Calm and Calamity

Chapter 59

But the golden knight did not chase him as he had expected. Instead, she remained amongst the fallen prisoners, the purple gas unaffecting as she did not need to breathe. It seemed that she had lost interest in Salim.

The clockwork man paused, hesitant to go back and fight once more, but that would endanger everyone else. He had to remain away from the others; that was all he could do to protect them. Salim shouted out and beckoned the golden knight for a rematch, claiming that he was stronger in his new form, but the golden knight remained unresponsive. She stood still for a moment longer before moving further into the village and around the corner of a building, now out of sight of Salim. The purple gas lingered in the area around the fallen prisoners, rendering them all unable to get back up.

*

The three imps that had managed to escape from the purple gas ran through the village, none of them caring where they were heading so long as they were far away from the golden knight. They rounded a corner and collided with something, and were knocked onto the ground. Still blubbering and trembling, the three imps gazed upwards and saw that they had bumped into Princess Alfreda with Pearl and Daina at her side.

Princess Alfreda looked down at the imps in mild disgust, examining her dress to see if it had become damaged or muddied from that incident. She wafted her fan in amusement. "So, those other imps were telling the truth?" the princess purred in delight. "Miss Warren has gone crazy and started attacking everyone? Finally, something fun has happened around here. Where is she then? The fight has not ended already, I hope? I would so like to-"

The princess froze, her heartbeat stopping for a moment, as she saw the golden knight turn appear from behind a building. She trembled slightly, as she always did whenever she saw that golden mask, the one that had belonged to her late mother. Alfreda's smirk disappeared for a quick second before she forced it to return.

"Well, I do not see the problem," princess Alfreda scoffed, resuming in wafting herself with her paper fan. "It is just Miss Warren underneath her, hardly a threat. I have heard that Miss Warren has not been present at Lili's training session in several months. I do not doubt that we can make quick work of her."

After gazing around in mild interest at the constructed village, the golden knight turned and finally noticed the new potential sparring combatants. She stepped closer, now only roughly ten metres away from Princess Alfreda, Pearl, Daina, and the three imps.

"Where are the others?" asked Pearl, keeping her head held high in fake confidence. "Are we the first to arrive?"

The three imps shook their heads, then cowered behind the princess, clinging onto her dress with their claws and burying their blubbering faces into the beautiful silk material. Princess Alfreda would have, on any other occasion, snapped them away, but her own fear paralysed her.

The golden knight twirled her spear in a skilful flourish and pointed the blade at Princess Alfreda, Pearl, and Daina.

That isn't her, Alfreda kept telling herself, yet something certainly was different about Miss Warren, how she walked, how she twirled her spear, and how untalkative the golden knight was. There was a particular air about her, one that the princess was all too familiar with. But it couldn't be her; it couldn't be her mother standing before her because she was dead. Miss Warren was just using her mask, that was all. And yet, no matter how desperately Princess Alfreda persuaded herself, she could not fight against the fear inside her.

"Is it a fight you desire, pet?" Alfreda smirked.

The golden knight nodded.

"Well, I hate to break your heart, Miss Warren, but I am not interested. But I will happily watch you fight someone else." The princess turned to Pearl and Daina. "Do either of you fancy the challenge?"