The Pen Knight

It Begins With a Song

Alexandrea stands alone.

Her breaths like clouds in the winter air, blood like splotches of red hastily splashed on a canvas of white. The blood on her blade was so caked it threatened to consume the metal underneath. She leaned against a tree, her golden eyes piercing through the white snow... a survivor of the ambush against her strike squad by... well that part didn't matter much in the moment. what mattered was survival.

"... Is anyon-" She coughed as she spoke, feeling bile in her throat "Anyone alive?" She said, pushing off of the tree she had been leaning on for support as she made her way to the carriage.  Hearing no response, she grit her teeth and took one agonizing step after the next until reaching the damaged vessel with a stumble and a heavy breath. That breath froze as she saw the body of Yenna, who had being directing the horses masterfully, dead alongside his horse. she felt her eyes shake and blur before she forces them shut. Her adrenaline had started to wear off, her thoughts now focused less on her own survival and now on the survival of her comrades. "ANYONE?!" She screamed, hoping for any kind of answer.

The answer she received was a cough. "Leo.." 

She twisted to the sound, her eyes fighting back water as she limped over to "Rudy.." She dropped to her knees beside him, the snow crunching under her weight. She saw the spear that jutted out of his sternum... "..." she gritted her teeth once more, a habit she devised when she was trying to find strength.

"yeah~" a cough filled with blood passed through his throat "... I'm sorry... we didn't fight harder" another blood soaked cough would redden his lips with crimson, as a hoarse laugh rumbled through his decaying chest. 

She found herself wanting to vomit, wanting to cry, to scream, to sing. Instead, she placed a hand on his cheek. "You fought splendidly" she retorted, her lips trembling in the cold and the emotional weight. 

Another laugh, this one breathier then the last. He pointed up a hill. "Horses... the... they came on horseback... you can... steal one... get back to Rathmor" he coughs out, his eyes watering as he feels the jaws of death begin to slowly clamp around him.

She followed his gaze, nodding along before turning to him, her eyes soft with recognition. "Thank you, Rudy ... Are you comfortable?"

He nodded "As much as... I can be..."

She gently nodded, her lips trembling and her hand vibrating with a mix of sadness, guilt, and rage. Yet, the rest of her face showed determination and bravery, knowing that the last face Rudy would see was hers. "You're family will know of your bravery"

He laughs one last time "Thanks, Leo" His lips began to tremble "would you... do me the favor of staying with me?" 

She nods immediately. "Of course" she says, her eyes watering and a knot forming in her chest. 

he smiles and looks at the sky "... over wind... over dale... through valleys... and vales... I'm coming ... home... to..." ... and his breath hastens... and then slows... and then stops...

She waits for his skin to grow cold... it takes no more then a moment. 

____


Lady Alexandrea Lionheart, you may stand.

She rose from where she had kneeled, an eruption of hollers and cheers sang out behind her. she had dreamed of this moment since childhood. Clad in armor, and named a knight. She had risen from nothing to become what she was, and yet the hollers felt muffled in the presence of a bittersweet feeling.

The cleric smiled to the new knight. "Go now, and live honorably"

Song, dance, the smell of magic in the air followed the honorable Lady Lionheart as she was paraded from bar to bar by her once fellow foot soldiers. The taste of alcohol on the tounge and the sweet sound of drinking songs filled the festive air as her fellow soldiers married off for the night. Once out of sight, Leo would slink between an ally. walking quickly between street venders peddling magical trinkets and dodging Automatons moving boxes before arriving at a hole-in-the-wall sort of place called the Wolfs Refuge.