by Kory Shen
I picked up a nearby piece of broken stone and hurled it at Lexley's face. He advanced, raising his arm to block my weak throw. I picked up another piece and pelted him twice more before he was close enough to attack.
He lunged with one arm, the other still covering his face. He couldn't see properly like that, so I managed to avoid his grasp, slipping to one side, then the other, before throwing another rock at his head.
"Fuck this." Lexley snapped his visor down.
I turned and sprinted to the other side of the courtyard, tumbling into a line of Sentinels. Someone shoved me back into the courtyard.
"You're a disgrace," Lexley said. "A fucking disgrace. Look at you. All you do is run."
"Oh, I'm the coward here? Fuck off, Lexley" I said. But Lexley was right. It was time to stop running.
I reached behind my back and pulled out the dagger I had stowed there. Vimm's dagger.
"What's that?" Lexley asked. "A sewing needle?"
"This has gone long enough," the king said in a disgusted tone. "Finish it."
Lexley laughed. He walked over to his massive sword and drew it. "Fair's fair, right?" Lexley pointed the black blade at my dagger hand, holding it lightly with one armored hand on its golden handle.
I glanced over to the far side of the courtyard where the ruined fountain had spewed its water. It gave me an idea, but it was too far away. There would be time for only one pass, now that the king had spoken.
I knew what I had to do.
I would never win at the game of knights. Armor or no armor, it didn't matter. I would never have a fair chance with them.
It was time to start playing my way.
Lexley and I faced one another again, like we had in the beginning, twenty yards apart. I removed my tunic in one smooth motion and tucked it under my left arm.
"The fuck?" Lexley asked.
I didn't reply. I simply stared at Lexley as I took the dagger in my right hand and made a deep cut in the meat of my left hand. I wiped the dagger against my breeches, then brought the bleeding wound to my mouth and sucked noisily.
I ignored the whispers and mutters from the onlookers.
"Pathetic," Lexley said, shaking his head. "You've lost it, haven't you?" He stepped towards me, his sword raised. "Don't worry. It'll be over soon."
I sucked harder on my left hand, filling my mouth with a grisly mixture of saliva and salty blood. I wanted to spit out the foul mixture, but I sucked even harder. My cheeks bulged. I probably did seem crazy. Maybe I was.
I dropped the bleeding hand from my mouth, using it to grab my tunic. I held Vimm's dagger low, ready to strike, in my other hand.
Lexley laughed.
I charged.
Lexley's laughing paused at my brash attack. Then, he screamed in fury and rushed to meet me, his glowing armor's speed driving him forward.
The timing would have to be perfect.
We met in the middle. The great black sword began its downward strike when I threw my tunic at Lexley's visored helmet, blocking his already limited vision. Before my throw was complete, I was already falling backward, sliding low past Lexley's feet. I turned my head and spat the bloody mixture under his upturned heel, even as I grabbed his ankle to swing myself around.
I had timed the move to that exact moment of surprise when his sight would be dark, when instinct would overtake thought. My nudge on the slippery surface, combined with the misdirection, was enough to jar him off-balance. I twisted hard on his free leg, using his armor's stiffness against him, forcing him to pivot on the sole foot remaining on the ground. With no leverage for his enhanced strength, Lexley toppled onto his back like a drunkard.
His helmet, my tunic still wrapped around it, struck the stony ground and bounced. I seized the tunic mid-bounce on either side and yanked his head back down.
"Blind Whore, motherfucker."
I slipped the dagger into the tunic where I knew his eye slit had to be. The dagger's tip scraped against metal, then found the opening. I pushed, meeting a soft resistance. I pushed deeper.
Lexley screamed, but I held his tunic-wrapped helmet in place with my thighs now, keeping my hand on the dagger's handle. I applied a tad more pressure, and his screams grew even louder.
Lexley screeched now, incoherent sounds, more animal than human.
Footsteps raced forward. It was Erole and Joren, Lexley's lackeys. Both had drawn their weapons.
