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The knight and the feline stared at each other in one of the town squares, waiting to see who’d make the first move. It was decided when Sir William suddenly stepped forward and swung the sword down at her with a tremendous swing, the blade clanging on the ground as a burst of flame sprung around the area that it touched.
Shelby lept backwards from the sword, the attack itself had hardly been a surprise. What caught her off guard however were the flames that leapt from the ground upon contact, with blue wisps of fire dancing for a few feet in her direction from the impact. The flames quickly subsided before they reached her but she had to take a few more steps than intended to keep out of harm's way.
As the fight began the knights who had taken up residence in the local buildings started coming to the window to see the commotion outside. Upon seeing their templar champion attack the feline, they all started to cheer and holler, some even throwing things from high windows down at her. Shelby’s focus however stayed on Sir William, as any distractions right now could be devastating.
Sir William also kept his focus as well, and didn’t start to pander to the crowd they now had. Another slash of his sword that the feline ducked out of the way, and another, that she leapt back from again. Her movement had been just as agile as last they met, as he vividly remembered.
Shelby on the other hand thought Sir William was nothing like she remembered. He had become far stronger, and the swing of his sword far more accurate and deadly. Even a small misstep could mean death as the knight’s swings were keen and precise, keeping her on her toes.
Two more swings, one with an arch of her back to avoid and another with her leaping out of the way again. Sir William gave a slight smirk which Shelby noticed, then swung his sword down as a blue blaze of flame escaped from the sword's blade and headed in her direction. A twinkle of her earring and wave of her hand forced the flames to blast into a nearby building instead, but it had the feline’s breath slightly labored for a moment.
“That’s a neat trick, Where did you learn that? I never knew the sword could actually release the flames,” watching the knight with those feline eyes, a shield of wind dancing around herself.
“More proof this is not the sword you think it is, witch. I have learned nothing, the Lord gives me the strength to control the swords flames,” another swing, with another blast of blue flames rushing at the feline which she also reflected away from her with the magical barrier of wind.
“You’ll never touch me with that Sir William, you should know that from our previous battle. You’re just wasting the sword's energy,” and my own she thought to herself, grumbling a bit.
“The Lord is my energy and he is eternal,” was the knight's only response as he swung the sword again with far more force, an even larger ball of flame careening in the feline's direction.
Shelby grit her teeth and hunched down, an explosion of wind surrounding herself as the flame bounced off and flew in all directions. Everything that could ignite around her did, as carts, stacks of hay and grain, and even some of the buildings themselves burst into a roar of flames from the powerful attack.
Sir William’s eyes widened as he suddenly went into a panic, watching the fires quickly spread and surround some of the nearby buildings. “Witch! What have you done?! My men are in there, calm these flames at once!”
Shelby blinked and stood up straight, eyes staying on the knight and not looking at the fires. “What have I done, this was your flame. Even if you did hit me the building behind me would be just as on fire as it is now. You did this, not me.”
“You demon witch, put out the flames! I know your sorcery can do it, do not play games with me just put out the fires!” the knight stammered and waved his hand at her in a striking motion, as if trying to command her like one of his men.
“Leave the city and I’ll do it,” Shelby folded her arms and stared at him, narrowing her eyes a bit with tail flicking around anxiously.
“I do not have command of this army, nor can I grant such a request!” The knight gritted his teeth, having to make a deal with a devil such as herself, but he needed to save his men. “Two days, I give you my word for two days of truce my men will move no further into the city. That is all I can grant, now quelch these flames!”
Shelby’s ears folded back as a frown covered her face, she then turned and looked at the buildings that were burning, seeing the men inside screaming for help. “If you try to strike me down I will have a vengeance like you have never seen, Sir William,” the feline then slammed her hands down onto the ground, releasing a sudden and powerful explosion of wind that blew out all of the nearby flames and nearly knocked the buildings over themselves.
Within moments the knights inside rushed out, gasping for air and collapsing on the ground, several of them with burns and injuries. The ones who could drew their swords and pointed them at the feline, which had her looking back at Sir William with a scowl across her face.
