King's Knight

[BrotherhoodUK]

"Of course. The Reconquista, I believe it is in your language. It will take hundreds of years to complete, mind. The Moors, as you well know, are deeply entrenched in southern Spain, and they are not letting go of what they see as their rightful lands easily. It dates back hundreds of years, but now's not the time for a history lesson."

Aurelia suddenly realised he knew she was married. "How did you know I have a spouse..." She eyed the Cid suspiciously, but thought nothing else of it.

[Holeypaladin]

"A simple answer, Senora," said El Cid, "You are simply too beautiful to be single, no?"

_________________________

Drawing on the skills in Colada, Frederick charged forth to meet Diego Gonzales. Surprisingly, he seemed to know how to control the animal, somehow. "I guess there's more than just sword skills in this blade," he said to himself.

As Diego took a swing from his sword, Frederick shifted in the saddle to avoid the blow, then struck back with Colada. The blow cut through the top of the infante's helmet, slicing off some of his scalp in the process.

Wide-eyed, Gonzaled turned his horse to face Frederick, reciting some sort of prayer for deliverance. Frederick used the sword skills of El Cid to parry another strike of Diego's retaliating with a blow that was just barely avoided.

"Martin Antolinez, you won't take me down so easily!" shouted Diego Gonzales.

Frederick sighed. "My name isn't Martin, you fool. It's Frederick. Now die."

Striking full force, his blow was blocked by the shield of the Infante, but Colada cut clean through the shield and lodged itself in Diego's ribs. Twisting the blade, Frederick thrust it all the way in to pierce the heart of some king's non-heir son, mastering Colada's skill in the process.

[BrotherhoodUK]

Aurelia took note of the compliment, and smiled a little, but said nothing else about it. Noting the rather... excessive amount of blood that was on both her and her sword, she wondered if there was anywhere where she could wash off all of this blood.

"This stuff is everywhere..." She spat out a mouthful and turned to the Cid. "Anywhere where I can wash all of this off? It's just getting a little bit irritating, not to mention it'll turn awful in the heat."

[Holeypaladin]

"You can always take a stroll along the beach, Senora," said El Cid. "The water here is always warm."

_____________

Returning to Rodrigo Diaz after dispatching the king's son, Frederick said, "Yo, El Cid. Looks like this battle is own."

"Indeed it is, Amigo. It would have been difficult without your dragon knights. Give my regards to Bahamut when you get back."

"Right," said Frederick. "Well, I'll be going now. See ya later."

With that, he activated the recall function of his amulet, and found himself back in the Platinum Palace. He heard a familiar voice nearby. It sounded like... Gilgamesh was here. Interesting.

[BrotherhoodUK]

"And with that, I will return as well. See you around, master Spaniard." Aurelia sent a message to Vierinissa and Magnus to return to the Platinum Palace, and she activated her recall amulet. In a flash of light, she appeared in her room, which is evidently where she'd set her recall location. Haldor was reading a book, whilst Raeviir was evidently in her own chamber. Haldor turned around quickly when he saw the flash of light, and was visibly relieved when he saw Aurelia.

"Only me, you dolt. Who else is it gonna be?"

Haldor grimaced and wrinkled his nose. "You need a bath. As in, now." He got up and filled the bathtub with water, incanting "Water, water everywhere." He heated the water and helped a tired Aurelia out of her armour and into the bath. The water was slightly warmer than she was expecting, but it helped relax her exhausted muscles.

"Where's Raeviir?" Aurelia sighed. She washed herself of all the blood on her skin and her hair, and soaped herself down to remove the ingrained dirt and blood.

"Raeviir? You won't believe this... But Raeviir's learned how to forge and work metal. And she's good at both making the equipment and enchanting it. I think she's even had a small forge made in her chamber, so she's probably there."

Aurelia was slightly taken aback. "Raeviir's a smith, now? Hm. I guess she's copying Fred. I mean, why else would she do that?"

"I doubt it, frankly. She's a good smith. She's been working on something for you."

[Holeypaladin]

Frederick decided he might as well see what the heck Gilgamesh was doing here. Turns out, he was headed towards Bahamut's throne room. Since he had to go anyway, he figured he might as well head that way.

"Yo, Gilgamesh," said Frederick. "Wassup?"

"Hmph. It's you," muttered the four-armed man. "Don't even think about gloating over your success in bringing me here. I'm just here to acquire my enlistment fee for joining your lot."

"Enlistment fee? Well whatever. I'm headed to say Yo to Bahamut."

When he got to the throne room, Bahamut had a layout of weapons on the ground. "Ah, Gilgamesh... you are here. And Karlson too, I see. As promised, I give you the option to select one of the fine blades you see before me in exchange for your service in this war."

"Those are..." Frederick said. "No way..."

