11 Chapter 11
Artoria.
As they made their way through the city, killing and slaughtering the Warlords army, Artoria was looking for the four people who served as generals. She made her army search every single house, stable, and anywhere else they might be hiding. She would not let them escape.
They would either kneel or die. For the remainder of the army, however, death was their only option.
A glint in the distance caught her eye, however, and she reacted quickly.
Drawing Excalibur, she slashed the black arrow out of the sky.
The knights around her stood in stunned silence as she leapt from her horse onto a nearby building, shouting back to her men to continue searching.
Running along the building towards the direction the arrows were coming from, she continued to block or slash the arrows out of the air. She finally saw the black clothed archer, who suddenly spun around and started running himself.
She chased him along the rooftops till he dropped down an alleyway she couldn't see. When she reached the same alleyway, she too dropped down, looking at the tracks that had been left, and figured out which way he had gone. Following the path, she was led to a small apartment in the wall of a building. She could hear rumblings and hushed hurried whispers.
"You need to pack up now, what you can't take with you by hand we will come back for!" A man said.
"I can't leave all my research here!" A second voice said in a panic.
"They will burn it all, then I won't be able to finish on time." The second voice said.
"It doesn't matter. That dragon woman is on the way here. If you don't come with me right now, I'll have no other choice than to kill you!" The first voice said as a bow being pulled back could be heard.
With this, Artoria sprinted into the room, taking in her surroundings as she leapt at the archer. The room was filled with bookshelves, papers, and diagrams strewn across the room. There was a man standing in front of a table with papers and strange glass devices scattered across the surface surrounding a large open book with a strange brand looking device laid atop it. Another man was standing at the opposite side of the room, holding a large bow halfway drawn.
Artoria cut through the bow and its string, then placed her blade at the man's neck in the span of a second.
"You are Monty, correct?" She asked the man.
He nodded almost imperceptibly, fearing he would cut his throat on her blade.
"I'm in a generous mood at the moment. Knee and serve, or die." She stated bluntly.
His face soured as he rejected her.
"Then I choose death." He stated simply.
With one smooth motion, Artoria cut his neck, and he fell to the floor dead.
She then looked over the other man who had his hands raised in surrender as well.
"And you, what is your name?" She asked.
"Gareth." He stated.
"What is all this?' She asked while pointing her sword at the mess of papers.
"Research." He answered simply.
She moved over to where he was standing, sword still pointed at him, making him move as she got closer. She started to read some of the papers that told of rune magic, an ancient and dangerous form of enchantment. She looked up at him questioningly.
"It's rune magic!" He said with a mad smile forming on his lips. She looked at him confused, so he continued.
"We have found a way to fuel runes that give certain properties, like strength and unbreaking." He said.
"How strong are these runes that you make? I've seen a couple of them on weapons a few times?" She asked curiously, wary of the mad smile that began to grow across his face farther.
"They are only as strong at the fuel we give them!" He said giddily.
She started to have a bad feeling about where this was going, so she asked her final question.
"What is this fuel?"
"Human souls!" He said as he broke out in mad laughter.
"We had a supply of soldiers and slaves we could take souls from, thanks to earl Grasso, but unfortunately he knew too much, so we killed him!" He said, still laughing hysterically.
Suddenly, she remembered the zombie like being in Earl Grasso's territory. The men and women with empty eyes roamed the streets.
Suddenly, Artoria appeared in front of the man and buried Excalibur into his chest. This action took him by surprise as when he looked down at his chest, his mad smile disappeared. She pushed him from her sword as he fell back onto the table. She then took one of the many candles from the room and set the papers on the table ablaze.
"No!" He choked out as he tried to stamp the fire out with his hands. It did nothing but spread the fire faster, igniting his robes for his efforts. Artoria left the flaming room as soon as she made sure it would all burn, listening to a dying man's screams as he burned along with his life's work.
As she rejoined her men nearing the keep, she suddenly felt an odd yet familiar energy building somewhere she could not see. Suddenly, a vortex of blinding golden light shot up from behind the keep, followed by a blazing blood red vortex that matched the first. The two eventually clashed, and everything turned to white. Artoria regained her vision as she looked at the ruin around her. Dust had been kicked up, but most of the buildings were fine. From where she stood, she could see that a portion of the keep had collapsed in on itself.
"We need to get there now!" She shouted at her men as she started to run towards where the two beams of energy originated from. She knew both of them intimately, as she had wielded both on different occasions.
As she ran, she came across soldiers from both sides, trying to get up off the ground to continue their fighting. She killed who she could as she ran, quickly darting out with her sword as she passed them. It took her some time to get to the keep, and when she finally did, there were hundreds of soldiers standing in front of the draw bridge. They were disorganized due to the blast, but that didn't stop them from putting up a fight as they tried to delay her and her troops. This didn't stop Artoria and the knights of the round table that were with her from slaughtering them all however, and with them out of the way, she finally was able to focus of the draw bridge.
