Back from a long weekend away (Chase)

[Sir Tristan de Braose]

Tristan cantered through the land, rapidly advancing on the sights of Camelot that slowly drifted into view. Through forests, villages, corn fields and wastelands finally he was nearly back at the place he called home. His stunning, chestnut-brown horse galloped over uneven terrain, her new horse shoes skipping across the heated grass with ease, picking up a quickened pace. “Wow, easy” He patted his much loved horse on the shoulder, encouraging her into a gentle trot so that his eyes could absorb the sights around him. Very rarely did he stop to realize the beauty that Camelot held; it was really quite stunning. Unlike Cornwall, he was used to that atmosphere and eventually grew bored of it. After living there for much of his life, he became accustomed to the usual sights, the smells and over time became oblivious to its beauty. But Camelot held all sorts of opportunities for him and he was almost happy to pursue the life he wanted and a life alone away from his pushy parents and the watchful glare of his uncle, the King of Cornwall.

He stopped on the ‘road’ known as the king’s highway. This was the main way into Camelot that was used by every visitor and occupier of the town but today it was fairly empty. He had only seen 1 other traveller on his journey which was lonely. He had been travelling for 3 days now, the distance between his old hometown of Cornwall and Camelot was far but he had promised his parents he would return back every now and again to update them on his progress. They were still disappointed in him. Disappointed that he had not fulfilled his destiny to become a knight as it was a much more lengthier process than he had initially thought. Plus, it was incredibly hard to please someone who had such high expectations of him.

Tristan lightly kicked his horse on the flank, signalling for her to stop. With little effort he sent all of his weight into his right leg and lifted himself off the horse, swinging his leg over and jumped the few feet from the ground that his horse stood. He navigated himself to the back of his horse, lifting the basket off her hind quarters to give her a rest. The two had not stopped for what seemed like hours, as he was keen to reach Camelot before sun rise. His horse panted heavily, ducking her head and scraping her hoof across the floor to uncover water. With a swift movement, he flicked the lid off one of the baskets, fumbling around to try and find the bottle of water he had been carrying for the journey.

He emptied the container into his hand, cupping them to contain the water trying to spill as little as he could. He held it under the horse’s nose who gratefully began to drink with no encouragement at all. “Come on you, were nearly there” He let her drink the remains of the water and brushed her shining black mane from her eyes. He tried to pull on her reigns but she refused to move. “Fine, I suppose we could wait for a little while” He dropped her reigns and let them hang loosely by her side, he then proceeded to sit by the banks of the road where tufts of grass were beginning to sprout readying themselves for a new season. He huffed to himself silently, blowing his hair from his face and rested his head in his hands solemnly. He would have to wait for his horse to be willing to carry on before he could go anywhere else so for the meantime he would be forced to sit and wait for that moment to arrive.

[Chase Caldera]

Chase walked along the side of the road on his way back to Camelot. It was approaching dusk and he wanted to get back before nightfall. He had been out in the woods all day exploring and familiarizing himself with the area. Also he had heard rumours that this section of the woods were haunted which had piqued his interest. Chase had wanted to see first hand whether the rumours were true.

Unfortunately Chase had found nothing the entire day and had decided to return to Camelot. Ahead of him he noticed a horse sitting by the side of the road apparently resting. On the side of the road was a man sitting and apparently waiting for his horse. For some reason the man looked familiar. Chase took a second look attempting to match him with his memories.

Realization hit him. It was Tristan the Prince of Cornwall. They had met at one of the royal banquets their and had become if not friends at least acquaintances. He approached the man and called out "Hey Tristan is that you? Long time no see. What are you doing here in Camelot?"

[Sir Tristan de Braose]

Tristan began fiddling with the grass, running his hands through the vegetation and pulling out single strands in his boredom. He sighed, tiredness beginning to creep up on him. He hadn't slept properly for 3 days as taking a few hours out of the day was sure to make his trip longer so he had sacrificed the necessity so he could get home quicker. He had a warm, comfy bed awaiting him in the soldiers quarters and he wanted nothing more than to slump into his bed and drift off into darkness; that was definately a thought he would look forward to. But before he could even think about sleep, he had to get his horse moving in a forward motion.

