Chronicles of the Blackblade 07
Chapter 7 – Midnight Mayhem
Dawn stopped, she didn’t know how long she had been running for; but suddenly a door loomed in front of her, she rapped on it with urgency.
The door swung open, and a man stood there, he looked at the poor girl.
She was standing there clutching the remains of the nightgown to herself, the moonlight in the hallway illuminated her figure though the thin fabric. She stood trembling; shivering in the chilly hallway, her cheeks wet from the tear’s she was shedding; her eye’s becoming puffy. She looked up at him, her eye’s filled with fear, with fright, and with helplessness, looking into her eye’s tore at his heart, he felt sorrow for the girl and he had to do something about it. Anger began to cloud his mind as he looked past the girl and focused on the wall behind her, he knew full well who could and most possibly did this to her. But a sob brought his attention back to the girl, he knew what had to be done, and he knew what order to do them in.
He stepped back and held the door open; beckoning her inside; a warm glow coming from an orb dimly lit the room, she waddled in unsure if she was doing the right thing; scared of entering someone else’s room, he closed the door behind them as she turned to look at him.
“Was it?” he asked; no names needed. She only replied with a mumbled “mm” “Wait here, I’ll be back soon.” He turned to leave, but was stopped. “Wait.” She said, he turned, looked at her, then turned to leave again “I’ll be back soon don’t worry.” “Wait, I’ll come as well” she said again, this time planting her hand on his arm in an attempt to stop him, he turned to look at the girl again, seeing just how ripped the nightgown was, she had removed one of her arms that was covering her to hold his arm.
“Your going to go back out there like that?” he asked, she looked down at herself and released her hand from him, using it again to cover herself, she was caught between wanting to go with him, and the need to not be seen dressed as she was. “Put some clothes on first, then we can go.” He said, “I’ll wait outside for you O.K?” She nodded, and mumbled out a “Thank you.” as he left the room.
He took off at a thunderous sprint; the door had barely closed and he was away, silently he flew down the corridors. Anger lending his legs wings, Rage pushing him forward, his blood pumping in his ears, he quickly arrived at his destination.
He took a deep breath, and then charged through the unlocked door.
He saw the boy sitting on a bed, the second the door had opened he sprang to his feet; he was nimble; but not enough, he crossed the room in a single stride, putting his hand around the boys neck, lifting him up and crushing him onto the wall all in a single fluid moment, Jake choked, his eyes filled with fear at the monster in front of him.
“Let me go, I haven’t done anything, Let me go right now or I’l-“ his free fist imbedded itself in Jake’s stomach, much stronger then Dawn’s knee, he coughed blood, “Shut. Up” he growled releasing the boy; watching as he dropped to all four’s; gasping for breath, “If you even THINK about doing something like that again. You. WILL. Regret. It.” Jake chuckled “Big man, don’t tell me you wouldn’t think of doing the same thi-“ He was cut short as the man turned and kicked Jake’s stomach, sending him sprawling across the room to crash into the wall at the far side of the room, “I said Shut up!” but he only got another chuckle as a reply “You know - your quite strong. But you’ll will need more then that to keep me down.” Jake looked up, a grin upon his face and murder in his eye’s as he nimbly jumped to his feet; pulling a knife from his boot as he stood.
The man stood there; watching Jake blocking the doorway, flicking the knife from hand to hand. With himself being unarmed and Jake having his knife, the situation had changed, he calmed down instantly and his brain took on a new form of thinking, before it was sheer anger and hatred powered by noble intentions, it now processed defence and survival, a wrong move could get him stabbed – or worse; his throat cut, but he didn’t have the time to deal with that particular issue, he knew it wouldn’t be long until the door opened, and then Jake would have the clear advantage.
He planned out his move, his first attack had to stop the knife, allowing Jake free use of it was unacceptable, the next would be to finish it; knocking Jake unconscious would be the fastest way to achieve this.
He charged, diving at Jake with a furious roar hoping to stun him in place, it worked; for only a split second, he changed his attack from Jake’s body to his arm; as it came across looking to cut into his torso, he stopped Jake’s arm short of his torso, but realized that the knife had been reversed and it had imbedded itself into his arm.
Pain shot up his arm, but he was not about to lose his chance, using his right hand he swung a wild blow aimed for Jake’s head and connected before Jake could react, following through with his swing with enough force to shove Jake into the nearby wall – he collapsed instantly - unconscious.
Gonzo left the room; his arm deeply cut with his blood dripping on the floor. He held his arm tightly with his spare hand, trying to stem the loss of blood, he was taken unaware as a voice surprised him.
“Halt!” a woman’s voice came harshly, Gonzo turned to face her.
In the dim moonlight he could hardly make her out, she stood at the ready, dark hair fell down; hidden behind her shoulders. She had dressed quickly, her hair was tussled; her shirt riffled at the bottom. Trousers covered her legs and a scabbard was hanging at her side, in front of her she held a sword in both hands; the moon shining from the polished blade that pointed towards Gonzo.
“Stand where you are!” she called again, eyeing the blood on Gonzo’s hands and shirt. Gonzo stood still; against a foe with a knife he could fight, against someone wielding a sword with a confident hand, he stood no chance unarmed.
He watched as she circled around, wanting to get into a position so that she could see the insides of the room, Gonzo waited, and she soon shortly saw Jake lying on the floor inside the room.
