Fan Fiction ❯ Roam ❯ Chivalry ( Chapter 5 )

Chivalry

Okay, so we were perplexed. Bewildered. But not frozen. And I had no intention of becoming that.

"Roam, stay down." Cap ordered.

"But Cap-

"I said stay down." He echoed, with more force.

I wouldn't listen. "But the possessed guards-

"Shut! Up, Roam!" Charles roared behind me. That's when I realized. None of us knew exactly what was going on. We had our suspicions, but only one of our three could act on them. The Captain.

Cap strode forward toward the house, completely erect. I had never seen him like this, with so much worry in his eyes. He just, seemed completely composed but almost fanatic on that small hut. His helmet was gone. It was then that I saw just how many wrinkles there were under his eyes…

Two feet from the door, the wood splintered and broke loose. The wood shards flew at us like swords. Both Charles and I ducked, but Cap stood strong. He didn't even draw his sword. I witnessed a few chunks break across his solid armor.

Dark light surged out from the open fissure. There I saw a disturbing sight. Agahnim, the castle's prophet and sage, was inside the hut, but there was something strange leaking around him. Black mist. "Oh crap."

"Mother of Hyrule…" Charles followed my sentiments.

Agahnim was not alone. Several Tridents flanked him. But there was more than that. And that fact filled my heart with fire… The maiden, the kind girl that aided us before, was in the clutches of two Swordsmen. My gauntlet shook at my hilt. I was clasped with fear of her safety. Finally, I looked to Cap for some action to emulate. There wasn't one.

The maiden was struggling with all her might against her still captors, but they didn't even flinch. Then Agahnim approached the maiden herself. The odd, jagged lines that came down from the Sage's eyes now glowed a dark blue. Keep your hands away from her. My mind was hissing threats I knew my body could not follow. The maiden's captors let go as she levitated slightly off the floor. Her dress flowed with a slow energy and her eyes became lazy. Do something!

I broke out of my trance, and, it seemed, so did Charles. We rose simultaneously, but Charles rushed forward, only glancing at the frozen Captain. Cap did move, in fact, he halted Charles. What the hell are you doing!? Inside, the maiden was now encased in a bubble of lightning. She was in no pain, but I couldn't get to her, and that was painful enough.

Then, all at once, the bubble, the lightning, and the maiden disappeared. "No!" The Tridents charged us at last. Cap jabbed one in the gut, denting the armor, then continued to fling him over his head. The other was resolutely cut in two by Charles. All the while, I heard Agahnim tell his Swordsmen, "I will have the proper surroundings in the castle for her send-off to the 'other world'." She isn't gone yet.

The Swordsmen charged. Cap's punch took the head off one and the other received an entire sword shaft spanning through his chest. Charles turned and released him onto the grass. For some reason, he continued to glower down upon the fallen armor. However, I watched as the Sage's eyes began to glow. And he was looking at Charles' back…

"Charles!" I tried to warn him. Two blinding blue beams shot from the Sage's eyes. Charles half reacted, hurling his massive shield in front of him. The beams pelted either end of the shield and Charles went flying. He hit the grass in a loud clatter of armor. He didn't move.

"You sick, sonova…" I started to pull my sword. The Sage simply outstretched his hand toward me. All of a sudden, I felt the strongest gust of Wind ever thought to be possible, and it definitely wasn't created by nature. My sword was only halfway out when both my sword and I were hurled in opposite directions. I, too, landed hard on the small hill.

You're not getting out that easy! I got up fast, although painfully. My bones ached, but that didn't stop me from retrieving my sword and dashing back to the hut.

The Captain was amazingly in my path. Pretty fast for an old guy. "Get out of here, Roam!"

"No way, I can take him." I tried to convince him, but I have long since learned that Cap is a Rock when it comes to this sort of thing. From nowhere, the Captain's shield was up, high enough to cover the lower half of his face. His legs were spread wide, and I witnessed why.