His eyes glanced up at his tall-standing horse, who had now lowered her head and began nibbling on the edge of the grass, snorting and grumbling in happiness; he couldn't move her now. Another sigh soon followed his last one, he'd actually go so far as to say he was actually bored. Bored, bored bored. There were only, what, 10 to 15 minutes away from Camelot it would probably even be quicker to walk than waiting for his horse to recover and regain composure. It wasn't in Tristan's nature to justs it around, he often found his time was best spent occupied and actually doing things that mattered.

"No, don't hurry. No need to rush" He murmured, not quite knowing why he was talking to himself but somehow it made him feel much less lonely. His voice crackled and croaked, eager for the workout as he hadn't spoke much in the last few days. His eyes darted up at the sound of movement ahead of him, he was immiedatly placed on guard as he tried to figure out who it was. He winced, obscuring his eyes not quite believing the site infront of him. Maybe his lack of sleep was beginning to get to him. Surely it couldn't be... "Chase? Wow, I haven't seen you in ages" He was silently astounded, not quite expecting to bump into him again.

He stood up, wiping the bits of grass from his shirt. "I'm training to be a Knight of Camelot. I moved here a few months ago, I didn't know you'd be around here? What brings you into Camelot?" He asked curiously, wondering what his purpose for being in Camelot was.

[Chase Caldera]

Chase walked the rest of the way towards Tristan wondering at the changes in the man. Sure he had always been muscular but he now looked like all he did these days was work out. However at the moment he looked exhausted. Judging from the horse they had been travelling for hours. Perhaps even days.

Tristan sounded incredibly surprised to see Chase. Apparently he hadn't expected to run into him again. Tristan stood up and explained what he was doing in Camelot. Chase couldn't say he was that surprised to find out that Tristan had become a knight. He always had been the type of person who liked to be bigger and stronger then anyone else. Though it was interesting that Tristan had been sent to Camelot to train. That was basically admitting that Cornwall's trainers weren't as good as the ones in Camelot. Which they weren't but normally kings didn't like admitting that.

Chase answered Tristan's question by saying "I am a member of the mages guild here. The second I learned I had magic I got my father to send me here. After all Camelot does have the greatest mages in all the country. So your a knight. Dare I ask how the great Arthor is? Rumours are he is the best swordsman in the world." Chase wondered how Tristan would respond to the fact that twice he had implied that Camelot was better then Cornwall.

[Sir Tristan de Braose]

Mages guild? Tristan was unsure about his feelings about that place; he had recently come into contact with a mage and from what he had seen he could say that experience wasn't exactly a pleasant one. He had been raised and brought up to be told magic was wrong, yet since coming to Camelot it had taught him different. He had never been to the mages guild before so he tried his best not to judge a book by its cover. Chase was nice enough, so maybe mages weren't all that bad? He was silently surprised; he had never thought Chase would have magic. The last time they had met at the royal banquet, Tristan began speaking to the guy and he liked to think they had been good friends.

But due to his status as Prince, Tristan never really got time to converse and build up a social life so after the banquet he was straight back to training again, meaning he never got the chance to catch up with Chase again. The great things about banquets and balls meant he could take a break from the pressures of training as he was required to attend these annuals events. At least he was free now, living alone had lived up to his expectations and longed proceeded it.

"Wow, you have magic? That's a surprise.." He mauled over the thought for a short second before carrying on his sentence. "And yeah, Arthur is pretty good. No match for me of course" Tristan joked, knowing that if in a battle between himself and the Prince, Arthur would probably wipe the floor with him although he convinced himself he would give as good as he got. "I'm glad I was posted over here though. My father and uncle were somewhat in a hurry to get rid of me it seems. They wanted me to become a knight over here so that I could experience the differences of knighthood between different cities." He recognised what Chase seemed to be implying but it didn't bother him. "Plus, I think I was too much of a handful for them to control. Someone spits at me and I'll spit right back" he laughed, knowing that this was completely true.

