Page 63 of Akarnae

For the second time that day, she hurled herself onto the floor and rolled out of the way. She quickly rose to her feet before ducking away again when the axe swooped a second time. Her reflexes were much improved—mostly thanks to Finn’s unwavering disciplinary tactics in PE—but she was definitely not capable of fighting this thing. Still, she might be able to knock it over.

The axe swung at her again and, as she dropped to the ground, she kicked out at the knee joint of the armour. The suit wobbled slightly, but if anything, she’d done more damage to herself, since her foot was now throbbing from kicking the unyielding metal.

“This is bad…” Alex murmured and she dodged the approaching axe again. She couldn’t keep throwing herself to the ground every time it came at her. It was time to try something else.

After the axe swooped towards her once more, she rolled quickly to her feet and launched herself at her attacker. Alex had hoped to catch it off guard and cause it to topple, but as she straddled the rust-covered torso, she found it to be as immovable as an oak tree.

She, however, was not so fortunate.

The armour wrapped its gauntleted arm around her waist and threw her across the room. She smacked into the rough stone wall with a sickening crunch and collapsed to the ground.

“Oww.” Alex made a groaning sound and pulled herself into a sitting position. She didn’t think anything was broken, so she couldn’t account for the crunching noise until she realised that she’d landed on the skeleton. Her natural reaction was to roll away, gagging, but when she noticed the sword again, she managed to set aside her disgust.

Alex rose painfully to her feet and reached for the weapon, shuddering as she pried the skeletal hand off the pommel. She gripped the sword tightly and turned back to face the suit of armour, raising the blade in front of her. It was heavier than she’d expected, but it was still usable.

Before she could so much as blink, the axe was once again swinging towards her head. She was trapped in the corner and had little option but to put all of her adrenaline-fuelled strength into lifting the sword to meet the axe mid-air. The two weapons collided with a horrible metallic screech, and Alex quickly deflected the blade away from her head.

The axe swung at her over and over again, and each time she met the weapon with her sword. But, unlike the suit of armour, Alex was quickly running out of energy. She wouldn’t be able to continue deflecting its attack for much longer.

“Somebody, please help me!” she cried out.

Her whole body trembled with the effort of maintaining her defence. Sweat beaded on her forehead from exhaustion and fear. Her weakened arms almost dropped the sword after another jarring attack, but she renewed her grip when something caught her eye. Both the sword and the axe had the same engraving etched onto their blades; it looked like a coat of arms with a decorative shield split into three parts.

The breastplate on the suit of armour had the same picture engraved where the heart should have been. Turning her head slightly, Alex found that the helmet on the skeleton was also etched with the same emblem. And from out of nowhere she had an idea.

When their blades met mid-air in the next attack, instead of deflecting the axe, Alex gave one heaving push forward, causing the armour to stumble back slightly. Using her downward momentum, she directed her blade into the bony neck joint of the skeleton lying at her feet. It immediately turned to dust, leaving the helmet sitting amongst a pile of ashes.

Out of the corner of her eye, Alex saw the axe coming towards her head again. Dropping the sword, she scrambled to pick up the helmet, thrusting it in front of her face like a shield. The impact of the axe on the helmet sent her staggering into the wall and she gasped out a grunt, straining against the armour’s strength.

The front of the helmet was facing towards her and the coat of arms pulsed slightly with light. Something about the light reminded her of the TechnoConnectivity Devices, which helped her to realise what she needed to do next.

Mustering her last reserve of strength, Alex heaved against the axe with all her might, pushing her attacker off balance and backwards a few steps again. It gave her the room she needed to move into position.

Just as the armour regained its balance, Alex leapt on top of it and held on for dear life. It stumbled again but recovered quickly, and she felt rather than saw its gauntleted arm reach out to throw her off once more. Before it could do so, she tightened her grip and jammed the helmet onto the collar of the armour, pressing her palm to its now glowing coat of arms.

A flash of blinding light filled the room and Alex was thrown into the wall—again. When the light faded and her eyes recovered from her daze, she gaped at the sight in front of her. “I can’tbelievethat actually worked.”

Nineteen

Alex was breathing heavily andshaking all over, but that didn’t matter because standing before her was a full suit of armour, complete with helmet, and no longer rusting. It was gleaming, in fact. But more importantly, it was bowing to her.

When it rose from its bow it kept one gauntleted arm crossed in a formal salute. “How doth thee, fair lady?”

Alex gaped at it. Or rather, athim.

“What be thy title?” the armour asked.

“Err… My name is Alex.”

He tilted his helmeted head as if confused. “Be not thy title somewhat… masculine?”

She stared at it. Him. Whatever. “My full name is Alexandra, if that makes a difference?”

“Salutations, Lady Alexandra,” he said. “My gratitude I bestow upon thee, for ending a much grievous curse.”

“You’re… welcome?”

“Sir Camden be my name,” he said, bowing again. “I shalt forever be in thy debt, and as such I shalt serve and protect thee always.”

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