was one rune that allow the sound range to increase from the basic rang of 10 miles to 50 miles. He knew the news of the King’s death has yet to reach some of the outer village and it would be still a full day before the news will reach the borders of the Kingdom. This will help.
He strolled over to the trap door and grabbed the steel handle before he jerked it up. He held it up as he stepped down onto the stairs and closed it as he walked down, going deeper into the bell tower.
At the bottom of the stairs, Merlin saw a brown robed figure with a bold head. The robed figure was hunched over and had a misshaped face. He peered up at the Battle Mage. Merlin paused, giving the bell ringer a gentle look and spoke, “The King is dead, Bell Ringer. I have extended the range of the Bell. I would like you to ring it three extra times at night and morning until the funeral parade.”
“As you wish, Battle Mage,” the bell ringer bowed to him. Merlin walked away. He headed to his rooms, intending to sleep until he woke up tomorrow.