“Stop my friends. I gave my word. Even to a vile monster I must keep my honor,” He then sheathed his sword and walked over to the feline, looking down at her. “In two days time I will be waiting at the town center at the setting of the sun. We will continue this then.”
Shelby looked up at him, folding her arms and tapping her foot as her ears flattened back. “Fine, but let's sweeten the deal. If I’m victorious you and your men will leave this city. If you are, the city is yours.”
“The city is already ours, witch… and God is with me. I cannot lose, so I accept your terms,” Sir William reached out a hand, which Shelby grasped as the two of them shook. He then released it and turned to his men. “Someone fetch the Grand Master, we must take rest for two days. I will then cleans this city of evil, and of the witch. This I swear before God almighty,” he then took a knee, and bowed while making the sign of the cross over his body.
Shelby watched for a moment, then turned and walked over to where she asked Ahmed to wait, finding him hiding down the alleyway. “It’s over, well for the moment. We should still get out of here though, and out of the city if we can,” turning to look behind herself just to make sure nobody had followed her.
“That was very frightening, and confusing. You two were flinging blue fire around like crazy!” Ahmed rubbed the back of his head and turned down the alleyway, then stopped and looked at some small archways partly protruding from the ground. “Well, I hate to say but the best way out is the front gate… or the caves and sewers under the city. It isn’t going to smell particularly nice, but we should be able to get past the Christians.”
Shelby sighed and stared at the archway, then reached up and took her earrings out, tossing them to the ground. “Alright… I’ve been in worse,” crawling down through the hole and into the tunnels below. Looking around in the dark tunnels, it looked as though water was flowing from the river and through the passageways though it was hard to say if the tunnels looked natural or man made.
Ahmed crawled down after her and pinched his nose as he splashed down behind her. “See… not so bad right? Why did you toss your earrings? Aren’t they what gave you that power?”
“They were used up, that last spell was pretty powerful, thank goodness it worked.” Walking slowly through the small river that splashed around her knees, getting her tattered dress wet. Shelby stopped as the tunnel split into multiple pathways, looking back at Ahmed with a raised eyebrow.
Ahmed moved ahead and motioned to the leftmost tunnel before them. “As a professional uh… entrepreneur I spend some time down here, I can get us out and near the river banks at least. That should be past the Christians.”
“Good, because I just challenged that big knight to a duel and I don’t intend to actually make it happen. Without magic he’ll likely kill me,” Shelby sighed and moved through the caves, following behind Ahmed and twitching her whiskers.
“Nee, I did tell you that I’d explain more, didn't I? I’ve met that man before, maybe seven, or eight years ago. He and his Christian knights invaded a village I lived in, claiming that they wanted to turn the pagans Christian. Really though, they were after a small magical wellspring that we had there,” stepping over some dead rats and scrunching her nose.
“Magic used to be everywhere, now it’s just in objects, like those earrings, or his sword. That town had the last bit of magic from the earth that I was aware of so I stayed there, watching over it and using it if the village needed it. Guess the Christians learned about it too and wanted it. We fought back but… there were way too many of them…” ducking some roots that were growing through the ceiling and following Ahmed down another fork.
“Anyway… that sword he had, he didn’t have it seven years ago. He said the church always had it but that’s a lie. I saw it before, a very very long time ago. It belonged to a friend of mine back then… guess the church got their hands on it. They seem to be after any magical objects left in the world. Suppose I can’t blame them…”
Shelby suddenly stopped and tugged on Ahmed’s shirt, then brought a finger up to her lips as her ears perked straight up. They carefully peaked around a corner, only to both gasp at the sight they saw.
The tunnel opened up into a larger cavern, a cavern that had hundreds of people, all manner of creatures, huddled together and looking frightened. “What in the world is happening here?” the feline exclaimed as she stepped out into the open.
Ahmed moved right behind her, and walked over to a group of long eared felines to speak with them. Moments later he came back to Shelby and sighed. “They are down here hiding from the Christians, said it was too late to get out of the city, thought they might try at night but the city was already surrounded, and now they have no escape.”
