The Midnight Moon [ONC 2024]

Chapter 17: A Group Effort

We were halfway to the farmhouse when Darius slipped away to begin dealing with the guards. By the time we reached the rear wall of the outbuilding where Mistaria was being held, Jack had taken up position on the roof above. A few moments later, we were given the signal by the crow to go in.

I opened the door slowly, and Bella shot in. I stepped inside and immediately found myself face-to-face with one of the guards, who I promptly smashed over the head with my hefty wooden staff. He crumpled to the floor noiselessly.

Bella went straight towards Mistaria who I was pleased to see was awake, but then things got complicated very quickly. I couldn't see any of the other guards, not until one of them spotted Bella and went over to kick her. I raised my staff to deal with him in the same fashion as the first, but then the third guard appeared and charged into me, knocking my aim and the blow went wide. Instead of catching him on the head, I got him in the back, so he sprawled across the floor, and I almost landed on top of him.

With quick wits, I drew my dagger and buried it in the man in front of me, before crawling on my hands and knees to face the final guard. He was armed with a sword, I noticed at once, but it seemed unlikely I would have enough time to draw my own.

I got to my feet without taking my eyes off of my opponent for a second, which was just as well as he wasn't intending on letting me stand. He raised his sword and came at me, though luckily he wasn't quick enough. I was upright and sidestepping the attack with a hair's breadth to spare, and as he moved past me, I raised my staff and brought it down across the back of the head. Once down, he did not get back up.

I now had a moment to check on the captives. They were all awake and watching me with wide eyes.

I looked at Bella. 'Can you sense any magic? Can I free them?'

'They're tied up and gagged. No magic.'

I freed Mistaria first. 'Bella go and get Jack. We don't want him changing back into a man on the roof. He might not be able to get back down.'

Bella left the outbuilding, and soon Jack was fluttering in through a large hole in the roof. In that time I had freed Fletcher Hastings, the younger of the two men, though not by much, and he was helping me with the bonds securing Doric Nash.

The air shimmered and started to vibrate. Then the familiars were gone and in their stead were a middle aged man, and woman younger than him by a few years. They looked nothing like I expected, and yet their familiar animal personas were clearly evident in their features.

'Stop staring, Hereward,' Bella said with a cheeky smile. 'We still have a lot of work to do.'

Jack was pulling some of the clothes off the downed guards and both he and Bella were getting dressed.

'Where's Darius?' I asked Jack.

'Guarding the door. He's waiting for us round the side of the building.'

'All right. Are you all ready to move?'

Mistaria, Fletcher and Doric nodded.

'My magic is limited at the moment,' Mistaria. 'It will take some time for their binding spell to wear off.'

'Tomasina said if you hold both our hands,' Bella was saying, indicating Jack, 'you might be able to draw power from us.' [ONC approx 20,000 word mark]

'Well, if things get difficult, we will give it a try, won't we.'

By this time I was at the door, looking out. Then we were off. Bella went first, leading the way. I went last. However, I was barely out of the door when a commotion sounded from somewhere on the other side of the farmhouse, and I guessed one of the guards had been found. It didn't take long for the alarm to be raised, and suddenly everything behind us was bright lights and activity.

We were halfway to the forest before they realised where we were and where we were heading.

'Pick up the pace if you can manage it,' I called to the others in front of me, as Darius darted off to the right and looped back around to take out our closest pursuer.

When we were almost at the woodland's edge, Mistaria turned, taking up the hands of her human familiars, whilst Doric and Fletcher placed a hand each on a shoulder.

'Get down, Slaine,' Jack called, and I threw myself to the ground. The air about us started to sparkle as stars in all the colours you could think of burst forth from above the joined group before flying through the air like stunted arrows down towards the farmhouse. Darius dropped into a crouch beside me, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. His muzzle was stained red.

I looked back down the meadow to see a dozen, maybe more, bodies lying on the ground. I sighed with relief, thinking we now had a moment to get our breath back, but I was wrong.

The next wave of pursuers, at least twice the size of the first, rounded the buildings and started to move, at speed, in our direction.

'Time to go,' I said, getting to my feet. But just as I did so, something truly wonderful happened. The treeline exploded with armed men, waving swords, pitchforks and clubs. Some were clearly professional soldiers, some were clearly retired.

I spotted one of the watchmen we spoke to as we left Morteton, and he looked at me, grinning.

'I hope we've not missed all the fun,' he said, 'but it's a bloody long walk from town.'

Behind the armed men - and some women - came the magical creatures who had heeded the summons. They stood in a long line, joining hands, before everyone in front of them was being told to get down on the ground.

I looked on, with my jaw hanging open, as the same spell was wrought by the newcomers, but on a much larger scale. In a matter of moments, the star-stunted arrows were flying down towards the buildings. And the enemy, seeing what was coming towards them, turned about and headed for cover.

The armed men, and some of the magical creatures made their way down the farmhouse, along with some official-looking personages. They could finish up here, I thought to myself. We had done enough for one night.

'Can we go home now?' Mistaria Heath asked those assembled. 'All I want to do is curl up in my own bed and sleep for a week.'

'Me too,' I echoed. 'It has been a very, very, very long day.'

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Chapter word count: 1114

Story word count: 20,603