The White Knight

Chapter Six-First Fight

For the next few months, Maria continued her training as a warrior.  Just as Geoffrey said, things got easier for her.  While she took many falls and blows at first, these decreased as time went on.  With the help of Sir Peter, Osondria and Geoffrey, Maria was made into a good knight.
         At the end of her training, Maria was given the new white chain mail, a good sword, a shield and a spear.  Upon receiving these, Maria said to Geoffrey, "I hardly deserve these.  I would just be happy if I had the armor and equipment that I used while I was being trained.  These are so beautiful."  Maria pulled the sword from the scabbard and looked at it in admiration.
         "Do not be a fool," Geoffrey said.  "You earned all that we have given you.  You learned quickly.  Maria Fancher, I know you will be the one to help all of Utofamia.  I have given you all you need, except for one thing."
         Geoffrey led Maria to the stables.  He went to one and pointed to a midnight colored horse.  Maria had seen many horses before, but this was the most beautiful and, except for Sir Peter's, was the biggest.  As the horse stood in front of Maria, she noticed a look of fierceness in its eyes.
         "This horse is six years old.  Since he was a wild horse, it took almost a year to train him.  Now he is as gentle as he can be; the only wildness left in him is in his eyes.  He has been in many battles and has shown bravery in them.
         "We have been saving him for a special knight.  His name is Chilowna, which means the Wild One."
         "Are we going to be fighting?" Maria asked nervously.
         "The land is peaceful right now.  There have been no threats from the Black Knights.  There might not be any fighting for many days.  In the mornings, the hunting grounds are scouted for any enemies.  In the evenings, the Kingsbane stand watch.  We have good night vision.  Therefore, it is a rare chance that anybody reaches the castle without our knowing.
         "If by any chance, you are away from the castle when there is a need for knights, a messenger will be sent to look for you.
         "Also, as a word of warning, keep your identity concealed.  If the wrong people know that you are from a different world, they may try to stop you."
         Maria looked at Geoffrey.  "I do not know what to say except that it has been pleasure training with you.  There were several times I almost gave up.  However, both you and Osondria believed in me and help me along."
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         Maria rode on Chilowna until they came to a shaded area by a stream.
         "This looks like a good place," she said to herself as she got off her horse.  It had been several weeks since Maria was made into a knight.  So far, in that part of Utofamia, there was peace.  There was no news of the Knights of King Christoph of any kind at all.  Because of this, the knights decided to train in the mornings.  During the early afternoon, they were free to go anywhere they wanted.  If some need should arise, they would be notified.
         Maria reached into her saddlebag and pulled out the first volume of The History of Utofamia.  She was going to use up this free time to catch up on her reading.  While she had been reading through the history, this was the first time in a while since she had read on the beginnings.  The large amount of training prevented her from doing so before.
         Maria found a good dry spot in the shade of the trees.  She opened the book and looked where she had left off.
         For a while Maria was afraid to take the books out of the library.  The reason for this was that there was only one copy of each volume.  If a book ended up getting badly damaged, there would be trouble.  She expressed this fear to Sir Peter.  In response, he took a worn volume and threw it into the fire.  A brand new copy appeared on the bookshelf.  Sir Peter said that these volumes were magical so that damaged books could be burned and they would appear in good condition.  However, not all fires worked this way.  Only the wood from certain trees held this magic.
         Maria opened the book.  It had been a while since she had read.  She found the place where she had left off.

Chapter Two
Of Melisande and the Red Knights

         Bellerophon ran until he could run no further.  A cliff overlooking a sea prevented him from going on.  He sat down and sobbed for his wife.  He sat there for a long time.  Finally, he could not take it any longer.  He jumped and plunged over the cliff.
         He fell and fell.  He waited in anticipation for the impact.  It never came.  He opened his eyes and looked around.  He noticed that he was not falling but more like flying.  He glanced over at his arms.  To his surprise they were replace by wings.  He got a closer look at himself and realized that his body had taken the form of a bird.  Bellerophon pointed himself upwards and flew to the top of the cliff.  He changed back into a man.  He sat and thought for a long time.
