the Bleeding Crown

The Black Knight; Part Three

January 14h, 2014

Avalon

He had me on the defensive, he swung at my head with the ferocity and speed of a bear. I couldn't stop moving, any hesitation meant I was dead. Somehow I needed to get away from him, but it was hard to think. All that was on my mind was survival, he was a force of nature. Not something to defeat, but something to endure.

He knocked the blade from my hands, his boot then met my chest. I went flying across the clearing and slammed back first into a tree. The pain spread across my body like a creeping cold. The wind had been knocked from me completely. I choked for air, begged for it.

A dragon, I needed to be a dragon. My sword be damned, I am a Knight of Avalon, and Daughter of the Witch Queen. And what was he? What was this man who had caused so much suffering, what was he compared to me?

"You sure you can do this, girl?" he muttered. The Knight walked forward and picked my sword up from the ground. "Good steel is hard to come by." he said and snapped the blade over his knee.

Damnit, this wasn't going how I had planned. I needed to draw out more power, but there was no more to be had. I clenched my fists. I was either going to win, or I would die a good death. I got up and my heels dug into the earth. I didn't need the sword, the flames were my weapon. I balled the fire in my hands and prepared to launch at him. My body felt like it had just been put into a furnace. Like I was standing right in the center of a great forge.

Sure I might get nicked by that jagged blade of his, but I'd land enough blows to maybe throw him off. It was all or nothing, right here, my legend begins.

I wiped the blood from my nose with the back of my hand. The dark red liquid bubbled against my burning skin. I looked at the Knight, and then kicked off towards him. I am flame, holy and righteous, I am hell itself come to burn the sinful. He swung at me, but I ducked underneath the blade. I pivoted to the side and landed a left hook to his abdomen.

I jabbed him with my right hand, and then jumped back. Pivoted again with my right foot and then swung my left leg high, kicking him in the head. He staggered to his left, giving me a chance to jump forward. Bringing my left knee up and slamming it into his chest. He took a few steps back, and then threw his blade to the ground. These Black Knights, they were nothing if not honorable of a duel.

***

For a while we traded blows. His gauntleted fists slammed into my sides. The pain a white hot against my flesh. The heat was unbearable, at this rate the flames would kill me before he did.

He landed a right hook to my head, breaking my guard, sending me into a daze. He grabbed me by the throat. I tried to rip, pull his hands from my neck. I didn't have many options left. I-I needed to do something, anything. Is this how it ends? Is this how I end? His hand tightened around my throat and then, then there was nothing but darkness.

***

I woke up in an odd place. It was a box of a room, a metal table, and two metal chairs. The space was dimly lit, and very gray. On one side of the room, a metal door, on the other a slick pane of glass that reflected the two of us in the room. That's right, there are two of us.

She was sitting in one of the chairs. Her night black hair haloed by an orb of light hanging above her. Her green hazel eyes were tired and when she looked at me, she looked intrigued.

"By all means, take a seat." the girl said.

She wore odd clothing, nothing I had ever seen. Her tunic black, and across the chest were four letters; VANS. her wrists were marked with fresh wounds, had she been attacked? She gestured at the other chair.