1 Knights Don't Cry

Ridley

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"The world we are currently living in has dangers beyond belief. Demons and humans have been at war as long as our history has been recorded. The evil Prince Vandel and his royal mother Victoria rule over the dark kingdom of the demons in the west and the Bone King sends a constant stream of monsters to our kingdom from the east. Yes, the world is dangerous, but here in Alteria we are like the sun in a blackened sky...uuugh, Ridley, can I stop reading now? This history book is making me depressed." Princess Annette sighed heavily, tossing the heavy book to the side. She flopped onto her back, staring up into the leaves of the large oak tree that stretched into the sky above us.

I shook my head quickly. "I'm sorry, Princess, but you need to keep up with your studies."

She let out a little snort, running a hand through her thick brown curls. "You're not my tutor, Ridley. You don't have to put up with this."

I bowed my head almost immediately. "But I am your knight, Princess. It's my duty to make sure no harm comes to you. It's almost haunting season when the demons act up the most. We can't risk you being alone."

Annette rolled over onto her side, staring up at me through dark lashes. "It must be hard," she said suddenly. I arched a brow, confused to what she meant. She shook her head, elaborating. "You must have heard the way people talk about you, Ridley. You've just been knighted and already people see you as the hero who will save us all."

I bowed my head again, almost a little too quickly. "Your Highness, you flatter me too much."

"It must be hard having so many expectations on you and instead of achieving them you have to guard little old me instead."

I shook my head. "Please don't worry yourself, Princess. My only duty is to serve the kingdom. As long as I can be of service to you and the royal family I will be happy."

She buried her face in her hands. "Uuuuugh, Ridley, you're too nice, you're too perfect. It's your one flaw."

"There you two are," another voice called from behind us.

We turned to see Percival making his way across the field towards us. He grinned, plopping himself down right next to the princess.

Annette smiled at him, sitting up slowly. "Sir Percival, how nice of you to join us."

Percival's gaze flickered the book that had been carelessly tossed aside. "I see a lot of studying has been going on."

I nodded, trying to not let the slight frustration of how lightly Annette took her studies show in my voice. "Well, I was to help her-"

Percival abruptly leaned forward, ruffling my hair. "You need to lighten up, Ridley. Seriously, we're not in training anymore. You don't have to be the perfect white knight every second of the day. You can relax."

I shook my head. "On the contrary. If anything, I want to make sure that I do my best so-"

I was cut off for the third time that day as Percival turned to Princess Annette. "I'm surprised your father is making you study. It's a big day for you, isn't it?"

Annette giggled. "I suppose you could say that."

Percival chuckled in return. "It's not every day your little sister gets married. Is it weird having her get hitched before you?"

The princess simply shrugged. "The prince of Bevery was smitten with her ever since he came to visit. It's a perfect match really. Bevery is a small country but it will be a good trading partner. If she was the crown princess like me, father would have never allowed it." She turned to me suddenly, batting her eyelashes. "Are you curious as to what I'll be wearing to the wedding, Ridley?"

The answer, not particularly. But of course, I obviously couldn't tell her that.

I offered her a tight smile. "I'm sure it will be perfectly lovely, Princess."

Annette suddenly tore up a handful of grass and chucked it at me, smiling playfully. "The wedding will be fun, Ridley. Maybe you'll finally loosen up a bit."

"It will be dangerous. This would be a perfect time for the demons to attack-"

Percival gave me a little shove, rolling his eyes.

"Damn Ridley, stop worrying about it. Everything will be fine."

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Princess Annette wore a dress of a deep sapphire, the thick fabric clinging tightly to her frame. I attempted to ignore the fact that Percival's gaze was currently glued to the dip in her neck line.

Percival and I stood on one side of the massive mahogany door leading into the cathedral. There were two more knights on the other side, all four of us prepared if something was to go wrong during the wedding.

The cathedral was beautifully decorated. Chains of flowers hung from the ceiling and jeweled roses had been placed in practically every corner. The nobles had already been seated, waiting for the ceremony to begin in heated anticipation. Despite all the lovely decorations around us, Percival's gaze was still intently focused on Annette's neckline.

I looked to him, my mouth drawing into a tight line. "You shouldn't stare at her like that. It's impolite."

Percival only laughed, rolling his dark eyes. "She won't notice if I'm discreet."

"Trust me, you're already far past that."

Percival sighed, his mood seeming to suddenly shift. "She's really beautiful, isn't she? You're lucky."

I blinked, confused as to what he was talking about. "What do you mean?"

Percival laughed, though there was no real emotion behind it, running his hand along the stubbled line of his jaw. "You're joking, right?"

I shook my head. "No."

Percival leaned over, giving me a hearty slap on the back. "Ridley, she's totally in love with you."

