章 5: With Friends Like These Who Needs Enemies?
"Girl! I need you to back off and take cover somewhere!" I said to the child accompanying me, never taking my eyes off D'arce.
I felt the girl let go of my leg and heard her footsteps walking away from me, turning my head to the side. I caught a glimpse of the girl taking cover behind a set of boxes next to the counter on the other side of the kitchen. She watched me with glazed eyes with part of her head poking out of hiding.
Good. Now to deal with the female knight in front of me.
"W-well! What are y-you waiting for? Take me to Le'garde!" D'arce demanded, pointing the tip of her sword in my direction.
"Do you understand how absurd your request is? Judging by your appearance, you must have seen the horrors of the dungeon. Le'garde is even deeper in this place. And believe me; it will only get worse as you go down."
"I-I don't care! Le'garde is h-here somewhere and y-you know where he is! T-Take me to him!" D'arce demanded, taking another step forward.
I took a step back as I raised my dagger towards D'arce, which caused her to pause for a moment with a look of hesitation.
"I don't know if you noticed, but I have a child with me. She was locked in a cage and left in a dark room in the dungeon. She was hungry and afraid of this place; I would like to get her out of here. Are you suggesting that I should instead take her deeper into the hell she clearly doesn't want to be in? That I should put her in danger?"
D'arce was silent for a few seconds, a thoughtful expression on her face, her gaze softening for a moment.
"Hm… Looks like it worked." Kitab wrote in its pages.
"T-it doesn't matter! If the g-girl's safety is an issue for you, the two of us can keep her safe! I-I swear on my honor! I-I swear by Alll-mer! In addition, if we can save Le'garde, I'm sure he will help us! I d-doubt his k-kind heart would allow a child to suffer in this accursed dungeon!"
D'arce said with a crooked smile, a mixture of hope, joy and fear. Was she hoping to convince me with those words? Well, it didn't work.
"Forget what I said. The woman is crazy."
"You are not helping, Kitab."
"You have no idea what's going on here. I will not take you to Le'garde. I refuse. I will not risk a child's life and my own for the one responsible for everything that is happening here. I don't care about your honor. Moreover, unless Alll-mer himself appears in front of me and tells me to go with you, I won't move a finger. But that doesn't mean we need to be enemies, you can stay here with us if you like, or you can grab something from the kitchen and leave."
D'arce was silent for a few seconds, her face set in a serious expression, but that expression changed to one of fury. The knight snarled in anger as she visibly dragged her teeth, she had a nervous twitch in her right eye and she started to breathe heavily.
"YOU DARE?!?" D'arce screamed, sending the scream echoing through the dungeon.
"What are you doing? Stop yelling before you attract a guard!"
However, D'arce ignored me and she began to speak as she approached me with heavy steps, her armor creaking with every movement.
"How dare you speak ill of Le'garde's good name?!? He fought valiantly for the people of Rondor only to be betrayed by the nobles! Le'garde is a hero, something commoners like you don't seem to understand! How dare you accuse him of being responsible for what is happening here? I should cut your tongue out for speaking such blasphemy!"
"Tell that to all the innocents Le'garde slaughtered."
"They were fools, savages, heretics. None of them can understand the greatness of Le'garde."
"The only person who doesn't seem to understand anything here is you. I will say this one more time. I won't take you to Le'gard, you can go alone if you like, but my offer still stands. Why don't you put down your sword and let's talk like civilized people? You aren't ok. Why don't you get some rest?"
"I will only rest when my goal is fulfilled."
"A shame. I hoped we didn't have to fight."
I quickly cast Glimmer of Truth. Kitab's pages moved of their own accord and the familiar green smoke billowed from its pages and enveloped D'arce's head.
The knight started screaming as she swung her sword in the air, trying to hit whatever she was seeing. Seizing the opportunity, I tucked the dagger into my belt, grabbed one of the kitchen chairs, and ran toward D'arce.
As I approached, my spell wore off, the smoke disappeared, for a moment D'arce's eyes focused on me, and she looked worse than before. Glimmer of Truth does not appear to cause physical damage, but rather psychological damage. In other words, if this was a game, D'arce would have lost some mind points with my attack.
Unfortunately, the next attack will do some damage. With a look of surprise, D'arce tried to raise her shield, but I was faster and slammed the chair into her left side, shoulder height.
CRASH!
"AAAHHH!" D'arce screamed as the old wooden chair was smashed into pieces against her body. It couldn't have hurt that much, after all D'arce wore armor and the chair was very old.
As soon as I finished my attack, I immediately took a step back, trying to get away, but D'arce wasn't a knight for nothing. With a swift slash that I could barely see, she managed to leave a slash in my leather robe.
Thankfully, it didn't make it to my flesh, but the sound of leather being torn apart was audible. Damn it! She is a trained person! Not me! One more slip and I will lose my head. What else can I use here? Because I don't want to have to kill off one of the main characters right off the bat!
