Angelic Devotion Ch1

[CATS]

"Nope, you didn't miss it, you were right there when the place blew up. You were just lucky enough to stay passed out while me and Lat did all the legwork. Fort was hit by Granford spies, or something, then some actual soldiers barged in to do the clean-up. You're welcome for the part where I saved your life, by the way. Laterite decided to ditch us in favor of this little one, or maybe just in favor of his own life in general," Ivan said to Andra, indicating Kieru as he finished speaking.

Before the deep philosophical questions of who ditched who, where to go now, and what the fuck happened could be discussed any further, some guy approached the group. He looked like a samurai, like an Izu, and.....sure enough, same Izu from earlier. There was his round of bad luck. Ivan fought back the urge to facepalm. Fucking foreigners, why were they always following him around? Where did this guy even come from? He hadn't been back at the barn, or at least, Ivan was pretty sure he hadn't been. Oh well, considering how colorfully logic-defying the day had been so far, why the hell not have a samurai come barging in out of nowhere?

"Ok, how many here are dead and how many are alive? Ah, I'm glad to see the child is alive. But who are you all? We need to introduce ourselves and find another fort to head to. We need to warn one of the generals of Granford spies and what happened to the fort," the Izu said.

"Who's alive? Just us and you, I think. I'm Ivan, nice to meet you, mind if I just call you pedo-man? Don't think I've forgotten what you tried to pull with the girl earlier today. I'll work with you cause it increases my chances of staying alive, but only on the condition that you stay the hell away from her in the meantime. As for warning the generals, sure, that's a great idea. Let's get on that after we address the more immediate problems of where we're going to sleep tonight, how we're going to avoid the Granfs, and what we're going to eat in the next 24 hours. Any ideas, folks?" Ivan said.

Edited October 1, 2010 by CATS

[Darros]

A man ran out from the burning fort. His face was blackened, and he had a burn mark on his arm.

He saw people. "Someone's alive?" he asked. "Wait. This is more than 1 someone."

He seemed clueless, and tired. The fire had him dazed.

"Someone tell me whats going on..." he said, then fainted.

[Script]

Burn, burn, burn! Bored. Huber had gathered enough glorious data on how the rotten wood of the far-flung failures burned. So now he would have to test some other things.

Picking himself up off the ground he was enjoying the spectacle from, Hubert began to slowly walk away, with occasional glances back at the burning fort to satisfy his urges. Ah, it was a great day to be alive.

[Psych]

Earlier~

Naomi was angry. Someone had gotten to him before her. She looked around the room, hoping for some sort of clue. Before noticing Beatrice jump out the window, she grabbed what seemed like some important papers off Selvano's desk and jumped out after her. "Be more careful next time."

As she watched the fort burn, she ran off into the woods. Now that he was gone along with any evidence, she had no more need for this place. And that mercenary was useless to her as well. She walked through the woods, listening to the sound of the flames and smelling the smoke rising in the air. She continued down the path for several hours.

Current time~

Standing in the small woods, she noticed the sun beginning to rise. She was exhausted, but needed to find a town anyway, at least to send off a letter to her assistant back at base camp. Naomi kept walking, hoping to be there soon. She headed off towards the east, hoping to find something before noon.

[CT075]

"Wait, could someone PLEASE tell me what's going on here?"

Bullet was irritated to find out that, while he and the samurai were off finishing a battle pretty much by their lonesome, the fort had blown up and STILL no one had offered an explanation.

"First things first: What happened at that fort? And who exactly is here?"

[rn7]

The burning barn a distance away from the fort had finally burnt completely down, the only thing that remained was a pile of ashes, a smaller reminder of what just happened there. The smoke had cleared as well, but its plumes had already left a significant beacon of which people would no doubt flock to. Beatrice figured she needed to hide, at least before reinforcements came. She quickly washed her hands, since Arias was complaining about the smell, then ran on over to the granary nearby. Not the best of hiding spots, but she figured that would help her out-- logically, you would try to get yourself lost in the forest. The enemy no doubt would anticipate this, and do something nice like burn the entire thing down.

