Gilthunder's Half Sister

Chapter Sixteen

Keeva squeezed his waist as tight as she could and looked up at Houser. She smiled the biggest smile she could and said "Thank you." She then grabbed Housers wrist and pulled him along with the group. Houser drug his feet, but followed. The group was walking slower than usual away from the Holy Knights, but was doing so to keep Keeva happy.

They were in a broken down part of the castle now. Time had not been kind to the castle and with the Holy Knights fighting often, the castle had not had time to be repaired yet. The group had gone down the corridor to a broken part of the castle, where the outside wall and stairs were destroyed. The Holy Knights mocking them were on the top of the stairs that happened to remain on the top floor. Keeva was unsure of how they even got up there or why they would be there. Unless they were somewhere they weren't supposed to be? Maybe they were hiding from everyone else? She wondered just who's side they were actually on.

They had gotten a little ways down the corridor, going towards the main part of the castle that was in tact when they hear someone shout "I didn't give her enough credit I suppose. She was able to turn the Seven Deadly Sins and two Holy Knights into useless babies like her. Very impressive." Everyone froze.

They turned to see Rosand and his band of Knights Klaus, Percy, and Lon laughing at the joke. "Yeah," Percy continued, "it didn't take much for them to tuck their tails between their legs and run away."

"That just proves how weak they are." Lon said, laughing harder. "I can't believe we were ever afraid of that group." Smacking his knees at their humor, all Klaus could do was nod in agreement as he was laughing so hard.

Rosand stood straight, no longer laughing. "However," he said as he pulled out a crossbow, "I did not say we were done with you, nor did I give you permission to leave. You have assisted a prisoner escaping, making you all criminals. You must all come with me at once."

"Yeah, we wouldn't wanna hurt any hairs on your wittle heads!" Percy screamed, followed by laughing from himself and his friends.

Keeva looked around and seen anger on everyone's face, even Elizabeth. She became frightened. 'Everyone looks so angry. I don't blame them. The teasing seems childish and unwise. But they can't fight. I don't want anyone to get hurt, especially on my account. They aren't worth the trouble.' She turned towards them, already in front as they had turned around to look at the Knights. Ban was biting his lip in anger. Keeva blushed at the thoughts she was having while she did so and quickly looked towards her brother Gilthunder. His eyebrows were scrunched up, his fists were balled up, and there was a hatred in his eyes she hadn't seen before. She quickly grabbed his hand to stop him from going towards them. She also looked over to Houser to see how he was holding up.

Houser's eyebrows were furrowed and chest was puffed out. Keeva could see that he was in pain, which was strange. Surely some teasing wouldn't make him feel this way? He was a Holy Knight after all. Getting teased was a regular occurrence. She wondered if he was injured?

At this point, the group of adventuring friends were no longer listening to Keeva. As the group walked towards the Knights, Gilthunder shouted back "King, watch over the Princesses and Keeva please. Keeva, stay there and help as you can." He then turned back and started towards the Knights. Margaret looked to Keeva and said "don't worry about any troubles, Keeva. They should not be there and they are in a section of the castle that we have not used in several years. It was part of a jail that we no longer use. Rosand and his band of apprentices are no longer technically Holy Knights. Even during the time that everything was going wrong, they took things too far."

She started to reach for Houser's hand but he was already heading towards the Knights. Gilthunder took his hand from Keeva and followed, with Ban and Meliodas following close behind.  Keeva started towards them but King and Elizabeth each grabbed her shoulders to stop her.

"You don't need to worry about them," Elizabeth said "they can take care of themselves." Elizabeth smiled at Keeva and pat her shoulder to re-assure her.

King nodded in agreement. "The Knights are the ones that should be afraid." Keeva looked back at her brother and new friends. They had just met a little while ago, and yet they were ready to fight on her behalf. Which she appreciated and also hated. Confrontation and violence were her least favorite things. She has always hated it. It usually never solves things and ends in more problems. If Gilthunder and Houser fight other Knights, they could get into trouble. If they got into trouble, or worse lost their Knighthood, she would feel awful. She felt tears building in her eyes. Even with Margaret's reassurance, she was not willing to risk anyone getting hurt or in trouble for her.

She had to stop them but how? They were already well ahead of her and with their long legs, they had already gotten further than she would get. She looked up towards Rosand and his apprentice Knights. Rosand continued to have his crossbow drawn and at the ready, waiting for a good enough shot. There was rubble on all sides of the corridor and the stairs were blocking him from getting a good shot. Klaus had a bow and was also waiting for a shot to line up. Percy had a giant shield facing where her brother and others would come up, protecting the archers. Lon had a giant sword and was also ready for a fight. She knew the group well enough to know that each of their weapons would be laced with poison. She didn't get a chance to tell her friends that before they left.

'Oh no.' She thought, biting her lip in panic. 'If they get close to them, they can get poisoned. If an arrow hits them, they will get poisoned.' she had to step in and do something, but what?

She looked around her surroundings for options. She needed her staff  but she didn't have it. When she was put in jail, they had taken it away from her. There was a small cliff to her right. The castle wall was destroyed after being smashed. There was some construction starting to fix it, but it was not far along yet. If she jumped, the cliff was not steep but the group would be forced to help her. If she told King what happened, maybe he could use his giant pillow to cover them?

She looked straight ahead. If she sprinted a little forward, she could use her Blink and maybe catch up with them, but what if she didn't? Or what would she do after that if she did catch up with them? Even though they were just in the destroyed part of the castle, they had gotten far away.

She was limited on the powers she could use. She needed a staff for magic that was far away on another level of the castle. There were some tools with wooden handles, but would that even work? And would her magic reach the Knights?

So many questions. Such little time. Keeva quickly weighed her options. 'Okay,' she thought 'I have decided. I just hope it works!' She pulled from the grip of Elizabeth and King and raced to put her plan in action.

"KEEVA!" King, Margaret, and Elizabeth screamed.

***Cover art credit: https://www.zerochan.net/1650696