And The World Goes On

Gala-Chan (named changed to protect privacy)
Pd. 2
8/29/2001

Plot - When a young knight finds his brother's wife on the road back to his Lord's castle, he thinks that it was a one-time attack on his brother. He is wrong. Deadly wrong.
Synopsis - Everything you do has consequence and some have dire results. You aren't bound to other people's expectations of you.

It was a stormy day in Old England and Sir Amery was riding through the forest to get to his lord's castle. Ignoring the years of teaching, ingrained in him, Sir Amery left his sister's castle at a very inopportune time.
Sir Amery was a brave, and normally cautious, young man, of about 21 years. If the strapping knight had not been astride his horse, he would have stood at nearly 6'5". Without the layers of clothes under his cloak he was lean, yet, muscular. His sharp eyes, set under thick, dark, brows, were a slate gray that changed from metallic silver, to a dullish gray-white, to nearly jet-black, depending on his mood. If you were to look into his eyes you would see he was kind and courageous, but didn't take unnecessary risks. He had a straight, proud, nose and lips with a slight upward curvature. To the right side of his nose were two, fresh, white, scars that met to form an X. Sir Amery had a slight tan, from the days spent riding, hawking and hunting, as a page and, later, as a squire. His tan contrasted with his onyx colored hair.
Sir Amery had left his armor at his lord's castle. For protection, he had a long bow, with a quiver of arrows, and a dagger, or two, hidden on his person. Trotting at his horse's side was a brachet, a present from his sister.
As Sir Amery continued along, he scanned the area with wary eyes and noticed a form ahead, sitting under the shelter of a tree. As he came closer, Sir Amery called into the storm, in a clear voice, "Hail, do ye need help?" How he spoke, not to mention how straight in his saddle he sat, made him sound like a commander. Sir Amery was a person whom you couldn't help but respect.
Sir Amery reined his horse in, the brachet stopping with him, as the figure moved forward...

The next day

Sir Amery sat in the great hall, talking with the young woman whom he had found. It just so happened that the woman, with tawny eyes, was his brother's wife, Audrey.
"Well," she took a sip of mead, "James was away questing. Our priest warned against it, but you know him, strong-headed as ever. According to the lone squire, who escaped, I was told that he..." It was obvious that this pained Audrey, but Sir Amery let her continue. Audrey would stop if she needed to, "he was shot by a poisoned arrow from the woods, a volley of normal arrows followed from the other side."
"As soon as I heard, I had the groomsman ready my horse. Evidently, I wasn't fast enough. The assassins killed my maidservants and horse. I just barely escaped, but not without a reminder." The Lady's leg had a bandage on it. An arrow had been shot straight into her calf.
For the first time, Sir Amery realized that it was well past sunset. The two had spent the day catching up and finally got around to why she was on the road. As he looked outside, he saw golden pin pricks of stars, in the midnight blue velvet of the sky.
"I believe we should be getting to bed now." Sir Amery stood up, followed by the slightly
limping, smaller, woman.

For the next few weeks everything went smooth. They mostly stayed in the castle, going hunting and hawking. Everything had been fine, until Audrey went back to her castle to find what happened. As Sir Amery escorted her to the castle, they ran into a black shadow. They were forced to face their worst fear: James's killer, this time, alone.

Sir Amery reined his horse around, keeping his eyes on the 'Knight' who had threatened him and his sister-in-law. "What do ye want?" Sir Amery had slipped into the High Language, as some knights do.
"The Lady, over there, knows what." He pointed his sword point at him. "Go on, tell him."
Sir Amery flashed his eyes to Audrey for a split second, and saw a confused look cross her face, and then he shook his head.
"I have not the least idea of what you are talking of."
The 'Knight' brought up the visor on his helmet, for a moment, and promptly put it down.
"And now?" A gasp came from the woman's direction.
"Lukas??"
"Yes."
"Who?" Sir Amery had no idea who Lukas was, and momentarily forgot the High Language.
"Lukas. Why?"
"Because James doesn't deserve you. Oh," this was to Amery "we were former lovers and I have come to claim what is mine." Lukas' rough voice was made rougher by the helmet.
"Why did you attack me?" Audrey asked.
"That was one of my assistants, he was 'discharged' afterwards.
"Well, let's put it at this. We joust. Whoever wins, gets Audrey. Whoever loses, dies." Lukas challenged Sir Amery.
Out of the corner of his eye, Sir Amery saw Audrey nod. "Yes, sir knight, if that is what you really are."
The two men came together with a great crash. This was their third run and both times one,
or the others, lance would break. This time, the opposing knight, Lukas, was unseated.
Lukas cursed under his breath. "Get down and fight like a man." Sir Amery dismounted and drew his sword. It wasn't a very elaborate sword; it had a keen double blade and a black leather hilt, with a crystal pommel stone.
Sir Amery and Lukas rushed at each other, Sir Amery's sword and Lukas's battle-axe met, metal on metal. Lukas had brute strength, but Sir Amery was as agile as a panther. He dodged one of the potentially fatal blows from the axe and cut at his enemy's feet.
As Sir Amery brought the sword up once again, Lukas twisted the tiniest bit and the blade barely missed gutting him, but it still cut deep into his side. As Lukas was trying to recover his axe, which had fallen, Sir Amery brought the sword down atop his head, cutting through the helmet. The large man fell to the ground, armor making a racket.
The victor stepped back, taking his helmet off and panting. He was scared and shocked, when he realized that Lukas' prone figure wasn't going to get up. He had just killed someone. This person was not going to walk away from the fight. Sir Amery took a step back.
"No," he breathed. "No." Sir Amery was going into shock, for the first time in his life he'd killed someone. Audrey walked up to him and shook him by the shoulders.
"Amery! You had to do it. He would have kidnapped me and killed you. It couldn't be helped!" she shouted in his face, to no avail. He kept taking steps back, and muttering.
He was trained all his life in the fighting arts, but nothing could prepare him for his first time killing. Sir Amery, by nature, was not a violent person and the open slaughter of his time conflicted with that. If he continued along these lines, he would go mad.
"Amery! Listen: you don't have to kill people."
"I'm a knight. That's what I do. How do I get away from it?" Sir Amery's sullen gray eyes were somewhere far away.
"Um, you could..." Audrey thought for a moment. "Be a scholar. You have some education. Now lets go."
"Sure." Sir Amery wasn't sure, but he mounted and they rode back to his castle, unsure about their future. And the world went on.