The others, being those people riding the dragon and horse, had long gone, and Beatrice had figured they were far, far away by now, possibly even at the other end of the forest. What a mess this was. Crestia clearly had no semblance of a chain of command. Amusingly, since she had official papers and all, she was technically the highest rank among the people here, outranking any sellswords.

Sure enough, a contingent of red armored soldiers began walking toward the burnt up barn. Beatrice peered quietly through the slitted windows of the granary. The sounds of her hurried, nervous breathing were intercut with the sounds of the windmill churning around. The soldiers dug through the remains, stabbing ruthless into the piles of ashes, making sure no one was playing dead. Eventually, they decided whoever trashed the barn had already escaped, and the army went through the forest to investigate. Beatrice sighed a breath of relief, kicking off her shoes and put her head down on a sack of grain.

"Well, this bites! Are we seriously the only people who weren't killed or chained up? Ah, ferget it. I'm damn tired. 'cuse me, I'm taking myself a little nap." Beatrice laid her sword down next to her and dozed off for a bit. For once, it was completely quiet, aside from the windmill outside, continually turning.

Beatrice's nap was interrupted, quite abruptly, by a loud knock on the granary doors. A quick, fierce pounding, the kind of knock you would here before the door would be busted down. Beatrice swiftly picked up her sword, and told Arias to watch her back as she went to open up the door. The knocks were getting more frequent, as if the person outside was getting more and more impatient. Beatrice didn't wait another second. She flung open the door, and charged the person at the door, holding him at swordpoint.

"Try to catch me, willya? Y'all gonna die here!" Beatrice screamed out, before realizing she was surrounded by all sides by soldiers. "Um... uh... heh, just kidding?"

The soldiers drew their weapons, all pointed at Beatrice on the ground. Beatrice in turn was pointing her sword at the door knocker. But to her surprise, instead of filling her with holes, the soldiers backed off once Beatrice did. They weren't enemy soldiers.

"Well, I'll be, some of you saps made it out alive after all!" Beatrice counted five people. Some were missing legs, arms, or eyes, but for the most part were okay. Beatrice grinned at the situation, grabbing her papers from out of her pants, and waving it in front of the soldiers. "Recruit first class Beatrice, here! I outrank you, so you will call me sir and/or ma'am, and like it! Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir and/or ma'am!" The crowd replied. With what the soldiers had been through, they were willing to accept anything.

"Well, good on ya. First things first, get us some firewood. Don't want to freeze our behinds here. Also, someone give me a foot massage, my dang legs hurt from falling so much."

Seven people. Good number. Beatrice briefly wondered if it was enough to retake the fort. Promotions, promotions in order. Beatrice rubbed her hands in glee.

Beatrice addressed the merc (Bullet) in front of her, asking what it was that was going on.

"Well okay, but I better get a foot rub for this. So, here's how it goes. A wolf pack was spotted in some nowhere town. People panic and the commander sends half our troops over there. Now I dunno what happened..."

Another soldier butted in, explaining the situation at the town to Beatrice. Beatrice continued, with the new information.

"Right, so it looks like red bandanna bandits started killing off the soldiers. Screaming 'heresy' or something. Any way, some army dressed in red armor decides its a good time to attack the fort. They bombard it with meteors, catapults, you name it. Only a few got out. Only the seven of us. Arias, the mage here. You, some merc guy. Me, RFC Beatrice, the one and only. And four others, who are looking for firewood now. So how about a footrub?"

Edited October 1, 2010 by rn7

[CT075]

We're the only survivors?

The words echoed in his head. He felt dizzy, and also a little uneasy with his current company. He leaned against the wall, wishing he had a sword. And then he remembered another thing.

"I'm not giving you a footrub."

[rn7]

"Well, there are a few more, but we're scattered all over the damn place. Some samurai monkey, Kieru the healer chick, some fancy gentleman sap named Laterite, some smug guy named Ivan, and a dragon rider named Andra. They're spit all the way over the forest, and probably further than that, so I ain't going nuts about findin' them. They looked fine by themselves any way." Beatrice picked up a loaf of bread of dubious quality hanging about in the granary, biting into it.

The four other soldiers came back with firewood and dead squirrels. They tossed all the wood into a pile and it was set alight, and the group had squirrel kabobs for dinner.

"So, now that we're here, how bout you boys introduce yourselves?"

