The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

Chapter 38: Plants vs. Assassins

Grey hulks of stone littered the ground at the once-borders of the castle, as the mighty structure dissolved into the green earth. Tall grass and lush bushes grew freely around the castle, where few dared to tread due to rumours of ghost sightings. The castle had once held a prominent place in the large Pext Empire, before this split into a handful of imitators such as the Kingdoms of Asuor and Brazekr. As such, myths about the castle's denizens were widespread, and they were still believed to haunt its former grounds. Three guards had been posted around the entrance to the castle ruins, to watch for vandals and warn locals of the risks. One of these guards walked to up Crucis' party, as they approached the ruins.

"Greetings," said Crucis, "We only wish to access the gardens. We were sent by Hiroto."

"You may enter," begun the guard, "Beware, the garden is haunted by Athur's ancient Knights, now known as the six devils! If you go in, prepare for trouble. The power of these Knights has waned over the centuries, so you may be able to fend them off. However, do not take this warning lightly, I have seen them with my own eyes."

"I understand the risks. Who tends the garden? It looks to be in good condition, but these ghosts would surely scare off most gardeners."

"It is rumoured that the ghosts themselves do this. Athur was inspired by the tales of far-off foreign warriors, who abided by a strict code of honour and were often masters of calligraphy, drawing, gardening, furniture arrangement and such arts. He tried to encourage his Knights to do the same.

"The ghosts can appear by harvesting the blood of corpses that they have killed, both in their lives and as ghosts. They are weak when they appear like this, but strong enough for gardening. When strangers appear, however, the ghosts can draw on the vitality of each visitor, and this will make them strong enough to fight. However, it means that they can only appear in as great a number as there are visitors, and must fight one-on-one."

"I see. Thank you for the warning."

Crucis motioned his group to enter the ruins, and began to follow them in. He thought wistfully that this task would be easier with a [Necromancer], as their undead servants could dig in the garden and did not have enough vitality for the Knights to fight. However, his team would probably have to fight their way through. Hesitating slightly, he asked the guard, "Why do these Knights appear in the garden, specifically?"

"They were buried there," replied the guard, "They had grown up in this castle, raised as warriors from an early age. The garden was always a source of pleasure for them, and they were buried there to commemorate their life-long service to the Empire."

Crucis thanked the guard, then jogged to catch up with his party. He reached them at the edge of the garden, where the three of them waited and looked in.

"I wish my old dog was here, he would be good at this," sighed Digdugman.

"You're named Digdugman, you should be good at this," teased Crucis.

"Why, yes, and I'm also an old dog."

"Exactly. By the way, being serious, you are in the [Geomancer] sub-class, right? You can probably use some of your powers to make this digging easier."

"Most of my powers will return the earth to where it was before, after I have finished casting them. If I cast them while not in combat, then the spell will automatically finish after a couple of seconds."

"We can still use them to check where the sword is, then dig when we find the swords. As your spells shift the soil, we can scan it to see where the bodies - I mean, swords are buried."

The garden extended across the left side of the castle, sheltered from the world outside by three crumbling stone walls. As they entered, they saw that the garden was well-maintained, with soft, short grass and a variety of flowers planted across the length of the garden. A few strips of soil were barely covered by grass, and Crucis guessed that these were areas that previous swordfighting groups had dug into.

"The sword is probably in one of these places without much grass," he told his party, "so try to focus on searching there."

"What if the Knights appear while we're searching?" asked Digdugman nervously.

"We'll fight 'em off!" said GemsBond bombastically. Crucis chuckled slightly.

This chapter upload first at NovelUsb.Com

"Yeah, but if we get to digging and they attack, they might get the jump on us," replied the Mage, "we'll get mobbed by three opponents at once, and we won't be prepared."

GemsBond nodded matter-of-factly at this.

"Listen, you're right," said Crucis, who bent over and begun plucking pink flowers by harshly tugging the stem apart. "Instead of being surprised by the Knights, let's lure them out and fight them before we begin to search. They keep this garden in order, and it was important to them in their youth, so I'm sure they'll show up if we start pulling it apart."

His partners were taken aback slightly by Crucis' determination to enrage the fearsome ghostly Knights, but DigdugMan sighed as he realised that he had little choice in the matter. He went over to a corner and began tugging lightly at a few small, white flowers, then tossing them to the ground.