Agahnim loosed two more bolts from his eyes. They struck the Captain's shield and he held firm. The Sage continued this assault three times over, and still Cap didn't move. "You are a valiant fool. Your own will may be turned against your soul by this act." The Sage warned.

"Who are you to talk of souls?" Cap churned.

"To you, I am Lord and keeper of souls. You shall join the fray soon enough."

"Fall to hell, demon!" Cap screamed, then rushed.

"As you command." Agahnim's robes rose in a mass of torrential Wind and red light. Both arms rose with his garb and his eyes leaked black mist. The torrent compressed, then unleashed itself upon the Captain. His shield was obliterated and his sword melted shortly thereafter. The red torrent consumed Cap as I looked on, struck dumb by this prophet's power. I never heard Cap utter a sound. Perhaps he screamed through clenched teeth, but no one heard. He wouldn't want anyone to hear.

"Captain!" I leapt forward, but was instead drawn back by Charles' long arm. I smacked my back against the hill, all I could do was watch. I can't be a helpless child! Let me go, damn you!

Cap's armor grew a black ash, while his skin within it was consumed in the same red light. All at once, however, they flashed away from existence. He left nothing but a charred circle with smoke writhing off the floorboards. "Farewell, 'heroes'. I have other things to do than wallow in your shock." I heard Agahnim taunt, then he, too, was gone, this time in a turmoil of dark mist.

"No…" My eyes wouldn't leave the spot, but the rest of my body gave way. Darkness came and I fell back into it. Cap was dead. But I feared worse than that…

I'm in the forest, that much I know. But there is nothing here. I feel the Wind, but I hear nothing… And now I'm drenched. A tempest has come. The rain becomes a constant hammer in my ears. And then I am no longer alone.

Massive boar demons come in from all sides. But when they come at me, they brush past, piking their great tridents into the tree trunks themselves. I draw my sword to them, and still they do not notice me. I scream at them, but no sound comes out. Finally, I let my actions speak for my mute words. Heads roll, but the rain keeps my blade clean. It washes everything away, including the forest itself.

I stand now on a barren landscape, surrounded by smoldering trunks. And this time, there truly is…nothing…

"We have to hide. The Sage may send assassins." I heard the urgency from far away, and finally came back to the dark sky. In a way, I was glad to see that it wasn't all a dream. Don't ever ask me why.

By my lead, we took refuge in the Forgotten Woods. My final sanctuary on the edge of Hyrule…

I don't know what emotion I felt then, sitting with Charles in the forest. Anguish or guilt…anger? Anger that I couldn't stop it. That I tried and he pulled me back. That I let him pull me back. Anger that it was my fault. It was always my fault…

Charles was talking.

"I remember the Elders spoke of a land consumed in Light. A land of eternal good. The Golden Land." Charles shook his sword gently before him. "Sometimes I pray, that the knights who have passed, find their souls in that land, where they may live with peace and rest for eternity."

I remained silent, watching the leaves fall from our perch. "I also pray, that the tormented souls, either die and are purged forever, or…" he took a deep breath, "Are hurled into the depths of the Dark World, to continue searching for their life. Their-

"Destiny?"

"Many believe that a piece of one's soul is always connected to the Light. The Triforce."

"Humph, Triforce. I heard you Hylians speaking of that legend. Frankly, I don't care about any legend." I didn't want to hear it. I didn't care about any legends or great powers, or lands of Gold. I only wished to sit, and think.

My eyes flared and my arm swung up, catching Charles forcefully in the chest, driving him down onto the bark. My head, too, snapped to the side as a streak of orange and red flashed past me and struck the branch furthest to my left, engulfing it in flame almost immediately.

I risked a glance down below and two more flaming arrows imbedded our trunk. The smoke was blinding.