[CT075]

"I'm Bullet. I'm a mercenary hired to protect the fort." Bullet wasn't quite ready to reveal himself to this woman, who looked strangely familiar. He glanced at the ruins. "Of course, I didn't exactly earn my paycheck." No one laughed. Bullet stayed around to hear the other introductions, before standing.

"Well, I'll wish you luck. I'm going to go track down the others. See ya." He grabbed a piece of bread before walking out. He also made it a point to swipe one of the soldier's weapons.

[Darros]

"Im Arc." said Arc. "Born and raised in Granford m'self. I feel kind of upset. One of my best friends was skilled in the ballistae. Its saddening fighting people you know. Which is weird, I don't even like fighting. I fainted as I left the still-burning fort. But about my past, I left Granford. The attack wasn't spontaneus. It's part of a bigger plan. Granford is going corrupt. I came here to defend my country. Betray them, because I know they were wrong. Do them wrong to do them right. Understand?"

Arc sighed as he earned a dirty look or two. "Look." he said. "If I didn't care about Crestia, would I come here in the first place?"

[Purg]

"The Crestian Army will certainly be warned, of course. But we're quite a distance from another fort, and painfully close to enemies. With that in mind, we can't stop yet, at least not until past nightfall. But I don't think it'd be a good idea for Rakka to fly - much to easy to spot at a distance over the plains. I hope that won't be a problem, Andra." He paused, standing, realizing how sore he was from the rushed events of the day thus far. It would likely be awhile before he could relax, but that wasn't what he was worried about - he had to consider how to phrase this. "Ivan, I didn't abandon you - you seem to have forgotten how quickly I can gather information." That was the first hurdle - he had to consider how we would say that, because he certainly couldn't tell everyone he was a spy. "I know what you're capable of, perhaps as well as you do. You likely could have taken those five knights, after a bit of thought - the reason I was planning on leaving was simply because I knew I wouldn't have been able to help, would have just been another target for them, another person for you to defend. You already had enough of those, thank you Andra for waking up finally."

The man, concerned about Kieru... He was almost certainly an Izu. From what Ivan said, he was the one who caused the commotion earlier today, and Izu were notorious for how they treated their women. Laterite also didn't like the tacky fox mask he wore. It seemed unfitting for a man who would find his way on the battlefield to wear a child's plaything, and appalling that a man who had attempted to assault a small girl would wear one as well. He'd have to be careful to keep an eye on him - he certainly wouldn't be turning his back on him for now.

"... We have to keep going. We only have two steeds, and five people. And I think only two can ride on Rakka, while Kieru and I will probably be the only two to fit on my horse. That leaves you, Izu, on foot, if you want to come along."

Turning away from the stranger, he looked at Ivan, Andra, and, finally, Kieru. "You're a healer for the Crestian Army," he said calmly. "We can take you to another fort, if you'd like, and you can serve there, or we can take you anywhere else you'd like to go. I think our contract with the general has been severed with his likely death or imprisonment, so we're free men once more, gentlemen," he said, turning towards his companions, "and I'm not certain I'd like to join up with the soldiers again if this is going to be a common event."

"Any ideas?"

Edited October 1, 2010 by Purg

[CT075]

Bullet ran as fast through the forest as he could, following the trail of snapped twigs and crushed leaves that indicated people passing through. He had to catch up to those mercenaries! Maybe one of them new something. He doubled over and ran even faster.

[Dark Sage]

"I don't mind going on foot if you wish," Shizunai said bowing. "I'm just thankful at least some of us have survived.

Now what is the best fort in the area? I'm new around these parts and I don't know exactly where every other place is."

[Kanami]

Kieru thought the question over, where did she want to go?

Back to the church? It'd probably be abandoned.

To Granford? No, she didn't want to risk making these men angry, they seemed bitter enough about being kicked out of the fort.

Fort Talgusta?.... Well that was a stupid option.

She suddenly recalled before arriving that she was to head to Rison if anything were to happen here. Risons army wasn't much better equipped then the ones in Talgusta but they were lead by a competent man who'd repelled several attacks from Ariost this past month.

