side of them were almost completely intact, their rags dancing
in the wind and the eye sockets in their skulls aimed at the road like soul-swallowing
caverns in the land of the dead. They cast a deep spell of silence.
The two knights closed the gap.
“Help!” someone shouted.
A flash of crimson cut off the cry.
The grass swayed in waves. It seemed to speak of shock and destiny.
Mr. Tumak’s aged father looked down at his chest. Blue steel ran right through him.
Tumak’s wife looked down at hers as well. The bloodstained tip of a weapon stretched
from it. The weapon that’d impaled the two people as they stood back to back had to
be more than eight inches long, but it wasn’t the blade of a sword. It stretched more
than three feet from the old man’s chest before coming to a guard that was twice as
big around as a man’s fist. The hilt then sloped upward for another six feet before
disappearing into a blue gauntlet, and it extended another three feet beyond the knight’s
little finger.
Though the gigantic warrior was over six and a half feet tall, how could he wield
a fifteen-foot lance with such skill? Both the weapon’s tip and its metallic hilt
were etched with elaborate designs. Altogether, it must’ve weighed at least two hundred
pounds, and probably more than four hundred.
The weapon bent supplely. The blue lance flexed upward, and the two victims were launched
into the air like they were on springs and came right down on the stakes as if they’d
been aimed. The old bones turned to powder and flew in all directions as the new victims
were run through the heart.
“Although our princess instructed us to wait before meting out any additional punishments,
we, the Four Knights of the Diane Rose, cannot allow this to pass. We were just beginning
to get frustrated when you were good enough to try and escape. Although this is all
in sport, you should provide a slight diversion.”
As if driven by the Blue Knight’s words, those gathered started to run. But the Red
Knight was in front of them. A crimson wind gusted between the fleeing people. Still,
they ran right by the sides of the Red Knight. Even though their heads had fallen
off five or ten feet back, they didn’t stop sprinting. Another gust of even redder
wind shot up from the ground to the sky, blocking the people and knights from the
rest of the road.
“Ungrateful insects. This is the price you pay for your foolish actions.”
Before the knights bellowing with laughter, Jaray’s wife and Tumak’s son had fallen
to the blood-soaked road. The pair hugged each other tightly.
“So, which of you shall I—” the Red Knight was saying when there was suddenly the
shrill whir of engines approaching from the village at a frantic pace.
It sounded like more than a few.
“Looks like we have company,” the Blue Knight said, gleefully rolling his head from
side to side.
Less than two seconds later, gasoline-powered motorcycles with high horsepower engines
arrived at the scene of the cruel butchery.
While their engines remained running, a white-haired figure hopped off the back rack
of the lead bike. He was an old man with a cane.
“Mayor Torsk is my name and . . .”
The reason his voice died as he was making his introduction was because he’d just
seen the grotesque corpses that littered the road.
The riders of the roughly ten motorbikes were speechless as well.
“What the hell is this?!” said the rider of the bike that’d carried the mayor, spitting
the words one by one.
Although he was more than fifteen feet away, the Blue Knight must’ve had unnaturally
keen ears, because he then looked at the rider and muttered, “A woman?”
“So what if I am?!”
Stripping off an apparently homemade cloth helmet along with her goggles, the rider
was then revealed to be a beautiful young woman with a slight pinkish flush. Her hair
was cut shockingly short, and her eyes were
in the wind and the eye sockets in their skulls aimed at the road like soul-swallowing
caverns in the land of the dead. They cast a deep spell of silence.
The two knights closed the gap.
“Help!” someone shouted.
A flash of crimson cut off the cry.
The grass swayed in waves. It seemed to speak of shock and destiny.
Mr. Tumak’s aged father looked down at his chest. Blue steel ran right through him.
Tumak’s wife looked down at hers as well. The bloodstained tip of a weapon stretched
from it. The weapon that’d impaled the two people as they stood back to back had to
be more than eight inches long, but it wasn’t the blade of a sword. It stretched more
than three feet from the old man’s chest before coming to a guard that was twice as
big around as a man’s fist. The hilt then sloped upward for another six feet before
disappearing into a blue gauntlet, and it extended another three feet beyond the knight’s
little finger.
Though the gigantic warrior was over six and a half feet tall, how could he wield
a fifteen-foot lance with such skill? Both the weapon’s tip and its metallic hilt
were etched with elaborate designs. Altogether, it must’ve weighed at least two hundred
pounds, and probably more than four hundred.
The weapon bent supplely. The blue lance flexed upward, and the two victims were launched
into the air like they were on springs and came right down on the stakes as if they’d
been aimed. The old bones turned to powder and flew in all directions as the new victims
were run through the heart.
“Although our princess instructed us to wait before meting out any additional punishments,
we, the Four Knights of the Diane Rose, cannot allow this to pass. We were just beginning
to get frustrated when you were good enough to try and escape. Although this is all
in sport, you should provide a slight diversion.”
As if driven by the Blue Knight’s words, those gathered started to run. But the Red
Knight was in front of them. A crimson wind gusted between the fleeing people. Still,
they ran right by the sides of the Red Knight. Even though their heads had fallen
off five or ten feet back, they didn’t stop sprinting. Another gust of even redder
wind shot up from the ground to the sky, blocking the people and knights from the
rest of the road.
“Ungrateful insects. This is the price you pay for your foolish actions.”
Before the knights bellowing with laughter, Jaray’s wife and Tumak’s son had fallen
to the blood-soaked road. The pair hugged each other tightly.
“So, which of you shall I—” the Red Knight was saying when there was suddenly the
shrill whir of engines approaching from the village at a frantic pace.
It sounded like more than a few.
“Looks like we have company,” the Blue Knight said, gleefully rolling his head from
side to side.
Less than two seconds later, gasoline-powered motorcycles with high horsepower engines
arrived at the scene of the cruel butchery.
While their engines remained running, a white-haired figure hopped off the back rack
of the lead bike. He was an old man with a cane.
“Mayor Torsk is my name and . . .”
The reason his voice died as he was making his introduction was because he’d just
seen the grotesque corpses that littered the road.
The riders of the roughly ten motorbikes were speechless as well.
“What the hell is this?!” said the rider of the bike that’d carried the mayor, spitting
the words one by one.
Although he was more than fifteen feet away, the Blue Knight must’ve had unnaturally
keen ears, because he then looked at the rider and muttered, “A woman?”
“So what if I am?!”
Stripping off an apparently homemade cloth helmet along with her goggles, the rider
was then revealed to be a beautiful young woman with a slight pinkish flush. Her hair
was cut shockingly short, and her eyes were