Chapter 6 is here for Avalon Tales and it's time for the story to get into gear! The operation starts, but is it going to go smoothly? What do you think. Check it out down below!
In other writing news, everything is plodding along nicely, Chapter 11 of Avalon Tales is complete following a change in plans regarding its composition. It was going to be a Chapter of split perspectives but I decided to split that up into another chapter to give the main focus its own space. On the plus it means that Chapter 12 shouldn't take that long to do...Famous last words and all that.
For Brennan and Riz, things are ramping up in their short and now all I have to do is increase the pace, and then end it...and then edit it, you know the fun part which sucks all life from your body. I often go back and forth on if I actually enjoy editing or not but it boils down to how much work is ahead of me. I can often be found cursing my past self because of this, and I get the feeling that this Brennan and Riz short is going to be no different! Still, it's nice to be doing there little fights again, they always flow so nicely. If I could figure out how to have a whole story consist of nothing but their back and forth, I'd draft it in a heartbeat.
Speaking of that duo though, let's see how they're getting on!
The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz
The 2nd part in now what's probably going to be a longer series, which will mess my daily schedule up over on Blue-Sky (for those unaware I post daily strips over there, returning to the beginning every time I run out of comics) as I'll need to start over again before this little story is complete. Anyone following along like that will have a hefty weight to get the continuation!
Had some fun with this one as I referenced an absurd mechanic from a popular video game franchise. Love doing little touches like that.
Short Diversions: Avalon Tales Chapter 6
With the purge operation in full swing, Isabelle and her team arrive to clear out some demons, despite her unease with certain mission aspects. After all, nothing ever goes so smoothly
I'm afraid I'm going to have to go back on an earlier promise about new art this week. It was supposed to be of the Squires Issac and Jessica, but the quality just isn't there and they deserve better. I'll take yhe designs back to the drawing board and work on them a bit more till I feel they're ready for public consumption. I'm hoping to get a picture of Rainer ready for the next chapter but we'll see how it goes.
Right, on with the chapter!
Avalon Tales Chapter Index
Chapter 6
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Chapter 6: No Smooth Sailing
Isabelle took the first step into the cold night. It was that awkward time of year where it’d ceased to be winter, but the spring weather and warmer nights hadn’t quite asserted themselves yet. The combat gear she was wearing mitigated the majority of the chills that normal people would feel, if anything she was perhaps too warm for her liking, but she endured. Ramona quickly followed behind her, putting her hand on her shoulder, the one opposite to where her scar was this time.
“Good luck out here, Knight Major,” Ramona said as she pointed to her ear piece, which was pretty much a confirmation that Cade was now listening in to the feeds. Isabelle didn’t know how he was even capable of doing something like that while also fighting, but supposed it was no different to all the times that Rei was working in her laboratory but also deafening everyone else with whatever flavour of rock music she liked at that point. Jessica and Issac were the next ones to step out, and neither’s mood was much better than before they left the base.
“Do you know where your team is to be positioned?” Ramona asked.
“Yes, Knight Master,” Isabelle replied punctually, knowing that answering differently would get a certain someone’s back up. “We’re to proceed to quadrant 3B and to start scouring the area for demonic activity. We’re to eliminate any enemies we find, and if possible, follow any retreating ones to their nests. If that isn’t possible, we are to hold ground till the teams designated as searchers locate the nests directly. At that point, as long as our areas are clear, we converge and burn the nests and anything within them till there’s nothing left.”
“You know when you talk like that it sends a chill down my spine, so cold and detached. And people think you only got this job because of your father? You’re a knight at heart, just like your mum, princess,” Ramona patted Isabelle on the shoulder. “Go do her proud.”
Those words caught Isabelle by surprise, they’d been on hundreds of missions together, and never once had she said anything to that effect to her before. She thought maybe it was Ramona’s way of reminding her that she trained underneath her mother right before her death.
“Knight Master Brunor! Is that really necessary at a time like this when we should be beginning the operation?” Cade asked, interrupting the moment.
“I was just offering encouragement to a subordinate! That is what good leaders do!” Ramona shouted back, she covered the microphone and then turned back to Isabelle: “I swear he’s forgotten what it’s like to actually be part of a team. It should be funny how he finds it being shackled to Rainer and Lucy tonight. I can guarantee you there’s going to be arguments before the night is over!” Anyway, good luck, let’s get this started,” Ramona added before walking off with her own team who had just been standing there bemused with the situation.
“You heard the Knight Master,” Isabelle announced, turning back to her own team. “Let’s get to our position and begin the operation. By the end of this mission tonight, there will not be a single demon left alive in Highdale. For Queen and Country!” Isabelle called out, getting caught up in things. Issac and Jessica just looked at each other, before offering their own weakened version. “We’ll work on that later,” Isabelle said with a sigh.
