[hr][h1]The Knights of Maceron[/h1][hr] 


Fallon glared down at Kane from the top of his horse. He sheathed his sword and frowned. Then he broke out into a wry smile. 

"Oh, why Kane," Fallon said. "The more I hear you speak, the more I wonder how you were [i]ever[/i] let into the Knights of the Ram in the first place. Of course we cannot evacuate the city. Evacuation would cause panic, and panic would then cause the people of this nation to begin to mistrust their government. And, of course, when people mistrust the government, stains like you and your crew of thugs appear on our glorious surcoats. We could have more revolutions, more instability. More knights could be tempted down your path of mutiny and we cannot have that, now can we?" Fallon paused and relished in his victory. "Now get back to work lest I tell the king that you're rousing up citizens again." Fallon clopped away on his horse, a cordial grin on his face. 


[hider=Black Blade -Two Steps from Hell] [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z28lwyQjuTY[/youtube] [/hider] 


A congregation of darkness was beginning to grow in front of the gates to Maceron castle. The temperature there dropped by several degrees, and the shadows nearby began to grow longer. All of a sudden, the whole city grew silent. Not one word was spoken for a total of thirty seconds. Many opened their mouths to speak, but no sound came out. The cloud cover over the city grew much darker. The smokestacks of the iron district began to pump out blacker and blacker smoke. Every flame in the city was extinguished as if by a gust of wind, and the streets quickly grew so dark that it was nigh impossible to see one's hand in front of one's face. Animals fell silent. Women screamed. Dark howls could be heard from not too far away. The wights still stood at attention, their bones vibrating, waiting for action. 

In front of the gates, where the darkness first began to form, a point of light appeared. It swirled around itself cosmically, as if trapped in a gravitational field. Then it began to collapse. The light collapsed until a black disc appeared in the center. The black disc grew in diameter, sucking in all of the light around it, until it became the size of a small person. Then it collapsed in on itself and exploded. The darkness rose from the streets and the light returned. Standing in front of the gates of Maceron Castle was a small cloaked figure about four and a half feet tall. It was hunched over, leaning with its hands just above the ground. Large golden claws covered its hands and black chains hung from its wrists. Its face was obscured under the darkness of its hood. Two long golden horns escaped the hood and arced up into the air. One who looked closely at the creature could see that it had hooves. It stood in silence for a moment, standing completely motionless and staring at the gate. Then it reared up and looked up at the balcony where King Draco watched the chaos unfold. 

"King Victor of Draco," the hooded figure said. "I am Lutin, servant of Lord Daraden, Master of Tithe. I have come here at the will of my master to deliver to you a message of utmost importance!" The creature's voice was high-pitched and harmless-sounding, but it carried an echoing resonance that chilled the hearts of those who heard it speak. 

"And what might that message be?" Draco called out. His voice boomed over the crowd, but he was quite terrified. 

"The land on which your castle sits is now property of Lord Daraden, Master of Tithe!" Lutin shouted. "Put down your arms and leave this land or else fall at His omnipotent strike!" Draco spat down from the balcony. 

"Aye, you bastard!" Draco shouted back. "Your master is a fool for him to think that the rightful rulers of Tithe would ever back down to a craven's ultimatum!" Draco waved to Fallon. Fallon nodded and gestured to some of the knights. They drew their weapons and surrounded the demonic creature, their shields brandished. Fallon circled the shield line on his horse. 

"Now then," Fallon said. "Let's make this quick. Ha!" Fallon rose his fist into the air. The knights converged on Lutin, charging in shield-first to take him down. Black chains exploded from the darkness behind the knights. They grabbed at their legs and arms, pulling them back away from the cloaked figure. The knights struggled forwards, thrusting lances and swords at Lutin, but none could even scratch him. People still in the streets fled into the nearest structures, hoping to protect themselves. 

Fallon backed away on his horse. His eyes were wide with fear. His horse reared up and whinnied as chains grabbed its legs and constricted. It began to struggle against the chains, kicking and screaming. A loud "SNAP!" came from the creature's back leg as it broke. The horse collapsed into the street, crushing Fallon's right leg under it. Two knights ran to Fallon's aid and pulled him out from under the horse. They propped him up on their shoulders. 

"This is no victory for you, you bastard!" Fallon said. "Our armies outnumber the power of your magic! We will-" 

"That's quite enough out of you," Lutin interrupted. He turned to Fallon and rose one of his hands. A blast of black smoke exploded from his hand. It enveloped Fallon's face and began to swirl around his head in a sinister black cloud. The black cloud returned to Lutin and flew into the darkness under his hood. Fallon collapsed to the cobblestone pavement, his body limp as a marionette with the strings cut. More spectral chains burst from the ground and grabbed the knights who were supporting him. The knights already on the ground began to become cocooned by the dark chains. Try as they might, they could not escape the chains' grasp. 

"Are you quite done yet?" Lutin shouted. 

