My Little Knight

         How are the forces?" questioned Evalina.


          The squire sighed, shaking his head repeatedly. "Lady Evalina, our defenses
are nearly gone. Our knights, paladins, archers, and crossbowmen have all
been slain." He paused for a moment, readjusting his spectacles. "A few
apprentice students from various schools of magic are our front line. My only
hope is that the raiding party does not penetrate the town gates."


         "This is truly the most dreadful day to ever fall upon Enrandia." her hands
errantly rubbed the seams of her white gown. "As a Priestess, my first duty
is to defend Enrandia with my life. I cannot bear to stand and watch my
country fade away in such a dehumanizing manner." She inhaled deeply and
continued. "Squire, fetch me a riding horse and a driver, I will take care of
these miscreants myself."


          "Yes, Lady Evalina." The squire bowed deeply and rushed down the walkway.


          Evalina walked down the castle corridor. The once luxuriant hallway was now
heavily scarred and ripped from the dispatching of heavily armored knights
from the royal barracks. She stopped suddenly, as she heard sound the sound of tiny steps running across the rubble-strewn corridor.


         "Mommy! Lemme come and fight tha' bad guys!" a little boy howled, hurdling
across the narrow walkway. He stared expectantly at his mother, waving his
teak longbow in the air threateningly and pointing to his quiver full of
bodkin arrows.

         Evalina knelt down to the ground, clasping her son's left hand into her
shaking palms. "My little Knight," her voice cracking as if she was going to
burst into tears. "It is too dangerous for you to fight, for now you must
train, for you will be King one day."


          He stuck out his lip in a full pout, eyes fixated on the ground in
embarrassment.


          "Why they tryin' to hurt us?"


         Shaking her head, "They are looters. Selfishly going across the countryside
pillaging and terrorizing all that is in their path." She clenched her son's
arms tightly. This time, they won't be coming back to our country. This
treachery stops here."


          He slung his longbow over his shoulder, kicking at some nearby rubble
nervously.


         "Besides" she giggled "What's that spell you had trouble with?"


         His eyes slowly wandered up to meet hers. "It was Flame Arrow, momma! How
could you forget?"


          "I promise when I get back, I'll help with it. Deal?"


         "Deal!"


         "That's my little knight." She placed a tender kiss on his forehead. "You
run along be good and no following me, you hear?" Giving her son a playful
tap on the bottom.


          "Yes, momma" he droned out and ran back in the direction he came from."


          Evalina rose from her knelt position, turned around, only to find the squire
standing silently a few feet from her.


         "Lady Evalina, the carriage you requested has been provided. May the Gods
watch over you and bring you back to us safely." The squire escorted
Evalina through the castle doors to an awaiting carriage.


         "Thank you, squire, your dedication during our crisis has been noted. "
Accentuating her kind words with a gentle nod in his direction. "Driver,
please take me to the Northern Town Gate."


         "As you wish" the driver yelled, cracking his whip, sending the horses to a
gallop through the city's cobblestone roads.


          As the carriage passed through the streets, terrible battle cries shattered
the air, savage images of ferocious melees, sodden crimson fields, and
ravaged steel were woven into the cacophony of war that sent the very earth
trembling with fear. The horses strided to a graceful stop, their heads
rocking side-to-side as if avoiding some imminent danger.


          "Thank you, driver," sending the carriage away with a gesture. She began to
walk toward the gates. Upon entering, her eyes widened, only to find two
mages on the battle field against raiding party, consisting of thousands upon
thousands of calvary and knights. Bodies of her subjects were haphazardly
laid upon the battle field and the death cry of her once two remaining mages
sent her teeth on edge and muscles tightening.


          "Stop this madness!" she yelled. Laugher echoed through the battlefield
as the raiding party mocked her request.


          Swords drawn, the troops charged at Evalina from all sides from a measurable
distance away. She rose her hands to the sky, chanting. Each archaic
syllable shattering the heavens with a deafening clap of thunder. Ice
crystals began to fall, which quickly intensified to a deadly mixture of
sleet, ice, and torrential rains. The wind howled, singeing the air with the
lethal cold of deep winter, sending whirlwinds of sharp icicles into the air. The horses stopped and teetered over. Each fall was punctuated with a blood-curdling scream as the calvary were crushed alive by the sheer weight of their mount.


          Evalina raised her arms to the heavens even higher. Her brown hair rippled
while ferocious zephyrs whipped around it, as if were a forceful waterfall
cascading down to the flower strewn earth below. The gown billowed
violently in the in the wind, its fabric creasing and unrolling itself like
gentle ripples in a pool of water. Her very appearance was a confusing
mixture of both beauty and madness. The army of knights stopped their
charge and stood in awe of her power, yet didn't flee, still captivated by
her charm.


          She released a primal scream laced with the blood of her people and the
frustrations of battle. Lightning blazed from the sky as it careened into the
army of knights. The intense energy from the strike sent them sprawling upon
the earth as the electricity danced across the wet soil. Thunderclaps
boomed across the landscape, the ominous cadence rattling the heavens in a
showy display of electricity. The knights cried out in agony as the
icicles pierced their flesh like jagged pieces of glass, the fearsome cold
numbed their senses, while the battering rains extinguished their inner flame.


          She let go of her spell and collapsed to the earth in exhaustion, slipping in
the mud to lay on her back staring up into the sky. A knight, still
clinging to life, rose from the ground. His armor and helmet blackened by
fearsome lightning strikes that had just happened before. Limping over to
the exhausted Evalina, he clenched his broadsword tightly in his frostbit
hands.


          "You will pay for your life, witch"

          Too exhausted to hold her head up, "I .. I only wanted peace. To stop the
endless violence."


          The knight raised his broadsword over his head. "Your final words have been
noted." His eyes stared at Evalina with a baleful malice, before swinging
his blade downward toward her neck.


          A bright flare pierced the air with a loud whooshing sound. Evalina looked
up to see a flaming arrow lodged savagely through the knight's blackened
chainmail to pierce the heart. The knight vainly clutched at his chest as
the arrowhead stopped his heart and the stench of his own burning flesh
caused him to writhe in agony, collapsing face first into the wet soil.


         Exhausted and without words, she looked over her shoulder, only to see a
little boy enthusiastically waving a teak longbow screaming, "I figured it
out, Momma!"