Alternatively they could remain in Talgusta, Fort Gorbac and Hesval were probably still standing, but the establishments were said to be worse then the main fort (Talgusta), and the soldiers were said to be more rowdy and untrustworthy there too.

There was also the option of returning to Crestia, Crestia was were the main army was stationed, and if any army in Crestia had the power to reclaim Talgusta it'd be the imperial army. If she were to follow her duty and report the events to authorities, it'd be better for her to go directly to Crestia Castle opposed to having a message relayed from Rison.

Frowning she cocked her head to one side, uncertain why she was being asked where she wanted to go. She couldn't understand why these men were even still around. Shouldn't they run off and find another employer, not waste time here asking her such difficult questions? Deciding she wouldn't be able to take responsibility if anything went wrong she opened her mouth to complain when a man (Bullet) came crashing into view. "Not again" she whined as she saw everyone around her tense up.

[rn7]

Bullet had left. Six were left. Arias the mage. Beatrice the swordsman. Arc the soldier. The other three introduced themselves.

The burly, axe-wielding monstrosity was named Grub. He had arms the size of tree trunks and veins that snaked alongside his skin, like a vast, intricate web. His fists seemed to be carved directly out of stone-- rough-looking, chiseled, and most of all, intimidating. He had a chin that protruded quite a bit, and a short, shaved head. Bushy eyebrows hid his eyes well, which were beady and glistening, like that of a teddy bear's. It was to no one's surprise that someone like him made it through.

On the other end of the spectrum was Slim. A lanky, skinny sort, the type you would beat up on your way to class. The lance he held was the perfect complement to his stature. He was significantly tall with long limbs, however, making his armor look completely odd. If someone took some old plumbing pipes and shined them up, it would be a pretty close representation of Slim's armor. Looking at Slim's arm, and then his lance, Beatrice could easily tell that the guy had insane range with his weapons. On a good day, he might even be able to contest bow users at their optimal distance. That is, if he still had his sword sidearm. Damn thing kept getting swiped.

Last guy was named Snare. A typical farmboy turned soldier. He had a nice boonie hat covering his noggin, a stick of wheat always hanging out of his hat, and the typical farmer getup. Being raised on the countryside taught him a few things about surviving in the wild, a skill that helped him versus the enemy. He had set up traps of all kinds-- pitfalls, rockfalls, fireballs, bear traps, and flying giant serrated discs (how he found the last one was really interesting), hence the name "Snare". He also had his hands on a bow. Sometimes he would attach ropes to the arrows and shoot those, either to help him climb into a better spot or to help set up traps. Though he wasn't exactly the most educated of the bunch, he was definitely the most cunning and intelligent.

Well, for a ragtag army, Beatrice could do worse. She grinned in glee about how she was going to exploit these oh so friendly soldiers to help her achieve her goals of world domination, or at the very least, reconquer the ruined Talgusta Fort. Now that the Fort was wrecked for the most part, the red army would have already moved on, likely leaving only a small amount of soldiers still left there. Beatrice would take them out, plant the Crestia flag there, and it would be a victory for the nation. Talgusta was probably the most stocked fort in terms of tarps. She'd set up a new camp here, with the tarp surplus. She didn't really know why the fort was so overstocked with tarps. Maybe it was the general's hobby.

"I totally get what you're sayin', Arc. And I say, we take the fight to 'em! Come next mornin', we're taking that fort back! Ha ha ha ha! Bwahahahaha! Oh ho ho ho!" Beatrice laughed maniacally then promptly fell asleep, as such things go hand in hand.

[CT075]

"Hey. Don't shoot."

Bullet raised his hands to show that he was unarmed. These guys looked like they were pretty tense, and the last thing he needed was five mercenaries on him at once. "I heard you guys were off to go do something about that," he said, pointing towards the still smoking fort, "Mind if I tag along?"

