The Mage and the Knight

by Aurelle Voilinaut

A young elezen woman crunched leaves underfoot as she whistled a tune from her homeland, strolling along the pathway home. The leather pack strung over her shoulder carried only the essentials – a change of clothes, materials for a fire, some food, and a bedroll strapped atop it. Her pointed ears caught wind of whistling birds and chirruping frogs as she made her way on. Her brown eyes fluttered shut and she imagined the warmth of an inn room’s bed, enveloping her tired form after her latest adventure. The image was soothing, though short-lived, as her daydream was summarily interrupted by a man, running at full tilt in the opposite direction. His shoulder knocked her out of her delusions before his voice sounded out, “Run for your life! Monsters!”

The woman watched him go for a time, then looked back the way he came. She could see smoke through the trees ahead, billowing black death into the sky. Knitting her brow, the steadfast adventurer took off running toward danger, as not many would think to do. She shouldered off her pack on the move, setting it down by the side of the road and slid her cane from its sheath on her back. It was a simple wooden cane with a brilliant emerald gemstone set into the crook. Feathers and leaves adorned the majestic tool as she slashed it down to her side, shouting, “Stay calm! I’m almost there!”

She could hear the shouting before she felt the heat from the flames. Just ahead was a glade within the trees, from which the smoke billowed. A caravan had set up camp – several tents surrounding a burning bonfire. Elezen, hyur, and a couple au ra had been the full company, though more than half lay motionless among the wreckage. Carts were overturned, goods in disarray. Flames issued forth from one – it must have been their portable kitchen, of sorts. With a wave of her wand, a localized rainstorm kicked up over the flames, dousing them in moments. A swing in the other direction sent a wave of dirt up to smother another. “What’s going on?” she asked to one of the survivors. A young auri woman huddled behind one of the wrecked carts, now slightly damp from the sudden rain.

“M-Monsters,” she hissed, “They came out of nowhere and tore up the camp! I don’t know what to do!” The woman was on the verge of tears and she broke the moment those words left her mouth, hugging her knees and sobbing into them.

The hero dropped to one knee and rubbed a hand on the woman’s back. “You’re safe now. Here.” A gentle green aura enveloped the au ra woman and her minor scrapes and bruises cleared up in a moment. “Stay here, stay safe. I’ll take care of it.”

A deafening roar broke the sky, then, and the elezen looked to its source. There, at the edge of the glade, a feathered head poked its way into the clearing. Its beak was serrated and dripping with blood, eyes beady and fixated on her. It looked not unlike the head of an eagle, though this adventurer had more experience than to assume such a gentle creature could be behind such heinous barbary. She raised her cane, pointed directly toward the beast. Winds whipped up around the creature, tossing it to the side, into a nearby tree. As it worked to right itself, the elezen ducked to the side, toward two unconscious caravanners, pumping them with healing magicks as well, to begin to mend their serious wounds and cure the lighter ones. Back to her feet, she stood tall as the beast slinked into full view.

Its neck was long and undulating, hitched to a small, bulbous body with wide, colorful wings that flapped twice as its spindly chicken legs – all four of them – stabilizing its gait. It was a creature the woman had never seen before, nor since. As it lunged for her, she deftly stepped aside, swiping with her staff and painting the air with brilliant holy magicks that left the beast’s feathers bristling. She could feel her blood pumping, the lilies that powered her magick surging just beneath her flesh, urging and desperate to claw free. You see, White Magic, while seeming all pure and innocent, was not all too dissimilar from its far more dangerous cousin – Black Magic. While Black Mages consort with the void and draw upon its power to enact their terrible spellwork, White Mages commune with nature and the very spirits of the land, sea, and sky to channel powerful holy spells. When this power overflowed, well… The monster would not want to be around to see what would happen.

The elezen grinned, knowing that it would have no choice but to be here for it. Its maw opened and it snapped at her, catching her arm and leaving a nasty gash behind. She screamed in pain, sliding aside as she waved her staff again. Water rushed up around her, coalescing into a bubble of protection as she ran to the side, casting a wide-reaching spell to settle less-potent, but no-less-effective healing magicks over the rest of the members of the caravan. Those who drew breath, still, at least. As the beast reared its head again and blasted forth a terrible, shattering roar, our hero raised her staff high and let the fiery might of her magic bloom from the creature’s body. A massive, aethereal lily burst from the creature’s back, shining blood-red in the clearing as a burst of supercharged aether blew out in all directions from it. The creature collapsed in a heap, giving our hero a moment to duck away and tie a tourniquet around her own wound. As she leaned there, catching her breath against a tree, one of the members of the caravan approached her.

“Fair maiden,” the other woman spoke. She wore armor, head-to-toe, and a helmet which hid most of her features. The spear she wielded was wickedly sharp and perfectly maintained, the same blood-red as the lily that bloomed on her foe. “My name is Aurelle, I am a humble guard for this caravan. We were taken by surprise. Pray tell, how might I assist?”

“You may call me Ariel,” the elezen responded, looking over that armor. It was quite a sound make, one that could clearly see some real combat. “Were there other monsters, or just the one?”

Aurelle clasped a fist to her chest before extending a hand to help Ariel to her feet. “There were two of those monsters.” She looked away and Ariel followed her gaze. The one she had afflicted with Misery still lay motionless in the clearing, settled in a pool of blood. Its eyes were hazy, its gaze unblinking. “So one yet remains, somewhere nearby.”

“With your armor, you could help by holding the front lines. I will keep you fighting from behind, and together, we will slay the other and save your lords and ladies.”

