Men began pouring out of their tents and running toward where the roar had emanated. Then they all stopped, and looked in bewilderment. One man walked forward.
"What are you expecting to happen?"
"I'm expecting to kill all of you, and take those villagers to safety."
Every man behind him began laughing, but he stayed stone faced. I could hear the rumbles of, "he's mad", "This is a joke", "I can't believe one man can be so foolish". I could see over the head of the men in front of me to the front of the camp, where the villagers were being held. The other Knights had taken out the guards in silence and were leading the villagers away. I drew my swords in a slow methodical manner, and then screamed again in my lionlike war cry.
"FOR THE REALM!"
Before the man who had stepped forward to address me knew it, he had lost his head, and I began my attack on the hourde.
The front line was still in shock by what they had just seen. Their arms remained at their sides with their mouths agape as they saw the body of the man before them drop to the ground. When I cut down 5 more men the panic set in and the chaos grew. I sliced and cut my way to the center of the hourde, drawing them all in to me, so that Rolf, Darius and the others could attack from the outside. I spun like a cyclone with deadly precision. My blades took arms, legs, and anything that came near me. Bodies and body parts began piling up. I began to move through the crowd of Raiders, opening up more room around me to fight in. Bodies were scattered in the opening that I had created, and the Raiders began to hold back. There was a wall of people with me in the center. The mocking had turned to whimpers of fear. I could see it in their eyes.
"Wh wh who, are ya ya ya you?"
With both blades dripping with the blood of their fallen, I paused to look around at of them before answering. I slowly raised my father's sword above my head and proclaimed.
"I AM THE PATCHWORK KNIGHT!"
The name caused recognition to cross their faces.
"He is the one the villagers have been speaking of."
I didn't wait for anymore words. I sprang to the nearest man to me and stabbed my sword through his chest while slashing my father's sword across the face of the man to the right of him. They both fell to the ground, one in pain and the other in death. My onslaught was renewed. The circle collapsed around me, but no Raider would ever get past my blades. Screams of horror erupted from men as they lost limbs and knew that their life would drain from them as they laid on the ground.
The battle went on for what felt like hours. I was covered in blood from head to toe, when the final man fell, I looked around at the carnage. I could see the other Knights at the front of the camp and they were gathered around in a group. I began walking towards them. I could only count 7 men standing and I began to run. They were standing over two bodies. I pushed my way through them and saw Rolf and Sir Darius laying on the ground covered in their own blood. I knelt down between the two of them and reached for all the aether that I could. I put my hands over their wounds and pushed the aether into them. I would not fail this time. I would bring them back to life. I would succeed here where I failed with Constance. I would not see another man fall. I would not see my best friend fall.
Rolf's body began to glow with a bright golden color and began rising from the ground. I could feel the aether flow through me and into him. It began circulating between the two of us. His would began to glow even brighter in that same golden hue, and then it slowly closed and he began sinking back to the ground. His chest began to rise and fall as breath was flowing back into him. He sat up quick and screamed at the top of his lungs. It wasn't a scream of joy, or horror, it was more a scream of rage, as if it was the last thing he was doing as the Raiders blade went through him. He grabbed his chest as I took my had away and was patting it and rubbing it looking for the mortal wound, but there was only a faint scar in his skin and a hole in his armor. The Knights standing around abruptly stepped back in astonishment at what they had seen, but I couldn't concentrate on any of what was happening. I had to focus on Darius. His body had remained on the ground and his usual faint blush glow that surrounded him was gone. There was no experience of him rising in the air, or our life forces intermingling. His body just lay there with his life gone.
Other men tried to pull be away from him, said he was gone, but I wouldn't accept that. I brought Rolf back, I had to bring Darius back as well. I would not move.
"Boy yo, you need to stop. He ain't coming back. He is gone, but his death was not in vain. We saved all the villagers and vanquished the Realm of more than a hundred Raiders. You saved Rolf. You brought him back, but you can't save everyone."
There they were, those words that Darius said to me himself. I slumped on top of him and began to sob. He was tough but truly fair. He held me accountable for my actions, and I got him killed with them.
"This is my fault. It was my plan. Everyone was supposed to live."
"Pitre, we all know what can happen with any battle. We know that our lives could end at any moment, but we do this because we are fighting not for ourselves, but for all those villagers who were being held captive. We fight for all of those back home that can't fight. We fight for the Realm that is our home. We fight for each other. Darius fought for all of that and gave his life for it. There can be no better way to die than to do that which brings your end doing for others."
"I want to be the one that carries Darius back to the Palace. His body will be my responsibility."
"You can personally escort the cart that we carry him back in."
"NO!, I will carry him. I owe him that. I will carry him back on foot. Give my mount to one of the villagers that can't walk. I will carry him and I will bury him with honor on free land."
"We will bury him on free land. I will say it again Pitre. His death is not your responsibility. It is all of ours, and his. He will have a funeral fitting royalty. I know the King would want that for Darius. Now go clean up while we put Darius's body in a cart. You can walk beside it. I will not see you carry him all the way back to the Palace."
"Yes, Sir Gorin. If you need the cart horses for the villagers, I will pull the cart."
"We have more than enough horses and carts now. We just came into the acquisition of a herd of horses. Later we will talk about Rolf. You may not have saved Darius, but you surely brought Rolf back to life. The Josten came running from the battle with word that Darius and Rolf had fell in battle, and that I should come. Rolf was already sitting up when I arrived. I asked Josten if he had been mistaken about Rolf, and he said that he was not. He said he was standing near Rolf when he was stabbed through the heart, and that he had taken the Raider that had taken him. We will talk Pitre, but after you have cleaned yourself and have rested. You did the impossible once again, and from the looks of things, we would have lost much more had you not been here."
"Yes sir."
I rose to my feet, but for the first time in years, I felt exhausted. Truly exhausted as if my life had drained. I stumbled to the creek where I started the battle. I felt an arm left me from under my arms and I looked over to see Rolf aiding me to walk. He didn't speak he only smiled and nodded his head to the creek.
He released me when we were at the bank and I simply walked into the waist deep water and sat down. Letting the cool water wash the blood from my armor and body. I bent forward to douse my head in the water and remained like that for as long as I could hold my breath. I stayed in the creek until the sun rose over the trees.
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