Ancient Cardos: The Knight of Cardos

Chapter 2: Kelly's True Nature

It has been a week since I told my Uncle Chris about my dream of my father dying from a poisoned drink. The dreams only continued from there. They got worse and worse and I woke up every night screaming like I was living in a nightmare.

I was at my parents grave this morning. It was a foggy morning. No body was around and I had nothing better to do. I sat down in front of their graves once a week to tell them how my life is going.

"Hey, Ponytail." Leonard said as he sat down next to me. "Hey, Leo." I didn't have to see him to know it was him. He always calls me that because that is how I always have my hair.

"Story time again?" He asked. I nodded. "Yea, once a week. Like always." I stood up and walked through the fog back into the kingdom. He got up and followed.

"Alright, Alice. Tell me what's bothering you." Leo said as he put his hand on my shoulder to stop me. I didn't turn to face him.

"I'm not talking about it." I said and shook off his hand and kept walking. I crossed my arms and blanked out. The next thing I know, Leo pushed me to the ground.

"What the hell?" I said looking him in the eye. He covered my mouth and a bunch of horse riders came rushing by. They worse black armor all the time.

They were the rouge army. They kill or capture anyone out of their kingdoms. If they caught me, I most likely would have been captured and held for ransom.

"We need to get back into Cardos." Leo said removing his hand. "Yea we do." I said back and we got up and ran towards the kingdom's gates.

I stopped running when I saw Leo's mom outside the gates talking with the roughish army. "Leo, why is your mom out here?"

"I have no clue." He said. We watched as they talked and argued then a few horse riders rode off without her. She looked around and pulled the hood over her head.

We walked back to the gates. Luckily we saw nobody else and came back into the castle. The fog was everywhere. "You think the guards would sound the warning bell to let no one leave." I said.

Leo just sat down on a bench nearby and stared at the ground. "Leo i'm sure your mother is fine."

"I think my mother was trying to sell us out. The rouge army never comes this close to Cardos. They were at the walls, Alice."

I sat down next to him. "Should we tell Chris? He should know about the rouge army at least." Leo said.

"He can read my mind like a book. He will know about your mother as well. Then he will question her and he will know everything that she did with them."

"Your uncle is scary." Leo added.

After that we sat in silence and I left to go back home and talk to Chris. Not about the rouge army, but of my potential magic and what it could mean.

I opened the door and found Chris reading a book. "Morning, Uncle."
He looked up at me and gave me that look.

"Its this foggy and you went where?" He asked

"To visit my parents grave like always."

"The rouge army have made it to our walls with this fog and you were out there to talk to rotting skeletons!" I felt my insides boil from that comment.

"Those rotting skeletons are the remains of the two people that brought me into this world and one of those rotting skeletons brought you back from the dead. The other rotting skeleton gave you power to the throne. You should address them with respect!"

Chris closed his book and placed it on the table in front of him. "I constantly warn you of the evil out there and yet you play on their door step. Percy will destroy you if he found out who you are."

"Whose Percy?" I asked. He had the face that he knew he messed up. He kept silent, but he knew I broke something out of him. "Percy is the reason for many things. Great evil rests within him. He is evil itself. He is related to you and I. We are descendants of evil itself and here we are worshipping the good."

The warning bell sounded and a man came into the room. "A lone knight is killing everyone."

"I will end this." Chris said and he walked out of the room. I ran to my room and grabbed my sword and shield. I ran out to find my uncle.

I stopped running and saw the knight stabbing one of the knights through their stomach. The knight had no shield.

The rouge knight came up to me and I held out my sword. The knight put their sword away and pulled off there gauntlet and threw it down at me.

I remember something like this. When a knight tosses down their gauntlet they are suggesting a fight to the death. Whoever picks it up accepts the fight.

I picked up the gauntlet and threw it back. "I, Alice Bennet of Cardos, accept your challenge. Who am I fighting?"

The knight pulled of their helmet. "Kelly Standon of Cardos." I was staring at my moms best friend becoming a traitor. My best friend's mother becoming a traitor.

She had full battle armor and I was in my normal clothes holding a sword and shield.

She put her helmet back on and drew her sword. She charged me and swung downwards. I blocked her attack with my shield and swung back at her. Our swords collided and we kept repeating the process until Chris found us fighting.

"Alice, what are you doing?" I had no time to respond. I hoped he read my mind. Kelly went to stab me in the stomach and I backed away from it and slammed my shield down on her sword. She dropped it and backed away.

I went the cut her down, but she vanished. Leaving her sword behind. I sheathed my own sword and I picked up Kelly's and saw weird markings on it.

"What is this?" I asked Chris as he came up to me. Chris took the sword and looked over it.

"The Markings of Percy Ward."