Aurelle bowed her head. “As you wish.” She stepped on toward the clearing, scanning about for signs of the other beast, Ariel assumed, while the mage herself saw to the surviving members of the caravan. She also attempted resurrection magicks for those who were deceased, but some were too far gone for such resuscitation to be of much use. All things considered, of the twenty-five people she counted – including the rude man who bumped into her – only four were beyond help. Good numbers.

The roar shook the ground around them as another bird-like head poked its way into the glade. It spotted its dead compatriot, sniffed the air, and then honed in on Ariel, specifically. “Bollocks,” she swore, under her breath. Raising her cane as quickly as she could, she knew she would be too slow as it launched toward her.

Blessedly, by the pure and unfiltered grace of Halone, Aurelle interposed herself just in time, catching the beast’s maw on the haft of her lance. She rooted herself against its might, holding firm. A shockwave of air blew past her, rustling Ariel’s hair and clothes, from the force of the collision. A soft blush flooded Ariel’s complexion, staining her ears as Aurelle called out, “You shall contend with me, foul beast, and not the fair maiden who came to save us, this day.” She took a step forward and swung her spear with all her might, sending the creature stumbling back, away from the pair. Aurelle looked back to Ariel to ask, “Are you alright?”

Ariel could not respond before a putrid breath exuded from the maw of the creature and the beautiful knight before her moved no more – turned to purest granite in an instant, the ghost of a smile still brightening her shining purple eyes. Ariel knew these sorts of spells – she had been in far more fights than just this one. Such conditions were temporary, though rarely able to be banished with spells. All she needed to do was keep the beast distracted long enough for Aurelle to thaw out… and make sure it did not strike her. That… that would be bad.

Ariel ducked out from behind Aurelle, waving her staff overhead to create something of a zone of safety. She could feel the wound on her arm beginning to mend, albeit slowly. Good. The beast honed in on her, roared, and lunged. Ariel was ready for this, ducking aside and casting another holy spell to send the thing’s feathers bristling. This one was larger and more powerful than the first one she fought. The same tricks would be unlikely to work, here, and her magick had not yet had the time to return. The power of the blood-red lily was too far off to be of any use, here. She would need Aurelle.

The creature had noticed the sobbing au ra.

Oh goodness, no! Ariel took off in a run toward the creature as it rounded the cart behind which she hid! No, no, no! She promised that woman she would be safe! In what would go down in history as perhaps the silliest thought a White Mage had ever had, she leaped in the air like the fabled Ishgardian Dragoons – though, she only made it about a fulm-and-a-half off the ground – and slammed her staff down with all her might onto the creature’s neck. The sound reverberated in the area, and the beast’s head struck the earth, bounced once, and then swiveled back to face the stumbling, off-balance spellcaster. “Bollocks.”

The maw opened, showing rows upon rows of spines within its mouth and down its throat, perfect for swallowing its prey. Disgusting was the only word that came to Ariel’s mind at the sight of her own impending demise. She stumbled one more step backwards and shielded her face with her arms, looking away. She could only hope that Aurelle’s stone curse would fall away and that the knight would be able to save these poor souls on her own. The beast rattled with delight as it sized her up.

The roar of a dragon caused Ariel’s eyes instinctively to shoot open. She looked to the beast, whose mouth had shut and head had tilted in confusion. Her head then swiveled to where Aurelle had been – she was gone. A beam of light was all Ariel saw as she looked back to the creature as the humble knight crashed down from the sky, her wicked spear driving straight through the brain casing of the beast, pinning its head to the ground. She landed gracefully beside it and then stood tall, looking Ariel over. “My lady,” she said, approaching and taking her by the hand. Ariel’s heart beat so rapidly in her chest that she could hardly stammer a response. Aurelle continued, “You are unharmed, I trust?”

Ariel nodded once, and clutched at her heart. “I am whole.”

As Aurelle tore her lance from the head of the beast, the members of the caravan began to groggily pick themselves up, aided by Ariel’s previous efforts to heal them while holding off the beasts. A warmth grew in her chest as she dropped to her knees, outfit bloodied and dirtied with all of her rolling about and rushing this way and that. She undoubtedly looked quite the sight for any around.

When the caravan gathered around Aurelle, lauding her as a hero, the elezen held up her hands to say, “No. I merely assisted. The true hero this day is Lady Ariel, the realmless knight. She came to our aid, rushed into danger headlong, headless of the consequences. It is because of her bravery that any of us will live to see tomorrow.”

Ariel’s voice caught in her throat. She looked up to Aurelle, who offered a hand that was graciously taken. She would be the filthiest hero of all, she figured just then, as she looked over those around, and then to her knight, who stood nearly a head taller than her. Bold, empowered, and humble. A soft smile crossed Ariel’s face and she said, “You say such kind words, Ser Knight, but you are the one who saved my life not once, but twice, this day.”

“Such is my duty, my lady,” the Knight said, as she removed her helmet and tossed it aside. “Any Knight would gladly give her life to protect that of a hero such as yourself.” Ariel’s breath caught. The knight herself was stunning with soft, angular features, a piercing purple stare, and delightfully soft, brown hair.

“And any hero such as myself should consider herself lucky to have a Knight so kind and beautiful as you.”

Aurelle smiled a half sort of smile and pressed a soft palm to Ariel’s cheek. She leaned in, and Ariel leaned up. Their lips brushed together nd ohmygod it was sO HOT. The end.

• Writing