"Anyway, what are you doing out so late? The king's highway can be a dangerous place to roam alone." He asked as a cold wisp of wind prickled at Tristan's skin.

[Chase Caldera]

A strange change came over Tristan when Chase told him he was a mage. Apparently Tristan didn't know what to think about mages. Chase wasn't all that surprised. So many people didn't trust mages and the rest were jealous of their power.

His suspicions were confirmed as Tristan expressed his surprise at Chase becoming a mage before changing the subject. Chase listened as Tristan bluffed his way through Chase's question. There was no way Tristan had been posted here to be sent away form his father. From the little Chase knew of Tristan's father he didn't seem to be the type of person who wanted his son to be outside his own influence. Although it was true that Tristan could be a handful.

"Well" Chase said in answer to Tristan's question "I wanted to explore the land around here. You never know what you might learn. For example did you know this part of the forest is supposed to be haunted? Anyway why would anyone want poor little me? I would be worried about your safety. You actually have stuff worth stealing." It was true Chase had purposely tried to look like a local so that he wouldn't get attacked by the groups in the forest. After all they wouldn't make any money if they went after little guys.

[Sir Tristan de Braose]

Tristan had known this particular area of the woods was meant to be haunted, although he didn't quite believe it. He was one of those people who never believed in the myths and legends and only chose to believe something if and only when it was staring him square in the face. He didn't like to believe in things that either could or could not be real; he was a man who liked proof and statistics. No one 'solid' had seen anything around here and even if they had they could not find proof or evidence. Ever since he had moved to Camelot he went beside himself to make sure he knew every bit of gossip and detail that could aid him in his job; it was no good being a knight if you were clueless about the city you were meant to be defending.

"I don't believe in ghosts or hauntings. If I saw one I'm sure my views would change" He mused, feeling subconsciously aware of his surroundings now. He had been told of such supernatural sightings. Being alone in your household, feeling an eerie and mysterious presence shadowing your every move giving you the feeling of being watched. Hearing voices, seeing the wispy figure of a once loved one, yeah he had heard them all. Didn't mean to say they were real though. Once you died, you stayed dead, right? That was the way the world worked.

"And your right. I suppose I am a target in that sense. I've made a fair few enemies since moving here" He felt rather vulnerable now, being without the back-up of his army friends. There was an advantages in numbers but being alone meant there was a possibility of being outnumbered which was never a good thing. It was lucky though they were so close to Camelot, so they wouldn't have too far to retreat and find safety should they need to find the need to. And it wasn't like Tristan was un-armed, he had brought along his entire collection of weaponry in case he encountered a group of bandits. Just for reassurance Tristan hovered his hand over the handle of his sword just to make sure it was in easy reach.

"I'd get a rattle on if it wasn't for my lazy horse. She's refusing to move" He patted her on the neck, where she gave him a playful nudge and backed away so he wouldn't get the chance to grab her reigns. Even if he did, she was much too strong to be pulled if she wasn't willing to co-operate. "It shouldn't take too long to get back to Camelot anyway, and I don't think we'd get attacked so close to such a populated area. Well, not if their intelliegent" He laughed, keeping a wary and focused eye on the atmosphere to make sure they weren't going to be joined by any unexpected and uninvited visitors.

[Chase Caldera]

Chase listened as Tristan spoke of his disbelief in ghosts. Chase himself didn't believe they existed but he had found that there was usually a basis for the rumors. Something had caused the rumors whether it was a group of bandits, or a monster of some point. Either way Chase wouldn't mind meeting it. He needed more connections with the criminal portion of Camelot and meeting some sort of monster sounded fun.

Chase continued listening as Tristan explained why he might be a target. Chase doubted that enemies who were after him would attack him here. If they were attacked it wouldn't be by their enemies but by some bandit trying to get a ransom. Still it would be wise to get a move on soon before dark fell.

"I don't know about not getting attacked." said Chase "I heard that Camelot hasn't done the best job of getting rid of bandits in the woods. To hard to find them and track them down. Anyway your horse has rested we should probably get a move on."

