Knight of the Black Rose

by Nissa Gordon

  A chill ran through the air as did a magical wave of energy. Torches suddenly appeared on the walls either side of them illuminating the space, but the walls were different; they were stone as was the floor. The two corridors before Will began to close in on themselves, making him step back towards his friends, not really wanting to be out in the middle of the space by himself anymore. The two corridor's seemed to collapse into each other, then began to open once more into a large archway that led down one main corridor.

  They all kind of stood frozen to the spot, whatever they had imagined happening, this wasn't it. There was no going back when they heard it, metal against stone, the Knights footfalls echoing off of the walls as it made its way down the corridor towards them; they all looked at each to make sure that they weren't the only ones still stood there and then turned back and waited.

  The Knights foot steps echoed down the corridor as it got closer to their chamber, a chamber that no longer looked the same as though they had been transported somewhere else, instead of bring the Knight to them the Knight had brought them to him.

  They nervously waited with their wands ready as it approached, its large silhouette already encompassing the archway as it came into sight. The black armour was suited over what appeared to be a man over almost seven foot, taking over the whole of the space; he stopped just before entering the chambering holding the book in his arms.

  "Cul'lam!" Travis shouted but nothing happened, the book stayed where it was. "We need to get that book,"

  "Can't we still do it, even if it's holding it?" Lucy asked, not really wanting to get any closer to that thing, considering all she could feel was a void, emptiness.

  "There's...something wrong..." Will struggled to say.

  "What do you mean, there's something wrong?" Travis asked worriedly, as Will struggled not to take a step forward. "What the hell are you doing?"

  Lucy grabbed his arm to try to pull him back, but he had already taken another step. "Will...you shouldn't get any closer,"

  "Don't you think I know that?" Will told her. "It's doing something...I feel as though I'm being pulled..."

  "This so isn't good," Travis said as he tried to help keep Will from getting any closer.

  The chamber suddenly shimmered, a wave shot out from the Knight swiping across and knocking Travis and Lucy back against the stone wall, Troy rushed over to Lucy's side to make sure that she was alright, but she just seemed as though she was a little dazed. Liam pulled Travis to his feet with Alex at his side as he watched Will walk into the centre of the chamber and then just stopped.

  "You need to go and get the teachers." Travis told Alex; he nodded and then ran off down the corridor.

  Troy helped Lucy to her feet as they watched Will, not sure how close they should get considering the Knight seemed to have control of him. They watched as the band holding his hair together burst and his braid undid itself, so that his hair flowed freely down his back. His clothes began to change next, rearranging themselves and changing colour, until he was no longer wearing jeans and sweatshirt, but a long cream and white grown.

  "That thing has just turned him into a girl," Troy said in disbelief. "I didn't even know that was possible,"

  "Why the hell would it do that?" Liam said completely confused.

  Alex ran down corridor, knowing that he had to find a teacher, his friends were in danger but he had no idea where he was really going or who he should be going for; he briefly remembered being told that they were practically in the teachers block, then why couldn't he find any.

  "It's strange, that's all I'm saying,"

  Alex heard a man's voice up ahead, so he pushed ahead and rounded the corner running head long into Professor Domnus, and knocking himself back, stumbling.

  "You do know that there's no running in the corridors?" Domnus said.

  "Are you sure that it's the same ingredients?" Hunter asked Loring just behind him.

  "It's...here...the...Knight..." Alex struggled to say in-between taking deep breaths.

  "Excuse me?" Domnus said slightly alarmed.

  "Will...it...was trying to control him..." Alex told them.

  Validus pulled him to his feet and turned him back towards the direction that he had just come from. "Show us,"

  "Help me!" a girl screamed in pain, making the whole building shake.

  "What the hell," Alex said looking around panicked.

  "Amelia," Domnus breathed and then ran ahead.

  "What? Shit, wait!" Hunter shouted after him as he and the others took off after him back down the corridor that Alex had just come from.

  "It couldn't have been her...she isn't here, we would have known about it," Validus told Domnus.

  "It had Will...Lucy was the only girl up there," Alex told them.

  "Lucy Shepherd?" Domnus asked a little surprised.

  "Did you...summon it?" Loring asked taking deep breaths so that he could speak and run at the same time.

  "And how would they know how to do that?" Validus asked.

  "She did a different potion...one where she wouldn't have to kill all those animals," Alex told them.

  "That's incredible," Loring said impressed, as they rounded the corner, and the cold air hit them like a wave that was expanding outwards.

  "Be impressed later...now we need to stop them," Hunter told him annoyed, that they would take this into their own hands when they knew just how dangerous it was.

