Hope (Knights of Av'lor - Book 1)

Chapter 16

A swarm of Daemons rose from the trees and headed for the first-cycles. There hadn't been Daemons this close to the castle before. With three squads at his back, Lanclor flew into the battle with confidence, hitting the Daemons before their rear rows could react. This inspired the first-cycles to remember their training.

Swords flashed and cries of terror ripped from the new knights, but some carefully placed spells from the experienced knights prevented their careers from ending early. They crushed the Daemons between them. There were a few injuries among the first-cycles, but no casualties. If Lady Kathryn hadn't come to get them...

"Thank the Goddess! I've never been happier to see you, Sir Lanclor!" Jakara hovered before him, saluting with his fist to his chest.

Jakara should have heeded Lady Kathryn's warning.

"Let's help the wounded back to the East Courtyard, Jakara." Lanclor hadn't returned his salute and Jakara hadn't seemed to notice. Lanclor's three squads positioned themselves around the first-cycles and they escorted them back to the castle.

They returned to the courtyard and he saw Lady Kathryn upon her knees against one of the weapon houses. Her right wing was at an odd angle. Before he could approach, Hal ran forward and knelt beside her. Hal put his hand on her shoulder and she jerked away as if his presence startled her. She seemed to realize whom he was and nodded to one of his questions.

Lanclor walked over to Hal, his curiosity getting the best of him. "Hal, what happened?"

Hal tossed his helmet upon the ground, and then rose to his feet with an angry look on his face. Hal was normally good-natured, so seeing him with so much anger in his eyes surprised Lanclor.

"That son of a bitch! He used a spell to fling her against a wall when she got angry with him for not listening to her warning. He made her hit so hard, her wing snapped. I'm going to break his goddamn neck!" His fists clenched, he headed in the direction of the first-cycle squad.

Before Lanclor could process his words, Hal had approached Jakara with his wings outspread, all of his body language screaming his aggression. Jakara just watched him come, thinking he would get some type of congratulations from his recently acquired student. What he got instead was an uppercut to the head that dented his helmet, lifted him off the ground and sent him flying backwards upon his back.

Everyone stared in disbelief. Hal turned on his heel and headed back toward Lady Kathryn and Lanclor. Without a word, he knelt beside her and lifted her into his arms. She gave an almost imperceptible cry of pain as her wing, flopping out before him, stirred with his movement. Lanclor grabbed her wing and steadied it while they walked toward the infirmary.

They left the courtyard behind. All of the knights stared after them, while Jakara remained motionless upon the ground. Master Healer Vetera opened the door to the infirmary on his way to see to the injured knights from the battle.

"Master Vetera, I need you here. The wounds outside are relatively minor and can be handled by your apprentices."

"Yes, Sir Lanclor. What have we here?"

"I'll let Hal explain it to both of us." Lanclor focused on Hal, awaiting an explanation as they took her inside.

"Before we took flight, Kate tried to warn us about a Daemon attack. Assessor Jakara called her a coward. She got angry, called him an arrogant ass, and then mentioned having a Sight. Assessor Jakara became unreasonably angry and used some spell to fling her through the air into a wall. He threatened the rest of us with the same fate if we didn't obey him. I don't have Lady Kathryn's gift with magic, so I'm no match for Assessor Jakara. I didn't realize he had broken her wing or I would never have left her." Lanclor could hear the guilt in Hal's voice.