Holding up a fist of crushed delicate, pink petals, Crucis said, "Spread out a bit, the fights are one-on-one but it could get awkward if we were bunched together." His partners moved across the large garden to find space, as Crucis used his dagger to break a large plant adorned with many sunflowers, and tossed the array of sunflowers to the ground.

After about a minute, a large billow of dark-grey smoke rose from the ground in the centre of the garden, accompanied with a low, rumbling voice. "Who dares disturb our rest?" it said. Three figures appeared amidst the smoke, dressed in heavily damaged armour. Like the smoke, these figures were all uniformly dark-grey in colour, from their skin to their armour and sword, and were partially transparent.

"Why do you disturb our childhood rest?" said one of their figures, their mouth opening like a black gash.

"Air pollution is bad for the environment," replied Crucis nonchalantly, drawing his [Silver Wasp Sword]. He used [Warding], and prepared a [Wrath strike].

One Knight each charged towards the intruders, with sword raised high. A left-handed Knight, named [Gowein], approached Crucis, preparing a heaving strike from above his right shoulder. However, Crucis' [Wrath strike] snaked out towards the Knight's head, and Gowein's blade met it in half-swing. Stepping forwards, Crucis had used the longer range of the [Wrath strike] to leverage his Agility advantage against this opponent, stepping forwards and extending his sword to prevent the Knight from getting too close. As Gowein's unprepared strike deflected limply backwards after striking Crucis' blade, Crucis stepped forwards and used the opening to [Lunge] at Gowein's face. He struck the Knight right on the face, through a gaping hole in the Knight's broken helmet, and Gowein recoiled violently.

As Gowein approached him again, Crucis attempted a [Rising thrust], but Gowein easily parried it by moving his sword comfortably over Crucis' blade, and Crucis hastily used [Dodge Step] to backstep and avoid Gowein's follow-up thrust at his chest. This reminded him that, even though these Knights had diminished power, they were still based on powerful, experienced Knights and he should not risk loose strikes.

The next time that Gowein approached, Crucis was more patient. As Gowein delivered a harsh, downwards diagonal cut from Crucis' right side, Crucis responded with a rising [Slash] from the left to parry Gowein's strike above the shoulder. As their blades clashed, Crucis sidestepped to his left while agilely twisting his body until his left shoulder was facing squarely forwards at Gowein. His blade was now horizontal in front of his face, with the hilt held above his right shoulder. Having a straight path to attack his opponent, he used [Lunge] while stepping forwards, and drove his blade straight into Gowein's face again. He saw masses of smoky, grey-red blood flowing from the Knight's face. He used the centre of his blade to keep Gowein's blade at bay while he ran past the Knight's left shoulder and threatened an attack from behind. Gowein was by now on only 50% HP, and the repeated bloody strikes to the face had impaired the Knight's vision. Crucis noticed that the Knight had been looking straight at the path of his last [Lunge] before he did it, implying that the Knight was aware of Crucis' chance to attack but was too sluggish and stiff to counter it at this low strength level. If the Knights had recovered more of their former power, they would then become far more formidable, and Crucis would be unable to fight them at present.

As Crucis aimed a quick [Slash] from behind, the Knight effortlessly swivelled round and used his blade to heavily strike Crucis' away, while leaning away from Crucis so that his own arms had room to swing. As Crucis swung again with an [Overhead slash], Gowein heaved his blade upwards and with his ricasso he caught Crucis' blade near the tip. This position gave Gowein the leverage to easily shove Crucis' blade aside, and direct a harsh thrust at Crucis' right shoulder as the Assassin tried to step away. Crucis grimaced lightly, almost expecting pain, but then realised that these Knights were not the boss of this quest and did not cause pain. It was a slightly confusing matter, as the game's advertising had presented the Knights as level 100 bosses, but he recalled that the level 100 Knights were presented as part of the world event feature and would probably only appear during an event. He would have to be more careful around [Athur].

