Knights Apocalyptica

Chapter 118: Dagger Which I See

Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee:—

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible

To feeling as to sight? or art thou but

A dagger of the mind, a false creation,

Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?

I see thee yet, in form as palpable

As this which now I draw.

Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going;

And such an instrument I was to use.

-Shakespeare, Macbeth (1606, 2nd Era)

“Don’t let them distract you,” Dame Juliana said tersely—shooting a glare at the pack of Pendragons setting up their camp not far away. They were on the edge of Worth and accompanied by the rest of the Knights, except for Boldwick. Their fearless leader had waded back into the pack to debrief their leader and tell him how this scouting mission was going to go. Worth crawled with monsters; their vehicles would be useless on the rubble-filled streets. So, he wanted it to be a Kingdom-only mission. “Go over your equipment and ensure you have everything you need.”

It couldn’t be easy to tell the Pendragons they weren’t needed.

From his conversation with Yniol, Erec knew they didn’t take kindly to leaving ‘dirty work’ to anyone else. Understanding that the Verdant Oak was an Order specifically trained to conduct these operations was also out of grasp. Not that they were the most fueled on logic, to begin with.

The main concern was that if they did come, they’d only attract more monsters and fighting since they lacked control over firing their guns.

“Soooo, you and Enide…. Getting along real well, eh?” Garin asked Erec as Dame Juliana walked off to double-check her supplies. The rest of the senior Knights were busy with their discussions, no doubt planning their route through Worth. Without the Stag in the city, there had to be a couple of Wastelanders wandering through to scavenge, but they’d be in hiding.

“I disapprove of that girl. She is unrefined and is not a suitable partner to balance Erec,” Olivia said in an unhappy tone. “I do wish you’d quit your attempts to sell her on him.”

“Goddess, help me; what have you been saying to her?” Erec asked with horror.

“Oh, that you’re a hero—all sorts of stuff like that. You’re my best friend, after all, and this is one of the few times I’ve even seen you notice a girl. Let alone get all familiar and awkward around her, look me in the eye, and tell me there’s not something going on there—c’mon.” Garin tapped the side of his head, his visor rising to show his massive grin.

“He’s a Count, and she’s a wastelander,” Colin snorted. “As if his father would approve such a betrothal, let alone the church.”

With that, everyone’s eyes locked on Colin. There were about a dozen things to point out where he was wrong—as if Erec needed Lac’s permission on who he married or cared what the church thought at this point. Or even that he would intend to marry Enide, that was jumping too far ahead and making several dangerous assumptions. He wasn’t sure about how he felt over her, to begin with, but there was something to be said about their backgrounds; if he even wanted to get into that particular messy situation, how could it possibly end well?

“Just leave it be, alright?” Erec almost begged. “She’s…”

“Follow your heart!” Garin argued, “And ignore everyone else here, especially Colin. Sometimes you need to throw reluctance aside and let the wind carry you where it wants. Go for it! It’s not like she’s not interested in you; she keeps asking me about you, has been since you two came back to the fire together.”

Of course she’s been asking questions. Knowing what he knew now, Erec couldn’t help but wonder how much of her interest was colored by his association with Vortex Industries. That revelation re-contextualized a lot, not everything, but enough to question her motives. He wished he had answers for her about why her family got trapped in a Vortex facility, or about what happened there. However, VAL hadn’t seen fit to answer of its own accord and was still unnaturally quiet, though it could be that it didn’t know why that’d happened.

Such a demise was genuinely terrifying, especially since when Erec first encountered VAL, he thought he would die in the same way. Trapped miles below the surface in a vault.

“Don’t let your heart be free. Dear Goddess, what kind of asinine advice are you giving? He’s a Count, and on top of that, he already goes crazy enough of the time. Far more suiting for someone of his rank to learn restraint, lest he forgets his place.” Colin almost sounded angry; his fuse had been a lot shorter lately.

“While Garin might have been wrong about a lot, I think he was right in saying to ignore Colin. Our poor duke-spawn,” Olivia cut in, “His advice is colored by frustration about Duke Nitidus being on this expedition because he’s forced him to account for his attitude.”

“Keep my father’s name out of your mouth, maid.”

“Ughhh…” Gwen cut in. “Y’all are mak’n my headache a mess, shush up, will ya? Please?”

With that, the conversation returned to silence. Erec inspected his gear, and the hatchets, canteens, and repair kit were all there. Even though they were supposed to return by the night's end, with monsters and scouting, it was prudent to prepare for unexpected delays. Happy that he had everything he needed, he retied his bag and flung it over a shoulder.