  Domnus ahead of the group suddenly pulled a long sword off of his belt that had been magically concealed, Validus quickly followed suite before they ran into the stone chamber; the Knight was approaching Will now in the form of a young woman making them all stop in their tracks.

  "I thought you said it was Will?" Hunter said confused.

  "Sir...it turned him," Lucy shouted, making them all look at her and then back at Will who was now transformed in a woman.

  "This hasn't been reported before," Hunter said as he and Loring moved over towards Lucy and the others with their wands ready, but it appeared as though the Knight was still focused on Will, as black veins shot up out of the stone ground and began wrapping themselves around him.

  Domnus and Validus both looked at each other briefly before they charged forward and tried to hack away at the veins but their swords couldn't cut through them, instead the veins fought back and they had to be careful not to get caught in them, or to let any of them touch, but also to make sure that they didn't stretch out close enough to the others.

  "They had time to grab swords?" Troy whispered as he watched them try to cut the veins away.

  "We had a binding spell," Lucy told them.

  "What?" Hunter said distractedly, and then held out his hand. "Give it to me,"

  Liam looked at the paper in his hand, before he handed it over, hoping that it actually worked now considering that nothing else seemed to have so far.

  Will was only partly aware of what had been going on back at the chamber before he had blacked out, he had seen the teachers arrive and hoped that they would be able to save him. He still couldn't move properly as he stood before the Knight, but he felt different; as though he was no longer completely in his own body, but he knew that it had changed somehow, he just couldn't figure out why.

  He was still in the same chamber but could no longer hear or see the others, the book was no longer in the Knights arms, bit it was reaching out to him, or rather the person that he had changed into, the girl or woman, he didn't know which and all he cared about was that he hoped that it was permanent.

  The Knight reached out to him, making him want to take a step back but he couldn't move his feet. He tried to think of something, anything that would help him; a spell or even something about the Knight himself that they had learnt, but he was just coming up blank. He was a knight, supposed to protect the family that he was charged with; the woman was promised to someone else, which was why all of this began.

  Will looked down at himself, wondering if he was her, the one woman that he was s
upposed to protect; it couldn't be that simple. If it was, it annoyed him, that the Knight would chose him considering that he was actually a guy. Will considered his options, wondering if he should just play along and hope that it got him out of this, giving those on the outside time to seal it away in the book; well it wasn't as though things could really get worse.

  Will took a deep breath to ready him self for whatever was going to happen, not that he had a clue what was going to happen, or even if he wanted it to happen. The Knight stepped closer, his hand reaching out to him, then Will stepped towards it hoping that he really was doing the right thing. As soon as Will took that step towards the Knight it froze and then it seemed to relax as though all the tension just drained out of it. Slowly the chamber that they were stood in brighten, the stone was no longer dark and windows appeared letting in the bright sun of the outside, even the armour began to change, moving up from its feet. Black flaked off, revealed the silver polish beneath, moving up until the whole of the Knight was returned and the black had dissolved and blown out of the windows around the chamber.

  Will was kind of startled by the sudden change, but took it as a good sign, perhaps all the Knight wanted was the forgiveness of the one that he had tried to protect all those years ago and couldn't. He stepped closer still, not thinking about the fact that he was in a woman’s body for now, hoping that if this went right he would return to normal. He opened his arms looking up at the Knight, who dropped his arm and then fell to his knee's the armour disappearing completely, revealing a handsome man in his late twenties, with dark hair tied back and wearing old fashion noble clothes.

  "My Lady, please forgive me; I failed you," the Knight said with his head lowered.

  Will didn't like being called 'My Lady', he just had to keep reminding himself that he was playing a part here, and if he did it right then he would get rid of the Knight once and for all; he just wasn't completely sure what to say to it.

  "You did not fail me," Will told him, hoping that there weren't some sort of special wording that he was supposed to use. "They betrayed us all, and made you do terrible things. But it's alright now..." Will reached out for the Knight to look at him, and slowly he did, and raised to his feet also. "It's all over now, won't you come home?"

  He looked down at Will now that he was back to his full height, Will once again had his arms open for him. He nodded slowly and stepped into him, pulling Will into his embrace and kissed him upon the head.

  "I'm sorry that I failed you," the Knight whispered. "I've been searching so long for you My Lady,"

  "We can go home together now, it's all over," Will told him.

  The Knight seemed to completely relax against him, Will was just starting to wonder how this was supposed to help him, when the Knight didn't feel as solid as he should. He didn't pull away because he didn't want to stop whatever it was that was happening, but he looked over the Knight's shoulder to see that the chamber was also dissolving around them.