Crucis was at 85% HP, but the strike on his shoulder had made it more difficult for him to attack with his sword. He kept his distance from Gowein, but soon saw that the Knight was using a healing skill to increase his HP to 65. Frustrated, Crucis realised that he would have to keep the Knight under pressure. He approached the Knight, but deftly backstepped away as the Knight swung hard from his left. The hard swing passed harmlessly through the air in front of him. Stepping forwards, he saw Gowein trying to gather his sword after the wide swing had left it trailing to the side, and so used a [Slash] from the right which slithered over Gowein's blade and struck the Knight's neck harshly. Gowein attempted to maneouvre his blade around Crucis', but Crucis easily twisted his blade higher by the hilt and continued to lock out Gowein's sword. He was surprised at the experienced Knight making such a rash move, and assumed that this Knight was sometimes blindsided by their fervour.

He used [Lunge] harshly to prick further into the wounds in Gowein's face, and then used [Agile Step] to reach a safer position behind the Knight's right shoulder. He used [Slice] to further deepen the wounds on Gowein's face, and heard the Knight cry out lightly. The knight was now on only 30% HP. Using his sword to deflect a loose strike from Gowein, Crucis stepped behind Gowein and held his sword horizontally across the front of the Knight's throat, before kicking at the Knight's feet with [Forceful Kick]. While Gowein almost tried to struggle, they gave up and fell to the ground to escape the blade hanging in front of their throat. Crucis expected that, as the Knight had to either fall or impale his neck against Crucis' sword. As the Knight fell, Crucis immediately began a [Lunge] towards his fallen enemy's face, drawing further blood and striking deep just above the nose. The Knight was now down to 15% HP.

As the Knight speculatively but weakly rose his blade to attempt a strike at Crucis, Crucis realised that the Knight in this form did not have enough power to perform the attack that the Knight wanted to. Crucis grabbed the limply hanging blade with [Sword hold], using his left hand, then swung sharply at Gowein's left wrist with [Slash]. As he struck, the Knight shivered and let go of their weapon, which remained in Crucis' hand. Crucis flung it out to the side of the garden, and crouched down next to the Knight's face. He used the [Toxin gas] on the Knight's wounded face, causing the wounds to widen. The Knight let out a sudden wail, and Crucis saw that the pained Knight wasn't attempting to push Crucis away. Using the [Half-swording] skill, Crucis gripped his own blade halfway with his left hand, and used this to aim it more precisely at the wounds on Gowein's face. He was able to deepen the wounds on the Knight's face significantly through deep stabs and an occasional twisting motion, sending Gowein's blood blooming across the garden grass, before the Knight finally managed to wrestle Crucis away and fling him onto his back a metre away. Crucis saw that the Knight was on 2% HP while bleeding heavily, so he just remained tiredly on his back and waited for Gowein to die.

While Gowein tried to stagger to his feet, he soon dropped down, dead. His face was soaked with tears. While these NPCs were still mostly programmed to act like NPCs, they had now begun to display emotions and experience pain, and Crucis guessed that the game was somehow basing this on people outside the game, as the developers' mishaps led to the game trying in vain to process information outside of it. Since these NPCs could experience pain inside the game, it followed that the game was probably absorbing these people as it tried to process them as game information.

Crucis soon rose to his feet. He saw that GemsBond was faring quite well against his opponent, [Pursih] but DigdugMan was having a more difficult time. Both the Mage and his opponent, named [Ky], were down to 30% HP, in spite of the Mage's frantic healing. Crucis could see that, even weakened, his opponent was a strong swordsman. Crucis saw that the Mage was using [Earth Shield] to give himself time to heal and cast [Clay Enchantment].

As [Ky] walked calmly around the large shield of soil, Crucis quickly approached the Knight and attempted a [Slash]. The Knight, however, flashed his sword up to parry, then sidestepped towards DigdugMan while jaunting his blade forwards at Crucis. Crucis used [Dodge Step] as soon as he saw the warrior's skillful, immediate parry, since he was expecting a fierce reprisal. While the Knight had thrown caution to the wind slightly by stepping right next to DigdugMan, Crucis realised that the Knight had noticed that the Mage was casting healing spells and hence walked up to them without fearing immediate attack.

Seeing that Crucis had left, Ky swerved his body slightly and slashed his blade towards DigdugMan, who parried it ably. The Mage attempted to counter-attack, but Ky had grabbed his hand and began to advance towards the Mage with blade readied to thrust. Crucis was surprised that the Mage had managed to keep this fight even so far, against such a skillful opponent. This garden suited the [Geomancer] sub-class, however, and the combination of earth magic and healing was all that had kept the Mage in the fight, since he was at a significant disadvantage and had difficulty with his limited Dexterity.