Shelby looked around wide eyed at them all. Men, women, children… all of them crammed down in the city's tunnel system. “Why don’t they just surrender to them? Even as captives they’d be better off than this…” waving a hand to the situation before them.
“Well… probably not. Several days ago the Christian armies became angry and killed all of their prisoners. They don’t want to surrender and end up facing the same fate,” Ahmed reached up and scratched at his beard in thought. “Looks like they are all stuck here.”
Shelby blinked at them all, then grumbled and scrunched up her nose. “Are there any guards or military here?”
“They say the city guard is up near the cave’s exit. They’ve been watching for a chance to get everyone out,” Ahmed motioned forward into the cavern.
The feline grumbled and pushed through the crowd of people, finding her way to where several guards were watching the desert from the cave. “Hey! Alright, who speaks Norse, or English?”
All of the guards turned around and pointed their weapons at the two, scowling and yelling in Arabic which had Ahmed yelling back in frustration. When the yelling finally calmed a jackal finally spoke up in broken Norse. “I speak some Norse. What you want, prisoner? I remember you, from trade boat.”
Shelby narrowed her eyes at him and pushed his sword out of her face, ears folding back. “I want to know why you aren’t helping these people, getting everyone out of here. The Christians have stopped their advance for now, we should all be going.”
The jackal lowered his sword, pointing out past the cave entrance and into the desert. “Not stopped. Patrols randomly. Half hour, sometimes less. There are many villagers. They will catch us.”
Shelby frowned and flicked her tail, Sir William did promise not to move further into the city, but perhaps she should have been more specific with her request. “Where are all of the magic… er… holy… items you took from me?”
The jackal huffed, then looked up at the ceiling. “Back in building, left for Christians. If we keep, they will chase for sure.”
A hand went to her chin as she thought, ears folding down, then flicking up again with a sigh escaping her lips. “Alright… where are you heading, and how long do you need before you think you’ll be safe?”
“Jerusalem,” the guards then started speaking with each other in Arabic, looking out into the desert as they spoke. “Four… maybe five hours. Many villagers, no horses,” the jackal remarked while looking back at Shelby.
Shelby grumbled and looked at the cavern filled with people, then grasped her hands into her hair in frustration. “NEEEEEEEE. Damn it,” releasing her hair, she looked back at the guards. “I’ll be back, I’m going to try and figure this all out.”
The guards just looked at each other and shrugged as Shelby grabbed Ahmed's shirt and pulled him along with her. “How do we get back up, and where is their armory? I suspect that’s where my stuff is.”
“Whoa okay. Guess I’m going with you,” tripping a bit as she pulled him along, then fell into step behind her. “There should be some openings around the corner, we can get to the armory from there.”
Shelby walked back through the stream of water until she reached one of the archways. Leaping up into the air and grasping onto the stones with her claws, she pulled herself up and through. A hand then went down to Ahmed which he took, and was easily pulled up through the opening with a surprised look on his face.
“By Allah, you are very strong,” standing up and dusting himself off, he’d start walking down the street with his eyes up at the buildings. Pointing at one of the larger ones, he waved her over and ran a few steps until he reached the door. “Here we are, your armory. Hopefully they have what you need.”
Shelby pushed at the door but it didn’t open, she then messed with the handle which also didn’t seem to help. Finally she lifted a foot and kicked the door, sending splinters everywhere as it flung open. “First a change of clothes…” finding some of the guards' outfits, she walked into a room and tossed off the tattered dress, replacing it with some pants and a shirt. She then ripped the sleeves off the shirt and walked back out into the main room.
While Shelby changed Ahmed looked around for the armory, opening a door and hollering after “I believe I have found it!” behind the door he found a room filled with weapons and magical trinkets, some of which were the trinkets taken from the feline. Shelby started grabbing whatever she could manage to fit on herself, some bracelets, a ring, an anklet, and a belt.
“Do you ah… need all of that?” Ahmed questioned as he watched her put on the various jewelry.
“I still don’t know what I’m going to do, but if I’m fighting Sir William I need as much magic as I can get.” grabbing a sword off the wall that glimmered brightly in her eyes, she slipped the belt through the scabbard and buckled it around her waist.