"Someone kill him!" Draco cried out. A flurry of arrows flew from the guardsmen inside the castle. When the arrows got within ten feet of Lutin, chains shot up and grabbed the arrows out of the air. He picked up an arrow in his gauntleted hands and snapped it between his fingers. 

"You really should try harder!" Lutin shouted. "How about we call this one a draw and you surrender before I [i]really[/i] have to start using my magic?" Draco shivered with fear. A cold sweat had broken out on his face. His hair was disheveled. He gripped the rim of the balcony as tightly as he could. Lutin looked backwards onto the street and smiled. There was one single wight walking down the street. It beared no differences from the others, with rags hanging from its bony body. A rudimentary wooden club was held limply in its right hand. As it walked alone, Lutin turned back around and began to giggle. 

"You dare laugh at your impending death, you fool?" Draco shouted. "My men will overwhelm you and-" 

"Do you know what a quorum is, Victor?" Lutin shouted. 

"How dare you interrupt the king Tal-" 

"A quorum is defined as the minimum number of members of a society or species required for that society to take action," Lutin said. The last wight wasn't far behind him now. "It is believed by some medical scientists that the germs that cause disease in the body require a certain amount of themselves to be present in order to cause disease. The germs grow and grow, reproducing and gathering nutrients, until eventually they hit a certain number of inhabitants. Then what do you think happens?" The last wight reached the farthest out horde. It placed its left hand on a skeletal shoulder. All of the wights stomped so loudly that it could be heard all across the city. 

"How about you tell me?!" Lutin shouted. The wights' heads all jerked simultaneously ahead. Then they locked onto the first living thing they saw. A cloud of smoke exploded around Lutin, and he disappeared. The wights were silent for one more moment, and then they attacked. 


[hr][h1][color=royalblue]Pietro Machelli[/color] and [color=powderblue]Anna Strauss[/color][/h1][hr] 

[hider=Because It Had To Happen][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6-ZGAGcJrk[/youtube][/hider] 


All at once, the wights screamed. They charged at the nearest living thing, brandishing their weapons or grasping their targets with their skeletal hands. Their grips were strong enough to break bones in those they grasped. Once they latched on, they leapt at their targets and chomped down with their skeletal jaws. They dragged victims to the ground and began to beat them mercilessly, stabbing or ripping at their flesh. They tore off flesh with their powerful bites, spitting it into the streets. As they fought they continued to scream, and soon the scream of a wight and a human running from a wight were indistinguishable. The wights who were chained up tore at the chains surrounding them. So many wights resisting together broke through the chains with ease, destroying them as if they were made of glass. Then they swarmed the nearest living things. 

 Pietro drew his sword as the wights charged and fought back. Their erratic movements were no match for his skilled swordplay, but it didn't matter. He slashed off their heads, tossed their bodies into walls, split them in two. The skeletal beasts simply got up and went back to rampaging. He watched people fall around him, the wights pulling them to the ground and tearing into them. A swarm of six wights converged on a guardsman in the middle of the street. They pulled him to the ground, tossed his sword away, and then began to stab at his chest. When his chain mail prevented their blades from piercing him, they bent over and bit holes in the chain mail. 

"Mother of Ma'el!" Pietro shouted. "These things are absolutely ridiculous!" He swatted off the head of a wight with a flick of his sword and slashed another one's arms off. They fell down, put themselves back together, and kept up their rampage. Pietro backed up into an alley, striking at the wights' heads to keep them back. Several citizens, realizing his combat skills, cowered behind him. Though his speed and skill were able to keep the skeletons back, he couldn't stop them. One of the citizens behind him screamed. Three wights ran down the other end of the alley, two brandishing rusted machetes. Pietro leapt across the alley gracefully. Quickly he disarmed two of the wights and beheaded the third with a flick of his rapier. He dug his rondel into another's skull. The horde he had previously struck down reformed. He jumped again and fended them off. He repeated this ritual for several waves, taking out one side, striking down the other, and then repeating. His breaths came in huffs and puffs. 

From the south end of the alley, an explosion went off. The wights screamed louder as they were engulfed in flames. They fled the scene, their bodies ablaze. Some ran for water sources. Others ran uncontrolled through the streets, their bodies ablaze. They all feared the presence of fire. Anna floated to the ground on her wings, a bomb in one hand and a wand in the other. A barrel of water blew open, sending a wave across the alley, taking out the other group of skeletons. The water formed itself into a water spout, a tornado of water that spun an incredible speeds. 

"They can't reform in running water and they hate fire," Anna said. "Keep those in mind. We have to get out of here!" Pietro ran to a door in the middle of the alley. He pulled on the door handle, failed, and then sliced the lock in two with a strike of his sword. He threw the door open and ran inside, the civilians and Anna on his tail. Inside was a storage room filled with casks of wine. 

"I can use these to defend our position," Anna said. "But we can't stay here for long. Eventually the wights will corner us and I only have so much stamina." 

"Where the hell is Arya?" Pietro shouted.