“I said, get out of the way!” his impatient, hostile voice coming from behind was startling.
Zen turns to see a man in red tinted plate armour, looking at him with a scornful glare of malice.
“A royal knight?” Enya asked shocked, “we better move, Zen, he can’t see or hear me, remember, and if a royal knight is here, it could be trouble, they're not like the city guard,” as she walks to the side of the road, her eyes catch the glimpse of a horse-drawn carriage, “wait, that looks familiar.”
Zen quickly moves to the side of the dirt road, spotting the large carriage moving around the corner not far from where he stood.
“Did something happen?” she asked, “why would they be…”
“Something seems off with him,” muttered Zen, the man’s armour seemed miss fitting, scratched and loose. Like it was spare armour that he just picked up second hand and didn’t have it fitted properly.
“What do you…” Enya’s eyes widen as she stares at the carriage, “wait, something's wrong, Zen,” he turns his head to Enya, only to see her turn transparent, turning into an orb of light and flying straight into him.
“What?” he asked startled by her entering him.
“Shh, remember, speak through your thoughts to me,” Enya, now speaking directly in his mind.
“What do you mean? What’s wrong?”
“That carriage, I saw it earlier travelling the other way, something must've happened for them to be travelling away from the city.”
“Why?”
“Look, I can’t really put my finger on it yet, but I’ve got a really bad feeling about this…”
Along with the two horses pulling the carriage and the driver, there was only a contingent of only three other guards, one on either side, staying close to the doors and one walking behind.
“Wait, where are the other guards? Where are the scouts and magi?”
“Other guards?”
“There were a lot more when I saw it last.”
The man that had ordered Zen to move walks towards him, his blade drawn from its sheath.
Catching his movements out the corner of his eye, he grabs his sword from under his cloak and carefully wraps the loose string that dangles from the sheath over the cross guard. “What are you doing?”
“I’ve got a bad feeling too, I may know nothing about this world, but this scene looks wrong. If I have to fight, I’d rather not kill anyone. I’m not a killer… I’ve never took a life before, and I don’t plan to start now… I hope that Link-Support is enough to deal with four guys… right?”
The carriage stops as the other men begin moving towards Zen.
“I told you to move!” the guard now stands just a few steps from Zen, he stares the man down, the intensity of this man was a pale imitation of the intimidating stare-down he received from Captain Grayson, as such, Zen did not show any sign of being intimidated, his left hand is now formerly gripping the sword after carefully and secretly taking it off his trousers.
“Is that… malicious intent I’m feeling? This apparent knight was irradiating a strange aura, it wasn’t like anything he had ever felt before. This feeling he got was sending warning signals all over his body, "I get the feeling he is looking for any excuse to kill me… no… actually, he looks like he doesn’t care for an excuse…"
“I… I think you're right. The Royal knights doesn’t act this way, Zen, that carriage, the escort was-”
“Stop!” a woman’s voice echoes around them, shouting with authority grabbing everyone’s attention. A youthful young woman steps out of the carriage, dragging her ornate and almost Victorian style bell dress behind her. The sharp colours of reds and blues patterned on the grey base in the stitch was amazing to see, even from a distance, the dress seemed expensive yet very conservative and restrictive.
The sun catches her golden long flowing hair flowing over her delicate looking shoulders.
“Princess Elisabeth!” Enya proclaims, shocked to what she is seeing through Zen’s eyes.
“Princess?”
The Princess walks with haste towards the two, a very concerned look upon her face and in her sharp pale blue eyes. “I trust there isn’t a problem here, is there? We should be on our way,” she speaks in a very confidant manner, however Zen picks up of a snag of fear she is desperately trying to hide behind her confidence. She watches the guard closely, only glimpsing at him for just a moment.
The man in front of Zen snorts. “Yeah, you’re right, we should be going. Get back into the carriage, we’re leaving,”
Although Zen can’t see his face under the helm, he can tell he was getting frustrated.
“Enya, can you amplify my speed and reflex but leave my strength be? Is that possible?”
“I… I should be able to, why?”
“We may have to fight on our hands, he will not leave us be, as soon as the Princess is back in the carriage he will attack us,” he turns his head to the princess, “Princess!” Elisabeth freezes in place, looking at him with a worried expression that showed the fear she held within, “see her reaction, not what she says, Enya.”
“Zen, I think I know where you're heading with this, I think you're right, she’s in trouble! You’ve got to help her!”
“Princess, do you require my sword?” said Zen, he gives her a confident smirk, watching her face closely.
She stands there in shock, unable to believe what she’d just heard, her eyes dart back and forth between the guard and Zen, as she hesitates to speak.
