The knight’s booming voice echoed in the slowly dissipating fog. His sword, wreathed in flames, left a trail of ice-cold mist as he raised it into the air. His steed reared on its hind legs, then leapt forward, carrying him towards the group.

  Alaric raised his blade just in time as the knight galloped past him, swinging his sword. The flame-wreathed blade hit against his own, dull blade. The strength of the knight’s strike numbed his arms. A dull ache ran down his shoulders.

  A grunt escaped his lips as his feet slid in the moist earth, and he stumbled backwards. The knight ran past him, faster than he could hope to follow, towards Jason and Reuban.

  “Look out!” Clara cried out.

  An arrow whistled in the air. It hit the Knight’s left pauldron with a clang and bounced off harmlessly. Seemingly unbothered by Ava’s attack, the knight slammed his sword against Jason’s blade. Silver flames burst from the clash.

  Jason let out a scream as the flames clung to his arms. He stumbled back, away from the knight, flailing his arms to put out the silver fire.

  The knight’s blade didn’t stop. Leaving a trail of ice cold mist behind, it met Reuban’s swinging blade. A gasp escaped the young man’s lips as he fell back from the knight’s sheer strength.

  Alaric ran towards them. With the corner of his eyes, he saw Sol and Luna dart off to the side, to stop the Knight’s wolves from approaching the rest of the group.

  We are outmatched.

  He felt so slow and sluggish as he watched the knight raise his blade again, to strike Reuban’s sword over and over again. The young man’s strength so clearly drained with each hit he blocked, yet the unrelenting assault wasn’t stopping.

  I need to do something. He slipped his glove off and switched his sword to his left hand as he rapidly closed the distance between him and the knight. I have to try! It was the only thing he could think of.

  Reuban let out a grunt as he tried to step away from the knight. His blade was covered with a layer of frost from the knight’s relentless strikes. The sound of metal striking metal rang each time their blades met.

  An arrow whistled past him. It flew too low to hit the rider. The knight’s steed let out a neigh, and hopped to the side, letting the arrow fly past it, missing its neck completely. Ava clicked her tongue, letting the bow vanish into nothingness. A blade formed in her hands.

  Finally having put the silver flames on his arms out, Jason ran towards the knight, letting out a loud scream.

  Alaric hastened his steps. We have to do it together. They were no match against the knight as long as they fought alone. As he reached the knight and his steed, he slammed his weapon against the knight’s side. With a loud clang, it bounced off his plate armour.

  Clearly surprised, the Knight turned his attention to him. The flaming, frost-laden blade swung towards his neck.

  He let go of his own sword, grabbed the horses reins, and pulled its head towards himself as hard as he could. The horse neighed as its head jerked to the side, coming between Alaric and his rider’s blade. The knight barely stopped his swing before he cut his own steed’s head off.

  Please bloody work! That desperate thought took over his mind as he slammed his palm against the horses forehead.

  Power – mana – rushed through his arm, towards his palm. His mind felt sluggish as time seemingly slowed. Every beat of his heart was deafening. He held his breath and prayed to whichever god would listen. Please!

  The reins slipped from his grasp. The horse neighed, then reared on its hind legs. It slammed its front hooves into the ground and kicked the air, throwing its rider onto the ground.

  A wave of relief washed over him. His mana was enough to use the Mark of Command on the knight’s steed. For the first time since they started this desperate fight, he felt as if they had a chance of winning.

  The horse reared on its hind legs again and slammed its front hooves onto the knight’s chest plate. The sound of something cracking echoed in the air. The horse motioned to do the same again, but a howl stopped it. Two wolves, much larger than Sol and Luna, leapt out of the fog.

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  “Fuck!” Ava stopped mid-run, raising her blade to defend herself. The wolves ran past her as if she wasn’t even there and leapt towards the horse.

  “Defend yourself!” Alaric ordered. He grabbed the blade he had let go of, then heard the bone-chilling sound of moving armour behind him.

  The knight, now back on his feet, kicked the ground. The armour slowed him down, but he was still faster than Alaric could react. The knight slammed his shoulder against him. The world spun for a split second before his back hit the ground. His vision took a moment to clear up. When it did, the knight standing over him filled his entire vision. His blade was raised, ready to be brought down.

  Something slammed against the knight, making him stumble to the side.

  As soon as the blade wasn’t hanging over his throat anymore, Alaric rolled to the side, snatched his own weapon off the ground and got back up.

