(The Black Knight.)

Chapter sixteen:

As his thoughts wandered in this direction. It felt as if he was on the cusp of something, something grand, but it slipped away as he heard a voice behind him, accompanied by the sound of horse hooves and metal clanking together. "A person! I can try the other power's now. Corvus Rigel said to himself.

He turned and almost stumbled when what could only be described as a knight on horseback came into view. Glittering plate mail, a cape and a cloth covering the chest with a coat of arms stitched in. Hands gripping the reins and a sword at his waist, the man was, in every definition, a knight. The horse was tall, chestnut brown, and had a bit of armor itself. A horse that was unmistakably bred for war.

"Cool... ah, I should try these powers now. What was it again? Aura vision, death intuition, and telepathy, ah and strength... strength can wait, unless the knight has bad intentions. Corvus thought and then directed his concentration to his eyes and to reaching out to the knights mind. All of a sudden, color surrounding the knight and thoughts started to sound out in Corvus mind that were not his own. The colors were a mixture of several different ones. Shades of purple, mostly lavender, grey, a lime green and green forest colors emanated from the man. The colors translated themselves as he processed them. The knight was feeling contempt, overall negativity towards the person in his sight, apprehension, and envy. His thoughts started to become clear as well.

"Just as the damned court wizard said... someone in the same vestments as he indeed appeared on mine patrol route. What makes this knave so special, another fated apprentice for him, I suppose. As if that damned Celtic witch child wasn't enough. If offending the arcane bastard wasn't a sure ticket to death I wouldn't even bother. Thought the knight and as his thoughts started to take a darker turn Corvus decided to cut the connection.

"A wizard? What time period am I even in? Obviously medieval, but I wonder what century. Fated apprentice? As if. The fact that he knew I'd arrive is interesting though. Corvus Rigel said to himself.

Corvus had his hand on his chin and looked at the knight with an amused expression as he approached. This gave the knight an even worse impression of the supposed peasant in the distance. As he got closer and saw just how wide and tall the man was though, a bit of fear mixed his countenance. The fact that he didn't seem intimidated by the royal coat of arms nor his station made his apprehension grow. However, in the end, he dismissed it as the willful ignorance of the lower masses and the arrogance of a man who doesn't know his place. The knight stopped in front of the man. From horseback, he began to speak, his gruff and in forced politeness yet dripping with contempt.

"Ho there, honored guest. Wilt thou come with my humble self. Our esteemed court wizard has foreseen the arrival and doth wish for a meeting. As a decorated knight of this fair kingdom, it would be my honor to escort thee hence. Said the Black Knight.

As he spoke, a separate color filled the left side of Corvus's vision, but it was fleeting, like mist, no, more like it was trying to be concealed. Lavender, contempt, not directed at Corvus, but the knight, and a bright yellowy- orange, amusement. As he turned to face the empty space that held those colors, Corvus could see the colors change to that of shaky green and indigo, followed quickly by a deep orange which was maintained. A flash of terror, amazement, and then extreme vigilance, he processed.

His attention was brought back to the knight. His lack of response and outright dismissal of the knights words seemed to upset him further. The lavender of his contempt starting to turn to a shade of scarlet rage. The grey color of negativity turning darker in shade, killing intent to permeate the air. To a person of Corvus's strength, it was negligible. Thus, even though it was the first time he felt killing intent, he couldn't bring himself to be afraid. It seemed as though the knight still had some sense of propriety though, as he forced himself to swallow his anger and coughed into his armored hand.

"Excuse me, sir. I don't believe thee had heard mine words. I would like to escort thee to the court wizards office in the castle." Replied the Black Knight.

A fun idea started to form in Corvus's mind. "No, sir knight. Mine ears work remarkably well, actually. I had just elected to ignore thy words in favor of a slight distraction in the breeze. Even were it not the case that such a breeze was more important than thou, why must I be escorted by a mediocre person who can't properly contain his contempt and killing intent long enough to properly entertain a guest of his betters?" Said Corvus Rigel.

The wispy color's in the air to the left, still maintained the orange of vigilance, but a bright yellow and marigold couldn't help but creep inside it. Amusement and satisfaction. A glance and a smile from Corvus was enough to bring back the vigilance, but a lighter shade of orange, curiosity, started to overtake it.

The scarlet rage dominated the knights other feelings. However, still having a bit of decorum left the knight bit out." Knave, thee dare impugn mine honor and station?" Replied the Black Knight.

"Honor? Station? Dost thou have such things? If these things are indeed thine, then I do impugn upon them for it seems to not be worth the shite that comes from the ass thee call a steed. Corvus chuckled and started to walk away. "If thy waste thou call words continue to pollute the air I would very much rather not bother with thee. Begone, if such an esteemed individual wishes to meet with me, he should send someone of actual worth to relay the message. As he walked away, he spread his awareness through a thirty meter radius. He could feel the knight shake.

As he got to the crest of a hill, the knight spurred his horse on. Here he comes.

The knight wasn't thinking clearly, obviously, but in this age of honor and prestige there was no way he could let such words lay. So he decided to strike the rudest man he'd ever met down, wizard be damned. The powerful muscles of the horse churned beneath his saddle and brought him forward. He unsheathed his blade. The sound of which he knew would carry, in addition to the hooves beating the ground. As he expected, his target turned back to face him at the noise. He expected to see panic and anger. What he saw was neither, just calm indifference. This set off a few alarms in his mind, but he grit his teeth, gripped his blade, and began to swing as he passed. He expected the feeling of steel cutting flesh and possibly getting stuck in bone, but felt nothing but air. Then a rush of air, the scenery blurring together, a sharp pain racked through his head and lost consciousness.

"That was too close... Travis said. He had intended to duck under the blade. then slap the horse on the rear in a taunting manner. The dodging went fine... but the slap was where it went wrong. The force of his light slap propelled the horse through the air, they almost hit a tree. Thankfully though, he had the presence of mind to teleport to the knight and grabbed him before impact. The horse, unfortunately, didn't make it and it's mangled meat was wrapped around the tree. The grab forced the knight unconscious due to sudden deceleration. Physics didn't seem to apply in Corvus hands, since at that speed, suddenly stopping should have killed the knight. Perhaps because he didn't want the knight to die, he simply didn't. His body isn't meant to stop functioning until he's fifty six anyway. Intention makes his powers work, after all. However, he didn't notice any of this. As he was more concerned with fear and vigilance radiating from his front, with a bit of hatred and killing intent peppered in. To avoid any unpleasantness, Corvus decided to be the first to speak, while looking at the aura directly.

"I didn't mean for that to happen. Honestly. I didn't measure my strength properly. He sighed. "I'm going to put him down and move away from him now, and I'll keep my hands in view. Alright?" He didn't wait for the aura to change and laid the armored knight down slowly. After which, he raised his arms, placed his hands over his head, stood up, and backed away.

Once he was an adequate distance, the aura lost it's killing intent, the fear went away slightly as well but the vigilance was still there. In an attempt to calm whoever it was down, Corvus added. "Though I'm sure thou would have rather I saved the horse. Quite frankly. I would have as well. Slight amusement was shown but the caution was not dropped. Said Corvus Rigel before he resurrected the dead horse.