Travelers

Chapter 20 - The Duel

Jacob almost danced across the battlefield shooting sparks of magic across the field nonstop. He found himself holding back the group of centaurs that had focused on him, and every once and a while either Mal or Cat would hit one or two of his that he couldn't cover, and he did the same for them. After their time fighting together in Middle Earth, Jacob found that their synergy in a fight had improved significantly. Unfortunately, the centaurs seemed to realize this and began to separate them, pushing into the spaces between them. He soon found himself without his partners and being overwhelmed. He could see both of them through the mass of centaurs, and saw that both were in his same predicament. He was faced with a choice, He could help Mal, his best friend, or he could help Cat, who was... well... She was Cat. He glanced right and saw Mal struggling to stay on her broom, to his left he could see Cat shifting between her cat form and her regular self. Unfortunately, he had been to busy thinking to put his entire focus into defending himself. A centaur's fist slammed into his chest and he toppled. His vision was blurry, but he could see the grass and hooves stampeding around him, along with a downed centaur next to him. He looked at the empty sheath on the centaur's back, and he could swear it seemed to shimmer.

He blinked and there in the sheath was a silver sword with writing engraved on the blade and impressive red stones on its pommel and guard. He crawled toward it and drew the sword out of the open back sheath. He felt the courage of Gryffindor surging through him, so he stood. He found that his original wand had been trampled and was now in several pieces, but his new wand was gripped firmly in his left hand. He had made it in secret. He had used a branch from a spruce tree in the forbidden forest, and a small piece of the centaur's arrowhead that he had kept as its core. it was a wand especially useful for the new earth spells he had developed during Flitwick's private tutoring.

He stood, a crazy idea forming in his mind. He decided to follow it, shouting, "Who leads this herd? Who dares to attack my friends and I? Who would threaten the innocents within this school? Who is this coward?" Suddenly, all the centaurs stopped and looked at him, dumbfounded. Jacob remembered that were quite the prideful creatures, so he knew his insult had struck true with the centaurs' leader. They parted and a centaur with several impressive scars across his muscular chest and his grim face strode toward him. Cat and Mal had stopped fighting, realizing he was trying to buy them time.

"You would call me a coward?" the centaur said to him, though it came out more as a growl. "You will pay for your insolence!" he bellowed, brandishing a blade that must have been at twice as heavy as the light, balanced blade Jacob held in his hand. Jacob nodded back to him.

"Then face me in honor!" he called back, "No magic, no bows. Only swords. Neither of our kin will interfere I assume." He glanced at Mal with those last words. The centaurs backed out to create a circle and their leader grunted his agreement and trotted the far side of the circle, then turned to face Jacob. Both held their swords at the ready, then they charged. and the duel began.

_____________________

Cat wasn't sure to how to feel about what Jacob had just done. She knew that he was decent with a sword, but she doubted she could outdo a centaur captain. Just before the duel started, she saw him glance at her, then turn away, a darkness in his eyes. She wasn't quite sure what it was that had made him do this, but she was almost certain that it had something to do with her and Ariana. While he might have been a Gryffindor, he was just as caring as any Hufflepuff, as wise as a Ravenclaw, and as determined to succeed as a Slytherin. He had taken a sword through the chest to save the rest of them, and now he might do just that again. It wasn't until the duel had been going for almost a minute that she noticed that Cedric was nowhere to be seen. She thought back on Jacob's words. Who leads this herd? Who is this coward? It was then that she knew where Cedric was. Jacob had called the leader a coward. Would a coward be fighting with their soldiers? no, they wouldn't be. The real leader was no doubt still laying petrified on the quidditch pitch. Lyndsey. Cat whispered this all into Ariana's ear as they watched Jacob holding his own thanks to the extra training from Aragorn. The sword of Godric Gryffindor held between his hands, Jacob seemed almost as heroic as he had when he had charged Ryan at the black gate. Almost. Mal slipped away to go aid Cedric in retrieving Lyndsey, but Cat wondered if she was going to miss something actually fairly impressive. She was right. the duel was swiftly ended when Jacob quickly deflected a blow and caught the captain's arm and used the momentum to swing up on the centaur's back and brought his blade up to his foes throat.