##Blessed Knight

"Alright, I'm ready." Sir Graham sits in the middle of the clearing with his legs and arms tied together. His sword lies in his teeth. Maddox stands over him with new armor, a new shield, and a new spear.

"Are you sure?" Maddox asks.

"Oh, shall I give you time to acquire more friends?" Graham asks.

"No, you already made me get ten people from the pub. I don't even know them," Maddox replies. The rest of the group nods in agreement.

"Nonsense, one against eleven is still weighted in my favor. Why don't you get ten more?" Graham says.

"Excuse me." A man holding a crossbow raises a hand. "I don't even know what's going on here. I'm just a simple farmer. Can I go?"

"Would you be able to live with the dishonor?" Graham asks.

"Yes." The farmer drops the crossbow and runs.

"Looks like you need one more," Graham says.

"This was supposed to be a simple raid." Maddox rubs his eyes. "I was going to startle you with my knife. Then, you scream and hand over your money. If I knew it would be this much work, I wouldn't have attacked."

"Nonsense. I'm going to go fight Yawed, and I need a warmup," Graham says.

"You're going to fight Yawed?" Maddox blinks a few times. "Alone."

"Yes."

"Screw it. We'll be doing you a favor. Let's get him."

The men swarm the incapacitated knight. Graham reacts by spinning in a circle on the ground. A tornado of dust surrounds him blinding his foes. When they can see, they observe a spinning ball with a blade at the end.

"What the hell?" one man asks.

"I should've gone with the farmer." Another man lays down his armor and fleas. As he runs, a stone hits him in the back.

"You missed your chance to surrender," Graham says. Graham continues his spin and strikes at the rest of the opponents' kneecaps with his sword in quick secession leaving Maddox alone. Maddox's legs shake, and he unfortunately wets himself. Graham stops spinning and stands up straight with the ropes that once bound him on the ground.

"Do you yield?" Graham points his sword. Maddox fires a bolt with his crossbow. Graham waves his sword back and forth turning it in sawdust.

"What magic is this?" Maddox asks.

"The magic of training every day for twenty hard years," Graham laughs and throws a small dart. The dart goes over Maddox's shoulder, hits a tree, hits a rock, hits a branch, hits the dirt, and finally strikes Maddox in the neck. Maddox collapses before Graham.

"That must be one hell of a training regiment." Maddox sputters and squirms. "I think I'm paralyzed."

"A fitting end to an opportunistic raider. I hope Yawed is more challenging." As Graham says this, a dragon flies over head with his possessions in a large sack over his shoulder. "Hmm, looks like he's a coward too. No problem." Graham picks up a spear and tosses it in the air. Yawed quickly descends and crashes into the ground. "I hope whatever town he lands in uses his riches wisely."

"Are you even human?" Maddox asks.

"Yes, but I was blessed by the wizard Talor at birth," Graham says.

"That's nonsense," Maddox spits, "If I had known that, I wouldn't have bothered you."

"Too late. Off to my next challenge," Graham walks away. Maddox screams profanities at him while the recruits wail in agony.

r/AstroRideWrites