“I thought you weren’t going to fight him?” Raising a brow at the feline, then raising his hands and waving them slightly. “Hey, I’m not sure what you are planning, but you don’t owe these people or this city anything…”
Shelby glared at him a moment, then sighed and looked down with her ears folding back. “Those people need help Ahmed, and if the Christians really are killing their prisoners then they don’t stand a chance. I can’t just run away…” huffing and lifting her head back up, Shelby made her way up to the roof and looked out past the city and into the desert.
Ahmed sighed and followed the feline, making his way up to the roof as well and glared out into the darkness. “What are we looking for?”
Shelby pointed out into the darkness and smiled a bit, her hair dancing around her face as a warm desert breeze blew past. “We don’t need five hours. I can see your army out there, just in the distance. The people just need to get close, that’s all. I still don’t know what to do about the patrols though, it doesn’t matter how close they are if the villagers are spotted.”
Ahmed squinted his eyes, he certainly didn’t have the feline's vision. He only saw darkness out in the desert. “I don’t see anything, but if you say they are out there we can get the people to safety.”
Shelby then looked down and noticed one of the patrols the guards mentioned coming around the outside of the city. Five men on horses, likely watching for villagers or keeping an eye on the Muslim army in case of surprise attacks. The men on horses stopped when they noticed her, all of them turning to look.
Shelby, Ahmed, and the men on patrol all stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Eventually the patrol continued on and out of sight which had Shelby smacking Ahmed's chest lightly with the back of her hand. “They are going to want to watch the fight. They won’t be on patrol while it’s happening. I bet they also think the fight will be over in minutes. We have exactly what we need to get the people out.”
“I hope you are right, for our sake I hope you are right.”
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The knight and the feline stared at each other in one of the town squares, waiting to see who’d make the first move. It was decided when Sir William suddenly stepped forward and swung the sword down at her with a tremendous swing, the blade clanging on the ground as a burst of flame sprung around the area that it touched.
Shelby lept backwards from the sword, the attack itself had hardly been a surprise. What caught her off guard however were the flames that leapt from the ground upon contact, with blue wisps of fire dancing for a few feet in her direction from the impact. The flames quickly subsided before they reached her but she had to take a few more steps than intended to keep out of harm's way.
As the fight began the knights who had taken up residence in the local buildings started coming to the window to see the commotion outside. Upon seeing their templar champion attack the feline, they all started to cheer and holler, some even throwing things from high windows down at her. Shelby’s focus however stayed on Sir William, as any distractions right now could be devastating.
Sir William also kept his focus as well, and didn’t start to pander to the crowd they now had. Another slash of his sword that the feline ducked out of the way, and another, that she leapt back from again. Her movement had been just as agile as last they met, as he vividly remembered.
Shelby on the other hand thought Sir William was nothing like she remembered. He had become far stronger, and the swing of his sword far more accurate and deadly. Even a small misstep could mean death as the knight’s swings were keen and precise, keeping her on her toes.
Two more swings, one with an arch of her back to avoid and another with her leaping out of the way again. Sir William gave a slight smirk which Shelby noticed, then swung his sword down as a blue blaze of flame escaped from the sword's blade and headed in her direction. A twinkle of her earring and wave of her hand forced the flames to blast into a nearby building instead, but it had the feline’s breath slightly labored for a moment.
“That’s a neat trick, Where did you learn that? I never knew the sword could actually release the flames,” watching the knight with those feline eyes, a shield of wind dancing around herself.
“More proof this is not the sword you think it is, witch. I have learned nothing, the Lord gives me the strength to control the swords flames,” another swing, with another blast of blue flames rushing at the feline which she also reflected away from her with the magical barrier of wind.
“You’ll never touch me with that Sir William, you should know that from our previous battle. You’re just wasting the sword's energy,” and my own she thought to herself, grumbling a bit.
“The Lord is my energy and he is eternal,” was the knight's only response as he swung the sword again with far more force, an even larger ball of flame careening in the feline's direction.