And for the first time I looked around myself. I looked and saw the rivers of red and orange. I saw the burning fires around me. And, I drew in that fire. That fire became my heart. I can't explain it any other way than that. All I could think of were the Woods. My sanctuary. My Home. My Home…

"Seeeeeraaaaah!" Fervor burst forth in a flood of rage, steel, and screams. I flung myself, sword first, into the Orange knight below me. From his shoulder to his waist I cut, the same black mist enveloping me. His archer was in six pieces immediately, his own aid in seven. Nothing but fire could I see. For lengths spanning, nothing but the burning sensation. This is a sanctuary, I won't let it become forgotten! I lost track then.

The colors. The dark colors. At every scream there was a flash of black and my steel. If I was injured I didn't feel it. Nothing made sense then. The atrocities I was committing I truly could not see or feel. I had no idea. I didn't know. I didn't know… I didn't know…

I felt Charles' gauntlet on my shoulder. We were on the main path; I was on my knees. And, of all things to happen…I was crying too. At that moment, I could recall every action I did. I saw how I cut his arm off. I witnessed over and over again how I split another down the middle from head to toe, how his armor fell in double-motion. How I caught that archer's arrow, and spun it into his neck…

"They were already dead." Charles brought me back to the present.

"…I don't care."

"There are more coming, Roam." What? Leave me alone. I felt arms grasp under my shoulders, clumsily bringing me to my feet. "Roam, can you stand?" Stand? Of course I can stand, you idiot, I'm not an infant.

"C'mon, Roam, get up. We have to stop Agahnim."

Agahnim? The Sage. The maiden. He took the maiden… I had to put everything back together, figure out where I was again. My burning sanctuary. Did he order this? Agahnim? Doesn't matter. I'll kill him…

The castle gate, north. Guards. Charging in from the south. "Shall we run? I'd rather kill them, but there's so little time you know?" The Blue knight smiled sadly in return…

The hoofs were a hurricane behind me, like a storm that would never stop. Relentless.

Something crushed the leaves behind me. I whirled, sword ready, only to see a possessed knight in mid-flight, a long shaft protruding from its helmet. My eyes swerved down to its assailant, the one who dropped from the trees. It was Cimon. He drew another arrow, readying his bow around it.

He turned his head momentarily to me, the movement flashing his silver hair in the still diminishing sunlight. "Go Roam, I'll hold them here." And he released the shaft.

It pelted another helmet, and another soldier fell. My feet were like stone. Cimon slowly drew a third arrow, one with a ruby tip, and placed it with his bow. "Archer to archer," he began, turning to me again, "You were the best of us."

Cimon whirled and let the arrow fly. It sailed through the red eye of the leading knight, in a burst of mist, and continued on into his partner, knocking its armored head clean off. Black, choking mist flooded their vision.

"I was." And I fought to keep up with Charles. I don't know what made me say it, I just did. To this day I can't explain.

We emerged from the burning Wood. I took one last glance at the only sanctuary I had left, and the flame inside me was lit again.

Charles had stopped strangely at the main steps. I came up behind him and saw what he saw. Only one solitary figure stood in our way to the Sage. A massive, Black and Red knight. I recognized the armor, and I knew Charles did.

That knight was the Captain.

"Cap?" the behemoth didn't move. Like a rock. Yep, that's Cap.

Charles was having a tough time beside me. True, he had been with Cap twice as long as I had. I could hear him cursing himself under his breath. "No." he whispered, "I don't care. I won't care."

I did notice some differences, however. Agahnim had not only changed his spirit, but had given a bigger shield, as well as a massive spiked ball, complete with at least a seven-foot chain to hurl it with.

Charles readied his shield in front of him, stretching his broad sword out behind him, prepping to swing. After a long sigh, then another longer intake of breath, Charles let out his war cry. Swiftly charging forward, he looked almost at peace, certain of his agenda, and accepting of his possible fate versus this massive enemy.

Shield clanged against flail, and broad sword followed through, attempting to sever the powerful chain from its spiked death ball. The chain held firm, and the huge Knight swung his shield into the warrior, hurling Charles into the rickety steps.