I pulled the dagger out of Lexley's eye. I slowly backed away, my own blood dripping from my left hand, Lexley's blood dripping from the dagger in my right.
Lexley moaned and rolled about. More knights rushed to his side.
"Get a healer!" Erole shouted. Others rushed off.
Erole and Joren approached as I retreated further away.
"You call yourselves knights?" I spat my still bloody mouth at them. "All of you?" I glared at the other Champions on the sidelines.
Erole lunged at me, his flail swinging. The spiked ball shot out toward my head. I tried dodging, but I wasn't going to make it.
A fiery limb knocked the flail aside. Kuri was in front of me, parrying Erole with her bare hands and feet. Flames now coated her entire arms and legs, like she was a wild fire demon from the bowels of the earth.
Joren howled a war cry and attacked as well, but Kuri knocked his axe away with her punches and kicks.
More Champions and knights stepped forward. Four of them surrounded Kuri, three with swords, one with a mace. The flames coating her limbs, grew hotter and hotter, turning white. I inched away from the searing heat, but the Sentinels didn't flinch. They stepped forward.
There was no way she could counter them all, not with Champions among them. My armor was still on the ground, too far to reach, but I had a hunch. I'd look like an idiot if I was wrong, but since when had that stopped me?
I shouted. "Mira! Quit fucking around!"
Everyone paused and looked at me.
I looked at my suit, expectantly, feeling stupid. Come on, I couldn't be wrong about this. I had seen the hints.
Still nothing happened.
"Mira!" I screamed desperately. "You ugly excuse of an overpriced chamber pot!"
First, there was a tiny clink, then a rustle.
My suit of armor stood. By itself, without anyone inside.
"Mira!" I cried.
The armor, or rather, Mira, raced towards me, hurtling over the guards surrounding her. She raised her left arm and peppered the Sentinels surrounding Kuri with a mixture of fire, ice, and lightning bolts. She sent them reeling backwards, then took advantage of their confusion to somersault past them, reaching me. Mira swung around me, wrapping me in an embrace from behind. She swallowed me, and I was once again inside my armor.
"About time, Mira," I said.
"Congratulations," Mira said. "My programming now permits me to grant you level two access—"
"What?" I moved to Kuri's side.
All remaining eight Champions stood arrayed against us, their weapons ready.
"Stop!" someone shouted.
I dared a glance towards who had spoken. The king was striding towards us. His Champions rushed to place themselves between him and me.
"Stop this!" the king shouted again, pushing through the Champions.
The king stood in front of me. He shook his head, then sighed.
"It appears you've won," he said.
"Won?" I asked. "That's what you called this joke of a trial?" I gestured at the Champions, their weapons still raised. The closest, Erole, flinched backwards as my hand swept across him. "What did I win?"
"The elf's freedom," the king said, nodding towards Kuri.
Lexley was half shouting, half sobbing, as they took him away. "Kill the bastard! Kill him! Kill him!"
"What now?" I asked.
The king and I stared at each other, my helmet open now, neither refusing to blink. In the distance, I heard a woman's shrill scream, then more shouting and more screams. Probably the queen.
"You woul
d serve the kingdom?" the king asked.
"I already swore to," I said.
The king studied me. No, he wasn't studying me. He was studying my armor. Mira. His eyes spoke more loudly than any words. Hunger. Greed. I had seen the same in many of my marks. He wanted Mira.
"Perhaps I was wrong about you," the king said. "It seems that there's more to you than meets the eyes."
I waited.
"Join my Champions," the king said.
The others murmured.
I looked at Kuri, whose arms and legs were still blazing furiously. I motioned for her to calm down, and the flames died away.
"Champion?" I echoed. That had been my lifelong dream, hadn't it?
"Yes, Champion. You've beaten my First. The title is yours to claim."
I stared at the king, speechless. First Champion? He couldn't be serious. Was this a ploy to get rid of me in some other way?
"What about Valoria?" I asked. "Lexley? Everything else?"