[Purg]

Laterite shook his head, his hand still at his side, gripping he hilt of his saber. He understood that there was power in numbers, but he was getting tired of trying to explain everything when someone crashed through the brush - they had to leave, and soon. "We're not going to deal with the fort," he said flatly. "We're going to deal with the fact that we're unemployed and unpaid, and that this healer needs to find somewhere to go. I suppose we can leave before you decide exactly, Kieru - take your time to think about it. For now, we'll get going, I think - because anywhere is better than here." He climbed back up onto the horse, offering his hand out to Kieru to help her up. "There's nowhere to go in Talgusta, I think - much too close to the border for me right now, especially if the Granfs have a way to blow up fortresses without warning. Rison and Vesarius are out for the same reason, I think - I'm not sure if anyone else agrees, but one explosion is one too many for me. So, I suggest heading to Crestia. We can take you to the Imperials, if you haven't decided on something else by then," he said, nodding to Kieru, "and we can find some work a bit more manageable than with the army - I'm sure we'll live longer if we do," he said, looking at his friends. Additionally, going to Crestia put them closer to both his home, and to Schmidt - but he didn't feel like saying that bit aloud, too many outsiders here.

"If anyone wants to go try to retake the fort, or fight the Granfs, this is the wrong group for it, unless I'm mistaken. If you're interested in saving yourself, and living to fight another day... That's what I'm trying to do. You're free to follow - that doesn't mean I trust either of you," he said, glancing quickly at the Izu and the other mercenary, "but it means I'm not turning down your company, for now. If you attempt something that makes me reconsider, then... Well, I take the survival of myself and my friends pretty seriously."

He thought about tacking on a threat about knives, but remembered he was technically supposed to be armed only with his saber, to any of the people who weren't used to traveling with him. This wasn't going to be a fun trip, if he was going to have to watch his words and actions as if through a microscope - perhaps he should have reconsidered telling them he didn't mind their company. Ah well, too late for that now.

[Dark Sage]

"Crestia...yes that is the best option. But if you may, I am innocent of all wrong doing any of you have accused me of. As an Izu, I have my honor and pride and do not appreciate any slander against my honor.

Now how about we start going to Crestia now? No sense in just standing here in the meantime."

[CT075]

Bullet sighed. "Well, that works too. The only thing I'm interested in at the moment is living long enough to get back at those religious freaks. Trust me, or don't. I don't care."

((Sorry about the half-assed post, it's a little too early in the morning for me))

Edited October 2, 2010 by Camtech075

[Script]

Hubert strutted along the... whatever it was he was following. Not really a path, more like a, slightly cleared trail? Sounded about right, not like it really mattered. If it went somewhere, good! If it went nowhere, fine. Hubert would just trust in the rhythm to get him going then. And ah, speaking of the rhythm, Hubert was just about far enough away for his victory dance.

"Oh wrecking storms of brimstone and smolder, swarm, gather and dance, burning a path of glory across the sky!" Hubert thrusted his free hand above as the flow of magic swished and flowed upwards. Into the sky a dozen fireballs arced and exploded in a mesmerizing display of competence.

"Ah, beautiful really," Hubert said as he took a seat on the dirty ground. There was a reason the ceiling of his research room was fireproof after all. Hubert stared up at the display of magnificence he had invoked, unaware that in the outside world such a display could be seen very far away.

[SuperFush]

"Yeah, you guys do tend to be worried about honour when there are more important things to think about, it's true." Andra said dryly, swinging himself into Rakka's saddle and fastening the straps as he did. While Laterite was right in that it would be easy for enemies to spot Rakka from far away once they were in the open plains, the reverse was also true for Andra. Without trees to block his line of sight, he'd be able to easily scout around and in front of the group, ensuring they didn't run into any other enemy companies. If they were behind, after all, there was no guarantee that they wouldn't be in front as well - advance guards, scouts, foragers - any of them could potentially spell disaster for the little group of refugees. He'd have to be careful, though. His spear was quite understandably lost in the confusion and, while he did still have a wide assortment of knives hidden around his person, they weren't the best of weapons to use from the saddle of a wyvern. Rakka tossed her head, clearly still agitated from the day's events and eager to be in the air again, where everything was simple.

Not yet, though. She needed to be walked a bit first, else she'd quickly become dangerously tired. Mounted on her, Andra was a force to reckon with even if bereft of his main weapon, but if she was tired, they'd both become easy pickings.

Andra nodded to the new people and gently twitched Rakka's reins. The wyvern began walking forward at a sedate pace, keeping in line with Laterite's horse.

