//------------------------------// // Arrival // Story: Knightfall // by Plotospex //------------------------------// Gunther simply stood still for a quarter of a minute while trying to process what had just happened. He'd just been in the middle of a pitched melee, when, suddenly, everything vanished. Or, he thought, perhaps I vanished? But, magic didn't work like that, did it? Witches, to his knowledge, would simply cast hexes to bring bad luck, or cause sickness, or something along those lines. Could the pagan enemy have simply... removed him from the world? No, he thought, that's stupid. Still, he was alone in a blank white void. He couldn't help but worry. Tentatively, he took a few steps before coming to the conclusion there was nothing more he could do. This wasn't how he imagined things would happen - more likely he'd receive a spear wound bogged down in a melee after cutting a swathe through the enemies of Christendom, and the Order would send a have to send a letter back to his family in Frankfurt detailing his heroic death. A blank white infinity was not how a knight who'd taken a life-vow to the Teutonic Order should leave the world. The pain in his arm starting to lessen, Gunther sat down on the nothingness and looked over his equipment. His shield, bearing his coat of arms - a hand with an eye in the palm, the symbol of faith, holding a set of scales, the symbol of justice. The eye looked up at the scales, as if worried they would tip. It was an undoubtedly surreal image. His sword, forged for Gunther perhaps a decade ago by one of the more expensive blacksmiths, was now bloodied. The blood hadn't yet dried, so Gunther went ahead and wiped it off onto his tunic. It was a relatively heavy sword, weighing four pounds, but very well built. Even the handle was decoratively covered in black leather. His mace was similar in quality, with four sharp flanges on its head and the same leather handle. Bored, Gunther decided to try walking again. He stood up slowly (he found it off-putting to stand up when the ground doesn't look like it exists) and began walking. Eventually, he took off his helmet and broke into a jog. After what felt like ten minutes, the whiteness of his surroundings began to dull somewhat. Encouraged, Gunther kept jogging - and suddenly, his surroundings turned completely black. Surprised, he stumbled. He didn't hit anything, but simply fell through the black void. - Gunther opened his eyes, and saw color again. Was all that a dream? It didn't feel at all like one, though. With a grunt, he pushed himself off of the ground and looked around. His surroundings seemed mostly empty, save the grass beneath him and some trees off to one side. He didn't recognize the area, though. His first priority would be to... find food? Find a settlement? Gunther wasn't certain what to do in a situation like this. And so, with his shield on his back and weapons on his belt, Gunther did what seemed the most reasonable. He set off in the direction opposite the forest. Eventually, he'd come across a road, or some farmland, that he could follow back to a settlement. Hopefully, it'd be a settlement belonging to the Teutonic Order. Running into a Lithuanian settlement would be trouble. But, what if the reason there had been no reinforcing army been because the war had been lost? No, that was another stupid thought. It was by no means unreasonable for an army to take longer than two months to assemble and then arrive at Oren - and, he reminded himself, that'd only be after they found out Oren was under siege. No, he'd have to keep looking for a settlement. Besides, how cowardly would he look if he were to go into hiding if the crusade was still going? And so, shaking his worries from his head, he continued on. It was after he'd been walking a while and his legs were tired that Gunther realized he needed something to eat. So, that'd be something he'd keep an eye out for, in addition to signs of civilization. It was a pity that he had no backpack or anything similar with him. The scenery didn't seem to change much - he was obviously in someplace mostly empty. Maybe he'd ended to the south, in the Hungarian steppe? No, that didn't make sense. That should be a few thousand miles away. Then again, he'd never been there, so it was just a guess. Gunther had walked maybe 15 miles, and the novelty of being able to walk freely instead of being cooped up inside a fortress had already worn off, when the terrain finally began to change. He began to see trees again, perhaps another forest. Near the trees, he spotted what looked like a sleeping horse. It was small, and evidently not yet fully grown. Oddly, it looked purple, but he figured that was likely just a trick of the light now that the sun was setting. His stomach growling, Gunther remembered what he'd once heard. The invading Mongols moved so quickly because some warbands wouldn't even carry food or any real supply trains. Instead, their warriors would ride mares that had recently foaled - so that they could drink their milk, or, failing that, they would simply cut into their horses and drink their blood. Not enough to kill the horse, as that would simply leave them down a horse, but enough to sate their hunger. Figuring that he didn't know how long it had been since he'd eaten, and that a people who'd conquered the majority of the Rus Principalities must know what they were doing, Gunther told himself it would not be a bad idea to do likewise. Quietly, he advanced on the sleeping horse with his sword drawn. As he got closer, he lightly gripped the blade of his sword with his second, leather-gloved, hand. He'd need the extra control if he were to make just the smallest cut. It struck Gunther as very odd that the young horse appeared purple, even when he was just 10 feet away from it. Oddly, it had some sort of arcane-looking star drawn onto its flank. And then, he noticed something even more shocking. This little pony had a horn. It was a unicorn. Not to say Gunther was ignorant - he'd heard stories, and knew unicorns existed - but never expected to actually find one. Their horns were said to be able to undo poisoning, and cure sickness. A unicorn horn would be a great thing to have, or to give as a gift to some person in a high position, such as the Teutonic Order's Grandmaster. A ruler's life would be considerably easier if they didn't have to worry about poisoning, after all. And, to his amazing luck, this helpless unicorn was asleep. Sadly, he didn't know very well what to do in a situation like this. Could he simply snap the horn off? Should he knock it off with the mace? Could the unicorn defend itself in any way? After a few seconds of thought, Gunther took a deep breath, sheathed his sword, and withdrew his mace. Holding it with two hands to make sure he'd get the best strike, he brought the mace down directly perpendicular to the horn. With a sound like the snapping of a bone, it broke free (albeit, not as cleanly as Gunther hoped), the unicorn opened its eyes with a cry of pain that sounded much more human than it did equine. Taking his right hand off the mace, he wrapped the leather-gloved hand around the unicorn's muzzle to silence its cries. Realizing he still hadn't eaten, as was his original intent, Gunther moved the mace over the unicorn's body with his left hand and dug one of the flanges into its side. Still forcing the unicorn's mouth closed and muffling its cries of pain, he put his mouth to the wound. Having taken blows to the face that had left him with blood in his mouth before, the taste of blood was by no means new to Gunther. It certainly wasn't the sort of thing that seemed pleasant to subsist on, but he figured it would be adequate. A minute later, feeling satisfied, he'd noticed that the unicorn had passed out from the pain. Lifting himself from the wound, he checked its pulse - it was still alive, and the wound was barely bleeding. Since unicorns were wild animals, it didn't really matter whether he left it alive or not. Still, it was somehow majestic even without its horn. Gunther felt good about leaving it alive. A few loose shards of horn were laying near the unicorn's head. Not bothering to pick up the tiny pieces, Gunther decided it was getting too late to continue travelling. He'd go into the forest, and see if he could find anything with which to build a temporary shelter. Perhaps, in the morning, he'd try to sharpen some branches into a set of javelins, and see if he couldn't catch himself something for breakfast. Shifting his mace into his right hand and keeping the small horn safe in his left, he ventured into the Everfree Forest. A distance away, a blue pony laughed triumphantly as she saw that one of her plans to become a more powerful unicorn than Twilight Sparkle had finally worked.