[Sir Tristan de Braose]

"Yeah, your right" Even though Tristan was far from impressed as Chase said Camelot wasn't the best at getting rid of Bandits, he knew he was right. Bandits were hard to capture and if they didn't want to be seen, they wouldn't. The advantage for them was they knew the ins and outs of the forest better than they did so even if they were spotted they knew the best places to hide and the easiest escape routes to follow. Plus, the only time they did reveal themselves was when they were planning something. A seige, a capture, a theft. So on most cases it was often too late for them to do anything as the crime had already been committed.

"Come on, move" He clicked his tongue in encouragement, hoping the horse would follow him but it didn't. He then proceeded to go behind the horse, placing both hands on it's hind quarters hoping to push it into some sort of movement. The horse reluctantly dug it's hooves in, staying put and refusing to move a single step. It then resumed its feast on the grass and lazily chewed and swallowed as if it wasn't phased by Tristan's futile attempt to get it moving. "Stupid... Walk on!" He commanded, heaving and drawing in breath whenever he could. The darn thing just wasn't going to move.

Tristan wasn't going to admit defeat just yet; he couldn't exactly leave her there anyway. He walked to the front of his horse, grabbing hold of the reigns quickly before she had chance to move backwards. He tugged hard on the slim, leather ropes but she just simply lowered her head and shook him off. "Great. This isn't going to work" He mused, beginning to contemplate maybe tying her up on a tree somewhere and leaving to return in the morning and collect her. "I don't think I can just leave. She's not my horse she's part of the Royal Cavalry. They wouldn't be too happy to hear I'd lost it"

Just before he had chance to finish, he heard russling in the bushes somewhere behind Chase. He stood, stock still tring to single out the cause of the noise, maybe it was just the wind? Or maybe his lack of sleep had gone to his head. "Did you hear that?" He asked, wondering if Chase had heard the same noise as he had.

[Chase Caldera]

Chase watched amused as Tristan attempted to get his horse moving. Just how stubborn was the horse? It had been resting since before Chase arrived and that had been five minutes ago. Well at least it wasn't actually Tristan's horse. If it had been Chase would have revised his opinion of the man.

Chase was just turning to leave when he heard a rustling noise in the woods behind him in the woods behind him. Tristan called to him if he had heard it. Chase cursed under his breath. If there was anyone in the woods they would now know that Tristan had heard them. Didn't the man ever use his brain.

Chase pulled the two knives he kept in his boots out and listened for any more noises. Chase dropped when he heard the click of a crossbow released on his left. Th bolt streaked right through where his head had been.

Out of the woods came five poorly dressed men with swords. It appeared that crossbowman was still in the woods. Chase called out to Tristan "Hey hold them off while I take care of the crossbow." He knew that they needed to kill the crossbowman before he shot them, but could Tristan really hold off five men by himself? Chase came to a decision. It was more important to kill the crossbowman, but he could still help Tristan.

With a whoop to attract the men's attention Chase threw his knife at the man in the lead. It hit the man in the stomach and with a howl the man chased after Chase. "Oh the irony" Chase thought to himself. Now he just needed to kill both the archer and any of the people who decided to follow him. He turned and ran towards where the bolt had come from.

[Sir Tristan de Braose]

Tristan swerved as an arrow shot past his ear and embedded itself into the tree behind him. Boy that was close. There was no suspicion about the fact that they were now being targeted so now all they had to do was find out who was attacking them, where they were and how many of them were in the group. From what he could tell there was only one crossbowman and the rest were obviously foot soldiers so that shouldn't be too hard right? He nodded as Chase opted himself to go after the crossbowman meaning he would be left to deal with all of the little minions which of course he didn't mind one bit. He had been highly trained for events like this so of course he could handle himself.

"Piece of Cake" He emitted smugly, unsheathing his sword and twisting it playfully around his wrist, around his back and brought it out through the other side. Playful antics aside, it was time to get down to business. He made sure that he was alert and aware, being careful not to let any of the bandits slip past his defenses and catch Chase unawares. "Don't worry, I got your back mate. You go ahead and get the bowman, I'll tango with these guys" He beamed, not put off at all by the fact that he was outnumbered; he saw this as more of a game that he had to win.

