章 4: The Knight
Volya finished interrogating one of the bandits and leave him scared inside one of the caves there. He then mumbles, "I can't believe they really use this forest to lure their victims on daily basis. Why the hell none of my forest critters tell me about it?!"
When he asked that, one of the squirrels at the tree near him jumps at him and tell him something. Volya really surprised and says, "Eh?! I always say that it's not my problem and let them go... Is that so?"
The squirrel nods and Volya only laugh a little. He then says, "I thought they are a different group, so I let it slide. But, if I know that they do it on daily basis like that, I should have punished them from a long time ago..."
The squirrel and hawk that follow him looked at Volya with a blank stare and Volya only laughs. He then says, "We should move now. I believe they shouldn't be that far from here with their speed."
Volya opens his arm and then says, "Let the Ether flow under my command and crack open the space of the distorted world, Dimensional Gate."
One fracture created in front of him and changed the surrounding in front of him into a tree branch. He jumps through space together with the hawk. The moment he arrives at the branch, he stopped for a while and mumbles, "Ugh... Even if I already did it so many time, my body still not cope with the sudden change of the space."
He then looked at the Knights and says, "Then, let's continue the actual plan."
He then jumps to the ground and one of the knights hear that noise. One of the knights stops and makes the other ask him,
"What is it, Sir Romain?"
"I believe I heard someone jumping to the ground there," answer him.
"Is it? I didn't hear anything."
"I think... It's just my imagination, Sir Clement."
Both of them then continue to move with their group. Until one arrow struck one of the horse and that really surprised everyone.
Everyone looked at the fallen horse and they understand the situation they are in. Another arrow struck another horse and killed it. Seeing one of his comrades falls to the ground, the other jump from the horse to help him up.
The knight who falls from the horse is Clement Marvin, a 39-year old knight from Marvin household from the city of Onryx. He takes his morning star and started to shouts full of anger, "Just come out you goddamn lowly life!"
The other knight who helps him up is Romain Ambros, a 25-year old knight from Ambros household from the city of Ironforge. He looked at his friend and then prepares his trusty shield and sword. He then calmly says, "Sir Clement, I believe none of them will hear you."
"I don't care! I will definitely murder those lowly annoying leech!"
"Sir Clement, please remain calm. The enemy will take your rageful emotion to their advantage."
"I don't care! They should fight fair with us like a knight!"
"But..."
"Both of you! Stop fighting and focus on the enemy that will approach us without hesitation!" shout Albert
Albert jump from his horse together with the other knight and the 'Queen'. The 'Queen' takes out her sword and observe her surrounding, while the other knight takes out his great sword.
The knight with the greatsword is Aubert Martinez, a 40-year old knight from Martinez household that leads the fifth division from Haegia kingdom. He observes his surroundings and gives a sign that they are safe right now.
The last knight is Albert Martin, a 48-year old knight from Martin household and one of the five Great Knight of Haegia. The King of Haegia always appoints Albert as the one who looked after the Queen because of his good decision making on the field, and that applies to the current situation.
Albert prepares his weapon and says, "Prepare yourself, the enemy will show their nose soon."
"Sir, Yes Sir!" shouts the other knight.
The 'Queen' looked at Albert and then asks him, "Sir Albert, could you predict their location? I believe from the way they could land the arrow to the horse, they should be quite near us."
"Unfortunately, I can't predict that as this area really new for me. Besides, they could attack our house from anywhere around here," answered Albert.
"If that so, then could you tell me how many of them that we are chasing right now. Do any of you know about this?" ask the 'Queen' once more.
"The first time I see them, they are consist of five Archer, one ax-wielding man, and two sword-wielding men," answer Romain.
"Huh? I didn't see anyone who wields ax that time," says Clement to Romain.
"What do you mean by that?"
"What I see is someone who wields a spear. And there are two people that bring the spear."
"No way!"
Both of them start to fight with each other once more and Aubert walks up to them in order to stop their quarrel. Albert tried to remember something before they start to chase their target and realize something. When he looked at his 'Queen', he understands that she already knows the situation they are in. Albert then takes a deep breath and says,
"Your Highness, I believe both of them are talking the truth about them. They split up and prepared to ambush us on our way back."
"By looking at our situation, I could say that you are right about this. They beat us in number and the location of the battle. If they fight us here, the other kingdom will not happy with it if we didn't provide a good reason for any of their question later," answer the 'Queen'.
Romain and Clement looked at each other and understand how hard their situation is. Meanwhile, Volya smiled at them and mumbles, "I believe they don't want to make any problem here because of their status. I like how they think about the consequences of their action. But, how will they react when the bandit really show up?"
