6 Chapter 6

Godrick

Godrick chose that exact moment when the mysterious figure had smashed the table to attack. The man was completely open, as his arm was in the air due to his follow through with his swing, so Godrick gave him a little poke in the ribs. In reality, it was a vicious impale that caught the man off guard.

Driving him into the wall behind them , Godrick then pulled his halberd from the man. Using the butt end part of the shaft, he hit the man in the back part of his knee, driving him to the ground. Switching his halberd to the side that held the hammer, he now swung it up right into the face of the man, sending him right into the wall smashing the windows.

The general recovered his feet quickly and rushed Godrick, catching him over his shoulder. He ran towards the open door Godrick had come through. Smashing through multiple pillars, the general stopped abruptly throwing his haul from him.

Godrick hit the ground hard on his back but was able to roll backwards, finding his feet again. The general brought his hammer down on the recovering Godrick, who blocked the blow, but only barely. Godrick let go of the bottom end of his halberd, letting the hammer slide down the shaft of his weapon. The weight on the weapon changed so abruptly that it allowed Godrick to smash the head of his halberd into the man's face, causing him to rear back from the blow. He followed this up with a devastating left punch that threw the man from his feet. Coincidentally, he fell on the young nobleman that was still alive, as Godricks companions hadn't killed him yet.

Completely crushing the body under him, the general quickly found his feet again.

Looking at the young Lord that he had fallen on, he stomped down on his head, finally killing him.

Taking this moment of reprieve, the general spoke.

"I've wanted to kill this little bastard ever since I met him." He said, looking down at the body.

"You wouldn't believe what this little pig and his father have done to the people of this territory. You see the guards outside with dead eyes?" He questioned.

Suddenly, he lashed out with his shield, knocking Godricks halberd aside. He then brought his hammer down on Godricks left shoulder, sending him to his knees. He then took a step to his left, spinning around, bringing his hammer back around in a devastating blow to Godricks chest, sending him crashing through the wall.

The General then looked to the other three men, surrounding him. They had just been standing there, fearing the figure in front of them.

"Run, if you wish to live."

He said, turning back to where Godrick had disappeared to. He approached, going through the hole in the wall that Godrick had made.

Godrick was getting to his feet, still a little unsteady from the blow as his adversary made his way to him. Reaching him, the general brought his hammer in an upwards swipe, but Godrick caught the blow with his left hand, stopping it dead. He then delivered a right hook that shook the man, however he used that momentum to spin to his right, bring his hammer back around in a devastating blow to Godricks helmet, once again knocking him from his feet.

The general walked to the downed Godrick and placed his foot on his chest, pushing down with enough strength to crack the marble floor underneath him. Godrick grabbed the man's foot and tried to push him off. However, the man struck him with his hammer once more.

"I'm disappointed. I expected more from you." The general said in a voice full of disdain.

As the General looked down at Godrick, he noticed the gems on his armor. They were glowing a deep shade of blue when all of a sudden, they went dull. In that moment, he was thrown upwards in a sudden burst of force as he went through the ceiling and disappeared.

Godrick, who just released all the energy in his gems, took this moment to take a few deep breaths. The gems seemed to not have a limit to the amount of force they could hold, or not one that he's found yet.

He got to his feet and made his way out to the main hall, noting that his three companions were nowhere to be found. He didn't blame them for running. He just hoped that they at least tried to save the captives.

Reaching the stairs that led to the fifth floor, he started to walk up them, only to be met by a great mass that charged him. The general tackled Godrick back down the stairs, and once they tumbled to the bottom he grabbed Godrick by one of the strands of his cloak that had torn, and threw him back down the great hall with a mighty heave.

Godrick flew through the air and finally hit the ground and rolled, catching himself with his halberd, which he buried into the marble floor to stop himself, gouging a large groove into the floor.

Looking up, he saw the general right before him, arm raised in ready to deal a fatal blow. Godrick raised his halberd to catch the hammer, only for it to break in half. The hammer descended toward Godrick, who, in an effort to lessen the blow, released the energy in his gems. It wasn't much, but it did soften it enough that it didn't cause much harm.

The blow glanced off Godricks helmet as he stood again, switching the bottom half of his halberd to the sharp butt so he could use it like a sword in his left hand. In his right hand, he held the top part of his halberd, using it like a short ax/hammer.