The guard gestures to his men, motioning to get the princess back into the carriage as they walk up to her.
“I ask again!” now speaking louder and with more assertiveness, “do you require my sword, Princess Elisabeth!”
Her eyes widen in response, as a cold droplet of sweat forms on the side of her head, “I…” she trembles in her response, “I do!” she yells out.
He darts forwards towards the guard in front of him as fast as he can, reaching striking distance at a stupendous speed, his cloak separates, his now tied sheathed sword comes out of the cloak in a swing that strikes at on the side of the man’s head, denting the helmet, he never saw the blow coming, being knocked out instantly on impact, his body going limp as he is forced flying into the ground a few meters away.
“Zen! What’s happening!?” Enya receives only silence response as he looks towards the other three men, all wearing shabby red armour, “what’s happening? I can’t sense his mind properly. I can’t sense his emotions!”
Everything seems too slow, sounds, sights, every sense heightened, it was a feeling she’d never felt before. From Zen himself, she felt as if she was being suffocated, losing all connection with him, his mind quiet, his heart raced but his emotions had vanished the moment he landed the blow on the man.
“What the!?” the man near the Princess exclaims, he hastily reaches for his sword in a panic.
Once again, Zen darts forwards with blistering speed, moving even faster than before.
As if he’d appeared out of nowhere, the man couldn’t move to react, being hit in the face with a forceful attack, it throws him back, blood spaying through the air.
The guard that was standing on the opposite side of the carriage runs around, his sword above his head as he screams.
Enya can barely keep up with what is happening, everything seems to slow down and then suddenly speed up, making it impossible to follow.
The second armoured man attempts to put his sword forwards in a defensives stance, but Zen moves past it, allowing the sword to cut through the cloak instead, his own sword strikes at the man’s helm, knocking it to the ground by the impact, as the guard falls back to his knee, blood seeps out of his head, Zen slams his cross guard into the temple of the man, knocking him unconscious in one swift movement.
He pulls his sword back, holding it to his side before grabbing the end of his sword and pushing it back behind him, turning his head slightly, as the handle of the sword is slammed into the last man who was once walking behind the carriage, he had managed to get behind Zen as he was attacking the other two men, a massive bang radiates from the impact of his sword handle hits the plate armour, throwing the man of balance, in a flash, Zen pulls the sword back, clutching the blade side of his sheathed sword, he swings his sword like a bat at the man’s head, using the cross-guard as a blunt weapon.
All four fake guards lay unconscious on the ground, no sign of movement left in them.
“Zen!” screamed Enya in a panic, she had been screaming the entire time, completely taken back and frightened by what had happened, Zen looks at the Princess, who stands astonished by what she just saw but maintains a composed look of calmness about her.
Enya exits Zen, going back to her normal form, out of breath and with a fear in her eyes, turning to him after looking around at the guards on the ground, in a panicked voice she continues to shout. “Zen! What was that, Zen!?”
“Enya?”
She closes her eyes and takes a moment to calm herself from the experience. “It wasn’t anything I’ve seen before. That wasn’t a part of the Link…” she mumbled, her confusion at what she just witnessed still showing on her face.
He takes a deep breath, looking around surprised at himself for what he’d just done also. “Did I? Holy crap I did…”
Elisabeth lets a small grin appear on her face, she walks towards Zen and Enya. “Am I to assume you are the new Summoned Hero? And the silhouette of an inviable woman right next to you… is your Unseen Summoner?”
Enya’s eyes widen in surprise, the Princess must be able to see her using magic eyes or a similar skill, rouges sight maybe? She composes herself, doing her best to bury her emotions to present calm, then appears before the princess properly, so she could be seen and heard, just as she did with the Lisa and Grayson.
“Hello!” she says with a nervous grin.
Before introductions can be made, a huge group of people can be heard coming from just down the road. Sounds of laughter and metal clanging echoes through the trees. It was so quiet, but instantly recognisable.
He looks at his shaking hand, oblivious to what Elisabeth had just said. “Was I… right to attack?” Zen asks himself nervously, his voice shot with his heavy breathing.
“Yes,” said Elisabeth, he looks up to her surprised, “thank you, sir hero, however, they have a lot more men, and I believe they wasn’t too far behind.”
“I… see, then we… should run?”
“I think that’ll be for the best,” she was still speaking formally and calm, not once she lost her composure.
“Into the trees!” Enya yells pointing to the right of the road, “we need to go that way, we can cut through the forest to get to the city!”
Zen nods in agreement, looking back to Elisabeth. “I can’t guarantee your safety if you came with us, but it’s bound to be better than staying here?”
She nods as she picks up her skirt. “I can not argue with that logic.”
They all run into the forest following Enya's lead.