When D'arce recovered from my attack, I got a good look at the result. The part of her body covered by the armor looked ok, unlike her face, her left cheek was starting to swell as a trickle of blood trickled from her forehead, down the side of her nose and onto her chin where it dripped onto the floor. .
The knight brought one of the gauntlets to her face, touching the blood and looking at her hand right after. She rubbed the blood between her armored fingers.
Closing her fist tightly, the knight let out a scream of rage before swinging her sword wildly towards me.
"AAAHHH!"
My eyes widened and I let out a strange scream I'm not proud of. Wasting no time, I took a series of steps, backing away out of range of the sword, but D'arce kept trying to hit me.
The sword sliced through the air in a silvery blur as D'arce unleashed a string of insults aimed at me.
"That girl is giving you trouble, isn't she? Why don't you just get it over with?" Kitab asked me.
"Because I don't want to kill one of the protagonists! What would be the consequences of me doing that?"
"Not being turned into mincemeat by the mad knight in front of you?"
"Good point! Still, I don't want to kill her. She could be a possible ally at least."
"Then you better think fast before your head goes flying!"
As soon as Kitab finished speaking, D'arce raised her sword above her head and brought it down towards me.
I ran away from the onslaught, the sword hitting the floor with a metallic crack, and I took advantage of that opening to run behind the kitchen table, putting it between D'arce and me.
"Come here and fight, you coward! Where is your honor?" D'arce shouted, pointing her sword in my direction.
"I forgot it at home! And if being a coward will help me survive, then so be it!"
"The Old Ones approve your conviction, but not your method."
"Not now, Kitab!"
D'arce ran towards me, I ran to the right, keeping the table between us, D'arce did the same, but seeing that she couldn't catch me, she ran to the left.
Upon seeing that, I ran to the left as well, keeping her away from me.
D'arce let out a grunt of frustration, still reaching for me.
We ran around the table repeatedly for a few minutes.
If D'arce went left, I went left; if she went right, I went right.
"Is this some kind of game to you? There is an innocent man trapped here and instead of helping him, you are playing with me!"
"Believe me; I am taking this seriously as my life is in danger here! And Le'garde is everything but innocent!"
"Shut up… AAAHHH!"
I didn't let D'arce finish as I cast Glimmer of Truth again.
Green smoke covered her head, making her scream.
I just needed that opening to put my plan into action. As D'arce and I circled the table, I just waited for a moment when the knight stopped with her back against the wall.
Wasting no time, I grabbed the edge of the table and pushed it against D'arce.
The knight let out a cry of surprise and pain as the table hit her in the stomach and pinned her against the wall.
I gripped the table tightly while praying for D'arce to have some shred of sanity.
She wasn't ok, and I hit her with two spells. I don't know exactly how many mind points she had, but now I hope she didn't reach zero.
Because... Well, I don't want the girl to see someone committing suicide in front of her.
When the smoke from my spell cleared, D'arce fell silent; she looked around in confusion, all the anger and madness draining from her face, giving way to an innocent look.
That is, until her eyes landed on me, and she started laughing maniacally.
"HAHAHA!" D'arce laughed at the top of her lungs as she frantically swung her sword at me.
I had to lean back to dodge the blows, but because of that, I put less weight on the table, making it easier for D'arce to escape.
SLASH!
One of the blows grazed my mask, just below my eyes; I heard a metallic noise followed by small sparks entering my field of vision.
I realized that D'arce was about escape, I immediately put my weight against the table and pinned D'arce against the wall.
D'arce let out a cry of surprise and pain again, but she kept trying to hit me.
"HAHAHA! What's the problem? Why don't you come closer? Are you afraid of me? Don't worry, I don't bite… A lot!" D'arce shouted with a provocative tone in her voice.
"Sorry, but knowing this place, you'll probably bite my neck off!"
"GASP! How did you know?" D'arce yelled, swinging her sword again, I had to lean back to avoid being hit, but that was all D'arce needed to break free.
With a scream of rage, the knight raised her sword and brought it down towards the table.
CRASH!
With a mighty blow, followed by a loud crack of wood, the table was split in two.
"FUCK IT!" I took the dagger from my belt and swung it toward D'arce's neck.
For a moment I saw the knight's eyes widen and her smile widen into a mixture of teeth and blood that trickled from her forehead to her mouth.
With a quick swing, D'arce deflected the dagger away from her neck, then I saw her shield coming towards my face, it was all so fast that I'm not sure what happened.
I felt something hitting me in the head, everything going black for a second, bright spots floating everywhere. Then I felt a pain in my chest and suddenly found myself lying on my back on the floor.
As my vision returned, I felt something heavy on top of me. It was D'arce, you know, I wouldn't have anything against the situation I found myself in now. For some it would be a dream coming true, but for me it was a nightmare as D'arce had her sword raised above her head and she was grinning at me from ear to ear.
I barely had time to react before I used the dagger to block D'arce's blow.
SHING!