Volya thinks for a while until the hawk flies near him and lands on his shoulder. Volya looked at the hawk and nodded. He then says, "Let's commence our plan now."
Volya makes a noise at the bush and all the knight there hears that. They point their weapon towards the bush near them with the 'Queen' shouts,
"Just come out from there! We already know your location and will react if you do something weird!"
"You don't need to shout like that. Because my intention is to meet all of you right now," answer Volya as he walks through the bushes.
He waves at the knight as if he greeted all of them and smiles at them. Romain and Clement looked at Volya with Romain saying,
"I don't remember that they have a mage at their ranks..."
"Same with me..." answer Clement
Volya smiles at them and then looked at the 'Queen'. He bows to her and then asks them,
"I know it's really rude for asking this to all of you. But, why are you here at Azalea? Isn't knight that tied to any kingdom are not permitted to enter this area except for diplomatic mission?"
"Before that, who are you? Are you one of the bandits that we chase today?" ask Romain as he points his sword to Volya.
"Bandit? Ah... Those pesky annoying people, huh." answer Volya.
"Yes... Are you one of them or just some passerby?" asked Albert.
Volya smiles at them and then says,
"I believe none of you will believe everything that will comes out from my mouth. But, I will assure you that I'm not connected to them."
"How could we believe that? You suddenly pop-up from nowhere and want to meet with all of us. Your action really suspicious," ask Aubert as he tried to calm himself.
"Well... If I said that I am just a wanderer, will you believe me? And judging by all of your reaction, I could say that none of you believe me." answer Volya.
"Then, who are you?" asked Albert.
"Just a wanderer."
"Could you give me a good reason that you are not on their side?"
"I don't have any good reason to answer your question besides what I am. But, If you ask their location, I could spill some of it. the Archer is around you at each tree here, the one who bring spear at your back, and the one who bring sword in the front. The one who brings ax is sleeping at one of the caves here."
Albert and the 'Queen' looked at Volya with disbelief and then hears Volya says,
"I know that you couldn't believe anything that comes out from my mouth. I already tell you that, no? Because it's natural for a human to see it with their own eyes to believe anything."
Albert looked at Aubert and both of them understand that the person in front of them is honest with his answer, but they still suspicious of his action. Clement and Romain move towards their 'Queen' and gazes at Volya.
Volya then bows once more and ask the 'Queen',
"If possible, why the Queen follow their follower to this area? I believe it is really dangerous for you to come here."
"Your Highness, you don't need to answer his question!" shout Aubert.
"Sir Aubert Martinez, it is really rude for you to say that to me. Right now, I am talking with your Queen... But, I can't blame you for angry at me because I also act quite rude right now." says Volya.
"Wait a minute... How in this world you know..."
"You know... Sometimes the wind will tell me everything. They are the most knowledgeable folks in this world, you know."
All the Knights and the 'Queen' looked at Volya with awe and can't say anything. Inside their mind is who is this man and what is his purpose by talking with them.
Volya closes his eyes for a while and then glance at one direction. He smiles and says,
"Unfortunately, we need to postpone our chat now. Those people will start to attack all of you soon."
The moment he says that all of them looked around them and saw four guys with sword and spear. All of their body really big with a burned skin. All of them using a dirty cloth and smiles at each other. Albert focused his attention for a while and hear someone is preparing their bow to attack them. Albert then orders everyone,
"Prepare your weapon now! We must protect..."
"Sir Albert... Just focused to stay alive now. You don't need to think about me right now." says the 'Queen'.
"But..."
Volya looked at the 'Queen' with a surprised face and then smiled a little bit. He then looked at the bandit around him and says,
"But, I don't know if all of you are really an idiot or what. Did all of you really think could play around with those knight by attacking them face-to-face rather than attacking them from the shadow? I believe all of you already out of your mind by doing this."
"Just I thought! You are one of them!" shout Clement.
Volya didn't care with Clement remarks and observed around them once more. He could see some of his forest friends are waiting for his order. He then smiles and sees one of them bandit talking to each other,
"The number of our victim is increasing..."
"But, where is our Big Bro? He says that he only wants to take something fast."
"I don't know... And don't care. And judging by that guy cape, I could say that its price around 100 Bronze Coin."
"That's not many... But, enough to buy some bread."
Volya then peeks at the knight that prepares themselves for any of their enemy attacks. Volya sighs and thinks that he need to make sure they didn't fight there if possible. But judging from both party situation, that isn't an easy task. And if the fight really happens at the forest, he needs to make sure no one finds it out about it. After he is really sure that no one around them except the knight group and the bandit, he nods a little bit. Albert notices that and he prepares for the worse depending on the suspicious man action right now.
