When We Were Six

Posted by talmid, on 17-06-2016

Knights of the Olde Speech
When We Were Six

Chapter One - A Plan in Orlan

Orlan was once the name of the richest lands of Morcia.   Open plains empty of trees and well irrigated by surrounding streams, akin to the Great Plain of Aquila, characterised this fruitful flat.  But in the time that passed, the streams dried and the land became dry.  Orlan in its fruitful land-form remains only in history books, and the memories of those who will read them, however its name remains in use by two places: First off, the Citadel of Orlan, an abandoned fortress in Morcia's west, nearly on the border with Ankoria.

  Second is the capitol of Morcia, also named Orlan, and this is the city that everyone thinks of when they hear the name Orlan now.

  Orlan was a beautiful city.  War had not touched its gates for hundreds of years, until just the other day.  This perturbed King Matthias.  In the castle, seated on his throne, he let his head rest on his hand, his elbow resting on the mahogany armrest.  His face was so low that his gray beard, almost due for a trim, swept up dust on the edge of the seat.

  In front of him, gathered around a table in the throne room, five funnily dressed 'Knights' discussed tactics with the men of his army.  He knew their names.  Sir Thingguy was not present, having left to search for the King's daughter, Princess Jonna; Sir Talmid and Sir Legoboy exchanged conversation with his soldiers; Sir Luke was sorting between notes; Sir Hycra was listening intently and trying to say things; lastly, Sir Seton looked faint.

  But Matthias did not really listen to their words, as he was lost in his thoughts.   I will be remembered as the King under whose watch violence returned to Orlan. Matthias thought glumly.  He only looked up when someone called his name.

  "King Matthias," one of the knights, Sir Talmid, addressed him, "we hath reason to believe that the Paradox are attacking from multiple bases."

  "Oh?" the King asked.

  Talmid nodded and a brown haired man, the Knight Sir Legoboy, explained, "According to the records from the last three attacks, during the first and last attacks the enemy attacked from the south, but during the middle battle, you were attacked from the 'Fire Mountains'.  They are alternating which bases to attack from."

  Sir Hycra snapped his fingers. "That's how they can attack so fast!" he exclaimed.

  Sir Legoboy continued, "If we defeat just one of their bases, their attacks will be limited by at most fifty percent."

  "And if the alternating theory is true," Hycra said, "they will attack from the north next!"  He looked confused for a second.  "Wait, the Fire Mountains are north, right?  Right?"

  "I don't know, thou could ask the librarian," Sir Talmid suggested.

  "Good luck with that." Matthias grumbled.

  One of the King's army cleared his throat.  "Permission to contribute, your majesty."

  "Your name?" the King asked.

  "Barclay, leader of the Scouts, your majesty."

  "Speak."

  "The Fire Mountains is colloquial for the Athelas Mounts," Barclay said to the Knights.  "And they are to the north."

  "Is it wise to attack the attackers?" Sir Seton asked, worriedly.

  Sir Talmid turned to him.  "What do you mean?"

  "I have this horrible vision of us advancing through a narrow passageway, thick with fog and rife with danger," Sir Seton described, "and then we walk straight into the advancing army of Paradox and we're smashed!"  He finished with a little wail and looked about to faint.

  "Indeed," Sir Luke said, looking up from the table, "There is a passage marked The Ghost Passages which leads north to the Athelas Mounts, and it is through this passage that the Rogues attacked from."

  "You have a map?" Sir Hycra asked.  "Why didn't you say anything about the Fire Mountains we were so confused about?"

  "You were confused about," Sir Legoboy corrected.

  "Sir Talmid was too." Hycra said.  The mentioned knight didn't hear, as he was looking at Sir Luke's map and also listening to Sir Luke.

  Luke was saying to the king, "We should try and preempt this attack, which means we have to go as soon as possible."

  Sir Talmid asked, now that he'd seen the map, "There are these Watchtowers here.  What are they?"

  Barclay mustered and said, "They contain many guards who defend our borders, sir."

  Sir Talmid mused, "We should send message to them to search for the Rogue base with us."

  "Do that." the King ordered.  "Do it all, you are my commanders now.  But don't bother me!" Matthias huffed, then got up and left for his sleeping quarters.

  The knights looked at each other, confused, then at Barclay who had spoken up the most so far.  "Dareth I ask whateth was that abouteth?" Sir Hycra asked.

  Barclay shook his head.  "You know my majesty's daughter is missing.  He is very upset."

  Sir Talmid slapped him on the back.  "Fear not, for Sir Thingguy will certainly find her!  Now, we have the King's authority to lead an attack.  We must move swiftly, so we require horses."

  "And we must move strongly," Legoboy added, "so we need many horses for the King's army to ride upon."

  "We have many horses, sirs." Barclay said.

  "Let's go, then!" Hycra shouted.

  Sir Seton looked out the window.  "It's almost night." he said.

  "I don't care!"  Hycra turned to Sirs Talmid and Luke. "What do you say?" he said.