"Use a grappling hook to pull down the draw bridge!" She commanded, making some soldiers hurry forward with the equipment. It took then two tries to finally get the hook to stay, but they couldn't pull the bridge down. Multiple men were tugging on the rope, but it wouldn't move.
Frustrated with their progress, Artoria ran over to help her men, and with one mighty tug, the bridge broke from the mechanisms that were locking it and fell. Artoria was the first one over the bridge and into the keep. She entered into a large room, where the ceiling had collapsed, leaving rubble all over the place.
"Is anyone there?" A voice called.
"In here!" Artoria called to her men, who were finally entering the keep. She started to shift some of the rubble, but many of the pieces were too heavy for her to lift on her own. Her knights helped her, and finally, after searching, they found two figures laying under a large stone. It was a man and a woman, with the man positioned above the woman to protect her from the rubble and debris. They were both badly injured, and it was a wonder the man still had strength to protect the woman.
"Help her!" He called out to Artoria.
His helmet had been broken, showing half of his scarred face.
"Please help her!" He begged as he lifted the woman with left arm.
Artoria nodded to one of her men as she left the room, continuing her search. She eventually found her way to the back of the keep where she found the remnant energy and magic from two beams of light she had seen earlier. The Cliffside was a mess. Rubble and debris everywhere, scattered dirt and rock thrown around. As she neared the cliff face, she saw two bodies. One dressed in black armor, impaled on a piece of jagged wood with its head missing. And the other…
"Godrick?" Artoria asked fearfully as she slowly walked towards him, dropping Excalibur as she did. As she reached him, she knelt next to him. She took in his unfortunate state. He was missing his left hand, cuts littered his body and armor, his left cheek was cut clean open, and his left eye was now milky white. The most shocking sight, however, were the swords Clarent and Caliburn. Clarent was in his stomach, blood dripping from the blade, but Caliburn was in his right hand. The blade was starting to fade from existence, disappearing starting from the tip. He was wheezing, trying to breathe as deeply as he could, but it was no use.
"Godrick?" She asked. His eyes met hers as she knelt next to him, but he was too weak to raise his head.
"Hey, it's going to be alright. I'm here now, ok?" She said in a quivering voice. He simply gave her a weak, tired smile as he looked into her eyes with his one good one. She pulled Caliburn from his hand and replaced it with her own hand. He was shaking uncontrollably as she pulled him towards her, letting him lean on her. She knew there was nothing that could be done for him now, but she still tried to make him feel better.
"If we just get the medics here, they'll be -" She was interrupted by a faint squeeze from his hand, letting her know that it was alright. He knew he wouldn't make it as well.
Tears streamed down her face as she placed her head against his, finally losing her mask of indifference. She pulled away from him to see him looking out at the ocean. The sun was setting, turning everything a shade of light blues, reds, and pinks. It was a beautiful sight to behold as the sun reflected off the water. They stayed like this for a time before his wheezing got worse, and his shaking started to stop. She knew his end was near, so she looked at him one last time.
"Godrick," She said, drawing his attention. She could see the fear in his one good eye, as she spoke to him.
"We're going to be alright. I'm going to find Mordred and bring her home." She said in a reassuring tone.
"We are going to be ok." She said one last time, as she saw some of the fear leave his eye. She reached up a wiped a stray tear that left his eye, carving its way down the dust still on his face.
His eye started to roam as if he had lost sight of her as a frown came to his lips. She knew his vision had finally given out as his body began to shut down. She pulled him to her as she continued to talk to him to let him know she didn't leave him.
"It's OK, Godrick," She whispered to him.
"I'm still right her. I won't leave you." She said as his hand tightened around hers weakly. He was still shaking as she pressed a kiss to his forehead, trying to give him some last comfort. He had stopped wheezing as his breathing slowed down. She listened to his last breaths, still speaking to him, letting him know they were going to be alright. Finally, he took his last breath, and his chest was still.
Artoria started to weep as she lowered him to the ground below her as she knelt over his body. She removed Clarent and dropped it to the ground before placing her forehead against him. Her tears streamed from her face and onto his as she continued to hold his face in her hands. The two stayed like that for a while till a hand was placed on her shoulder. She looked up to see all her knights and soldiers standing around them with somber faces. Some had tears on their cheeks, but all felt the lose they had witnessed.
"Your majesty," one of her knights said to her.
"Let us take him back to the capital and give him a proper burial." He said.
She nodded as she stood back up. Godricks blood covered her as she stood and watched a group of knights pick Godricks body up and place it on their shields.
Artoria picked Clarent and Excalibur up and watched as Caliburn finally faded completely. Her mask had returned, but tears still streamed from her eyes as she watched her knights carry Godrick from the city. They insisted that they carry him all the way to the city, a last honor to their fallen comrade. Artoria and the rest of the army rode behind them as they marched back to the capital.
They had achieved victory and had won the war. But Artoria could only think of the price that had been paid.