[BrotherhoodUK]

"Hm. So Raeviir's now a smith, is she?" Aurelia shrugged and got out of the bath, by now cleaned of all of the muck and blood that had found its way onto her skin whilst she was fighting in Valencia. She removed all of the water and refilled the tub with another spell. She got dressed in her silk dress, which she noted Haldor (or probably the servants) had washed whilst she was away. She left her leather armour in the bath to soak, and walked over to Haldor. She looked at the book he was reading. "Quire the intellectual, are we? Cicero's Personae Non Gratae, I see. Which one?"

Haldor looked up. "It's actually a collection of Cicero's texts and Tacitus' Germanicus et Piso. But at the moment, I am reading Pro Caelio, which, as you know, is a Cicero text."

Aurelia remember Ilusk reading that very passage to her. "Cicero's defence of Marcus Caelius Rufus against the prosecution brought by Clodius Pulcher? I do remember that one... If I recall, Cicero defends Caelius from the allegations of Clodia. Or rather, he actually attacks Clodia and blackens her reputation. Wasn't it Crassus who actually defended Caelius from the allegations?"

Haldor nodded and went back to reading. Aurelia stretched and sighed, but at that moment, Raeviir walked in, her face and hands streaked with sweat and black soot. She had evidently been working. Catching sight of Aurelia, Raeviir waved and walked over to Haldor and whispered something in his ear. Haldor nodded and kissed her before she left. Raeviir walked out, winking at Aurelia in a rather suggestive manner, as if she was up to no good, which she usually was.

"What was that about?"

Haldor said nothing, but closed the Cicero book and thought about which book he would read next. There were several, including texts by Caesar, Tacitus and several by later authors, such as the Alexiad and, curiously, the Forme of Cury!

[Holeypaladin]

Frederick looked over the weapons that Bahamut had put together. He saw... Arondight, Herpe, Galatine, Hauteclere, Rhomgomiant, Crocea Mors, Trishula... but above all...

"You've got to be kidding me," said Gilgamesh. "Tiamat gave me this worthless sword already, and now I can't get rid of it. Is this some kind of joke?"

Frederick looked at the sword, the "ultimate weapon" that Gilgamesh wanted. "No joke..." he said. "That's the real thing."

"There is no deception here," said Bahamut. "What you see is what I offer. But you may only choose one."

"Fine," said Gilgamesh. He walked forth and picked up Excalibur. "You knew my answer from the very beginning. Well, you've won me over, dragon. Uruk will fight for Bahamut."

"Hm...." said Frederick. If Bahamut knew Gilgamesh's choice, why had he presented so many options? It didn't matter. "Well, I'm back, if you couldn't tell. What now?"

Bahamut looked at Frederick. "Giants," he said. "Have been raiding settlements, far more than usual. While one would expect this would be due to them joining Tiamat's cause, it turns out this is NOT the case. Something else is spurring them to action. I would like you to investigate."

"Sure," said Frederick, "Just point me toward them."

"A large hill giant clan in the land of Swadia is the first of three tribes I want you to investigate."

"Ok," said Frederick. "I'll join a battle somewhere near there as reinforcements, then check out things."

He waved briefly and began to walk off. Over the amulet, he said, "Heading to Swadia to kill some Hill Giants. Bahamut sent me."

[The Watcher]

A tall, handsome man was sitting in the corner of the tavern in the Platinum Palace, trying to remain relatively un-noticed by the rest of the patrons. He sat there quietly, sipping a glass of wine. It wasn't bad, but it was by no means a good drink. Grimacing, the man got out of his chair and quietly made his way over to the door, ignoring anyone who tried to talk to him, and he made his way to the dormitories. He noticed a Drow woman hard at work at a forge in her own chamber. Intrigued, he stopped to look. She hammered at metal, shaping it into some form of armour, but it was evidently part of a larger design. The man leant against the doorframe, and continued to spectate on the Drow's work. He remained silent as he did so, but eventually, he couldn't resist the temptation to ask.

"May I enquire as to what you are doing, fair maiden? Your skill with a hammer is remarkable." He immediately regretted speaking. He should've remained quiet...

[BrotherhoodUK]

Raeviir turned around sharply at the strange voice she heard. A man was leaning against the doorway, his arms folded. He had been looking at her for some time, she realised.

"What does it look like I'm doing..." Raeviir went back to hammering and shaping a large sheet of metal into a breastplate for a feminine figure. She worked the bellows in order to attain sufficient heat for easier shaping. "Why I don't just use magic for this, I don't know..." she muttered to herself. "Heat metal." she whispered, indicating to the sheet of metal. It began to glow with heat, and Raeviir found it much easier to work with. She was still aware of the man behind her. Frustrated, she turned around.

"What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?" She sighed. "Sorry... I'm just a little preoccupied at the moment, if you can see that."