“What did you do to him.” She said in even tones. “I taught him a lesson, one he won’t soon forget.” Gonzo stated flatly, he started walking towards her; towards the way to his own room. “I said stay still!” she hissed, raising her sword to point at him once more, Gonzo stopped short from the end of the blade, but his reply was interrupted by a scream from the end of the corridor.
“Gonzo!” Dawn yelled as she came running towards them, she had put on a pair of trousers and a shirt that was way too big for her, the other girl didn’t have a chance to react and was roughly barged into by Dawn as she made her way to Gonzo – forcing her out of the middle of the corridor. Dawn gasped. “What happened here.” Dawn said as she roughly grabbed Gonzo’s arm, pulling it towards her to take a look at the wound; causing him to wince in pain, “Dawn tha-“ he began but was cut off, “Oh hush.” Dawn said as she began her spell, “Hey!” the other girl had regained her balance and had raised her sword again “What do you think your doing! he’s beaten that oth-“ “Silence!” Dawn snapped at the other girl; she was surprised at the forcefulness of the response and waited for Dawn to finish her spell. “Healing Touch!” Dawn cast; the wound on Gonzo’s arm closed, the blood disappearing as they watched until all that remained was an angry pink line where the skin had rejoined. “Thanks” Gonzo said as he tested out his arm, it was stiff but didn’t hurt anymore.
Minus Lockheart gasped, Dawn had just finished telling her what happened that caused the incident in the corridor, Gonzo had stayed long enough to convince the girls to go back to Minus’s room, then said he was going to sort out Jake.
Minus’s room was quite large; a queen size bed dominated the bedroom, a small lounge area with two sofa’s and a washroom to top if off.
It had taken a lot for Dawn to tell her story, stopping as she went along, but she was glad to have told someone else about it, it wasn’t long after that when she fell asleep on the sofa, Minus covered her, then turned in for the night.
Zela woke up early, she had left the window open in her room, and the early morning bird chirps had woken her, she stretched, got washed and dressed, and left the room seeking breakfast. The dining hall was already alive with movement, and the smell of freshly baked bread assaulted her nose, the tables were already filled with all sorts of bread, pastries, fruits, jam’s, ham’s and cheese, she looked around but didn’t spot anyone she met the previous day, infact it didn’t look like any of the newer students were in the dining hall, “Well I am quite early” she thought to herself as she grabbed a tray, three plate’s, a wide selection of everything available and a jug of juice – it was time to wake up the locals.
*Knock Knock* Rose groaned, and rolled over to go back to sleep; hoping the noise would stop, it didn’t. *Knock Knock* it came again, this time with a bit more force, Rose rolled back over to face the door, looking daggers directly at it, wanting the person behind it to drop dead. The knocking stopped, Rose smiled to herself, looks like her thoughts alone was enough to- “Hey! Sleepy head!” a sharp hi-pitched voice yelled from the door, “Wake up! Breakfast’s here! It’s really nice! you’re going to miss it!” Rose’s thoughts turned black, she was going to have to- *Bang Bang* no longer a simple knock, the door was visibly moving now, and the person behind the door didn’t let up either, “C’mon lazy bones! Move it! It’s time to get up!” That was it, Rose jumped out of the bed, ran to the door, unlocked it and flung it open.
Standing in front of her was a short child with blond hair, who immediately upon seeing the door flung open and Rose standing there in her black nightgown, squealed. “Ahhh it’s a monster!” upon which she dashed off towards the sofa’s that lined the room, hiding behind the one that had another girl sitting on it, calmly eating a pastry.
Judging it too much trouble to catch her, Rose returned to her room closing the door behind her.
“You shouldn’t do that.” Zela stated, as she watched Mara return to the closed door; she began to bang on it again.
The door opened almost immediately; just as Zela predicted, and Mara narrowly avoided being clobbered by a pillow, she made a rapid about face and ran for it, followed directly behind her by Rose.
As Mara passed by a sofa, she changed her direction to where Zela was sitting, intending to hide behind her sofa, her plan failed as Rose threw the pillow; hitting Mara’s back causing her to fall, seconds later Rose was upon her, but was stopped short.
“Hey!” Zela yelled, “If you kids want to fight; do it outside.” Rose looked at her, noticing that her hand was resting on her own pillow, she had finished eating and now sat ready for action. The sight of fresh bread sitting on the table changed her mind however, chasing away all thoughts of violence as she realised that she was hungry.
Zela stood at the window, looking out over the front courtyard. They were four floors up and had a view that overlooked the keep; Zela could make out people in the front courtyard and called over to her two companions who were lounging on the sofas.
They had all introduced themselves; Rose breathing a sigh of relief as she found out that the noisy girl wasn’t her roommate.
Rose walked over to the window, just as Zela mentioned that it was time they should be going. “I think it’s about time we started heading downstairs.” “Why? It’s still so early.” Rose questioned “Yeah, well we don’t want to be late for our first day, and I’m hoping not to get put in his group.” Zela said, pointing towards an angry looking beast of a man in the courtyard. Rose looked out the window towards the directed area. “Yeah he looks quite upset doesn’t he” Rose agreed “Well lets get going then.” Came the squeaky reply from Mara “O.K” Rose said, as Zela nodded. “Last one there’s a rotten egg!” Mara squeaked, just as she disappeared from view out the main doorway. Rose and Zela quickly glanced at each other, before they both shot off towards the doorway to give chase to the smaller girl.