         "I was not meant to end my life like this.  Things are unfinished."
         He departed the cliff and went to look for Melisande.  She found her at her evil ways.
         She stood at the edge of a forest.  She stood there holding onto a staff, the horrid color of dried blood.  On the staff were carvings of demons.
         Melisande stood at the forest and cried, "Come forth Red Death!"
         At first nothing happened.  Then there was a flash of light and the forest was consumed with flames.  As soon as they came, the flames disappeared.  However, of the forest, all that remained were ashes.  Amid these ashes stood countless numbers of knights clad in red armor.
         Melisande looked at these knights and laughed.  She spoke to them.  "The land you see before you is yours.  The people and creatures are for you to destroy."
         The knights departed and started ravaging the land.  The Knights of the Eastern and Western halves of Utofamia decided to cooperate with each other and combine their forces.  They fought against the Red Knights, but were not effective.  Many lives were lost.  People lived in fear, both of death and treason-of the people not killed by this enemy; they were forced to join this evil band.
         Bellerophon saw this and was angry.  He went up to Melisande and slapped her across the face.
         Melisande raked her fingernails across his face.  Blood dripped from the small cuts.  "How dare you to hit me like that!"
         "Who, by the name of Rem, do you think you are?  Destroying my world like this?  It took years of patience, loving and hard work from both my wife and me to get it to where it was."
         "Don't you realize that you are talking to your wife right now?"
         "No!  You are not my wife!  Romana Marlena is.  You, Melisande, possess my wife's body as we speak.  Once you are destroyed, I will have my wife with me once again."
         Melisande laughed harshly, but there was no enjoyment in her eyes.  "You do not realize that I will never be destroyed!  There is no way to kill me!  You will never be with your wife again!"
         Melisande ran off.
         Bellerophon stood with his head bowed.  Then he looked up towards the sky with tears in his eyes.  "Rem, please stop this madness.  Give me back Romana Marlena.  As for the rest of Utofamia, I will make it what it was like before, no more."
         A voice came behind Bellerophon.  "It will not be that easy."
         Bellerophon spun around and was facing three odd looking men.  He walked toward them.
         "Why are you so different from the rest of my people?  Your skin is so frail looking and wrinkled.  And your hair is so white and disheveled."
         "We are known as the Wise Ones.  We have been sent by Rem to help you.  Why we are different from your people is because we are wizened with our knowledge."
         "If you were sent by Rem, help me by telling me how to get Melisande out of my wife's body."
         "That is impossible to do.  We must wait for that individual from the different world.  That person will be the only one to destroy Melisande.  We still do not know how to do so; we are looking for the answers ourselves.  We must depart now."
         "Where are you going?"
         "We are going to our residences in the Great Desert of Utofamia.  That place will provide us with the best protection, because not many people dare venture there.  There are not many people chosen as Wise Ones now, but as the years increase so will the number."
         "But how is this visitor to come here if he is not from one of Rem's worlds?"
         "This will be the doing of a Wise One."
         The three men departed.
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         Rem looked down on Utofamia and saw how quickly the land became devastated.  He was shamed that all his anger had caused this damage.  He raised his hands to strike down Melisande and the Red Knights.  Then he shook his head.
         "No.  I can not make it easy for Bellerophon.  He has to learn his lesson.  However, I cannot allow for this land to go to waste.  He spent a lot of time creating this beauty."
         He thought for a while.
         Then he said, "Let Melisande and her Red Knights depart Utofamia for some time.  Bellerophon needs time to repair the land and to build up the people's morale.  He needs also to build up the strength of the two armies of knights."
         The Rem glanced down on Utofamia to see what was happening.
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         Melisande leered in satisfaction at the damage done to Utofamia.  Then she had the Red Knights gather around her.
         "Let us depart from this forsaken land.  We have no more use as of now.  Let them build up their strength.  When they believe we are gone for good, we shall strike."
         At this Melisande and the Red Knights disappeared from Utofamia and appeared in the Void.  Melisande chose a hole and went down it.  However, there were several holes close together and the Red Knights could not decide which one she went down.  So they made a choice and went down one.  However, they made the wrong choice and the Red Knights and Melisande were in different worlds.
