Interlude - The Eastern Wall
“Princess, we have to keep running!” Eric yells. He reaches back and grabs her hand to pull her along.
Princess Sylvie lurches forward, but her breathing is ragged. “HRPH, I know, I’m running! Why aren’t more knights here yet!?” She looks over her shoulder, and men clad in the same clothing that attacked her classroom are chasing her down the hill towards the merchant district of the capital.
“The further into the capital we get, the more likely we’ll run into knights. We just have to keep moving until we find help!”
The two run down the rest of the academy’s stone path before seeing a knight at the gate marking the boundary of the campus.
Eric breaks ahead of the Princess and stops just before him. “Knight! We need your help. There’s been an attack at the academy. They’re from the Alarian Empire, and they’re trying to kidnap the Princess!”
“What!? An attack?”
“Yes, and we’re being chased by the men in tan! Look up the hill, some are coming down right now!”
The Princess reaches them, but is too out of breath to say a word.
“Right! Come with me; there are many knights stationed at the east wall, we’ll be able to protect you and sound an alarm.”
The knight rushes them through the outskirts of the merchant district towards the east wall before arriving in front of an open gate manned by a small number of knights.
The knight steps past those stationed at the gate. “Where’s Sir Beryl? I have an urgent report!”
Eric breathes a sigh of relief, then looks back at the Princess. “We made it, Princess, we’ll be safe now.”
“Safe… yea, thank you, Eric.” Princess Sylvie’s shoulders release their tension, but she looks back to the academy, like she wishes to return.
“Alfred’s strong as an ox, he’ll survive however many knights get thrown at him, Princess. And it’s safe to say you two are friends now.”
The Princess’s face is red from running, but she manages a faint smile. “You’re right, I must’ve been imagining him not liking me.”
An older knight approaches them, then bows. “Princess, I’m Sir Beryl, the eastern wall commander. I’m terribly sorry for the ordeal you’ve been through. Please come with me and bring your friend.”
Princess Sylvie gives a mechanical curtsy in response. “Sir Beryl, thank you.”
The two follow the knight, but Eric’s head swivels back and forth. “Hey, aren’t we going outside the wall? Isn’t it safer inside the wall or even up on top of it?”
“We had a training exercise today and have a significant number of knights outside the wall. If you’re being chased from inside, this will be safest.”
Eric stifles his complaints. “Oh... alright.”
Sir Beryl leads the two out through the gate to a large gathering of knights with horses and carriages.
“Wow, you weren’t kidding about a large gather- HRK!”
Eric falls face-first onto the ground. Just before his eyes go black, he sees Sir Beryl pick up the Princess and feels himself lifted into the air.
***
- Alfred -
“Hahahaha, those idiot kids, running straight for our men at the gate. Commander was right to station some guys in Sante knight gear,” the knight carrying me exclaims.
Ah damn, Eric’s probably dead. He’ll try to fight. I shouldn’t go berserk until they take me outside of the city. But if I’m held with the Princess, I can’t do too much.
Balls.
The knight takes me through the outskirts of the merchant district and out of the eastern gate. He throws me into a carriage with a tied-up Princess Sylvie and Eric before tying my hands and feet.
Eric’s alive, this is better than expected.
The carriage and surrounding knights take off onto the eastern road. Eric is out cold, and the Princess seems to be dissociating. I’m glad Eric is safe, but I can’t chimp out with them here.
I’ll need to meditate on this. I close my eyes and drift off into my own world…
“Alfred, pst, wake up,” Eric calls to me.
My eyes snap open and turn to Eric. “Yea, what’s up, fellow hostage?”
Eric’s face twitches at me. “Funny, how the hell do we get out of here?”
“I put up the fight I could inside, but they have a big guy who’s strong.”
“Right, hmm…”
He’s contemplating… nothing he says is going to be a good idea.
“I heard a story about a crazy strong old man who rescued a carriage from some bandits. Maybe he’ll come and save us!”
He looks like a little kid, hoping for Superman to come and... wait.
The crazy strong old man is right next to him, but he doesn’t want to be found out.
“Hey Eric, I’ve got an idea. Sit back a little more.”