As the general finished his attack, he left his right side exposed. Taking the opportunity, Godrick stabbed at it, piercing through metal and flesh, causing the general to cry out in pain. The general brought his hammer in a backward strike, but Godrick ducked under it, allowing him to once again stab at the man's chest. He followed this up by bringing his ax down on the General's left shoulder once again, cutting through the metal to dig deeply into his flesh. Screaming in rage, the giant figure tried to grapple Godrick into a great bear hug, but was met with a kick to the chest sending his flying down the great hall, ripping the ax out of his shoulder in the process.

Godrick was on the offensive now, rushing to the downed man. Getting to his knees, the General was met with a knee right to his face, sending him sprawling out on the floor again. Godrick stood over him and grabbed him by the chest plate. He hit him in the face once, twice, then three times with enough force to crack the marble beneath the man.

Backing up, Godrick took a moment to gather himself, then ran at the downed figure. Jumping, he landed directly on the General's chest, sending them both through the already damaged floor. The general gave a shout of pain as they landed as Godrick stepped off of him. The man had dropped his hammer as he fell, so Godrick picked it up and walked back. Standing over his defeated foe, he readied the hammer and brought it down directly on the General's helmet, incapacitating him.

Godrick took him helmet off and rubbed his neck and other parts of his body that hurt. This was a hard fought battle that left much destroyed. He hadn't noticed it in the fight, but they had destroyed much of this wing of the castle. They had ruined many of the load-bearing walls, and he was afraid it would collapse. At that moment, his three companions came running down the hallway, leading the captured prisoners that were in the dungeons.

"Lord!" One of the called out stopping before him.

"I'm sorry we left you, but we believe you could handle it. There was no way we could have beaten him, so we went and freed the prisoners!" He said in a hurry. Godrick just nodded and pointed to the large double doors that led out the castle.

Understanding what he wanted, the man turned to the group.

"Prepare to leave! We go out the front gates!"

Running up the stairs to the master study where Earl Grasso was, Godrick found the man had tied drapes and rope together to try to make his way out the window. He was having trouble getting his mass out the window, however, and Godrick simply pulled him from it, making the man tumble to the ground.

"No! Let me go!" He shouted.

Godrick ignored his cries as he grabbed the makeshift rope he was trying to use to escape. He then shoved the man back down the long great hall. As they passed his son's body, Earl Grasso spat on it.

"Useless boy!" He shouted with contempt. Reaching the stairs, Godrick unceremoniously pushed the fat man down them to the floor below them. Arriving at the General's body, Godrick tied the rope around his feet and began to drag him towards the main castle entrance. Opening the main large doors leading out to the courtyard, he held the rope that was dragging the general in his left hand and grabbed Grasso's thick fat neck in his right. As the soldiers turned to see who had opened the gate, they were shocked to see their lord being held hostage by a mysterious knight.

"Let us through, or I'll spill his fat guts all over the courtyard!" One of the men shouted, drawing a sword at placing it against Grasso's large stomach.

Godrick applied some pressure to Grasso's neck to get him to comply with the man's shouts.

"Do it! For God's sake, do it! Open the gates and let Artoria in!" He shouted with fear.

Thus, the battle was won. Artoria came riding in through the gates with a tear stained face. Next to her was he mother Igraine. The two had a tear filled reunion when Igraine had made her way alone to her daughter. The soldier that had gone with her had been killed, protecting her, and gave his life to let her get away.

Stopping her horse in front of Godrick, she looked down at Grasso. She said nothing as she stared down at him.

She finally motioned for one of her men to take him, and as Godrick shoved Grasso over to the soldier, a great spurt of blood erupted from the now headless body of the Earl.

Unknown

"You did it now, Anthrax. Getting yourself captured. Now I've got to clean up after you." A hooded figure said as he looked over the assembled army before him. He was far away so they couldn't see him, but he could see them. His eagle eyes could see a great distance, and right now, he was looking at his fellow general Anthrax, who was currently unconscious on the ground. His goat themed armor stood out like a sore thumb in the firelight.

He readied his greatbow and lined up his shot.

"You owe me for this one, my friend." He said as he let his large arrow loose.

Godrick

"Get down!" A soldier shouted as everyone either hit the ground or took cover.

"Archers!" Artoria shouted

The archers got into advantageous positions and readied themselves, but nothing else happened. No enemy came from the darkness or attacked again from the shadows. After a while, everyone calmed themselves and left the city.

"danm it." Artoria said as she looked at the body of the Earl. This would make things difficult for her at court.