  "Home, at last," the Knight said relieved before he completely dissolved.

  Will was left standing there for a moment longer, in the chamber still dissolving and still in a dress and the body of a woman; then darkness engulfed him suddenly and he was back in the corridor as himself holding something really heavy in his arms and suddenly feeling really tired.

  "Will!" Lucy shouted behind him wanting to rush to his side, but Hunter stopped her, while Domnus and Validus checked him over.

  "What do you think happened?" Validus asked as he replaced his sword and Will slowly collapsed to his knees holding a book.

  "His hairs changed colour," Domnus said. "He's still lost more power whatever it was,"

  Will looked up at him, feeling really sleepy all of a sudden, he had heard that he had probably lost more of his powers but he had also stopped the Knight, so that at least counted for something so decided to just let the darkness take him for now.

  Chapter Thirty

  Lucy was just checking over her school uniform before she was supposed to meet up with her friends as they were all supposed to be going over to the main hall together, for their final school meal of the year before they went home. She still couldn't believe that it was time to go home already, they had somehow finished all of their exam's, the Firmasca had managed to squeeze in all of their matches and the final, which she had missed because she had spent it with Will who had still been in the hospital ward recovering from the Knight.

  Lucy was upset that the potion she had created was taking such along time to have a proper affect on him, when she had heard that the others affected were now recovering. They had also gotten into a lot of trouble for going after the Knight themselves, even though they had pointed out that it had wanted Will, and would have probably come after him again, so they just decided to get it over and done with. What she and everybody else couldn't understand is, why did it choose Will, if it needed a girl? Lucy personally thought it would have been easier to choose a girl than to change a guy into a girl, but then she wasn't a confused thousand year old cursed knight, so she couldn't really understand him and his motives.

  Lucy closed her wardrobe door and was just about to leave when her computer signalled, she hadn't closed it up yet. She slowly turned around wondering if it was her doctor friend as he had contacted her the other week telling her about the potions, brews and incense that she had given him, he had been really impressed with them. She went over to the computer sitting down to check the message.

  From: - Dr S.Wray

  To: - Luna

  Dear Luna

  My incredible Luna, I don't know how I managed all these years without you, you've worked wonders. All those who were attacked are now back on their feet; they're still taking the potion for their powers which hopefully with added re-training they'll re-master in time. I'm sorry to hear about the student that he's still having problems with his powers, but he also did a great service to us all by defeating the Knight. I also heard that you created a summoning potion to help with that, and without using the proper ingredients, you actually re-did it, and by all accounts it worked better.

  I'm still in awe of your skills, and probably all of your students are as well; I just hope that we'll be able to work together again soon. If you ever need anything at all, call any time, and I'd be glad to help in whatever I can. I guess I also hope that perhaps if I need any advice that I'll be able to do the same thing.

  Again Luna, I have enjoyed working with you, and look forward to the next time.

  Dr S.Wray

  Lucy smiled to herself, she couldn't help it; she also wanted to send him a quick message back.

  From: - Luna

  To: - Dr S.Wray

  Doctor Wray

  Thank you for your message, I'm just glad that I was actually able to help you, as I haven’t really done anything like this before. I was so worried if I was doing it right, you know with it being so important; I'm just glad that everything worked out in the end.

  And yes, you can call me; but I'm leaving the school for the holidays tomorrow so you won't be able to contact me here until September. With how thing's have been, we've been told not to contact anyone unless it's through the secure lines; not that I'm worried about you turning out to be apart of the Shadow Order of course. That wouldn't happen considering how much you have done to stop them. It's just in case they hack into the outside lines, as my line at home isn't secure.

  I'll contact you though when I get back to school, and then if you need anything you can call me as well.

  Luna

  Lucy sent the message hoping that it sounded alright, especially about the secure lines, which she knew was true though she also knew that she could probably get a secure line at home, considering all the work that her dad did in secret, but she could always see how this went first. She did like talking to him, but she hated the fact that she had to lie to him, he actually thought that she was a teacher, when she was only a student. What she wasn't looking forward to was the day that she would
have to tell him the truth. Another message came through.

  From: - Dr S.Wray

  To: - Luna

  Luna I understand with everything that's going on of course. I look forward to September then, and have a good holiday.

  Dr S.Wray

  Lucy smiled again at his message, she was just about to send him another when there was a knock at the door; she jumped up and ran across to the room as she had completely forgotten that she was supposed to be meeting her friends, but at this rate she was going to be late. She looked back at her computer one last time and smiled before she ran out to join them.