The Princess returns to our plane of existence when I say I have an idea, and so does Eric. He obediently sits back more. I start to manipulate my magic and intertwine it with the energy in the air. I push it into the center of his brain and form a circle as Professor Linda did.
Now, sleep, Eric. I command the magic while imagining him snoring. He slumps further back into his seat and starts snoring.
“He’s asleep!? Just when we had a plan?” The Princess yells.
I manipulate more and send it to the Princess’s brain with the same command, causing her to slump over. This magic is going to come in handy.
I pull my wrists apart and snap their binding before opening spatial storage and retrieving the trusty magic-infused sword I won as a kid. I slice through the bindings on my feet and take a deep breath in before sending out my magic to scan the area.
Four knights in front on horseback, two on each side of the carriage, and one managing the carriage. One knight is directly behind us, and a second carriage full of knights is behind him. And the ride is uncomfortably fast. I guess Sante would want their Princess back.
I push my magic scanning to the limit, but there’s no one else. Oh, a deer in the forest, no, no, I should focus.
I make footholds inside the carriage and dash directly backwards. I swing my sword and decapitate the knight following us. I continue my dash backwards, slicing the neck of the knight tending to the carriage behind while decapitating every knight sitting on the right side of his carriage.
“We’re under attack! Protect the carriage from behind!”
I slice through the left side of the rear carriage, cutting the remaining knights in half midway through their chests.
“HIURK!”
“AHG!”
The six remaining knights direct their horses around the front carriage and face me, each of them drawing their swords.
The knight who carried me recognizes me immediately and charges in first. “It’s the kid! Kill him!”
He wasn’t very gentle carrying me earlier.
I leap from the rear carriage and come face to face with him so quickly it looks like I teleported. I turn my sword and swing the flat of the blade down on the top of his head.
CRUNCH
“Ahguu… ahg…”
His skull caves in as he spits blood and some brain bits out of his mouth.
The four knights who were at the front now sit between the hostages and me, while one lags behind them. I turn my body in mid-air and kick off magic footholds. I target two on the right and bisect them and their horses at the base of their necks.
The three remaining knights’ faces crumple at the sight, and one turns to escape.
I manipulate condensed magic to fly next to the fleeing knight and grab the top of his head like I'm palming a basketball. I pluck him from his horse and hurl him at the last two knights protecting the carriage.
He flies through the air, screaming like Private Wilhelm. “AAAAAHHHHH UH!”
The airborne knight knocks the other two off their horses and falls on top of one of them. I land on the ground and kick off swiftly. I stop over the stacked knights and plunge my sword through their hearts.
“HUCK!”
The last knight is on the ground, lying on his back, and crawling slowly away from me.
“No, please no. Have mercy. We’re just soldiers following orders!”
I lift one finger to my lips. “Shhh sh sh.” I walk up to him and take a knee before him. “Who gave you these orders, and do you know why they were given?”
“Oh, um, the Prince of Alaria wanted to marry Princess Sylvie, and we were in the capital for them to discuss it. But the interview went bad somehow, and the Prince was furious.”
I drop my voice lower. “So he told you to kidnap her?”
The knight’s voice gets quieter and squeakier the more he talks. “Yes, um... he’s a womanizer. And he’s the Prince, so no one can turn him down. When Princess Sylvie did, he flew into a rage, left the capital, and told us to bring her back with us, no matter what.”
“Right, right. Hey, thank you for being honest with me. I’ll put you to sleep now.”
The knight’s face lights up, realizing he won’t meet the same fate as those around him.
I manipulate my magic and the energy in the air into his brain and make him slump down on his back, out cold. He’s snoring as I plunge my blade through his skull just above the eyes.
Maybe this was the best day for them to attack the school. I couldn’t have done much without seeing that sleeping magic earlier.
I turn back to the carriage, where Eric and Princess Sylvie are both passed out.
They’ll be suspicious about just falling asleep before the fight. I’ll break up the carriage they’re in.
I open the curtain to the carriage and see the two snoozing away before placing a condensed magic barrier up and quietly snapping the posts of the carriage. I lay several pieces over top of them gently.
“Ahem – Princess! Eric! Are you two ok?!” I scramble forward, pulling the collapsed carriage pieces off of them.