They left a good portion of the army to garrison and run the city. She also left one of her trusted lords who would weed out any unjust practices and make sure the city was safe by putting it in lockdown.

Making their way back to the capital, Artoria talked with her mother. Godrick walked alongside her horse as she laughed and cried, all while having a small smile as he watched her and her mother. The mysterious knight had been chained to one of the carts. His weapons had been confiscated and held by Godrick for the moment. The hammer was of peerless quality, perfectly balanced. He hadn't noticed before, but it was an incredible weapon.

Finally reaching home, the army dispersed, and Godrick left to tend to his own needs. A servant girl met him in his room and helped him out of his armor. She then went to prepare him a bath and left. Looking into the silver metal that had been pounded into a thin sheet, he looked at his reflection.

He had long blond, almost white hair that reached his upper back. A chiseled strong face that had many small scars and pale blue eyes with a faint golden ring surrounding his pupil.

He looked over his body and noticed the light bruising around his upper back and left shoulder. It would be a painful couple of days, but he would be ok.

After he had taken care of his needs, Godrick started to get dressed when Morgan came to his room.

"How did everything go?" She asked.

Giving a nod, he walked to his armor and pointed at the gems, and gave a thumbs up.

"You like them, hmm? Good, because those are the only ones I've been able to find. They're a devil to try to make them work like that, so take care of them. The armor is replaceable, but the gems are not. Be sure to keep them safe, please." She said.

"I also heard you found our mother." She stated.

"I personally thought it better that she was dead." She continued

She looked at Godrick, who looked at her confused.

"I never loved the woman. Don't tell Artoria this, but Igraine was one of the many reasons I tried to kill Artoria. I was always never good enough in my parents' eyes, and I wanted their recognition. So what better way than to take out the competition, I thought. Good thing that didn't work out." She said with a faint smile. She looked to Godrick,

"I wasn't always the best person, Godrick. I was an evil woman at one point. I've done many evil things to try and get ahead in life." She walked over to Godrick and held his face, squeezing his cheeks together, which made her laugh.

"But there are some things more important than power I've come to learn. You and Mordred made me realize that, and I've begun to see you two as my own, just as Artoria has, and I've realized my flaws, and im trying to be a better person. Just remember that, okay?" 

Leaving the room, she gave Godrick much to think about. He missed his sister, and he missed her rambunctious nature. He thought of what she was doing right now and hoped she would be ok.

Getting up, he placed his armor where it sat on its stands and placed his new hammer next to it. Going back to his bed, he laid down and went to sleep.

He was woken up by a banging on his door and a soldier shouting his name.

"Lord Godrick! Lord Godrick!" The man shouted desperately. Jumping out of his bed, he opened his door he was met by a frantic soldier.

"The prisoner has escaped! And he's kidnapped, Lady Igraine!" The soldier shouted. 

Looking back into his room, Godrick saw that the hammer he had claimed was gone, nowhere to be seen. Shoving the soldier out of the way, he ran down to the dungeons where his prisoner had been held. He found Artoria and Morgan there, looking at the damages, bodies all over the place. They mostly had been killed by blunt force, but some had clean cuts as well. 

"He had help! We need to hunt him down, He has our mother, Morgan!" Artoria shouted at her sister.

"I understand that, Artoria, but they have disappeared! The trail of bodies leads all the way to the walls! They've left the city and are long gone!" Morgan shouted back 

"We need to go after them. They can't be that far away!" Artoria reasoned back.

"We have people looking for them, but they want to lure us out! They want you to go after them! We should have killed that animal when we had the chance!" Morgan stated in anger.

Leaving the two sisters to hash this out, Godrick checked on the soldiers that were nearby, making sure that none of them were hurt. He followed the bodies to the wall like Morgan had said, but there were no signs of survivors. Every guard that had seen anything had been killed, leaving everyone in the dark. But things didn't make sense. How did the hammer disappear from his room? Did the general just leave him be as he snuck in to steal the hammer?

As Godrick made his way back to his room, he ran through everything in his head. Finally, in his room, he noticed that his window was open and a new figure seated in the frame. He had hair as white as snow and held a long staff in one hand.

"Hello Godrick, it's been a very long time. We have much to talk about." Merlin said.

Unknown 

A young woman lay chained to a wall, wishing to be rescued. Her sword had been taken from her. She had been stripped of her pride and dignity. Only two words left her mouth.

"Damn them."