Round Two

When Nuall heard the horn sound, he was not sure what to make of it. Horns were blown at the palace on occasion to announce things, but they were not usually so loud or so deep. 

He did not have long to think about it. Nuall had a very important part to play. The scroll for allegiance was brought forward. The traitorous knight had been promised a plot of land for each member of nobility that signed the scroll willingly.

With all the people he had just sweet-talked, the knight believed he might be in control of a small fiefdom all his own before the day was out. He had always wanted to be a Baron. 

Stepping toward the dais to proudly pen his name, the pompous knight was met with a cold metal against his neck and a threat in his ears. Nuall froze. 

"No one is signing that treasonous scroll!"  The voice sounded stilted and metallic, but every bit sincere.

Nuall held his hands up in surrender, concerned that reaching for his blade might end his life. But then he realized something.

The thing at his neck was not sharp. It was round and long.

"Is…is that a candlestick?" Nuall scoffed. He remembered the knight he had spoken to just a few moments before.

Behind him, Ethyn cringed. 'So much for that!'

"For Birle!" Ethyn screamed and was shocked to hear a fervent echoing of his cry from two of the soldiers on the dais.

Ethyn filed away the curiosity as Nuall rammed his head backwards into the metal helmet. The neck of the metal head-piece pressed past Ethyn's nose and into his eyes.

Tilting his head back, Ethyn sent the metal cage clattering to the ground.

The liberated knight breathed a sigh of relief. "I suppose I should say thank you."

Nuall whipped around. His expression darkened. "YOU!"

"Like you really expected anyone else…" Ethyn rolled his eyes.

Nuall drew his sword.

"This man is dangerous. Get the ladies to safety," Ethyn spoke firmly to the men around him.

He wanted to call out a warning against the soldiers on the wall as well, but then King Rhodri did the deed himself.

Chaos ensued.

"This is your fault!" Nuall swung his sword at Ethyn's skull. The redhead ducked under the swipe, barely retaining the tips of his crimson locks.

Ethyn wielded the candlestick holder to block the next pass. And it worked…briefly. The ornate metal bauble held out against the strain for a moment before cleaving in two.

'Not good!'

He backed up two steps before his foot bumped against the discarded helmet. Scooping it up, Ethyn forced it between himself and Nuall's blade. Sparks ignited where the two metal pieces collided.

With a shoulder roll, Ethyn put some distance between himself and the other knight. He was now on the edge of the nobility, trying to draw Nuall from their ranks.

'Yeah, that's the plan. I am totally not running away,' Ethyn told himself. He looked around to get his bearings and his face paled.

To his left, an archer was aiming a crossbow at the throne. An unknowing Rhodri was about to become tethered to the gilded chair. 

"No!" his voice resonated with another's in the cacophonous hall. Lifting the helmet, Ethyn threw the piece of armor as hard as he could. 

The projectile launched through the air and hit the archer as he pulled the trigger. While not enough to stop the man from firing, it did send his arrow wide to lodge in a pillar on the wall. 

Instantly, a black mass swung through the air from the rope still attached to the ceiling. Releasing his hold on the cord, Silver collided with the archer, then moved to kick Kaarel in the chest before the general could react. 

"The king!" Ethyn looked toward Rhodri. The monarch was being protected by the two ceremonial guards as they worked to retreat behind the throne through the back entrance. 

"Rhodri will be fine! Worry about your own problem! Look out!" Silver was somehow keeping an eye on every part of the hall at once.

Ducking just in time, Ethyn managed to deflect the blade with the plate of his shoulder.

"Die, you ant!"  Nuall's anger caused him to become sloppy. His hits had more force, but far less elegance, making the actions predictable. 

Granted, Ethyn was still at a disadvantage because he only had half a metal holder for a weapon. But he managed to use the angle of his armor to let the hits slide away with minimum damage to his body. 

"That one is going to bruise," Ethyn groaned as the sword clanged against the plate on his thigh. 

After years of sparring with Silver and Aiden-- and then training as a knight--Ethyn had a pretty good idea of when a hit would leave his skin black and blue. The young man would be purple tomorrow with all the abuse he was getting just now. 

Around Ethyn, things were much more dire. The Lakilian soldiers were hacking away at the nobility. Yet the men of court did not cower. Instead they fought back. The battle was entirely uneven though, and the weaponless gentry were on the losing end. 

Due to the sheer number of people the Lakylian soldiers needed to subdue, Ethyn and Nuall were left to their duel without outside interference. Why should they need to worry about an unarmed knight?

In a world all their own, the two men battled: one constantly on the attack and the other doing his best not to make a mistake. 

Ethyn thought about the last time they had fought. It, too, had been an uneven battle. At least this time the pompous man hadn't poisoned him to gain the advantage. 'Nuall only picks fights he knows he can win,' the knight mused. 

Something needed to change. 

'If he doesn't want to play fair, fine..." Ethyn's posture subtly shifted. Instead of defiance, his ear barely missed Nuall's sword as it took a dent out of Ethyn's armor. 

"You have no stamina!" Nuall heckled. "Must have used all your strength to wriggle out of the prison like the street rat you are." 

Ethyn lunged forward, avoiding Nuall's guard and coming face to face with his adversary. When he could not hit Nuall with the end of the candlestick, Ethyn smashed his forehead into Nuall's nose instead. 

The traitor pushed away, his nose shedding blood down his face.

"The thing about rats: they can still bite," Ethyn swung the stick at Nuall, but Nuall crouched.

With a sneer, the traitor aimed at Ethyn's legs with a low swipe of his sword.

Ethyn smirked. 'Good.' 

The traitor had intended to knock Ethyn off his feet. However Nuall met no resistance. The sword passed fruitlessly through the air. 

It was only then that Nuall realized his mistake. Using that momentum from the jump over the sword, the redhead thrust his armored foot into Nuall's jaw in a sickening crunch.

'Oh and rats have claws too...' 

The expression on the pompous man's face went blank as his eyes rolled back in his head. He fell into the ring of nobility, many of whom were more than happy to kick him while he was down. 

"Tie him up if you can!" Ethyn ordered.

Scooping up Nuall's sword, the redheaded hero ran to where he had last seen Silver. He stopped to scan the room.

Where was the Guardian?