Shelby grit her teeth and hunched down, an explosion of wind surrounding herself as the flame bounced off and flew in all directions. Everything that could ignite around her did, as carts, stacks of hay and grain, and even some of the buildings themselves burst into a roar of flames from the powerful attack.
Sir William’s eyes widened as he suddenly went into a panic, watching the fires quickly spread and surround some of the nearby buildings. “Witch! What have you done?! My men are in there, calm these flames at once!”
Shelby blinked and stood up straight, eyes staying on the knight and not looking at the fires. “What have I done, this was your flame. Even if you did hit me the building behind me would be just as on fire as it is now. You did this, not me.”
“You demon witch, put out the flames! I know your sorcery can do it, do not play games with me just put out the fires!” the knight stammered and waved his hand at her in a striking motion, as if trying to command her like one of his men.
“Leave the city and I’ll do it,” Shelby folded her arms and stared at him, narrowing her eyes a bit with tail flicking around anxiously.
“I do not have command of this army, nor can I grant such a request!” The knight gritted his teeth, having to make a deal with a devil such as herself, but he needed to save his men. “Two days, I give you my word for two days of truce my men will move no further into the city. That is all I can grant, now quelch these flames!”
Shelby’s ears folded back as a frown covered her face, she then turned and looked at the buildings that were burning, seeing the men inside screaming for help. “If you try to strike me down I will have a vengeance like you have never seen, Sir William,” the feline then slammed her hands down onto the ground, releasing a sudden and powerful explosion of wind that blew out all of the nearby flames and nearly knocked the buildings over themselves.
Within moments the knights inside rushed out, gasping for air and collapsing on the ground, several of them with burns and injuries. The ones who could drew their swords and pointed them at the feline, which had her looking back at Sir William with a scowl across her face.
“Stop my friends. I gave my word. Even to a vile monster I must keep my honor,” He then sheathed his sword and walked over to the feline, looking down at her. “In two days time I will be waiting at the town center at the setting of the sun. We will continue this then.”
Shelby looked up at him, folding her arms and tapping her foot as her ears flattened back. “Fine, but let's sweeten the deal. If I’m victorious you and your men will leave this city. If you are, the city is yours.”
“The city is already ours, witch… and God is with me. I cannot lose, so I accept your terms,” Sir William reached out a hand, which Shelby grasped as the two of them shook. He then released it and turned to his men. “Someone fetch the Grand Master, we must take rest for two days. I will then cleans this city of evil, and of the witch. This I swear before God almighty,” he then took a knee, and bowed while making the sign of the cross over his body.
Shelby watched for a moment, then turned and walked over to where she asked Ahmed to wait, finding him hiding down the alleyway. “It’s over, well for the moment. We should still get out of here though, and out of the city if we can,” turning to look behind herself just to make sure nobody had followed her.
“That was very frightening, and confusing. You two were flinging blue fire around like crazy!” Ahmed rubbed the back of his head and turned down the alleyway, then stopped and looked at some small archways partly protruding from the ground. “Well, I hate to say but the best way out is the front gate… or the caves and sewers under the city. It isn’t going to smell particularly nice, but we should be able to get past the Christians.”
Shelby sighed and stared at the archway, then reached up and took her earrings out, tossing them to the ground. “Alright… I’ve been in worse,” crawling down through the hole and into the tunnels below. Looking around in the dark tunnels, it looked as though water was flowing from the river and through the passageways though it was hard to say if the tunnels looked natural or man made.
Ahmed crawled down after her and pinched his nose as he splashed down behind her. “See… not so bad right? Why did you toss your earrings? Aren’t they what gave you that power?”
“They were used up, that last spell was pretty powerful, thank goodness it worked.” Walking slowly through the small river that splashed around her knees, getting her tattered dress wet. Shelby stopped as the tunnel split into multiple pathways, looking back at Ahmed with a raised eyebrow.
Ahmed moved ahead and motioned to the leftmost tunnel before them. “As a professional uh… entrepreneur I spend some time down here, I can get us out and near the river banks at least. That should be past the Christians.”
