Arthur had his eyebrows knit together a finger over his mouth. "Remind me again, Audrey is..."
"My friend," Valerie explained almost amused, with a movement of the hand, swinging her wooden sword against the air. "She's the one that does ballet and I've known her since she was eight."
Arthur nodded. "Ballet, yes, the thing where they dance of course, and Jonathan is..."
"The one with magical powers." Valerie smiled.
"Right" Arthur nodded, his face relaxing slightly. Although it was understandable, Valerie found certain amusement on the fact that for the former king, the idea of people being able to conjure things was more plausible than someone spinning on their place while sober for their own amusement.
Valerie wasn't entirely sure how exactly they had gotten to that point. Her aunt opened the portal and went to attend some business and left her to find Arthur. Once she had found him, he mentioned how he simply wasn't in the mood for training and begun to question her on things she had mentioned in passing. She wanted to think that he might another perspective on the changes that the world had taken over the years. However, he didn't seem as interested on how computers worked, or people could see a message in seconds as he was on her friends. It reminded her a bit of her mother.
"Is Jonathan similar to Emrys, then?" he questioned. Valerie tensed her lips in her best attempt to stop herself from laughing.
"I wouldn't say so, no." she shook her head, thinking of the heart-attack Jonathan would have had at being compared to Merlin. "He's a lot less stuck up and lazier and doesn't have as much control on his magic, but he's working on it, and..."
Valerie stopped; a faint heat rose to her cheeks. Arthur was looking at her in a mix of curiosity and amusement.
"You've known these people for a while haven't you?" Arthur smiled. Valerie nodded, tucking one hair behind her ear.
"Jonathan is the one I have known for the longest, and Philip is the most recent one." Valerie said "Why?"
"Would you let me give you a word of advice?" The previous friendliness vanished from his face for a second. Valerie rose an eyebrow.
"I suppose." she mumbled, unsure of the origin of the shift in tone in his words.
"Be wary of them." he spoke. Hearing him say something like that resonated more like a sentence than advice.
"What?" Valerie replied.
"I do not wish to insult you by saying this, of course." Arthur shook his head, Valerie crossed her arms, waiting for him to continue. "I knew a few of my knights for years, and they turned their backs on me when I needed them, who I assumed was my bravest and most loyal knight was having an affair with my wife under my very nose, what I intend to say is that, you need to keep an eye open, you can never be sure of who will turn their backs on you."
"Alright." Valerie nodded, hesitant, an uncomfortable feeling had settled upon her shoulders.
"This doesn't mean all your friends are plotting against you, of course, but it's easier for the enemy to get you if you invite it to your home."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Jonathan wasn't entirely sure when the uncomfortable sensation crawled to the pit of his stomach. It couldn't have been when one of the teachers pointed at him to answer a question. Most of the time, he kept both hands in his desk and did his best to avoid any kind of situation where the teacher could single him out. Although the answer he had given was the right one, the teacher stared at him with a risen eyebrow. It couldn't have been due to what he had for lunch, so he tried to focus his attention on finishing the homework for the next class.
"There it is." Andrew's voice resonated to his right, turning his trash into a small ball and throwing it to the bin. Jonathan followed it with his eyes and turned his attention to the boy. He was almost certain it was the first time Andrew wasn't standing in a perfect posture. "You look constipated again,"
Jonathan's cheeks turned a faint shade of pink, "Something's wrong." he mumbled. His mouth turned into a line.
"Many things are wrong," he stated as if it was a fact "Starting with the pile of homework that we have." Andrew shrugged, Jonathan rolled his eyes in silence discontent. "Anything that can be done about your constipation?"
"Doubtful." Jonathan sighed, staring at his phone screen. The lack of messages or calls only increased the same unpleasant feeling.
Andrew rose an amused eyebrow, glancing at the homework that now rested half-done in Jonathan's desk. "How can you know if you don't try? I could be a never-ending fountain of wisdom."
Jonathan sighed, returning bach to his work, "Alright then," he surrendered, figuring having another perspective might help him. "I have a bad feeling..."
"Aha" Andrew nodded, signaling with a movement of the hand for him to continue.
Jonathan stared at him up and down, sighing. "But I don't know where it comes from."
"Did you do all the homework?" Andrew smiled with mockery. Jonathan rolled his eyes, closing his notebook with the last of the questions answered.