Crucis attempted to use [Lunge], as Ky advanced on the Mage. However, Ky noticed the attack and turned sharply to parry Crucis' blade with his ricasso. He used his elbow to shove Crucis while slashing hard towards the Assassin's neck, and the slash Crucis on the shoulder as he fell down. He slid briefly along the ground due to the firm shove, then rolled to his feet.

However, DigdugMan had used [Clay Enchantment] while Crucis fought Ky, and now cast [Lesser Whirlpool-Earth] to cause the soil beneat Ky's feet to soften and spiral downwards, acting like a small quicksand. This threw the Knight off-balance, allowing the Mage to strike with a firm [Mordhau], gripping his sword by the blade and striking the Knight's helmet with a blunt blow from the hilt. Due to the [Clay Enchantment], this gave a harsh blow, and a loud, ringing noise filled the garden as Ky collapsed to the ground.

"Nice idea," said Crucis. He used [Stealth Cloak] now, expecting that Ky would put up a fight even from the ground. Ky still had 15% of his HP left, and looked determined but winded.

The Mage attempted a [Slash] at the fallen enemy, but was surprised when the fallen Knight's blade flashed forwards to intercept the blow. Without a pause, the Knight swept his legs across the ground towards the Mage's feet, causing the Mage to fall onto the ground with him. While Ky reached his hand forwards, and prepared to grapple the Mage down and attempt a dangerous thrust, he was stopped when Crucis appeared kneeling next to him and using the [Half-swording] skill to stab the centre of Ky's neck. Crucis dug his sword out towards the left of Ky's throat, deepening the bleeding considerably, and he saw a look of distress on the Knight's face.

While Ky tried to sweep his sword towards Crucis, DigdugMan parried it comfortably. Ky kicked the Mage away, but found that Crucis had grabbed his sword with [Sword hold] and was holding it in placed with his own blade.

"Prepare another Mordhau with Clay Enchantment," Crucis instructed DigdugMan. The Mage backed off to follow this.

"You are cruel," said Ky tiredly, "I once was cruel as well, but the Queen lulled us to peacefulness with her charms and her singing. Do not dare seek my bones, you shall find an evil man! Since death I have changed, for the Queen visits the garden each scorned-moon midnight."

Crucis had a vague recollection of old British legends, and asked, "Didn't she once lull you towards war, not peace?"

"Peacefulness is like death, is it not? War can have strength, but it does not always have to be so."

"Wisely spoken. But you are only strong now because you had been cruel, and when I find your bones you shall regain your strength and your cruelty. Purely to spite you."

"No!" Ky tried to rear up again, but Crucis smacked the Knight's chin back down with the base of his sword. The Knight's chin split slightly, and some blood poured out.

By the time, DigdugMan had prepared his [Clay Enchantment], and had walked up to Ky. Looking somewhat angry, the Mage raised his sword's hilt high and then smashed it against the Knight's head in a blunt blow, while Crucis used his blade to keep Ky in place. The Knight made a long, low-pitched moan, gurgling blood, then died.

Crucis wondered if DigdugMan's earth magic could eventually develop enough to dig deep in this garden and search for the buried Knights. Crucis felt that this would be a likely trigger for a world event, especially since he had seen the horsemen often in videos advertising world events. However, he was somewhat disturbed by the mention of the singing Queen, and he wondered if the Queen had been using a similar type of song-based magic to Irene. This reminded him that he should look more into the [Magical Conch Shell] he had looted from Irene's ghastly form, and possibly also figure out what a 'scorned-moon midnight' was so that he could investigate further.

As Crucis stood up, he saw that GemsBond had killed [Pursih] already. He congratulated GemsBond, who thanked him in return.

A system message appeared:

[More Knights will appear in 2 minutes! Prepare or heal before the next fights, or flee while you can!]

As the party waited, DigdugMan healed Crucis and GemsBond. Crucis used a few healing potions to supplement this, raising his HP back to 100%.

"Hey, DigdugMan," Crucis said, "You mentioned studying Shakespeare, but do you know much about the Arthurian legends?"

"It's not my area of expertise," replied the Mage, "but I did study them slightly while researching Shakespeare's history plays. These Knights do seem to be based on the Arthurian legends, although the game seems to have a different spin on this. The Arthurian legends comprise many texts, however, as well as Welsh folklore, so it could be a separate field of study in itself."