Right as he finished, Boldwick returned. “After much deliberation, they’ve agreed to let us do what we’re good at. Imagine that.”

“Wow!” Dame Morgana clapped hands with a weird genuine enthusiasm. “We’ve come a long way in such a short time!”

“…That’s one way of viewing it,” Boldwick responded and sighed. “To cover more ground with our limited operation, we’ll split into three teams. I’ll be taking my squire, and we’ll be one team. The other two will be composed of four each—Dame Robin, you’ll take Duke Nitidus and your squires and begin scouting into the city's western side. Dame Morgana and Dame Juliana, you’ll be looking into the eastern side of the city. We'll meet back here, around two hours to sunset. Try to find signs of human activity. Check-in every hour.”

“Understood,” Dame Robin was quick to salute him, followed by the rest of the Knights and even the Duke. They broke into their sets, ensured communications worked, and then split.

— -☢ - — - ☼ - — - ☢ - —

“Another empty building,” Colin complained, his light flashing out of the two-story entryway as he exited. Erec looked down the block. They’d kept to the outskirts of their area and already slaughtered a couple of weaker monsters.

It felt good to have a fresh coat on blood painting him, but with the avoidance tactics and by keeping away from the true heart of the city today, the battles they picked weren’t any that forced Erec to expend himself, which was a shame. Since that soccer match, he’d been itching for another true fight, but given this mission might take days to make progress on… There was bound to be something that came up.

“Not a sign of anyone! Wasn’t the last time we ran across that psycho in the sewers? Shouldn’t we be starting there?” Colin asked.

“If Seven-Snakes is still in the city, I doubt he’d still be in the sewers.” Erec shifted the battle axe on his shoulder, looking to Colin’s father, who was rapidly striding over. “But if we find someone else, we might have a chance of figuring out where he went. Now that we know he isn’t working alone, we might find his thugs.” According to the Pendragons, he usually roamed with a gang and rarely went alone.

“Colin.” Duke Nitidus cut in, throwing up his visor. “What have I said about complaining about your duties?”

“A lot. I believe you obsess more about my duties than considering your own,” Colin said.

“As a Knight, I wonder when it begins to dawn on you that your rank and pedigree is something you ought to respect. Though, I suppose it’s a fine test to see whether or not you can withstand positions where you’re given more authority. One only prays you to find it deep within you to act with levity and responsibility, though from what I’ve seen so far, I’ve been quite disappointed.”

“Responsibility!? I do too much to count! Constant chores at your command!”

“After being told thrice. I’ve also seen you shirk lessons, and need I remind you that you failed a course last semester? Courtly Mannerisms, wasn’t it? One might wonder if you’ve attached yourself to a rising star to ride the laurels of your friend.” Duke Nitidus crossed his arms, shaking his head.

“Resting on my laurels? Surely you heard of my part in subduing the Stag. Without me, we would’ve never found the beast!” Colin was shouting now, which made Erec wince. Even though he had a point, using that tone wasn’t convincing anyone. Down the street Dame Robin peeked her head out from a building, no doubt checking to make sure they didn’t find another fight.

“Yes, the one report I’ve had about you that brought me any sense of pride. So I looked into it, only to find that you had quite the assistance from Sir Erec to do it. Yet, you’re quite quick to claim all of that for yourself. Were he not to take down the Stag, am I wrong to suspect you would’ve given him none of the credit? What about your lackluster drive in the resulting fight? Are my reports about you in the backlines accurate?”

“Excuse me—“ Erec almost stopped as the Duke’s ire flashed towards him, but he couldn’t stomach this any longer. “—Colin was essential to finding the Stag, and he deserves all the credit he got. Without him, we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere, and he put in both the time and effort to complete the Glyph. Discrediting him for that work… It’s not fair at all.”

The Duke stared at him in silence. Colin didn’t pipe up or even try to gloat like Erec would have expected. His friend slid behind him. He was letting Erec stand between him and his father.

“I see how it is.” The Duke said. “I might be critical, but in this moment now, the true measure of his progress can be seen.”

“He’s trying.”

Without responding to that, the Duke turned away and stalked off. No one could know whether he was still angry or had better things to spend his energy on.

“Thanks,” Colin said before striding after his father. Erec watched the two of them go down the road together. For once, Erec found himself happy about who his father was. At least they didn’t have that highly dysfunctional relationship, even if Lac’s praise felt lackluster. Whatever they had was better than that.

“Let there be another monster soon, please,” Erec muttered under his breath.