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Rem saw what happened and laughed.
         "These Red Knights are not too bright," he said to himself.  Then he thought some more.  "This land called The Void is too easy to get to.  From now on this land will appear to be nothing, with the entrance ways to the other worlds hidden.
         "Anyone can visit the other worlds.  From now only a few selected people will be given magical powers to get to the Void.  These people can bring others with them.  Only the good people have the right to this power.  Melisande will be the only exception.  However, it will take a long time for her and the Red Knights to be reunited."
         Meanwhile, Bellerophon saw that Melisande was gone.  He set about restoring the land.  In the place destroyed by Melisande, he grew a new and more beautiful one.
         "This shall be called Ash Forest," Bellerophon said.
         Of the other one, he called Old Forest, because it was the only one left intact during the Red Knights tumult.
         Then Bellerophon said, "My human form takes too much time for traveling.  Let me have the power to take the form of any bird, fish, reptile or animal to make traveling quicker."
         This was done and Bellerophon took the form of hawk and flew.  He visited the people and convinced them that the enemy was gone.  People became happy once again and began celebrating.
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         Maria looked up quickly and closed her book.  Some noise startled her out of reading.  She listened more carefully.  It was a moment before she heard horses' hooves beating on the ground coming towards her.  Maria led Chilowna into the tree line and waited.
         The first person she saw was a young lad in rags, riding a pony.  He had a look of terror on his face and was trying to get the old pony to move faster.  Right after she saw the lad, Maria saw what he was running from.  It was a Black Knight.  With a look of cruelty on his face and in his eyes, he chased the boy and brandished his sword.
         When she saw that, Maria felt very angry.  She quickly mounted Chilowna and rode at a fast clip over the brook, and chased after the knight.
         Up ahead of her, Maria saw that the boy had fallen from his pony and that the knight was getting ready for the kill.
         "I will teach you to steal from me you little thief," the knight said as he raised his sword.
         Maria knew that she had to act fast.  She gave Chilowna a couple extra kicks to make him go faster and got between the knight and the boy.
         "In order to get to the boy, you will have to fight me first," Maria said, drawing her sword out of its scabbard.
         The knight grinned, a grin of malice.  "You will regret it, knight.  I will cut through you in the first seconds of the fight.  Since you are challenging me, I choose to fight standing on the ground."
         Maria got off her horse and led him to the side.  She secured her sword.  For a few seconds, Maria and the knight stood and stared at each other.  Then the knight charged.
         Maria saw him coming at her and managed to get out of the way.  The knight went right past her and fell to the ground.
         Even though Maria could have run up to the fallen knight and stabbed him in the back with her sword, she had to wait.  It was not noble of a knight to slay another while he is down.
         Maria waited until the knight was on his feet and ready to fight again.
         The knight stood a few feet from Maria.  "This is a fight to the death.  Even if you fall, I shall kill you without waiting for you to rise.  If you beg me to spare your life, I still will kill you."          The knight again rushed towards Maria and swung his sword.  However, she caught his sword with hers.  A tingling went through Maria's hands, but she remained standing.  Just then the Black Knight twisted his arm, trying to get at Maria.  He succeeded with only hitting her on the shoulder with the side of the blade, sending her sprawling to the ground.
         "Now I am going to slay you, yon foolish knight," he said with a sneer.
         As he was saying this, Maria got up from the ground, carefully eying the knight, and protecting herself with her sword.
         Maria was finally standing and fighting with full strength.  She noticed that the knight was beginning to tire.  Finally, Maria hit the knight's sword with a lot of force, so that his hand-the one holding the sword-swung backwards.  The sword went flying into the woods.  Before he could do anything, Maria rushed up and placed the tip of his sword against his throat.
         "I am not like you.  I am giving you a chance.  Get your horse and your sword and go."
         The knight slowly backed away from Maria.  He was going to get his sword and rush at her again.  However, this knight was much too strong for him.
         "We will meet again, knight.  You will regret this."
         He found his sword, got on his horse and rode away.
         Maria went to check on the lad.  However, he was not anywhere to be seen, for he had run off while the two knights were battling.