“Good, because I just challenged that big knight to a duel and I don’t intend to actually make it happen. Without magic he’ll likely kill me,” Shelby sighed and moved through the caves, following behind Ahmed and twitching her whiskers.
“Nee, I did tell you that I’d explain more, didn't I? I’ve met that man before, maybe seven, or eight years ago. He and his Christian knights invaded a village I lived in, claiming that they wanted to turn the pagans Christian. Really though, they were after a small magical wellspring that we had there,” stepping over some dead rats and scrunching her nose.
“Magic used to be everywhere, now it’s just in objects, like those earrings, or his sword. That town had the last bit of magic from the earth that I was aware of so I stayed there, watching over it and using it if the village needed it. Guess the Christians learned about it too and wanted it. We fought back but… there were way too many of them…” ducking some roots that were growing through the ceiling and following Ahmed down another fork.
“Anyway… that sword he had, he didn’t have it seven years ago. He said the church always had it but that’s a lie. I saw it before, a very very long time ago. It belonged to a friend of mine back then… guess the church got their hands on it. They seem to be after any magical objects left in the world. Suppose I can’t blame them…”
Shelby suddenly stopped and tugged on Ahmed’s shirt, then brought a finger up to her lips as her ears perked straight up. They carefully peaked around a corner, only to both gasp at the sight they saw.
The tunnel opened up into a larger cavern, a cavern that had hundreds of people, all manner of creatures, huddled together and looking frightened. “What in the world is happening here?” the feline exclaimed as she stepped out into the open.
Ahmed moved right behind her, and walked over to a group of long eared felines to speak with them. Moments later he came back to Shelby and sighed. “They are down here hiding from the Christians, said it was too late to get out of the city, thought they might try at night but the city was already surrounded, and now they have no escape.”
Shelby looked around wide eyed at them all. Men, women, children… all of them crammed down in the city's tunnel system. “Why don’t they just surrender to them? Even as captives they’d be better off than this…” waving a hand to the situation before them.
“Well… probably not. Several days ago the Christian armies became angry and killed all of their prisoners. They don’t want to surrender and end up facing the same fate,” Ahmed reached up and scratched at his beard in thought. “Looks like they are all stuck here.”
Shelby blinked at them all, then grumbled and scrunched up her nose. “Are there any guards or military here?”
“They say the city guard is up near the cave’s exit. They’ve been watching for a chance to get everyone out,” Ahmed motioned forward into the cavern.
The feline grumbled and pushed through the crowd of people, finding her way to where several guards were watching the desert from the cave. “Hey! Alright, who speaks Norse, or English?”
All of the guards turned around and pointed their weapons at the two, scowling and yelling in Arabic which had Ahmed yelling back in frustration. When the yelling finally calmed a jackal finally spoke up in broken Norse. “I speak some Norse. What you want, prisoner? I remember you, from trade boat.”
Shelby narrowed her eyes at him and pushed his sword out of her face, ears folding back. “I want to know why you aren’t helping these people, getting everyone out of here. The Christians have stopped their advance for now, we should all be going.”
The jackal lowered his sword, pointing out past the cave entrance and into the desert. “Not stopped. Patrols randomly. Half hour, sometimes less. There are many villagers. They will catch us.”
Shelby frowned and flicked her tail, Sir William did promise not to move further into the city, but perhaps she should have been more specific with her request. “Where are all of the magic… er… holy… items you took from me?”
The jackal huffed, then looked up at the ceiling. “Back in building, left for Christians. If we keep, they will chase for sure.”
A hand went to her chin as she thought, ears folding down, then flicking up again with a sigh escaping her lips. “Alright… where are you heading, and how long do you need before you think you’ll be safe?”
“Jerusalem,” the guards then started speaking with each other in Arabic, looking out into the desert as they spoke. “Four… maybe five hours. Many villagers, no horses,” the jackal remarked while looking back at Shelby.
Shelby grumbled and looked at the cavern filled with people, then grasped her hands into her hair in frustration. “NEEEEEEEE. Damn it,” releasing her hair, she looked back at the guards. “I’ll be back, I’m going to try and figure this all out.”