  Reuban stood face to face with the knight. Their blades were crossed. His jaw tight and his knuckles white from clenching the handle of his sword, the young man was barely holding his own against the knight.

  Alaric kicked the ground. His weapon would never cut through and hurt the knight through that armour, but while he was locked in combat like this, he had a chance to strike where the thick plate armour didn’t fully cover.

  He approached from behind, keeping one eye on Jason and Ava who were also running towards the knight. Reuban had given them the best chance they could ask for. He tightly held his blade with both arms and stabbed right between the two plates covering the knight’s left shoulder and arm.

  Reuban’s face lit up as the knight reeled back, nearly losing his balance. He pushed his blade further against the knight’s.

  The armoured figure let out a grunt of pain before taking a step back. Reuban followed, not giving him a moment to regain his balance. The knight seemed to lose his balance as he lifted one foot and seemed to slowly sway backwards.

  Then, he slammed his armoured foot against Reuban’s knee. A loud, disgusting crack stopped Alaric in his tracks. He watched in horror as blood drained from Reuban’s face. He fell down, his leg bent oddly. The knight kicked his blade away, then turned to face Jason, who hadn’t slowed down.

  He blocked the young man’s blade with his arm guard. In that same motion, he swapped his weapon to his other, wounded arm and slashed sideways.

  Jason’s eyes widened. He stumbled backwards, letting go of his weapon and holding his stomach. Blood oozed out from between his fingers.

  “Jason!” Clara’s desperate scream brought Alaric back to his senses. He forced himself to move, before he was the next to fall. He stumbled backwards just in time to dodge a somewhat slower strike, then blocked the second with his blade.

  We’re dying.

  Desperation threatened to drown him. What were they supposed to do against a trained, experienced knight in plate armour?

  A blade glinted behind the knight. Ava pulled out the small yet razor sharp dagger from behind the knight’s knee, then leapt back as her opponent fell on one knee and swung his blade back. Her eyes red, and her face pale as a sheet of paper, she silently struck the back of his other knee. This time, the blade bounced off the armour as she clearly missed her target.

  The knight pushed himself back on his feet. He limped as he turned to face her. “You knave! You will join your pathetic allies soon enough!”

  Alaric quickly closed the distance between him and the knight and stabbed the back of his other knee. The blade barely fit through the slit between two pieces of the plate armour. The knight let out a scream – not of pain but filled with wrath and hatred.

  With a second shout, he rose back up, swinging his sword wildly. Alaric blocked the first two strikes and ducked under the third. He smirked as Ava snuck closer to the knight, stabbing between his shoulder plates this time. Black blood oozed out, and the knight stumbled forward as he spun around, and swung his blade blindly.

  A scream escaped Ava’s lips. She jumped back, holding her right arm.

  He didn’t hesitate. He couldn’t afford to. Without paying the young woman’s wound much mind, he swung his blade against the knight, aiming for between two plates of his armour. The knight spun around once more. Their blades met with a sharp clang. He felt his arms go numb for a split second.

  How do you have so damned much strength left? He couldn’t believe it. He pushed as their blades locked, desperately hoping Ava still had some fight left in her. The Knight held his ground, then raised his leg.

  Alaric leapt back without even thinking. The handle of his sword slipped from his hands as the knight stomped the ground. He turned around and broke into dash – he needed to snatch Jason or Reuban’s weapon.

  Something hot cut the back of his shoulder. Pain jolted throughout his body. He stumbled, but it wasn’t enough to make him fall.

  “Alaric!” He heard Ava’s desperate voice. She had gotten back up and was holding her sword with both hands. “Now!”

  Now what? Did she want him to stop the knight? How? His gaze turned to the chasing knight. Fuelled entirely by hatred, the knight limped closer. The flames dancing on his blade started converging at the tip as he pointed at Alaric with it.

  “Burn in the righteous fires of the Heavenly Host!” His voice boomed, prompting Alaric to throw himself at the ground.

  A ball of silver fire flew over his head and hit the ground a few meters behind him with a boom. He leapt back on his feet and dashed towards the knight before he had the chance to guard. He rammed his shoulder against the broken part of the knight’s chest plate. They fell to the ground with a thud.

  Alaric rolled to the side and rose to one knee as a primal scream echoed in the silence. Ava stood over the knight, holding her blade with both hands, blood dripping down her wounds.