The Curse of Taloncrest Manor

Chapter 18: Stopping the Knightmare

As Ricardo and the others began to walk towards the second floor staircase, a ghost appeared at the top of it. Jane recognized her immediately. "You're the....." she stammered, with a shocked expression. 

Ricardo frowned. "Melody.....we don't have time to trade barbs with you. Move out of the way." She chuckled darkly. "Oh, I intend to. But let's not forget that you and your friends have unfinished business with me." She looked over at Jane. ".....And I see you've managed to reunite with my master's wife....how lovely. Still, it changes nothing. You will all fall by my hand sooner or later."

"Jane, do you know anything about this girl? She's been harassing us ever since we first entered the house!" Cooper complained. 

Jane said nothing, but instead stared straight at Melody, almost absent-minded. It took Ricardo waving his hand in front of her face to snap her back to reality. "Right.....my apologies. Melody Pianissima was perhaps the brightest of my husband's attendants. She was very nice, approachable, and would lighten the atmosphere with her music whenever possible. In fact, she would play every time I visited the mansion, back when Bart and I were still dating. Until one day, he informed me of her untimely death by unknown circumstances. I thought she was long gone.....but here I am, looking her in the face once more. There was none more talented, yet none kinder, either. So, why has she gone to such dark lengths?" 

"Step aside, Jane....this does not concern you. I would hate for any harm to befall you as well." Melody ordered. But Jane was quick to protest. "Stop! These heroes helped stir me from my despair. They are going to help me reunite with my husband. Why do you seek to end their lives?" 

For a brief moment, Melody considered revealing her predicament to Jane. She thought about telling her what part Thomas had played in all of this, and what he had done to her to keep her quiet and under his heel. But she ultimately decided against it. If she made any accusations now, she would have no proof to back them up.

"Those reasons are for me to know and for none to find out," Melody said. "But....I suppose I will give these four a bit of a.....warm-up act." She channeled a spell, and four globes of magic floated from her palm, with each one going into the four knights positioned at each corner of the lobby. "Knights! Wake up and report for duty!" Within seconds, the knights came to life, readied their weapons, and took a fighting stance.

"If you survive, come to the third floor balcony. There, I shall have the pleasure of finishing you myself." she instructed further.

Cooper's eyes widened. "The third floor balcony.....? That's where we were headed in the first place!" Melody laughed. "That's right! And as a little incentive.....you might want to hurry and dispatch my guards." she said, gesturing to the knights. "I sense that your loved one does not have much time left....." 

"ROSE?!" Ricardo exclaimed in horror. "What have you done to her?!" 

"Come to the balcony and find out.....if you make it there, that is." Melody said tauntingly before disappearing, leaving Ricardo's group at the mercy of the four knights. 

The two knights on the rear corners charged towards the center, but Elijah quickly spun one of them around and slammed them into the front wall. James swiftly tripped the other one with his leg, but shortly afterward, the knights had already begun to recover. Additionally, the knights on the front corners began slowly advancing. 

"So what do we do?!" James asked frantically. Cooper quickly glanced around the room, looking for anything that might give him and his friends an edge over Melody's metal-plated minions. His gaze eventually landed on the decorative rugs adorning the lobby's floor. "Get them onto the rugs!" he said. "You heard him!" Ricardo relayed as he stepped onto the nearest rug and made a taunting gesture towards the knight that was closing in on him. 

As soon as the knight stepped on the rug, Cooper motioned for Ricardo to get off of it, shortly before yanking the rug and making the knight fall on the floor, shattering it to lifeless pieces upon impact. Elijah, who saw what happened, followed their lead and did the same thing on a different rug, taking out the knight pursuing him. 

With two knights remaining, Jane spotted a problem. "There's only one rug left!" "Then we'll just have to get both of them on it at once," James replied. He attempted to strike one of the knights with the Soul Vortex, but it successfully blocked the attack. James narrowly dodged a return strike from the knight's sword, at which point it was standing on the rug. 

"Quick! Get the other one onto it! I don't know how much longer I can hold this guy here!" he called out. Ricardo ran over to one of the fallen knights, picked up their sword, and began engaging the last one. It seemed to counter all of his blows until Ricardo stunned it with the hilt, which left an opening for him to shove it onto the rug. 

Tired, Ricardo issued one order: "PULL!" 

Cooper rushed over and pulled out the last rug, destroying both of the remaining knights.

".....Well, they're done," James commented, trying to catch his breath. "Alright, let's go; we got business!" Ricardo nodded. "That's right. Who knows what Melody and her followers are doing to Rose at this moment?" 

"She was able to bring knight statues to life....effortlessly destroyed the groundskeeper using magic.....just who is this girl? And why does she have such power?" Elijah mused. 

Jane approached him. "I will also admit that the method she used to bring the knights to life wasn't normal, and it certainly wasn't an ability she exhibited during the time I knew her when we were both alive. And....." She tilted her head quizzically. "Who is this 'groundskeeper' individual you mention? You claimed that Melody murdered him?" 

Elijah turned to her. "He was truly amazing....a selfless ghost expert. He was captured and killed by Melody, but he gave us a set of instructions which allowed us to wield these gadgets you see on us now. I'm sure there was something in his laboratory that would've given him the ability to see ghosts as well. You two would've gotten along wonderfully." 

"Well then, that gives us all the more reason to pursue her!" James said. "To avenge the groundskeeper....." 

"And to rescue Rose!" Ricardo finished. "I don't believe there's anything standing in our way now! Come on, everyone, let's go!" 

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Melody.....already killed someone before.....?  And she seeks to dispose of my new travel companions? No....that's impossible! Jane thought to herself during the group's ascent to the third floor balcony. How could someone like her fall so far?

And my husband.....he does not remember me, either. I can't help but wonder if these two changes are related.....

Let's hope I can still get through to him. And.....to her, as well.