Quadrant 3B turned out to be a far away section of the industrial estate. While some of the buildings looked to be in use, though closed for the night, others looked abandoned, which made them perfect places for demons to nest. Isabelle almost wished to have been one of the teams that was to head into the town, to flush out the demons and chase them to their nests where they were hiding. Despite the isolation of their location, Isabelle still ordered her team to stay out of sight as best they could, hiding in the space between buildings, so as not to spook any demons that may be lurking around. darkened alleys to avoid suspicion. In the distance, she could see some of the other teams doing their patrols. Some of the problems she had with the operation reared their head again, as she saw other Avalon teams very close by. She figured that it wouldn’t take much for her to hit another soldier on the head with a stone at the distance they were with one another. Looking up to the top of the warehouses, Isabelle wondered where Robyn was stationed, knowing that her and her team would be up high, unless they were ordered to go into the town to keep an eye on things there. She just hoped that she was using something a bit better suited to the terrain than her composite bow, a situation like this, with some distance involved required more heavy duty firepower.
“Excuse me, ma’am?” Jessica asked meekly, breaking up the quiet. “I meant to ask this earlier but…”
“What is it, Squire Dodson?” Isabelle turned her eyes to face her.
“That weapon, ma’am, that’s not standard issue is it?” Jessica pointed at the prototype Saviour Blade. “I mean, it sort of looks like the Knight Inquisitor’s weapon?”
“Only that someone attached a bit of junk to it,” Issac quipped.
That comment brought a smile to Isabelle’s face, she thought of what Rei would say if she found out about it, and the tantrum she’d throw. Insulting her was one thing, but insulting her inventions was far worse in her eyes.
“I’m testing it for Merlin,” She finally answered. “We’ve spent a lot of time trying to perfectly replicate Saviour Blades. This is just the latest attempt.”
“What’s wrong with the standard issue ones then? Or the knives they give us?” Issac reached down to his leg and pulled a combat knife from its sheath. He held it up as if Isabelle had never seen one before, despite the fact that she’d had several over the course of her time with Avalon, having even broken a few of them in the midst of combat.
“The standard issue swords and other melee weapons only contain small amounts of Saviour Metal, so they are effective against weak demons, the type we’re hunting tonight.”
As Isabelle spoke, the scanning device that was attached to her belt started to bleep, it was slow at first but quickly sped up indicating that the demons were close by. “They’re here. Squires, take up arms.” Isabelle readied her own weapons. While she normally stuck to her preferred armaments of a small handgun and a sword, this time however, she opted to take an assault rifle, in addition to the other weapons. This was for speed. The rifle had been pre-modified to be almost silent, to minimise the risk of the noise attracting unwanted attention. Jessica and Issac had the standard weapons, which was all they needed as far as Isabelle was concerned. With a hand signal, she started directing them to her flanks as the trio started their hunt. Chatter over Isabelle’s ear piece started immediately as other teams started encountering demons.
“This is Squad Swinton, engaging demons in quadrant 4C.”
“Squad Reins, demons found in quadrant 2A, beginning purge.”
Isabelle knew that those teams weren’t that far away, meaning that the demons were all coming en masse, which struck her as odd. Still, she would not shy away from her duty.
“What’s the plan?” Jessica asked as the team moved down between two more buildings, taking care to avoid all the related machinery that was dotted around, that would have bene used for loading and offloading trucks in daylight.
“You and Squire Kenner are to stay by my side and fire into the middle, funneling the demons towards me and cutting off any escape route they may try. I’ll handle anything that comes our way. If one manages to escape our net then we can track it to the nest.” Isabelle explained, though there wasn’t any time to take it in as ahead of them, a pack of five demons were bounding towards them, their mouths foaming as they charged ahead.
“Fire now!” Isabelle ordered, and to their credit, the Squires recalled their training perfectly, despite their nerves, and stuck to the plan as they were told. The stream of bullets took down two of the demons within the first seconds, while Isabelle herself used precision shooting to put down another. Right now, the other demons would usually turn tail and run, after seeing their allies cut down so brutally. These creatures though, kept on going, despite it amounting to suicide. Isabelle couldn’t let this phase her now, and with a swift wave of her hand, got the Squires to narrow their shooting range, the bullets almost crossing over each other as another demon was reduced to bloody ruins. The last one was caught in the legs, but was still crawling towards Isabelle, literally pulling itself towards her. She bade the Squires to stop as she holstered her rifle, and pulled out her handgun. That was when she noticed that the demon, despite being right next to her, instead, crawled past her.