The king waved away my questions nonchalantly. "I'll deal with it. War will happen, one way or the other. It's more important that our kingdom wields the mightiest forces. What do you say, Champion?"
"Am I absolved of treason?" I asked.
The king blinked. "Yes, of course. I, King Arkus Ironflame, declare you pardoned from all charges of treason. There."
I nodded. "I have everything I want, then."
The king broke into a wide smile. "I always knew you were a smart boy, Jakson."
His smile vanished as I turned my back on him. "Goodbye, Your Majesty."
I bent over to pick up Vimm's dagger, which I had dropped in the frantic aftermath. Then, I beckoned to Kuri.
"Let's go, Kuri."
"Wait! Jakson!" The king cried. "Jakson!"
I ignored the king and continued walking with Kuri at my side. No one moved to stop us. We made our way to the courtyard's exit.
"I command you to stop!" the king shouted.
I paused to glance backwards. "I swore to serve the Elderlands, not you. You said it yourself. The kingdom is above all. If I break my vow, feel free to kill me." I walked away.
"Jakson! I'm your father!"
I stopped again, but this time I didn't bother to look at him.
"My father? My father is dead. Killed by your prince." I clenched my fists tightly, the fury building. "You have no right to talk about my father."
With that I stepped out of the courtyard, rushing to leave before I did something I would regret.
CHAPTER 37
I decided to stay in Evercrown, Lexley and the king be damned. I had sworn an oath, after all.
A day passed. Then, a week. I was nervously expecting some kind of retaliation from Lexley, but nothing happened. After the second week, I started to breathe more easily when I went out during the day. After the third week, I stopped checking over my shoulder every five seconds. I still kept Vimm's dagger within easy reach when I slept, although Mira would likely provide better protection than any weapon or guard.
I found Tavi's sister in a healer's ward, too weak to talk much. I couldn't bring myself to tell the frail girl what had happened yet. I left gold with the healer, promising to check up on her again.
I also looked for Grandpa at his shop, to see what I could find out about Mira, but the place was empty. No one knew where the crusty mage had gone. Apparently, Mira had more secrets to unlock, but I was going to have to figure them out on my own. She wouldn't, or couldn't, give me any more hints.
Genna, Kuri, and I ended up staying at Vimm's old place. Genna had made it back safely on her own that night, and with nowhere else to go, we had ended up crashing at Vimm's headquarters, each of us with a room. It just felt right to be there. Several days later, I found out that Vimm had passed the deed to the place to me. I had a home again.
I didn't pay much attention to the politics or news, but Genna kept me updated with anything important. Something about an envoy from Valoria and angry meetings. Talk of war. The same old shit. I did keep my ears open for any word of an illusion mage, but nothing turned up.
We settled into a routine. Genna and Kuri made progress in getting to know each other, although it was harder for Kuri to figure things out, relationship-wise. I mean, Genna could read minds. It wasn't fair for the rest of us. I wasn't quite sure what was going on between the three of us, either, but I knew that we all cared for each other, and we were a family of sorts. That was good enough, for now.
Maybe to avoid these uncomfortable things we didn't quite want to talk about yet, we threw ourselves into the one thing we could do together. We weren't just a family. We were a team. So we trained. Trained for what?
War was coming. That much was clear. And war wouldn't just bring armies and battles. In fact, Evercrown, at the heart of the Elderlands, was unlikely to face soldiers or catapults anytime soon. It wasn't only about what might arrive at Evercrown's doorsteps. It was about what would leave. The Sentinels, that is.
The Knight Sentinels and the Champions would be sent to the front lines, of course. This is what they hungered for. War. Glory.
But if they left, those at home would grow bolder. Others would move in. Vimm had warned about them. Vimm and his sort were gentleman crooks, but the chaos of war would invite a different breed, one that pursued death and suffering for pleasure's sake. They would not care about profits or even glory. There would be no code of honor among these newcomers, not even a code of shame to hold their worst instincts at bay. Even Lexley hadn't reached their level. No, these would be men and women with no code at all. Monsters.