"It's not because of that." he settled.
Andrew hummed, putting a hand under his chin as if he was deep in thought. "Is it related to the time you came to school looking like if you had died and then brought back to life?"
Jonathan rose an eyebrow, "I suppose it could be." he muttered, staring at his phone.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Valerie's sword clashed against the knight's who grunted as if he was trying to figure out how to speak for the first time. An arrow flew by her side, narrowly missing both her and the knight. She took a step back and turned to see Philip aiming at them. The second arrow hit the knight in the crevice of the elbow. The impact made the knight drop its sword.
"We shouldn't have returned those swords." Gabriel complained loud enough for Valerie to hear. After that, a soccer ball collided against metal and the boy shouted like he did whenever he scored in a game. Valerie half-smiled.
She swung the sword above the knight's head as it knelt to retrieve the sword. She was ready to strike when the second knight's sword stopped her from giving it a final blow. She let out a curse now faced with the reality of fighting two creatures at the same time. The second knight promptly aimed at her head to which she rose her shield. She moved her head to get the few strands of hair that had fallen on her face out of her line of vision.
'Practical my ass' she thought.
She overheard Philip curse, and mention a lack of arrows. It distracted her enough to realize that while she had successfully managed to stop one knight from aiming at her head, the shield had prevented her from seeing the other knight aiming at her leg. By the time she noticed, a hockey stick was stopping the sword from maiming her leg. She turned to see Iman with a frown in her forehead but a satisfied smile in her features.
"Had to improvise." she muttered, holding the hockey stick tight and rising it like she would a saber. Valerie smiled, rising the shield to her side and aiming at the knights.
"Better be careful, they get pretty pissed when you hit them." Valerie muttered at Iman, her sword crashing against the knight's, one arrow landing on her shield.
"Gabriel mentioned something like that." Iman retorted. The hockey stick collided against the knight's helmet, and it resonated like a bell. She took a step behind Valerie who rose her shield to prevent an upcoming blow from hitting Iman.
Valerie's sword collided against a knight's while the rest were doing their best to be a hindrance to the other. Her sword clashed against the knight's back and fort. The knight moved to her side, extending his sword and the sharp sensation of being prickled with a needle grew in her arm. She took a step back, using Excalibur to press the knight's sword away from her. Valerie knit her eyebrows together, a fine layer of sweat formed in her forehead before she stared at the shield in her hand.
"Stand back." she instructed unsure of whether anyone was close to her or if Iman had already left. Valerie took a few steps back. She turned her sword into a bracelet doing her best to dodge the attacks rather than doing anything to counter them. She prayed her idea would work, and that she had good enough of an aim.
She grabbed the shield between her hands and threw it at the nearest knight. The shield collided against the knight's stomach, the metal, made an astounding sound that filled her ears like a church's bell. Valerie smiled in satisfaction.
She hurried, returning the bracelet back into a sword and taking advantage of the brief lack of balance in the knight to push the sword in the same place where the shield had caused an indenture. The knight grabbed her arm as she pushed the sword and pressed her wrist tight enough to make Valerie aware that she would at least have a bruise.
The knight crumbled to dust, and Valerie shook her wrist, realizing the bone was misplaced, but feeling little more than if it was a bruise. She turned to the other knight whose sword was piercing a soccer ball.
Valerie rose her sword, stepping in the knight's direction, ready to attack when he withdrew his own sword and put it in the scabbard. He turned to Valerie and knelt in front of her, like Bors had done after her first fight. She knit her eyebrows together, her sword pressed tight in her right hand. He rose from the ground and walked past her until he stood in front of Audrey who was holding a few of Phillip's arrows in her hands.
Valerie tensed, following the knight from up close. She got ready to strike when the knight took a bow in front of Audrey, his sword now in his hands making an offering. Audrey stared at the knight up and down. The arrows tumbling to the floor were the only noise around them.
The knight stood as till as a statue. Audrey stared at both Valerie and Gabriel with clear surprise and fear in her eyes. Gabriel shrugged, and Valerie rose her sword. With a trembling hand, Audrey took the sword out of the knight's hands and held it by the handle like a tidy person holds a dirty cloth. The knight then rose and making a respectful bow towards each of the people left he vanished.
All eyes turned to Audrey.Her eyes opened wide, and she dropped the sword like it burned.
A.N
Here's another chapter! Hope you enjoy it!