Chapter Twenty Three - Thunder

A Knight Captain rode chivalrously ahead of his band of twenty troops. The Elites. They made their way down the cobbled road, feeling very much full of themselves.

He was irritated. The night before he was woken by the Head of the City Guard, Ser Wallace, and was told he had to get his men ready to hunt a boy. A boy... With no hand at that. He could have been doing anything else besides riding to who knows where at full gallop in heavy steel armor.

But duty was duty... And his men followed with no complaint. They had no trail really, only a general direction. Worse yet there was no passerby to interrogate along the way, as such they had to keep on, if only to say that they tried...

Mid morning they spotted something in the distance, moving fast... A person? He slowed the cavalry to a trot and had two men ready their spears just in case. Better safe than sorry, not that bandits would even dare to fight. But monsters would...

A minute passed and the person perhaps half a mile in the distance closed in rapidly. It was a short man by the looks of him. The knight Captain lifted the visor on his helmet to get a better look and spotted a ragged young lad dashing towards his group with wild abandon. He was moving at incredible speeds.

He then spotted something that made him yell out, "ready!" To his men... The boy had no hand! What luck! The stupid kid had clearly given up and was coming to turn himself in. A wise decision.

It wasn't until the peasant child was within a couple hundred feet that the sheer speed he was moving was far too fast for a grown man, let alone a child, and the look on his face was that of anger and rage, not the face of someone who was going to turn himself in.

He lowered his visor with a grunt...

The knight Captain looked over his shoulder at the Knights who had drawn their spears or swords, and called on a single one with a bow, who had no helmet and long flowing black hair.

"Reginald, Fire at his leg" The captain said, and no sooner had he stopped speaking than the skilled archer notched an arrow and drew his short bow, aiming true for the sprinting boy's legs.

He was a good shot, by far the best archer of GreyStone par some of the Warriors at the adventurer's guild. He released the arrow with a 'whoosh' and watched it hurtle towards the kid's left calf.

Right before hitting the boy seemed to noticed and jumped to the side, narrowly dodging. This pissed off the captain who scolded Reginald and mumbled something about doing it himself. "Encircle" he said loudly and the horses moved in unison, working their way around the boy as to flank him and surround him.

As soon as they started moving though the boy took off into the woods, disappearing into the underbrush. "Chase!" The captain said, feeling annoyed. The woods were a good place to hide from cavalry but both the horses and his men were trained for such things and they made chase.

However fast the boy was he was no match for a Knight's horse, even in the woods, and a couple minutes later they had nearly caught up.

Things started to turn sour then... The boy stopped abruptly and turned towards a Junior Knight to his left, a fresh recruit who had been a Knight for only two years, but was by no means unskilled. He dashed towards him and the Junior Knight flashed his steel and swung skillfully towards the kid, who narrowly dodged it and instead grabbed the knight by his leg and pulled him hard off of the horse.

The armored Knight fell on the ground with a heavy thump and in seconds the boy had kicked him hard and sprinted off again. But the other knights were already surrounding him, a tight circle of armor and spear, of pounding hooves and disdainful looks from visor slits.

The Captain smiled, they had him. So might as well let the brat taste some justice. "Ser Harold," he called to the Junior Knight who was standing up to get back on his horse,

"Toss a blade to the boy, and fight him. Regain your honor as a Knight... You wouldn't want to be known as Ser Harold bested by young lad would you?"

The other knights chuckled but knew better than to break their composure. Ser Harold was pissed at the boy, The Captain knew that. It would be a good experience for him to get some of his pride back and to let his men have a good show after their long trek to catch the young boy...

The one handed kid was desperately looking for a way out, a gap in their formation. They weren't foolish enough to have one. Instead he seemed to give up and turned his attention to the approaching Knight who tossed a sword at his feet, saying, "pick it up"...

He did. Who wouldn't though? It was clear he had never held a blade before and wielded it awkwardly. Ser Harold on the other hand drew his personal sword with a grace that only comes from noble swordplay.

He approached calmly, like a man who had no reason to fear anything, and waited, like a gentleman, for the young boy to attack first.

He did...

With a quick dash the boy was in Harold's face in seconds and swung for his head. No mercy. This surprised the Captain and he admired the tenacity and fighting spirit of the kid. He may have been a peasant but he would have made a good knight, if it weren't for his missing hand and the assuredness he would probably be tortured and killed for escaping the guard.

Harold deflected easily, and drove the hilt of his sword into the boy's chest, knocking him backwards. It didn't stop the lad's charge though as he made another wide swing. An immature attack, that again was deflected. This time Harold cut the boy's leg a little, just a small wound that left a small trickle of blood.

"Yield" Ser Harold said to him, looking down at the dark haired lad. He would have killed him if it weren't for the Captain and his Pride as a Knight on the line. He had to show mercy to the weak, but the boy didn't want to take it it seemed... Instead he let out a yell and threw the sword hard. All the knights looked in shock as the blade spun in the air quicker than Harold could react. It glanced off his shoulder plate and stuck into a tree behind him.

If it weren't for his armor he would have taken a decent blow, that may have ended the fight. Ser Harold responded with rage unfit for a knight and charged to attack the boy, who turned to run. He was faster than Harold for sure and there was no way he was going to catch him in his full armor.

Instead the encircled knights closed in and pushed the boy closer and closer to Harold, the net tightening as fear filled his eyes.

The Captain didn't want the boy to die but he needed to be taught a lesson. The pride of his men was on the line, and he had twice now sullied the reputation of Ser Harold. Whether or not the captain personally cared for Harold did not matter... He had to look after his own.

Harold charged again, moving quick to attack the boy, who readied himself to dodge. He again didn't want to kill him, only wound him, disable him even. He was going to cut deeper than a small nick on the leg though that was for sure.

As he closed in though a loud sound interrupted him and every head turned to look. A thunderous, 'boom!' Had erupted nearby, akin to thunder but much, much closer. The Captain rubbed his head and readied his men, and ordered them to keep an eye on the boy.

A figure was approaching, what looked to be a man. He approached slow, and sure of himself. He had a long beard and long frizzled hair. And carried a sharp look in his eye as he emerged from the shadows.

The closer he got the more the horses started to stir until they were nigh uncontrollable. They started bucking off the knights and the Captain himself was forced to dismount.

He looked over and the man was gone, he had vanished. Then he heard something that sent shivers down his spine... Screams...