“Huh, what?” Princess Sylvie looks at me with bleary eyes, not conscious enough to remember what happened.
“Hagawa…” Eric opens his eyes, then shoots up and smacks his head on a piece of the carriage, “OW!”
He really does startle awake.
“Eric, wait a second, I’ll get everything off you. Are you hurt? Princess, are you alright?”
Princess Sylvie blinks her eyes until she can see the scene around her. “The Alarian Knights took us? What happened?”
Performance time!
“Some crazy strong old guy showed up and wiped them out. It was brutal. I wouldn’t look around too much outside.” I free them from the rubble, then turn and look around. “I’ll grab a sword and cut the ropes you’re in.”
I step to the side of the carriage and grab my carrier’s sword to free them with. “Stay still, please. This sword is sharp. Eric, you too, don’t move too much.”
With her hands freed, the Princess looks beyond herself and notices my appearance. “Alfred, you’re covered in blood! Are you injured?”
“Most of it isn’t mine. I fought one of the knights while the old man cleaned up the rest.”
Eric rustles, and I look up from cutting his bindings to find stars shooting through his eyes. “So he’s real! The old man of the mountain saved us!”
Idiots.
I shake my head and finish freeing Eric. “He did. I thought you were making up a story to make us feel better, but he really came.” I smirk at my own ridiculousness, then hop out of the carriage. “Sante should’ve sent people after us, but it’s probably not safe to stay here. There could be more Alarian soldiers.”
“You’re right, and one of the Sante knights we sought help from was actually Alarian. We have to be careful,” the Princess says.
But Eric’s riding the high of being rescued. “Where’s the crazy strong old man? He can escort us back, and we’ll be fine!”
“Oh, um, he said his back started to hurt, so he went home…”
“His back? Right, the knights mentioned he walked hunched over, maybe an old battle injury...” Eric says.
“Yea that’s probably it. We could take the broken carriage back, but if there are any other Alarian knights on the way, we’ll be in trouble.”
“We can only trust ourselves,” the Princess proclaims, then turns her gaze to me, “Alfred, you said you hunt the eastern woods, could you guide us back through them?”
“Uh, right, I can, but part of the journey would be in the dark, even if we leave right now. We could camp for a night, but unless we’re further up the mountain, there’ll be predators.”
I don’t know what conclusion I expected her to reach. I was just trying to sell the crazy old man helping us thing.
The Princess hops out of the carriage and grimaces at the bloody scene before us. “So it’s dangerous no matter what we choose.”
“I can get us back tonight. I’ve spent a lot of my life in forests, so my night vision is quite good. But it’s going to be scary for you two; you won’t be able to see well, and you’ll be completely relying on me to guide you.”
I don’t want to go camping with Princess Sylvie and Eric. I can tie ropes around them and lead them through the forest like dogs.
“I trust you," Princess Sylvie says, "Eric, do you trust Alfred?”
“Huh, oh yes, I do,” he says.
“Alright, everyone, grab a sword from the ground. I’ll check the rear carriage for supplies. Eric, try to find some more rope.”
I walk to the rear carriage - it’s pure carnage, and it smells. I know I did this, but damn.
I grab the knights' bags and combine anything useful into one, then take some bread and experimental paddlehorn jerky out of storage and stuff them in the bag. With those, I return to the front carriage, where Eric has two lengths of rope and Princess Sylvie holds a sword ready to fight the ghosts of the dead knights.
“I got some blankets and food. If you’re hungry, take some now; we’ll be walking for a while.”
I pass the bag around, and everyone grabs a handful.
“What are we doing with the rope?” Eric asks.
“You two might not like this, but I want you to tie them around your waists and hand me the other end once it gets dark…”
Eric looks at the rope, then up at me. “You’re going to pull us through the woods like hunting dogs?”
But Princess Sylvie grabs one of the ropes. “Calm down, it makes sense, Eric. Alfred will be able to see better than us. We’ll follow his footsteps, and the rope will make sure we don’t get separated.”
“Yea ok, that’s fine.”
“Right, let’s get going. If you need water, I can make you some, and I think Princess Sylvie can use water magic as well.”
“Yes, just ask if you get thirsty, Eric.”
The journey home. Hopefully these two aren’t problem magnets.