I woke up at that moment. The Knight was convinced he would be fighting Charles, and I would watch. Instead my crossbow was armed, and I took considerable aim for the chest. Unexpectedly, the Knight whirled on me, and he lifted his shield in defense, the arrow smacking into its top corner. The Knight's attention now fully on me, I yelled to Charles, "Move! Find the Sage!"

"You're no swordsman!" even as he said this, he was bolting up the steps to the castle doors and I had drawn my sword.

"You have no idea." I whispered.

The Knight simply stood there, high and mighty. His flail hung ominously from the chain at his side. He began to rock it back and forth, diligently raising my fear of what is to come. I glared into his eyes. No, he doesn't have eyes anymore. He's different now. Everything's changed. Everything always…has changed.

Phooom! I pivoted back from the flail's end. Damn it, this whole thinking thing's gonna' get me killed! I skipped to the right to avoid another crunching end. Instinctively, my sword came up to connect with the flail's end. Common sense swung it back again, the imbedding ball once again shook the earth. There is no Wind here. Why did I just now notice that?

I tore straight at him, at this possessed hunk of armor. That's all he was now. The spiked ball rocketed into my Sight, but invisible wings carried me up and the tile below me exploded. I landed and ducked under the rapping shield, targeting his lower back. I'd end this quick. The blade was thrown forward with all my might…

CLANG!! My entire body shook, my sword twice as convulsive. Ow. The knight wasn't going to flinch, but react! "Oh, crap!" I ducked again his shield's back-hand, then remembered the flail, racing as far away as fast as possible. Apparently not fast enough, as it landed just behind my heels, the cracking tile causing me to trip. I skidded on my shoulder armor for a few feet.

Gotta' sever that chain. My longsword was again hiked at my side. This battle was worthy. My sword now rested in my left gauntlet, the honorable thrust sword in my right, pointing down. My instincts now ruled action. I circled the massive knight, trying to confuse him, but he rounded on me, ball flying. It didn't matter, I knew what had to be done…

The flail swung around me, my indestructible thrust sword catching the base of the spiked ball. "Herraah!" with the strength forged of fear and purpose, my longsword flew up and came shining down through the chain laid before me. It cut clean through, and continued into the tiles of the castle's way.

In this moment of stalemate, I hesitated. Did I win? I felt a colossal blow to my shoulder, flinging me into a statue. Nope. He does pack one hell of a punch, he's the freakin' captain of the guard. I was disabled momentarily, but I saw him yank my sword from the ground and begin to stride toward me.

I took a moment to swerve around to the pathway. The tree branches reached their ashen arms to the heavens. And Cimon was nowhere to be seen.

My eyes turned to see the massive captain standing over me. He had forgotten the fire that burned once again. The arrow was already loaded.

Crossbow up, I let the arrow fly on its own. The captain attempted to dodge out of the way, but the spike still punched into the shoulder. An odd roar of pain filled the air, masking the clatter of my sword on the stone. The knight staggered back, his small wound leaking black gas. He pressed a gauntlet to it, then held it out before him. The gas would not stop.

Now, only the nearly-silent sound of scraping metal on stone filled this air. My sword was my own. The knight looked at me, but his eyes were arched down, saddened. And for a moment, I pitied the soul confined within that bulk of armor.

"Sorry Cap." I charged. The knight tried one last punch, but I ducked and sliced back up, severing the gauntlet. I stood back for a split-second, then thrust my sword into the chest.

The numerous cracks in the old armor became apparent as Black mist leaked from them. I imagined in my mind the face of Cap, emerging from the dregs of his prison, thanking me for his soul's release. But the moment never came, as the weight of the armor bogged down upon my sword. I was finally forced to withdraw it.

The dark cloud settled before me, and then…the Wind pierced it and forced it away from the land of Hyrule…