The Vampire & Her Witch

”Coward,” Sir Rain mocked as he unleashed another powerful punch, aiming to circle around Ollie’s guard and strike his head. As soon as he did, however, the instant he deviated from direct punches to the young knight’s forearms, Ollie struck out at Sir Rain’s arm, delivering a punishing blow of his own and forcing Sir Rain to back up and shake out his arm before rushing back in.

”Enough of this game, boy,” Sir Rain spat as he shifted his focus, dropping low to pummel the young man’s exposed stomach in the hopes of breaking his stance and knocking the wind out of him.

Still, Ollie measured his response, slapping the punches aside before delivering a pair of blows to Sir Rain’s stomach and lower ribs. This time, however, as Sir Rain gasped for air, Ollie didn’t step back. Instead, he stepped even closer in, raining down punch after punch on Sir Rain’s chest and abdomen, as though he was pounding a sack of oats instead of a living, breathing knight.

The force of Ollie’s blows stunned Sir Rain, and he struggled to draw breath or find the strength to shove the young man away from him. Finally, in a desperate bid to escape, he tucked his chin to his collar and charged forward, throwing his arms out wide in an attempt to wrestle the young knight to the ground.

For a moment, the crowd went silent as it looked like Sir Rain’s desperate move might actually work, but when he slammed into Ollie, two things happened that he didn’t expect. First, the young knight’s feet didn’t even move. Even though Sir Rain outweighed the flame-haired youth by at least one or two stone, he felt like he’d slammed into a tree instead of a man!

Second, while Ollie’s feet didn’t move, Sir Rain’s did, sliding on the wet flagstones of the training yard and sending him crashing to the ground. Ollie barely had to touch him, shoving Rain’s shoulders down as his feet began to slide in order to ensure that Rain fell too quickly to get his arms back under himself to break the fall.

-THUMP-

All across the training yard, the crowd held their breath, waiting to see if the fallen knight would rise. Ollie himself stepped back, raising his hands again in case Sir Rain made a move. After several heartbeats, however, the other man still hadn’t moved a single muscle. Moreover, water pooling around his head began to turn a faint shade of pink as blood spilled from a wound to Sir Rain’s head.

”Sir Ollie, victory!” Sir Carwyn shouted in a clear, ringing voice that broke the silence of the yard, unleashing a stream of wild cheers accompanied by excited shouts from those who had won a wager.

For Ollie, however, the moment felt... Hollow.

”Was he... was he really even a knight?” Ollie asked, staring at Sir Rain’s unconscious figure lying unmoving on the ground. ”Is this... is this really the sort of man who was good enough to protect Lord Owain?”

”I heard that Lord Owain’s previous protector, Sir Tommin, has become a Templar who wields a Holy Light Blade,” Sir Carwyn said as he stared down at the defeated knight, feeling similar doubts about how easily the other man had been defeated. ”And I’ve seen Sir Rain fight from horseback in tournaments. Perhaps.... This was just the worst way for him to prove his strength.”

”Maybe,” Ollie said, looking down at the defeated knight before waving for Harrod and the soldiers near him to come and collect the fallen man. ”But I can’t help but feel like he was defeated before the fight even started. Maybe... maybe this is what he wanted. He was captured without even drawing his sword... Maybe he just needed to be able to say that he’d tried to fight back, even if he was doomed to lose.”

”Sir Ollie is being generous,” Hugo said as he joined the men in the center of the courtyard. ”But I thank you for it. And thank you,” he added, glancing at Sir Rain’s unconscious figure as a group of soldiers carried him away. ”For going easy on him. Even without weapons, I’m sure you could have killed him, so... thank you.”

”I haven’t heard that he’s done anything personally to deserve death,” Ollie said as he gestured for Hugo and Carwyn to join him in returning to their chambers. ”Just serving Lord Owain isn’t enough to earn a death sentence, so unless he’s committed some kind of crime, I won’t kill him.”

”As for you, Sir Hugo Hanrahan,” Ollie said, throwing an arm over the other man’s shoulder. ”Master Isabell and Sir Marcel have both said good things about you. That you’re intelligent and that you think before you act. They’ve also said that you’ve been pressured unfairly by the people in Owain’s inner circle.”

”When the time comes,” Ollie said in tones that he hoped were reassuring. ”I’ll do my best to speak well of you. My words may not count for much with Dame Sybyll, but I’ll do what I can.”

”Dame Sybyll?” Hugo asked, blinking in confusion at the title. Very few women were ever conferred with knighthood, and if there was one who was still alive, he was certain he’d have heard of her. But then, he’d never heard of Sir Ollie, so perhaps she was another member of Lady Ashlynn’s coven.

”She’s one of Lady Nyrielle’s progeny,” Ollie explained as they walked. ”You would know her as the Crimson Knight of Airgead Mountain. And I’m sorry,” he added in a tone that felt genuinely apologetic. ”But I’ve already been told that your life belongs to her. So whether you live or die, it won’t be up to me.”

Ollie wished he had more that he could share with the scholarly knight. He seemed like a good man caught up in circumstances beyond his control. But as soon as he’d mentioned his name to Virve, she’d responded by saying that he shouldn’t touch the knight until Sybyll returned because his life was already hers to claim.

Heila had said much the same thing, adding that Lady Nyrielle had recalled Dame Sybyll from Airgead Mountain to help Lady Ashlynn, but she hadn’t said anything beyond that, leaving Ollie with more questions than answers.

”But if you can help me understand what Lord Owain has been up to,” Ollie added as he looked into the wide, terrified eyes of the scholarly knight next to him. ”Maybe she’ll take that into consideration when she decides what to do with you.”