They weren’t running at us, they were running away…Were they all running? Isabelle wondered, though regardless, she still had a job to do, so calmly, she aimed and pulled the trigger, eliminating the last of the demons.
“This is Squad Blake, all demons in our quadrant have been eliminated, we’ll hold here to see if there’s any stragglers, over.”
“This is Knight Master, Brunor. Squad Blake, your status has been acknowledged. Will update with status shortly.” Isabelle knew that speaking like that must have been eating Ramona up inside, but there could be no short cuts made with a Knight Inquisitor on the scene.
“What do we do now then?” Issac asked, lowering his weapon, while doing his best not to look at the demonic remains that were quickly dissolving away.
“We wait till further orders come through. Per the plans, if no demons retreated to a nest, actions will now be taken to determine where that nest is located and we will move to purge it.”
“Is there only one nest though?”
“For a town of this size, it’d be more surprising if there were multiple,” Isabelle explained as she holstered her weapons and ran her hands through her hair, wanting to destress and rid herself of her doubts at the same time.
“Tell you one thing, I’d hate to be on the clean up crew for an operation this size!” Jessica laughed, breaking the tension of the scene and allowing some brevity to settle.
“You and me both!” Issac laughed, and in the moment, Isabelle felt at ease.
This didn’t last long though as another voice came through her ear piece with a burst of static:
“Isabelle? Is that you, what’s the point of having open communication channels if no one bloody uses them!”
Isabelle recognised the voice as Rei’s, but she had no idea why she’d be calling her now. She checked the receiver that was attached to her belt, and saw that the call was coming over her private channel, one that was used for peer to peer communications. It was granted to higher ranking members of Avalon for lone operations where the privacy of the open channels couldn’t be guaranteed. There had been only two people Isabelle had shared the details with about how to contact her, Robyn and Ramona. Given who had just called her, it didn't take long at all to work out who told first.
“Rei! What are you doing! This is my private channel!” Isabelle said in the loudest whisper she could do.
“Well excuse me for trying to pass on some absolutely vital information! I mean, its only your life in danger, so maybe that’s not important to you!” Rei shouted sarcastically in return.
“If its that vital, then why not use the open channel or at least inform the command chain of what’s going on! You’re just lucky that Cade isn’t listening in!”
“Don’t you think I tried that first, you white haired idiot! The open channel has been ironically locked, with the only people having access to it being you dolts in the field.”
“That can’t be right, it’s supposed to remain open as a way of direct contact with headquarters in case of emergencies.”
“I know what it’s supposed to be like, you know what it’s supposed to be like, but it isn’t. I can’t get a message to either Ramona or that other prick, the Master of Arms.”
“So I was the first person you called?”
“Third actually.”
Isabelle didn’t know how to feel at that revelation. Should she feel hurt that despite being Ramona’s second in command near enough, that she was a back up choice to the back u, or glad that she ranked so high in the first place.
“Who were there other two people?”
“Robyn and the pompous ass who had a stick up his ass. It was Robyn who told me to tell you! Cade insisted I tell no one else till he verified things. Like hell am I listening to him though!”
“We’re getting off track now, tell me what you need to tell me,” Isabelle ordered, wanting to get to the heart of the matter.
“Okay two things, first, the Master of Arms has screwed you all over by insisting that you use the older Demon Sensors MK II for this mission instead. Those old models can’t detect demonic presence over a certain strength, which is why I designed the Minerva system…”
“Focus Rei!” Isabelle interrupted, she felt her scar tingling which didn’t bode well as the tingling was only growing in sensation.
“Basically, your night is about to get a whole lot worse, my sensors are picking up really strong demonic activity, coming in from the north. That’s not also the worst part, Your-” Before Rei could finish that sentence, she was cut off.
“Rei! Rei! Come in! Your what? Tell me!” Isabelle shouted but got no response.
“Knight Major? Is…Is everything okay?” Jessica asked, approaching carefully.
Seemingly ignoring her, Isabelle pulled the scanner off her belt, holding it in her hands, there was no reaction unlike before, there was no beeping or alarms. No sign of any trouble at all. She trusted Rei, and she trusted the reaction she was getting from her scar.
“Get ready for combat, We’ve got unannounced enemies bearing down on us. These will not be like the demons we’ve already killed. You shoot when I tell you to shoot, you run when I tell you to run. Is that clear?” She addressed her two Squires, whose nervousness exploded, somewhat predictably.
“W-Where are they coming from?” Issac asked as he raised his weapon, turning the barrel of his weapon on anything that moved or even swayed slightly.