[rn7]

Before even the sun was nipping at the escaping night sky, Beatrice and her crew made their move. It was that odd transition time between the night guard and the common day soldiers, where one would call it a night and the latter would call it a morning. Beatrice called it just about the best time to attack. Scanning the area, Beatrice found that, as she predicted, only a small force remained. Had the soldiers taken the fort in a less explosive manner, they could have used it as an outpost and resupply fort to continue their campaign. But the sudden and complete destruction implied a sense of urgency. They didn't want to stay any longer than necessary. There were six soldiers there, three on watch duty, and the others sleeping soundly. They had an air of confidence about them, as it seemed they were quite sure that all of the heretics were successfully purged in flaming meteors.

Six versus six was an even fight, but Beatrice wasn't interested in that. These soldiers were tough, even if they were outpost fodder. Beatrice was just about to formulate a plan when one of the knights suddenly turned in Beatrice's direction and began walking towards her. A sense of panic rushed through her-- had she been found out already? That was impossible! She hadn't even done anything yet, and her hiding spot was impossible to see from the fort. As the knight edged closer and closer, Beatrice's hand neared her sword, ready to strike at a moment's notice. To Beatrice's surprise, the knight simply stopped in place, barely a few feet from her. The knight grumbled something that Beatrice couldn't make heads or tails of, then started urinating on the nearby tree.

Well, shoozits, he's just taking a leak, Beatrice reassured herself in her thoughts, breathing a sigh of relief. In a way, it was kind of a good thing. While the knight was busy peeing on the tree, Beatrice snuck up behind him and drove her blade into the back of the knight, at just where the joints between the chest armor and leg armor were. It wasn't quite sporting to kill a guy when his fly was down, but Beatrice didn't really care for the formalities. The knight let out one death gurgle before succumbing to the sword wound. Quickly, Beatrice hid the body someplace safe, hoping that the others would come to investigate after hearing the death cry. Maybe they'd all take a leak, line up so Beatrice could Beat them down. It would certainly make this go a lot smoother and a lot faster.

[Fayt Zelpher]

While Beatrice was off slaying soldiers in the local lavatory, Arias was off sleeping. He was of course drained from the battles yesterday. Though certainly gifted in the magical arts, Arias was far from athletic, and was no trained fighter. Despite his magic talents and interests in furthering the body of theoretical knowledge on the subject, Arias was the sort of person who would rather get a good night's sleep than get up and do anything that remotely resembled exercise. He woke up about thirty minutes after dawn, refreshed (well, as refreshed as you could be, given the circumstances) and ready to figure out just what he was going to do.

'Hey, Beatrice, where are you?' he asked to the empty barn. There was, logically, no answer. He went outside. No one there. 'Dog gone it! Did she really try to go take that fort back all by herself... well, with just that small band of fighters of... questionable skill? Blast. And here I was looking forward to having a nice breakfast and enjoying the morning. Oh bother. Of course, I could always leave her... But that's rather ungentlemanly of me. Which I've never cared about before... But I don't want to see her dead either. Ah, decisions. Oh well, I suppose I should probably go watch her make a fool of herself, maybe bail her out. Maybe bail for home. Or to the capital. Not really sure what I'm going to do.'

Arias pondered for a bit. He did have a mission to carry out, which would entail that he'd have to be alive enough to actually complete the task. Then again, he was a bit fond of Beatrice, and wasn't particularly inclined to see her dead either. After a few seconds of pondering, he thought to himself. 'Well, I doubt they're going to be too inclined to defend a fort in ruins, and I doubt that any Crestian soldiers are going to come to our aid anytime soon. Plus, that merry band of mercenaries... Yeah, not sure if they're friend or foe, but I'm sure that they're not going to be there either. Ah well, might as well set something on fire before breakfast.'

And with that, Arias decided that he was going on a foolhardy mission to go take back Talgusta from an army which was certainly several times that of him. '1 on 20,' he thought. 'Hardly a fair fight...'

[Darros]

Arc woke up. He counted one person missing. Where the hell was Arias?

He got up and skipped food. No breakfast today.

He mounted his horse and began to search, calling out the mages name.