He then raised his hand and shouts,
"I just a random passerby that meet with them. If possible, could you let me go because I don't have anything to offer to you right now."
"Like hell, we will let you go. Just give us your cape and staff and we will leave you alone."
"I can't give you this as this is the only thing that connected with my brother and father."
"We don't give a damn!"
Volya continues to negotiate with the bandit and the 'Queen' observes his movement a little bit. She then hears Aubert says,
"He is really suspicious... Is he one of them or he really is just a random passerby..."
"Sir Aubert, judging from his action right now, I believe he is just a random passerby." says the 'Queen'.
"Eh? Why did you think that?" ask Romain
"From the bandit movement and how they treat him, I could conclude that too... And also he nods as if someone is waiting around here..." answer Albert as he continues to check around him.
Romain and Clement only could sigh and notice one of the archers change their target towards Volya. Clement gives a sign towards Aubert that nods so they could start to attack the other side of the Bandit.
Meanwhile, the bandit becomes more restless and at the end ignore every Volya plea and says,
"I think I will just murder you here and takes everything that you have!"
Volya looked at the bandit and the knight behind him for a while. He then sighs and mumbles, "It seems it is inevitable... I'm really sorry for tainted this dirt with their blood."
Volya then gazes at the bandit and that really surprised all of them. Together with that, they feel the wind become fiercer together with the aura surrounding Volya. He then says,
"I think I can't act like a nice guy anymore... I hope you prepared for anything, scum."
"What do you mean, beggar? Do you really want to die?" asked the bandit
"Before that, did all of you know that all of you are inside Azalea, the Holy Ground of this island?"
"Azalea? Of course, we know about that! The Holy Ground? You must be joking! This place is really empty and this place is the graveyard for many people that fight against us!" answer another bandit.
"Graveyard? You make this place become a graveyard? You really disappoint me..."
"So what?"
"Your action really disturb the other who stay at the Wildespring forest. You should feel ashamed for your action."
"Huh? The other who stay here? Did you mean those annoying deer, bird, and everything? Bah... We don't care about them and we will kill all of them so we could live here without anyone disturb us!"
Volya clenched his teeth and then looked at them with a cold gaze. He then asks them,
"So... That's your intention at this forest..."
"Yes... Then why?"
All of the knights can't move at all because of the pressure from Volya that want to exterminate every people in front of him. Even the 'Queen' stand still and didn't look away.
Volya then moves his staff a little bit and says,
"Then, as the representative chosen by the forest... I will punish all of you in the name of this forest."
He snaps his finger and they could hear something moving near the bush. Everyone prepares for anything that will come from there. Not long after that, all of the bandit laughing because they see a small fox jumped from there.
One of the bandits looked at the Volya to mock him and really surprised to see a bright red magic circle at Volya's hand. Volya looked at them and says,
"O flame of judgment, let's the anger of thee comes to this world! Let's those who dare oppose you fall under your might flame! Pillar of Flame!"
In split second the magic circle vanished from Volya's hand and reappear below one of the bandits. From there a pillar flame suddenly summoned and burned it without hesitation. All of the bandits are really surprised and start panicking with their current situation. Volya closes his eyes and says,
"Even though I say that I will punish all of you, I will let you alive if you never come... Huh?"
Suddenly Volya could feel a sharp pain in his chest and look below him. He could see one arrow struck near his chest, almost hitting his heart and fresh blood gushing from there. He falls on his knee and looked at the bandit with full of hatred. Then he points his hand to them, create another red magic circle and says,
"Trickery is the art created by the fool. Let this flame deceive their eyes and meet their eternal demise! Trickster's Flame!"
A small flame created on his hand and he throws it at one of the trees. Not long after that an arrow struck his head and chest again and killed him immediately.
Both the bandits and the knights are really panicked after seeing Volya's action as it could make a forest fire there. But the moment the fire hit the tree, it didn't burn it. Rather, it starts to bounce to another tree near it and hit one of the bandits and burn it immediately. Together with that, they could hear a loud scream from the forest.
Albert snaps back to reality and then shouts,
"This is our chance! Charge!!!!"
All of the Knights prepare their weapon and start to attack the bandit that scared with what they just saw. One of the bandits stabs by Romain's sword, while the other head is crushed by Clement's Morning Star. The blood of the bandit paints the earth as the knights continue to march until the last of them slain.
Everyone stops and takes a deep breath and with that, they achieve their victory for that small war.
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