  "The Rogues always attacked in the day," Legoboy stated.

  "We can prevent that by traveling now and through the night." Luke said.

  "Aye." Talmid agreed.  He turned to Barclay.  "If it's settled, lead us to the stables and prepare the King's horsemen."

  "You have my vote." Luke said.  The other knights, including Seton, nodded their agreement.

  "Let's go!"

Chapter Two - Riders on the Fog

  Together with the horsemen of King Matthias, the five Knights and Barclay, leader of the scouts, made up a seemingly small army of twenty.  But twenty men atop twenty horses made for a strong force - strong enough, Sir Legoboy hoped, to defeat the Paradox Rogues.

  On a gray steed next to Legoboy, Sir Seton squinted his eyes.  "I see... fog in the distance?"

  "More like you don't see, then." Sir Legoboy said.

  "Haha." Seton responded.  "That's the Ghost Passages, then."

  Riding in front of them, Sir Hycra noticed the fog as well.  "Look guys, it's the Ghost Passages!" he shouted, and he turned around to face the army.  He noticed their faces.  They did not look happy.

  "Tis a surpise mission," Sir Talmid reminded from his white horse, Ace.  "We must be hushed."

  "Aye aye, sir." Hycra agreed.  He took to cracking his knuckles.  Only the pop, crackle, and snaps of his actions, and the soft clops of the horses in the dirt, permeated the fog as they entered the Ghost Passages.  There was a marsh in this area, from which the fog was believed to come from.  It made it harder to see more than two horses ahead or behind oneself, but they walked single file and stayed close.  So it came as a surprise to Sir Seton when a fluttering form dropped out of the fog and landed on the head of his horse.

  Sir Seton almost screamed, but Sir Legoboy grabbed his mouth.  He fainted nonetheless, his head drooping to rest on Legoboy's white-cloaked shoulder, while Legoboy turned his attention to the Messenger Pigeon that had intercepted them.

  After Sir Seton woke up and could support himself, Sir Legoboy brought the Pigeon and its message to Sir Luke.  "The Watchtowers report that they found the Paradox camp.  It's right at the end of this Ghost Passage we're in, inside a small forest clearing to the east of our exit."

  "Good." said Sir Luke, thoughtful.  He checked his watch.  The fog had covered up its face, and he cleaned it.  "It's well past midnight.  If the Rogues are asleep, we can sneak up and wreak the most havoc."

  "Element of surprise." Sir Legoboy agreed.

~~

  Upon exiting the Ghost Passages, the party found themselves in a small forest.  They sent Sir Legoboy, Sir Hycra, Barclay and two of his scouts to scout eastward, ahead of the rest, and assess the state of the Paradox encampment.

  It was dark and the moon provided minimal light through the cover of the trees.

  "I hope we don't run straight into a wormholer in this soup," Sir Hyrca said softly.

  "What's a wormholer?" Barclay asked.

  "A weapon-type which has been used against Matthias's army, effectively and most unfairly." Legoboy said.

  "Oh."

  "Now shush."

  Indeed, they very nearly rode straight into the barrels of wormholers.  They came upon the Paradox's base, an encampment with many tents, very quickly and surprisingly.  Sir Hycra's jaw fell open but he said nothing; the horses, well trained and disciplined, made no sounds as well.  Legoboy dismounted and motioned for no one to follow him.  Darting from behind one tree to another, he crept up to the camp.

  Legoboy noted the positions of guards.  Some held I-bricks, others gaming consoles.  Only one had his weapon in his hand, but he was asleep.  The rest of the Rogues lay around an Imagination generator in sleeping bags, which hummed softly, lulling them to sleep.  All of their large weapons, Wormholers and Doomslicers, where poking out of a chest.  It would have to be destroyed first.  There were also tents, for the commanders most likely, Legoboy thought, but one tent was almost glowing.  A low, red illumination lit it up from within.  Sir Legoboy had no idea what was within, another generator perhaps.

  Suddenly, he felt someone tapping on his shoulder.  Legoboy stiffened, and berated himself for wearing such a brightly colored cloak, but as he had not yet been smashed as an intruder, he turned around slowly.

  "Legoboy?" a familiar voice addressed him.  "What are you doing here?"

  The knight recognized the Paradox Shinobi who had addressed him.  His eyes widened.  "Loren.  What are you doing here?" he asked.

  The Shinobi sighed.  "You know, kicked out of the Nexus Force, inciting the faction war, exiled - well, my now we're here.  Our ship crashed, but we're trying to meet up with the others.  Oh, and we're taking over this planet."  The Rogue suddenly remembered what he was there for.  He aimed a blaster at Legoboy.  "Now, why are you here?  I haven't seen you Pirate's Cove."

  Legoboy held up his hands.  He opened his mouth to speak, and hoped the others would come rescue him up already.  He decided to stall.  "I didn't think you were one for terrorizing, Loren." he said.  "I used to be disappointed in you, when I heard about the trials, but -" the Shinobu gripped his blaster tighter - "hear me out.