I stared at him in disbelief. He must have been joking. She was the crown princess and I was her knight. She had the eyes of every man, prince to pauper, in the kingdom. There was no way she would be in love with me.

I simply smiled at Percival. "That really is funny, but we need to be alert. This isn't the time for jokes."

Percival let out a snort of laughter. "You think I'm joking? Ridley, have you seen the way she looks at you? The way she tries to get your attention whenever she's with you? Hell, she specifically requests you to accompany her almost everywhere-"

Now it was Percival's turn to be cut off as a hush fell over the Cathedral. The string quartet resting in a semi circle around the altar had began to play a sweet, soft melody. Annette sat at her father's elbow at the very front, her hands neatly folded in her lap. She quickly glanced over her shoulder as the music began, shooting me a bright smile.

Percival gave me a little nudge. "See," he hissed.

I still only shook my head. "She's just being nice."

The bride and the groom had begun to make their way down the aisle. Princess Nora, Annette's little sister, looked beautiful. Her dark hair was braided around her head with glimmering strands of pearls weaved through it. More pearls hung from her neck and dripped from her ears, a long white gown of lace trailing behind her, her veil falling almost to the floor. Beside her was her husband to be, Prince Bevery. He was significantly shorter than the young princess, bright orange hair sticking up every which way.

They approached the altar, slowly sinking to their knees to take their marriage vows.

Suddenly, my gaze was ripped away from the couple when I noticed a figure standing at the back of the church.

He wore all black and had the slender build of a spider. A large collar made of raven feathers rose up around his neck, glistening purple in the candle lit cathedral. A rich, inky black cape made of velvet cascaded off one shoulder, intricate gold lacing creeping up his collar and sleeves. His face was pale, and his cheeks were hollow, pitch black hair falling into sunken eyes. Despite this, he had some kind of sickening beauty about him.

He turned and our eyes met.

He didn't look away, continuing to hold my gaze. Then his mouth suddenly twisted into a cold smile, as if he was mocking me. Abruptly his eyes went completely black, as if his pupils had absorbed the entirety of his eyes.

And then, in that moment, with a horrible start I realized who he was.

"DEMONS," I screamed as loud as I could. "Everyone get out NOW! The demons are here!"

There was a sudden explosion of shattering glass and instantly—all chaos broke loose.

People shrieked and Princess Nora cried, hiding under the altar as the black eyed figures of demons swept into the room through the shattered stain glass windows. I grabbed for my sword, removing it in one swift motion from its sheath before lunging at the closest demon to me. Percival did the same.

Fighting demons can be quite the tricky business. They're weaker than humans but far more cunning and harder to kill. We would often have attacks from them now and again but there hadn't been one this big since when I was a child.

I hated demons.

I hated them more than anything in the world.

I lunged my sword forward, impaling the demon I was fighting directly in the heart. The demon toppled over and I instantly moved on to the next. I tried to scan through the commotion for the man I had seen—the one who could only have been Prince Vandel. Unfortunately, I couldn't seem to find him (which seemed absurd given his overtly gaudy outfit). Another demon lunged at me and I moved quickly to the side, exchanging only a few blows before running it through.

And then suddenly—everything stopped.

The demons simply froze, much to the shock to the humans fighting them. As abruptly as they had first appeared, they slipped back through the window, disappearing into the night like smoke.

I was breathing heavily as I ran a hand through my hair, pushing my bangs out of my eyes which were now damp with sweat. People began to slowly rise, the sound of one particularly loud woman's sobbing still echoing through the Cathedral.

Percival made his way over to me, patting me on the back. "Good thing you spotted them. Even more people could've been hurt if you hadn't."

"There's no need to thank me. Now come on, we should help get medical assistance to anyone that might need it."

Percival's mouth drew into a thin line. "Right, yeah..."

Suddenly there was a screech from the queen. I spun around, running as quickly as I could to reach the royal family. The queen was in tears and the king's face had turned ashen.

"The princess..." the queen shrieked. "The crown princess Annette has been kidnapped by the demons!"

A hush instantly fell over the crowd.

My heart skipped a beat. How stupid had I been? Trying to keep Annette safe was my number one responsibility and I ignored it. Why hadn't I realized that the demons were after something? It should have been obvious it was the princess.

My mouth went dry and I felt like crying, but I knew I couldn't.

Knights don't cry.

Suddenly the king approached me, resting a large hand on my shoulder. "Sir Ridley, you have only been a knight of my realm for a short time. Despite this, you have showed more promise than almost any hero I have known in my lifetime. As my knight, I beseech you...travel to the kingdom of the demons and rescue my daughter from Prince Vandel."

I sunk to one knee, bowing before my king. "Yes. I will find her and return her safely to you from that monster, Your Majesty."