"Arthur was Welsh?"

"Proto-Welsh, obviously the later nation of Wales wasn't quite there yet."

"Ah, I see. Most of what I know about the Arthurian legends is that he oppressed anarcho-syndicalist peasants. But even that might be slightly apocryphal," Crucis joked.

"Anyway, any clue what to expect from the next batch of Knights?"

"Since Ky mentioned Guinevre, it's likely that one will be based on Lancelot. They'll probably be quite difficult. Whoever is facing him should try to stall until the rest of us can help."

Crucis' companions nodded.

"Let's stand apart again, so that we don't get caught in the crossfire once the Knights arrive," said GemsBond.

As the three of them spread across the garden, a plume of smoke erupted from the centre once more. Three more ghostly figures appeared within the smoke, now at level 40. Crucis saw that one was named [Launce], and this figure quickly ran to accost DigdugMan.

"I will make short work of the Mage, if either of you fails then I will fight in your stead after that!" Launce shouted at his comrades.

A Knight named [Triste] approached Crucis, and held his sword relaxedly in Crucis' direction. Crucis attempted a [Slash] from the right; but Triste parried this easily. Triste attempted to raise his own sword and strike at Crucis over the right shoulder, accompanying this with a few steps forwards, but Crucis backstepped and parried in front of his body. Crucis used [Feint] to fake a [Lunge] after the parry, and backstepped out of range as the Knight swerved his blade to parry the feigned attack. Triste continued stepping forwards, and attempted a horizontal cut at Crucis below the chest, but Crucis agilely backstepped with [Dodge Step] and Triste's blade flew through empty air.

Crucis was surprised when Triste began to back off slowly, and figured that the Knight was daring him into an attack. Crucis lowered his ward, pointing his sword downwards in front of him, wondering if this would tempt the Knight to attack. However, Triste merely lowered his sword slightly, and pointed it at Crucis to threaten the Assassin if he should advance. Crucis ventured forwards hesitantly, and used [Rising thrust], but stepped backwards immediately when he felt Triste parry his thrust, and raised the hilt of his blade to ward off Triste's retaliatory cut with a hanging parry.

Crucis glanced at DigdugMan, and saw that the Mage had lowered Launce to 70% HP, but was himself on 45% HP. Frowning, Crucis struck forwards with a long [Wrath strike], but Triste parried high with a swing of his sword, and then attempted to respond with a downwards cut of his own. Crucis easily backstepped out of range of this strike, and, as Triste's sword fell, Crucis twisted his wrist to cut down at Triste's hands from the right. The Knight flinched in pain as Crucis' sword sliced across his skin and drew blood, and Triste let his sword droop towards the floor. Crucis used this opening to step forwards strongly, using his left hand to grab Triste's hands and restrain them, and then delivering a harsh [Slash] to the edge of the Knight's neck across the right side, following this up with a quick [Thrust] that pierced further into the wound. He stepped back after that, as the Knight followed him with a wide slash that flew just short. Triste now had 65% HP remaining.

As Triste ventured forwards, he feinted, pretending to strike at Crucis' head before shifting attention to the Assassin's right leg. Triste's blade cut lightly through Crucis' leg, and Crucis stumbled. Seeing that the Assassin was off-balance, Triste prepared a heavy strike at Crucis' head, but Crucis activated [Speed Demon] to raise Agility and backpedaled hastily away before the Knight could swing. Crucis crouched down in a corner of the garden to regain his balance, quietly picking up some wet soil, then stood up once again. Triste took a few steps forwards, and then attempted the same swing, but Crucis was expecting the strike and easily intercepted the blow with his own sword and ducked down, using [Hard/soft] to soften his blade and let Triste's blade deflect against the walls at the corner of the garden. As Triste's blade hit the walls above Crucis' head, and bounced to the side, Crucis stepped forwards and threw the wet soil in Triste's face. This further disoriented the Knight, as Crucis stepped to the left and slid his sword forwards to strike the Knight with a high [Lunge] to the face that drew plenteous blood. Crucis feinted another strike to the face, causing the Knight to instinctively flinch backwards, but instead grabbed the Knight's sword with [Sword hold] and used [Slash] to deliver a harsh cut to the Knight's hands as they wavered dizzily. As he saw his blade cut into the Knight's hands with a couple of bleeding gashes, reducing the Knight to 20% HP, he followed this up with [Thrash] directed at the wounds. He felt the Knight let go of his sword, so Crucis confiscated the Knight's sword and threw it away.