  "I'm also disenchanted with the Nexus Force," Legoboy said, "and I was wondering if I could join you?"

  Loren's face scrunched up, and he looked thoughtful.  For a moment, he said nothing, then he laughed.  "You'd have to speak to Commander Borock for that.  He's just over this way..."  Loren jabbed the blaster into Legoboy's back, and began walking him to a far off tent.  "Come on."  They passed the tent with the red glow, and even though they were closer, Legoboy still couldn't see what was inside.

  "What's in there?" he asked.

  "None of your business."

  Sir Legoboy could only wonder.

Chapter Three - Shots in the Dark

  Loren was about to part the flaps to the Commander's tent, when suddenly a bright orange flash lit up the trees, like a massive bonfire, or an explosion.  The shockwave knocked Legoboy off his feet, and he turned to see the source of the explosion.  The light was fading now, into that from a fire.  A wormholer was being fired into the chest of weapons, in the hands of Sir Hycra.

  Confused Rogues were waking up now, grabbing for their personal firearms, blasters, or swords.  Legoboy used the oppurtunity of Loren's distraction to kick the Shinobi's legs out from under him - he fell, and Legoboy grabbed his blaster.  He also unsheathed his sword which he used to knock Loren out.  Then he darted for the edge of the camp.

  Suddenly, other wormholer shots were hitting the ground around him.  In the forest to his side, he saw blasts of dark energy firing out from between the trees.  A Rogue scouting party, Legoboy realized, which they must have missed on their way over.  But now they were back and attacking.

  Back in the camp, Hycra sprayed the ground with wormholer blasts.  The chain suddenly spun down, and Hycra dove for cover behind a crate of something.  Blaster fire flew over his head as he lay low, reloading the wormholer.  When he took a peek over the crate, he could't help but notice its contents: a bunch of flash bangs.

  Hycra grinned, slid sunglasses over his face, and closed his eyes.  Then he shot the crate, and the world was alight with the largest unnatural source of light in ever.  Morcians woke up at the flash, which lit up their rooms and scared all the animals outside.  On farms, cows mooed, and everywhere birds began to sing, confused.

  At the Paradox camp, every Rogue grabbed their faces, temporarily blinded, and unable to get their eyes to work immediately.  The light continued, fading slowly but still providing illumination.  Hycra took this time to shoot everything, crates of other weapons, racks of gear, and setting tents on fire.

  One blast hit the red tent, and that was all it took for the red glow to surge into a bright, blood red light that competed with the fading flash bangs.  Then, out of the tent's exit, through its walls, and out of its roof into the sky, numerous red beings poured out.  They were unarmed at first, but as Hycra and Legoboy watched, dark armor and sharp looking swords materialized on them.  They headed straight for the two Knights, who began to run into the forest.

  "Where are the others?!" Legoboy called when they met up.

  "Getting the others!" Hycra shouted.

  "What?!" Legoboy asked.

  "The other others!"

  They had almost made it to their horses, when they were met with eighteen other horses and riders, lead by Sir Talmid, Sir Luke, and Sir Seton.  The Knights and the King's Army charged into the camp, knocking over Rogues and making their presence well known.  The Rogues in the base could see again by now, and as they were unarmed and removed of any personal weaponry, they easily surrendered - the Rogue scouting party seemed to have disappeared into the forest, and the commander of the base was nowhere to be found.

  Then the Knights noticed the army of red beings approaching them.

  "Who are they?" Sir Talmid asked.

  The first of the reds began to lob fireballs and arcs of red lightning at them.  The Knights' horses whinnied and shifted in unease, and were beginning to back away by themselves.

  Sir Hycra gulped.  "We should go." he said.

  "Agreed." Sir Talmid said.

  "Everyone, retreat!" shouted Sir Luke.  The army turned tail, and began charging back into the forest, whoever turned first went first and the horses were happy to oblige, with the red beings in pursuit.

  The Ghost Passages were as foggy as ever, but the Knights had no thoughts that they would lose the red beings in here.  They got through it running as fast as they safely could, until they'd reached the open farmlands north of Orlan.  When they were far from the passage, Sir Talmid, Sir Luke, and Sir Legoboy turned and looked back.

  The red beings now rode conjured horses - dark, Evil Horsemen they would now be known as.  In the open plain, they were easily discernable to be twenty in number.  Twenty Evil Horsemen for twenty of the Universe's finest.

  "We can defeat these guys..?" Seton asked.

  "We'd better." Sir Talmid said.  He held his Fantastic Pilum like a lance for a joust.  The Evil Horsemen were getting nearer.  With the morning sun beginning to rise over the Brownlands, the Knights began to charge, Barclay and Matthias's men behind them.

  It is here that the Knights, who did not know it at the time, had their first battle with the evil beings known as Red Mythrans.  They would meet them again, and it would not be their last encounter with beings of such evil.  They would meet more Red Mythrans, and more beings of evil who were not Red Mythrans.  Beings that, historians will argue, may be more evil than the Red Mythrans.

  But that is for another story...

End