Edited October 3, 2010 by Spykor

[rn7]

Two more knights had wandered off into the forest, investigating what took their comrade so long. The other three sleeping knights stayed put. As soon as the two awake knights slipped into the forest, Beatrice saw her three soldiers slip into the fort and deal with the sleeping knights.

Beatrice focused on the two knights right here and now. Chances of catching them by surprise was pretty hard, so Beatrice had to mislead them and separate them somehow. A devious idea sprung up in Beatrice's head, and she began to set it into motion.

With the trap set, Beatrice sat there, up on the tree branch, waiting. Slowly, the crunch of leaves and sticks under metal feet came closer and closer, until finally, they were directly under her. She didn't hesitate for a second. She cut off the branch she was standing on, sending the branch and the heavy corpse of the previously slain knight flying down, smacking into one of the knights. The knight screamed as he was met with the cold dead face of his once comrade, and the branch and the body combined made it so that the knight was unable to move.

She only had to deal with the other knight now. While the tree branch was falling, Beatrice had quickly made her way around, to the exposed backs of the knights. Quickly, and without a sound, Beatrice delivered a sharp, piercing strike to the knight's back. The clash of metal was so loud and shrill, the spray of sparks so bright, that Beatrice could not help but blink. Before she knew it, she was scattered on the ground, and the knight was unharmed, having brought up his shield to block just in time.

This guy's got lightning reflexes! Beatrice thought. To react so quickly after such a big distraction was quite a feat. Not only that-- the knight had blocked the strike perfectly, at no damage to himself, and at the same time knocked Beatrice back. Beatrice debated whether or not she should take this guy on, then debated if she even could. Before she could clear that up though, the knight charged. An amazing feat given the armor, but it was no surprise. Knights trained in armor almost their whole life, and they wouldn't wear it if they didn't have reason for it.

The knight burst through the forest, shaving the bark off trees as his shield-lead charge rampage rushed through the area. Beatrice was constantly kept on the run, her attempts at hiding and taking cover proving futile. She tried hiding behind a tree, only to have a spear stuck through it, barely missing her gut. Quickly, she transitioned into offense, as the spear was busy being dislodged from the tree. She got behind the knight again and did a diagonally down strike, opposing the shield's motion. The strike hit true, leaving a dent in the armor of the knight. But that's all it was-- a dent. While Beatrice was still in her swinging momentum, the knight shield bashed her away, quickly drew his sidearm sword, and struck.

Yes, oh yea, baby! Beatrice celebrated at the opportunity that just plopped there at her feet. Raising her right arm up, Beatrice caught the blade with her armguard, raised it up and away, and then struck again at the dent in the armor. She then quickly turned to get away, only to get kicked in the gut.

Ugh, I don't get how this guy can be so fast... and strong. Beatrice groaned to herself while clutching her bruises. Still, she was making progress. Only a few more strikes, and the armor would cave in, leaving Beatrice the soft, squishy insides to feast upon. In a sword-vs-sword duel, Beatrice had an advantage. Only problem was the knight had more advantages. Beatrice taunted the knight with some base insults, making sure to include how she killed his friend while his wiener was still sticking out. She openly mocked the knight until the guy reached an angry fervor, charging to attack, leading with his shield again. Without the spear though, the charge wasn't nearly as effective. Beatrice scurried up a tree like a squirrel and jumped behind the knight, bashing the armor point.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the knight stopped in place. The knight stared at Beatrice for a moment, then spontaneously broke into laughter.

"Gwah ha ha ha ha! I get what you're doing now, heretic! Focusing my armor! I cannot believe I did not see it sooner! Rest assured, you will not land another strike there." The knight assumed a lower stance now, his shield shifted to the side, perfectly covering the weakened armor point. Beatrice bit her lip-- the one thing going for her was now going down the drain. The knight charged again, this time leading with the sword instead. The nature of the charge was completely different, catching her off guard, but still, she managed to avoid the strike. Or, at least, she thought.

The knight had turned his momentum just as he reached Beatrice, and using that force, he bashed away Beatrice's weapon. The sword flew away, landing behind the knight. There was no way to retrieve it with the giant metal monster in the way. Try as she might, she could never take on a fully-armored knight, with only her fists.

There ain't enough words to describe how much this bites, Beatrice thought as the knight prepared his next, and possibly final strike.