The Knight of Arcalund Book 04

Rolling around in a dazed stupor, Sir Carnos was still affected from the force of the blow. The impact would have stopped a lesser man's heart instantly, but as you may have noticed by now, the Knight of Arcalund is no lesser man. Staggering to his feet, Sir Carnos charged back into the battle, clutching his sword in both hands and meeting the Golem measure for measure in a furious bout of combat.

Another blow from the Golem sent Sir Carnos staggering, and a second knocked him flat on his back. Dazed and bleary-eyed, our hero looked up as the Golem raised a large iron boot above his prone body. Sir Carnos raised his handover his face as if that would prevent his imminent smushing. Closing his eyes, assured that death would follow, he suddenly felt a strange weight on his arm.

Hearing a swift grinding of gears, followed by a loud, reverberating CLANG and feeling a shocking impact, Sir Carnos opened his eyes to see that he was indeed not flattened at all, but behind the safety of his trusty, ever-returning shield.

"About time you showed up!" The Knight exclaimed, rolling to a defensive stance and blocking vicious blow after vicious blow with his newly retrieved shield. The force of impact still sent the Knight reeling a few steps, such was the might of the Golem.

Smokesnort was admiring the battle from above, when from the corner of his eye he saw a large brown owl flying towards the battle. What caught the Dragon Whelpling's attention wasn't so much the common owl, but the fact that it was wearing a pair of extremely large, clunky looking round glasses.

"I hate Wizards." The Gold Dragon sighed.

The owl fluttered to the ground, and upon landing, in a poof of smoke became a plain and skinny girl behind a large bulky robe. "Sir Carnos!" She yelled out. "The heel! Attack the heel!"

Looking down at the Golem's heels, Sir Carnos noted, between dodges and weaves, that the Golem's impregnable armor gave way at the heels, displaying a good four inch or so of exposed armor which was filled with delicate looking gears and mechanics. Nodding to the Wizard, Sir Carnos deftly weaved his way close, avoiding frightening blows from the enraged Golem, the wind of which was enough to sting. Finally in range, Sir Carnos delivered an accurate, swift blow to the vulnerable heel of the Golem, sending sparks and gears spraying everywhere.

The Golem immediately reacted, staggering on one knee, smoke billowing forth, thick and black from the two pipes protruding from the construct's shoulders. A wild swat from the Golem caught the Knight on the back, sending him to the floor, a trickle of blood streaking from his mouth. Pulling himself to his feet, Sir Carnos raised his sword high above his head and brought it crashing down into the exposed gears in the Golem's heel. More ash and smoke shot into the air and sparks rained down on our brave Hero, who immediately fell to one knee as the exhaustion from the battle overtook him. The Golem staggered back, hissing and fizzing as oils and gears leaked from him like blood, soaking into the ground. A high pitched whistle, like a tea kettle was heard as plumes of smog pillared into the sky.

"It's going to blow up!" Lindi yelled. "Sir Carnos, get away from it!"

The Knight began to limp away from the thing as Smokesnort flew towards his friend, helping to carry him away from the battlefield and towards the Wizard Lindi. Breathing heavily, Sir Carnos wiped the blood from his mouth. "See? No problem."

The Golem suddenly and fantastically exploded, sending gears and parts flying high into the sky like shrapnel, the force and loudness of the blast able to be heard for miles around. A light rain of bits and pieces clattered down on the ruined village of Bargagle, with large chunks of metal being launched into the sky and hurling in all directions, undoubtedly ruining the afternoon of some poor unfortunate unlucky enough to be outside during the debris' landing.

Gracelynn and the remaining villagers stormed forth and surrounded our hero with cheers and hails for his bravery in battle. The Knight and the Cleric met lips in a dramatic, awe-inspiring kiss that had the crowd erupt in applause and cheers while Smokesnort and Lindi watched, unmolested by the attentions.

"He'd so be dead if I didn't show up..." Lindi said as she watched the celebration. "These people aren't going to even notice us, are they?"

"Yea, get used to that." Smokesnort shrugged.

____________________________

A Victorious Sir Carnos rode confidently towards the Magical Academy of Trilane, the smile unable to be removed from his face.

"The Orb of Orgov is still out there, Sir Carnos. You may have won the day, but the Orb must be destroyed, lest the events of today repeat themselves across the globe. Please aid us in our quest to destroy this dreaded artifact." Lindi said as the gate guard slowly began to open the massive Academy gates.

"The Orb of Orgov?" Sir Carnos laughed. "You've got the wrong guy, sweetheart. Haven't you heard? Once Archmage Hazmon puts in a word with the powerful and influential Lord Felton, I'm going to be a Noble. This adventuring stuff is for suckers. I'll be living it up in my palace while other adventurers go out and risk life and limb on the field. As for the Orb of Orgov, you Wizards can figure that one out for yourself." He gave Lindi a confident wink and patted her on the shoulder.

"Did you say Lord Felton?" The gate guard said, finally opening the regal gates to the academy.

"Yup!" Sir Carnos said gleefully. "The Lord Felton."

"You mean the dead Lord Felton."

"What?" Sir Carnos immediately spat out, his face turning from smug to deadly serious in the half-blink of an eye.

The gate guard scratched his head. "Strangest thing. Just got word of it an hour or so ago. He was taking a carriage ride on his palace grounds this afternoon when a huge chunk of metal fell from the sky and neatly sliced him in half. No one has the slightest idea where it came from. I'm afraid he won't be helping anybody do much of anything, Sir Carnos."

The young Knight stared blankly at the floor for a long and depressing moment, blinking a few times before turning to Lindi the Wizardess. "So...you guys need help in the quest to destroy the Orb of Orgov, huh? Well, when do we start?"