With ease and skill, he thrashed his sword against the man nearest to him, feeling the vibration of both weapons connecting with each other shooting up his arm. He then flicked his wrists, bringing his sword under and then over, taking it cleanly out of the guys hand. The opposing blade landed gently on Tristans boot, which he then kicked forward so it couldn't be retreieved again. The sword was engulfed by the mazes of shrubs and bushes and momentarily whilst he was distracted Tristan took the opportunity to send his sword straight into the guys stomach. Withdrawing a warm, bloody sword.

"Hey!" Tristan called out as a man flew past him in hot persuit of Chase. "Oi, over here" He tried to follow the guy, but was stopped in his tracks as he was confronted by 2 more bandits who were not wielding swords but were wielding daggers instead. Tristan ducked as a dagger flew past his cloak, another one stopped several metres short of him. "Watch yourself Chase, guy slipped through my net" He shouted, hoping Chase wasn't out of earshot and could hear his advanced warnings that he was about to be accompanied by an armed man.

[Chase Caldera]

Chase sprinted towards where the crossbow bolt had come from. The man couldn't be that far. Then he saw him. Standing on top of a small outcrop of rock from which he had probably shot at Chase from. He was loading another bolt. Chase knew he didn't have much time.

An idea came to him as he sprinted at the man. Gathering his magic he whispered "Rhun sûl" A wind blew from behind the man almost causing him to lose his balance on the rock. Chase sprinted the rest of way towards the rock.

However by this time the man had reloaded his crossbow. Chase and the man stared at each other for a second both waiting for the other one to do. Chase made the first move. Instead of lunging at the man like the man had expected he simply stopped the wind he had created earlier. Before the man could readjust his balance Chase sprinted forward knocked him out with his knife. No need to kill the man. He might give him some useful information.

Chase turned around to see that two other men had caught up. "Well this should be fun" Chase said as they started to circle him. He hoped Tristan hadn't gotten himself killed.

[Sir Tristan de Braose]

Tristan could see no sight of Chase, he found himself looking eagerly through breaks in the tree's to see where he was and to see if he was okay. He hoped he hadn't gotten himself killed, for the burden of that death was sure to rest on his shoulders for as long as he lived. He watched as the two men in front of him disappeared, making a run for it in an easterly position so he guessed this was where Chase would be. It seemed the men which scouted ahead to take care of his friend needed back-up so they had abandoned him to heal to their command. He placed a gentle foot, one after the other on the broken down bark and dispelled leaves that littered the floor, careful not to make a single sound to give away his position.

As he drew closer he could see Chase now and the sign of the crossbow sprawled out across the floor; dead or alive he did not know. It seemed he had under-estimated Chase, he looked more than capable of dealing with this situation. The two men in front of him had their backs to him, making the element of the surprise more effective. He was about to pounce, make his move whilst they were vulnerable and none the wiser yet he was taken off guard as another arrow sliced through the air and clipped him on the ear. Another crossbow? Where was that coming from?

He felt a tingling on his ear, like the feeling of pins and needles and within seconds it went numb. He placed a wary hand on the minute wound to reveal the smallest traces of blood that hadn't even caused him much pain at all. He un-plucked the arrow from the tree and studied it further noticing the dripping of a clear white substance which the arrow had been coated in. Poison? He dropped the arrow in an instant, wiping his hands against his white coat and trying to rid himself of the poison. He needed to tell Chase that their dangerous situation had just become more dangerous yet in doing so would give up his position.

He decided to make his move already, advancing on one of the guys hoping Chase would take out the other. He swept his foot against the mans legs and watched as he dropped to the floor like a sack of spuds; he was almost like a dead weight. He took the dagger out of the man’s hand and sent a warning to Chase. "The arrows are tipped with poison; where's that other crossbow coming from!?" Another arrow flew past where he was standing, missing him by inches.