So we trained to face the coming threat. I had sworn an oath to protect the Elderlands, and that was what I would do with Genna, Kuri, and Mira.
Perhaps the king understood all of this. Perhaps that was why he left us alone. But it didn't matter. I had made my choice.
I would be a knight, not like the others, not because of some royal dandy pronouncing me one, not based on heraldry or from prancing about with brightly painted lances and throwing kisses to ladies fluttering their eyelashes.
No, I would be a knight following my own path, a path forged on the streets of Evercrown, passed to me by my late father Vimm, and claimed in full one fateful night in the royal courtyard.
This would be my story. This would be my road.
In memory of them: the knightpunk code.
"No, for the hundredth time, Mira. We are not going into the Ruins," I snapped.
I swayed left to avoid a punch from Mira to my head, then countered with a left hook to Mira's own head, or rather, my helmet. My fist connected solidly with the metal surface, but not hard enough to injure myself.
"Mira, are you going easy on me?" I usually didn't hit Mira more than once or twice during an hour-long session. Today, I had already struck her five times.
"I have only requested access to the Ruins eighty-three times," Mira replied.
"Mira," I said, lowering my guard. "You're using your spirit juice or whatever you call it on something else, aren't you?"
Even a distracted Mira was infinitely better than the boards and poles I had used just two months ago. But the idea of my armor daydreaming while sparring irked me.
Mira spoke more quietly than usual, as if embarrassed at having been caught loafing. "I am performing a broadband scan for signs of my kin. I have not been able to detect them again, though."
Ever since we had been to the Ruins, Mira had been making constant remarks about going back. Ordinarily, I would have gladly helped Mira like she had helped me. But it was the fucking Ruins.
You had to be crazy, suicidal, or stupid to enter the Ruins. Everyone and their dog knew that.
But apparently Mira didn't. She claimed that she would follow my commands, but I worried that she would sneak off to the Ruins on her own. The possibility of Mira having kin was unsettling, too. There were more of her? The spirit part? Or the armor part? Mira had been evasive, other than indicating her interest in the Ruins.
At least Mira had dec
ided I was good enough to deserve what she called level two access. I owed her something in return. We could scout the entrance to the Ruins, even if we didn't go inside. Or maybe—
"Jakson!" Kuri raced into the barn where I did most of my practicing. Genna showed up a few seconds later without anyone calling for her, to no one's surprise.
Genna was growing more familiar each day with both her abilities and the unique patterns of our minds. She could basically read most of our thoughts the moment we stepped foot into our home.
It was kind of creepy at first, but I had gotten used to it. After all, I would trust Genna with my life.
"Aw, that's sweet of you, Jaks," Genna said.
Kuri rolled her eyes, a human gesture that she had picked up from Genna. "Should I tell him, or will you?"
Genna smiled and gestured for Kuri to go ahead. "Please."
I chuckled. Kuri wasn't going to let Genna's mind-reading slide as easily as me.
"They've arrived," Kuri said.
I dropped my amused expression. I understood instantly what she meant. It was our reason for training. Our purpose.
It was happening faster than I had expected. The Champions and most of the Sentinels had gone south to wage war with Valoria and her allies just two weeks earlier. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who had been preparing for this.
"Who, and where?" I asked.
"Three of them, all in different places, but almost at the same time," Kuri said. "The reports are scattered and conflicting. From Blackmore to the north, talk of dead men returning to life and wreaking havoc."
"Is that possible?" I asked.
Kuri shrugged. "Likely the tales of frightened farmers. Death magic uses power derived from death to create even more death, not to return the dead to life."
"What else?"
"From Lakenshire to the east, a fell knight hunting commoners for sport."
My face grew dark. That was exactly the type of person I wouldn't hesitate to put down. "That's no knight," I said with a scowl.
Kuri continued. "From the Stone Forest to the south, talk of a twelve-foot giant terrorizing nearby villagers." Kuri shook her head. "That one has to be an exaggeration. Giants have been extinct for centuries."