“I don’t know, but they’re coming,” Isabelle replied. “We stand back to back, okay? Then we’ll start to head to the nearest team in order to regroup. We have to inform the Knight Master, and the Master of Arms about the situation.” Isabelle knew that Robyn would be making her own way to her, there was no other outcome if she’d been given the same information that she got.
Isabelle felt a pain where her scar was, before she felt the first tremor. Thinking quickly, she pushed Issac and Jessica out of the way as the ground broke beneath them. Several other potholes opened up as well, with a strange mist pouring out of it.
“Toxic gas?” Issac asked, turning to Isabelle for some guidance.
“Cover your mouths! Now move!” She shouted at them. She didn’t know what the gas was, but she also wasn’t taking any chances. Her first responsibility now was to get her team to a safe spot to regroup.
“There’s something coming out from the hole!” Jessica screamed as she aimed her gun, as a shape bigger than the demons they’d just killed, crawled out, followed by another one, and then another. These three demons were taller and broader than the others, and were a deep crimson colour. Their faces weren’t visible, being hidden behind a mask with a visor that glowed an ominous red. The gas seemed to be coming from cylindrical devices attached to belts they wore around their waists. They were lightly armoured, with a style that seemed to mesh what the soldiers of Avalon were wearing and armour that gladiators would have worn in ancient times. In the most telling difference between the other demons and these newcomers, the latter was armed.
Isabelle had to look twice when she saw what looked like sub machine guns welded together, and painfully bolted to the demon’s wrists. The demons gargled a word that Isabelle couldn’t understand, but as they pointed the guns at her and the others, she got the meaning pretty quickly. The gun fire tore up the ground, or what little of it was left, as Isabelle and her team scrambled to get out of the way. Isabelle tried to return fire, but was unable to aim properly.
“Issac! Jessica! I want you both to run to the end of the alley while I provide a distraction! I’ll be with you shortly!” Isabelle dropped all the formalities, knowing that Cade wouldn’t be happy, but that was the least of her worries at the moment.
“B-but!” Jessica started to say, but she didn’t get to finish the argument, as Isabelle turned and gave her a look that scared the Squire more than the demons.
“MOVE!” Came the single word response. Reluctantly, the Squires waited for the signal to run, and Isabelle didn’t waste a single second, as she rushed forward, surprising the three demons who had to break off their own gunfire to deal with the Knight Major who was now in their midst. Isabelle struck out with the prototype Saviour Blade, activating its power supply as she did. To her relief, the blade slid into the armour like it was paper, proving that Rei did, in fact, know what she was doing. The demon showed no discomfort with the pain though, and tried to grab at Isabelle with it’s free hand, the sharp claws raking up the rubble of the pavement. The other demons changed tact and went to strike her down as well, but she was faster than they were, and was already bringing the blade down in another arc, hoping this time to at least dismember one of the demons. Out of the corner of her eyes she spotted Issac and Jesscia, nearing the point she told them about.
Now I just have to disengage with these three and catch up to them, then we can show these fools how Avalon fights…Isabelle thought as she sidestepped away from the three demons, her intent was to double back to the Squires, under the cover of their suppressing fire, and then, as a team, cut them down to size, but a small explosion ended that idea. The blast happened where the Squires had stopped. Isabelle only turned to see the aftermath, and couldn’t see where Issac and Jessica were, she stood wide eyed, as three more demons emerged, these ones with weapons that looked very reminiscent of bazookas. Caught in between two sets of demons, Isabelle didn’t have time to react properly, only narrowly avoiding an attack from the demons she was originally facing. The bazooka armed demons launched a volley, and while they fell short of the target, the blast still knocked Isabelle into a wall, winding her, and covering her with dust and dirt. Isabelle, barely keeping consciousness, looked up as the demon went to take advantage of her position, but a rallying cry interrupted what should have been her final moments as a long figure appeared on the roof overlooking the alley.
“FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY!” A familiar deep voice bellowed out. Isabelle looked past the demon, who now looked like a deer in headlights, and saw Leo, her father standing proud, flanked by his own retinue. He leapt down as his fellows opened fire with high precision rifles, gunning down the bazooka armed demons first. The other three turned their attention to her father, who was armed with his own True Saviour Blade, the weapon that had been christened Caliburn long ago. In predictable fashion, the demons raised their guns and opened fire, but it didn’t stop Leo from cutting them down in turn, despite taking a few hits as they fell.
“Dad?” Isabelle managed to say before she blacked out…
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Next Chapter (not live yet)
Well that about wraps it up for this week. Chapter 7 drops in a fortnight when some big players enter the scene and the plot really gets moving! We do have to suffer through another in-between week mind but I'm sure we can trudge through.
Till next time,
Keep on writing!
Peter James Martin
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