The guards just looked at each other and shrugged as Shelby grabbed Ahmed's shirt and pulled him along with her. “How do we get back up, and where is their armory? I suspect that’s where my stuff is.”
“Whoa okay. Guess I’m going with you,” tripping a bit as she pulled him along, then fell into step behind her. “There should be some openings around the corner, we can get to the armory from there.”
Shelby walked back through the stream of water until she reached one of the archways. Leaping up into the air and grasping onto the stones with her claws, she pulled herself up and through. A hand then went down to Ahmed which he took, and was easily pulled up through the opening with a surprised look on his face.
“By Allah, you are very strong,” standing up and dusting himself off, he’d start walking down the street with his eyes up at the buildings. Pointing at one of the larger ones, he waved her over and ran a few steps until he reached the door. “Here we are, your armory. Hopefully they have what you need.”
Shelby pushed at the door but it didn’t open, she then messed with the handle which also didn’t seem to help. Finally she lifted a foot and kicked the door, sending splinters everywhere as it flung open. “First a change of clothes…” finding some of the guards' outfits, she walked into a room and tossed off the tattered dress, replacing it with some pants and a shirt. She then ripped the sleeves off the shirt and walked back out into the main room.
While Shelby changed Ahmed looked around for the armory, opening a door and hollering after “I believe I have found it!” behind the door he found a room filled with weapons and magical trinkets, some of which were the trinkets taken from the feline. Shelby started grabbing whatever she could manage to fit on herself, some bracelets, a ring, an anklet, and a belt.
“Do you ah… need all of that?” Ahmed questioned as he watched her put on the various jewelry.
“I still don’t know what I’m going to do, but if I’m fighting Sir William I need as much magic as I can get.” grabbing a sword off the wall that glimmered brightly in her eyes, she slipped the belt through the scabbard and buckled it around her waist.
“I thought you weren’t going to fight him?” Raising a brow at the feline, then raising his hands and waving them slightly. “Hey, I’m not sure what you are planning, but you don’t owe these people or this city anything…”
Shelby glared at him a moment, then sighed and looked down with her ears folding back. “Those people need help Ahmed, and if the Christians really are killing their prisoners then they don’t stand a chance. I can’t just run away…” huffing and lifting her head back up, Shelby made her way up to the roof and looked out past the city and into the desert.
Ahmed sighed and followed the feline, making his way up to the roof as well and glared out into the darkness. “What are we looking for?”
Shelby pointed out into the darkness and smiled a bit, her hair dancing around her face as a warm desert breeze blew past. “We don’t need five hours. I can see your army out there, just in the distance. The people just need to get close, that’s all. I still don’t know what to do about the patrols though, it doesn’t matter how close they are if the villagers are spotted.”
Ahmed squinted his eyes, he certainly didn’t have the feline's vision. He only saw darkness out in the desert. “I don’t see anything, but if you say they are out there we can get the people to safety.”
Shelby then looked down and noticed one of the patrols the guards mentioned coming around the outside of the city. Five men on horses, likely watching for villagers or keeping an eye on the Muslim army in case of surprise attacks. The men on horses stopped when they noticed her, all of them turning to look.
Shelby, Ahmed, and the men on patrol all stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Eventually the patrol continued on and out of sight which had Shelby smacking Ahmed's chest lightly with the back of her hand. “They are going to want to watch the fight. They won’t be on patrol while it’s happening. I bet they also think the fight will be over in minutes. We have exactly what we need to get the people out.”
“I hope you are right, for our sake I hope you are right.”
Category Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Gender Female
Size 120 x 120px
I really love this "NEEEEEE!!!" Hits me every time haha. More of Shelby's Bizzare Adventure! *cool fantasy-history Japanese sounds*
lol thank you! It's truly bizarre for certain! I almost want to rename the story now lol
Haha, you better not. Though it's already "Shelby's Amazing Adventures"^•^
Huh, using the duel as a distraction for the civilians to escape is a good idea, and not one I was expecting. (I’d been figuring on the classic “I need to win the duel to save the city” thing, but this is probably more realistic, since she can’t be sure she’ll win).
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