[Chase Caldera]

Chase was just preparing to attack the two men in behind him by hitting them with a spell and then taking them out. When two more men ran out of the bushes in front of him. Chase cursed what in the world was Tristan doing he was supposed to be taking care of them. It appeared that they had gotten by him or he had avoided them since he was now sneaking up behind them.

Chase decided that to take out the guys in front of him while Tristan ambushed them from behind would probably be the best idea. "Forod Sûl" He whispered hoping the man behind him wouldn't notice and attack until it was too late. A strong wind started blowing in a circle around one of them. The man hesitated and that was all the opening Chase needed.

Chase lunged forward with his knife ducking under the man's wild swing and stabbed him in the stomach. It was a fatal wound but the man wouldn't die for awhile. Taking pity on him Chase slit his throat. Chase took the mans knife. After all he only had one at the moment since his other was still embedded in the first man's stomach

Tristan, who had taken out the other soldier by this point, warned Chase that there was another bowman out there and the arrows were poisoned. Were these people really just a group of bandits? They seemed well prepared and had relatively good weapons. Perhaps this was more then just a normal kidnapping.

Chase watched as Tristan dodged an other bolt. He followed its path back to where the archer should have been. He called out "Tristan, take care of these people I'll take care of the crossbowman."

Chase ran towards the direction the bolt had come from while whispering "Sûl Ram" He felt the energy drain as his magic created a constant current of wind in front of him that should blow any bolts off target. A bolt went whizzing by only inches from his skin. "Well at least he worked" He thought to himself

He found this crossbowman hiding in a tree. Not the safest of places if you were fighting a elemental mage. "Thoron Sûl" He declared. The bowman desperately tried clinging to the tree for a moment but was unable to. He fell into the muddy puddle beneath him.

Chase didn't give him time to gather himself. "Asca Nen" He commanded and the water around the man started writhing before turning into a mini stream aimed at his face. Unable to breath the man lashed around desperately trying to escape.

Chase walked forward and picked up he man's crossbow from where it had fallen from the tree. He shot the man with his own bolt.

The after affects of the magic hit Chase and he suddenly found himself exhausted. He ignored his fatigue to reload and head towards where Tristan had been fighting. Hopefully the idiot hadn't gotten himself killed.

[Sir Tristan de Braose]

"Come on then" Tristan encouraged as he watched Chase disappear off in hot persuit of the bowman. He had lost complete count of how many people there were meant to be but most of them had now been taken out and were now sprawled motionlessly on the floor. He gingerly stepped over all the bodies, trying to count how many casualties there were and comparing them to last time he had seen the mob. Last time there had been 15 of them, and they all happened to be ex- soldiers or ex-assassins that hadn't quite made it back in their hometowns. Maybe that was something he should have mentioned to Chase? But he figured he would find out sooner or later anyway.

"ahhhhhh...." Tristan heard the sound of angry screaming coming from behind him, getting gradually louder as the guy got closer. He was wielding not a sword or a dagger, but a large stick he had obviously just plucked from his surroundings. The man was running with all his might, throwing himself at Tristan and mercilessly swinging it around his head not quite caring or knowing where his blows were ending up. The man was blinded with anger and Tristan knew that did no good to a man, but this could work to his own advantage. Tristan began to walk backwards, ducking his head whenever the stick came a bit too close for comfort.

"Wow wow wow, wait!" Tristan said holding his hands up, trying to distract the guy just for a second. "Don't get your knickers in a twist, your aim's way off mate" He said smiling, backing himself against a tree. The guy lifted the overly large stick above his head, flinging it around the air until he aimed it right for Tristan's face. Just in the knick of time, Tristan ducked, hearing the shatter and crunch of breaking bones in his wrist as the impact of the man's hit riqoucheyed into his arms breaking every bone it came across with. That was plan one anyway.

Tristan then slipped behind the man's back as he began to clutch hold of his broken arm and yelped in pain. He retrieved the stick from the floor and impressively spun it around his hands before bonking the guy over the head with it. He dropped to the floor, not knowing what had just happened and began to close his eyes as he entered a state of unconsciousness. Tristan looked around warily, he swore there had been one more man? He wondered if Chase was having any success with the Bowman and awaited anxiously for him to join him.