The metals of our weapons collided, creating a shower of sparks. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the girl looking at me from behind her hiding place with a scared look. Holy shit! There's no way I can win now!
"Enough! You won, okay?"
"HAHAHA!" However, D'arce just laughed and tried to cut again.
SHING!
"Stop! I'll take you to Le'garde!"
SHING!
"You are not listening to me? I'll take you to Le'garde!"
SHING!
CRASH!
With one final blow, my rusty old dagger snapped in two, its other half flying across the kitchen and landing on the floor beside me.
Glancing at D'arce, I saw that she held her sword with both hands just above my heart; she stopped with a face of deep thought.
"Le'garde… Le'garde… Le'garde? Oh! How could I forget?!? Le'garde! We have to get him, don't we? That's why we came here!"
Speak for yourself.
"Yes that's right! Le'garde! We came all the way to get him! I know the fastest way to him! I can take you there!"
"Oh! And why didn't you say it before, my friend?" D'arce said with an innocent smile as she rolled off me.
She extended her hand towards me with a friendly look, I hesitated, but after seeing the crazy look D'arce gave me behind her narrowed eyes, I took her hand.
I was immediately pulled upwards by a surprising strength. How strong is she?
"Well, what are we waiting for, my friend? Let's go in search of the noble knight imprisoned in this place!" D'arce said as she patted my clothes, dusting them off, and adjusted the creased parts.
"I am not alone here. Girl, could you come over here?"
Slowly the girl came out of her hiding place and stopped a few meters from us, she focused her gaze on D'arce who was staring at her with a fixed look and a big smile.
The girl quickly ran towards me and hid behind me.
"How cute! She is your daughter?" D'arce asked, leaning forward, looking at the girl behind me.
I stepped to the side, putting myself in front of D'arce.
"No. But I'm taking care of her. Since you want us to go into the depths of the dungeon, I expect you to help me protect her."
"Don't worry! I give you my word of honor as a knight that nothing will happen to your daughter!" D'arce said, puffing out her chest and placing a hand over her heart.
"She is not… Forget it!"
For some reason, that doesn't comfort me. Should I summon the cats when D'arce isn't looking and run off with the girl right away?
Glancing down at my broken dagger, I threw what was left of it to the side. It was useless now. If D'arce allows it, I'll spend some higher value coins; I need to get a better weapon.
"Oh! What is this book?" D'arce asked with childish glee in her voice.
She grabbed my arm where Kitab was pinned, and lifted it to face level. In addition, she stared at the pages of the book closely.
"Something you will never understand, you insane woman! I'm not just a book! Treat me with the respect I deserve or you'll be cat food!"
"What is that? Words are appearing on the pages!"
I immediately removed my arm from D'arce's grasp.
"You could say I'm a wizard or sorcerer. Call it what you like. Moreover, that's my spell book. But changing the subject, weren't we going after Le'garde?"
"Yes. That's right! Come on my friend!" D'arce said as she hugged my arm as if we were a couple and pulled me out of the kitchen.
This time the girl walked beside me as she held my shirt. She fixed me with a worried look.
"Don't worry. I'm fine, but I can't say the same about the woman accompanying us. Be careful of her, okay?" I tried to comfort the girl.
Suddenly I felt D'arce's cheek and mine touching and a voice whispering in my ear.
"What are you talking about?" The knight asked, looking me in the eye.
"Nothing."
"Perfect. I hope you aren't thinking of escaping, otherwise…" D'arce didn't have to finish speaking; she just raised her sword and placed it close to my neck.
"I would never do that."
"Excellent! It would be a shame if our friendship had to end too soon." D'arce said with a deadpan look as she patted my cheek, most surprising was the bloodied kiss she planted on my cheek shortly thereafter.
"Congratulations on getting a girlfriend." Kitab spoke.
"She's not my girlfriend. The woman is crazy, partly my fault. And what's more, she's obsessed with Le'garde."
"Of course… Of course… Keep denying the obvious. Nevertheless, I have something that might interest you. Congratulations! Some of the Old Ones found your fight interesting and your current situation amusing. Shub-niggurath mostly. So it has been decided that you should be rewarded with a new spell!"
On the outside, I was impassive so as not to alert D'arce, but on the inside, I was jumping with joy.
"Show me."
"The Rats in the Walls: Summon the ghostly rats that haunt the La Poer estate at Exham Priory in England. These rats come like a squealing tide and devour everything in their path. Nevertheless, they can also be invoked in smaller numbers. Order them, control them, and see the world through their eyes! Walls and doors do not stop them! Just don't summon rats and cats at the same time, the result won't be pretty."
Hm… It's not the most powerful spell, but I already have some ideas on how to use it, mainly to free a certain mercenary.
Looking to the side, I saw D'arce hugging my arm with a smile on her face as she hummed a song. Looking to the other side, I saw the girl looking at the path ahead.
Well… There's only one place to go now. Le'garde, you had better not die, because if you do, I'll bring you back as an undead just to kill you again.
END OF CHAPTER
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