Facing the swordless Triste, Crucis used [Agile Step] as the Knight attempted to step away, and grabbed the Knight's shoulder to perform a rough [Slice] across the Knight's neck. Pressing his sword forwards across the wound and slowly drawing it to one side, he forced the Knight's head to tilt backwards in order to avoid the blow. Using a [Forceful Kick] on the back of the Knight's feet, he sent Triste tumbling hard to the ground, making a loud noise that gained the attention of the rest of the room. Ignoring the stares of his companions, Crucis kneeled down and used [Half-swording] to stab deeply through the centre of the Knight's exposed ear, and then used [Slice] to draw his sword across the Knight's wounded neck until Triste was dead.

Glancing up, he saw that Launce had retained 40% HP, and was playing cat-and-mouse with DigdugMan by hopping lightly from side to side and threatening to step around an [Earth Shield]. The Mage had only 15% HP remaining, but was preparing a healing spell. Meanwhile, GemsBond was still at about even HP with [Bedwyr], the Knight fighting him, as both had 60% HP.

Crucis knew that Launce would be a skilled swordsman. As Crucis approached the Knight, he used [Feint] to fake a strike at the Knight's head, but backstepped away as soon as he saw the Knight's blade vigorously rising to parry. Launce's sword thrusted upwards with a movement like a striking snake seizing prey, and Crucis realised that this opponent was very strong even in this diminished form. Crucis lowered his blade, as if preparing a low cut, and Launce also lowered his blade to follow. Crucis saw that Launce was smiling lightly, as if pleased that Crucis was reluctant to fight.

"You're wise enough to know your place," taunted Launce.

Crucis laughed slightly, and replied, "You aren't, you should be a swordsman again, not a gardener."

"Oh?" said Launce, seeming a bit surprised. "Well, yes. By the way, I like how your gardening is swordsmanship. All of these broken flowers everywhere, these other so-called 'Knights' will be crying for weeks. You should also be a swordsman, definitely not a gardener." He smiled, teasingly.

"They would be crying more if we found their bones, one of your allies was just begging me not to before I killed him."

Launce laughed. "They would be crying at first, but soon all of your human towns and cities would be crying. If their original stature was restored, so would their bloodthirstiness. My bones are buried deep by the gates at the back of the garden, from the opposite side as the one you came in, by the way.."

Launce comfortably parried a [Slash] from the side by DigdugMan, then sidestepped quickly and shoved the Mage roughly to the ground.

"Your friend here has been playing hard-to-get," said Launce, "Were you planning to have him hold me up until the rest of you could join in?"

"Yes," replied Crucis, seeing no point in lying about it.

"Then let me help!" said Launce, and he swiftly backstepped and swerved around to stab [Bedwyr] through the spine, interrupting his fellow Knight's bout with GemsBond. This removed all of Bedwyr's remaining 23% HP, and he lay on the ground dead, blood spurting out from the spinal wound. GemsBond and DigdugMan looked on in shock.

As GemsBond recovered from his shock, he pointed his sword out superstitiously at Launce, afraid of the Knight after seeing the decisiveness of the killing blow on Bedwyr. The three players surrounded the Knight.

"Thank you. Now surrender," said Crucis, with his blade pointed forwards.

"No, you surrender!" said Launce. Crucis laughed at the gallantry of the statement.

"If you take this bracelet, then it will strengthen you," continued Lancelot, holding out two black, thin bracelets with a long red line around the centre. "However, when we Knights revive at greater strength, you will be on our side against any opposing armies. I will not reveal more of my plans. There are two bracelets here, two of you must wear them. Do you agree, or do you want to fight? You will be waiting a while for your Mage to revive, if you choose to fight."

"I accept your terms," said Crucis, and took the bracelet. He wore it, and saw that it bound to his skin and he could not remove it, like a thin black-red scar.

He waited for the rest of his partners, and saw that DigdugMan also hesitantly accepted a bracelet and wore it.

"Then it is concluded. Enjoy fighting the King, I know I did," laughed Launce, as he bowed and disappeared into the air.

"What a model gentleman," remarked Crucis.