A Bright and Shiny Life

A chevalier is a type of specialist knight, and a knight is a type of specialist mage. A mage is one who negotiates with the world for the right to manifest external phenomena, while a knight negotiates to permanently alter themself.

There is some overlap, as some knights can cast spells cantered on themselves like a personal shield, but it’s very rigid besides that. It’s debated as to why, but the world does not seem to like mixing the two.

The self-alterations typically come in the form of enhanced physical abilities like my boons from Anar. A basic knight has boosted themselves to about my abilities after I had offered Ibil and can boost themselves further by use of divine boons. Most knights are much stronger.

A chevalier is a knight who has traded some of their own increased ability to extend their concept of ‘self’ to a specific mount which also benefits from the boost. They’re weaker than regular knights off their mount but can be devastating on them.

A basic chevalier on their mount could easily kill me at my best, and a chevalier with a giant wolf mount is not basic.

I veer to the side and look back. The chevalier continues towards where I was. Either it’s a coincidence they were moving straight towards me far away from the rest of the calvary, or are following my scent because that’s the only sense that can pierce concealment at this distance.

Cursing, I jump into a shallow ditch and go through my pack until I find my blood brush and bullets, then untie my sling. I cut my palm and dip the fine tipped brush which I use to quickly stroke precise blood runes on the bullets that are far too small to do by finger. The two runes I select are resilience and accumulation.

It’s an anti-knight trick I’ve used many times. It’s what I did to the arrows which killed the horses in the imposter ambush– though those riders were likely flesh dolls mind sculpted with programmed moves to sell the illusion while not sacrificing valuable assets.

Once the accumulation rune is set it will explode the object when disturbed. The resilience rune allows it to survive the acceleration of a bow or sling, and delay the detonation a fraction of a second after it impacts the target– which usually means inside of it. A chevalier’s mount is tough, but not so tough as to ignore an arrow or bullet exploding inside it.

After quickly painting five bullets I turn to see that the chevalier has closed half the distance between us. I shove the bullets in my vest pockets (which I admit is very convenient) and apply a quick symbol of accuracy to my sling before running again.

The main problem with the enchantments to the bullets is that it takes time to set, and gives no indication when it’s ready (which is normally a benefit since even a knight can’t detect a trapped object). I estimated that a breastplate would take several hours to saturate. For a lead bullet… maybe five to ten minutes. The wolf rider will catch me in three.

I dash from cover to cover, be it bush, ditch or burnt barn, anything to break line of sight, and cost them time to find my scent with each change of direction. It doesn’t deter them as they speed steadily along my trail.

How do I delay them? I could try burning the field with a firestream spell, but the storm soaked the field, and the flames wouldn’t spread far or fast enough. Besides it would just attract more riders, as would trying to blind them with the mirror. The river is to my right, and there’s a barge going down it I might reach, but it’s too far to leap to even with my boons, and I don’t want to swim with all my luggage. Besides, they’d figure it out and can probably just jump the whole river.

They’re almost on me so I run in a quick circle and dive into a depression behind a bush. I drop my packs and staff while preparing a shot with the sling.

Heavy breathing as they reach the circle, and grunt in confusion. I creep up with my head peeking through the bush. It seems scent is still their only sense more powerful than the concealment spell, as they neither see nor hear me. I could hit them now.

Patience, I’ll only get one shot. The wolf has plate barding on their chest and flanks, but with big gaps with only cloth between them. I should be able to penetrate if I hit right. The accuracy enchantment will help, but even a high-power boost can only correct so much, and this one was done very hastily.

The rider strokes their mount to calm them, and decides to go off in a random search pattern before quickly coming back after failing to find the trail again. They try again in a direction that will come dangerously close. Not directly to me, but they’ll be able to spot me without obstruction.

As they trot nearer, I slowly move up to a slinging position and hold my breath.

Ten steps away.

Five steps…

I throw.

The rider’s enhanced perception isn’t enough to spot the near invisible bullet as it penetrates between the plate barding. The first they realize they’re under attack is an instant later from the following loud crack, and the wolf rearing up, then slumping forward with a front leg completely limp.

The rider agilely rolls off, and crouches to examine the wound.

“What’s the matter boy? It’s okay, let me look.”

They’re clearly confused at their mount’s sudden injury. I move to sling again, but they see me at the last moment and interpose themselves between me and their mount, so I aim at them instead.

This time they track the bullet and interpose their shield, only for the bullet to burrow into and shatter it a moment later.

They look at their splintered shield, then throw their lance before I can load another shot.

I easily track the large projectile though the air without issue, but still only barely dodge out of the way. The lance isn’t enchanted, so I jam it further into the ground and snap the shaft with a kick before running away– the chevalier charging after me with a furious scream.

Right now, I’m slightly faster, but I’m feeling my boons nearing their end. Once they do, I’m dead. They’re wearing heavy armour, and are much heavier looking even without it, but they’re also much stronger than me even now.

I gain a short distance then turn to shoot. They try to deflect with their sword but the bullet flies past and strikes their breast plate. It explodes on impact, knocking them back and denting the armour, but it doesn’t penetrate.

I hear hoofbeats and turn to see a pair of mundane calvary galloping towards us, likely coming to see why their boss is off their mount. Though they may have spotted me now that my concealment has ended.

I sigh. I only have two enchanted bullets left. I’ll need either a headshot or to strike the same spot as before to kill the chevalier– and will likely only wound even then. It’s safe to assume their armour is enchanted from my failure to penetrate, and so is also likely warded against fire. My boons are slipping, and the chevalier can likely penetrate my concealment at a distance when they do. The horses are a few minutes away, and will surround me if they reach, cutting off my retreat long enough for the chevalier to catch me.

Everything but the horse riders will only be a critical problem after my boons end, so I turn my focus on them. It would be silly to waste a magic bullet, so I load a regular one and launch it with an underhand lob. It’s not an accurate method, but they’re too far away for an overhand throw, and I want to keep our distance. Besides, they’re big targets and the enchantment will help.

The first lobbed bullet misses. So does the second. The third strikes a horse, sending it crashing down along with the rider. The fourth one misses, but the fifth hits the rider and knocks them off.

Seeing an opportunity, I dive for cover, then cast concealment before running towards the prone and supine foes. The chevalier stops when they approach the bush where they saw me dive, and carefully looks for me. A minute later they spot me, and rush after towards their companions.

I get to the supine one well ahead of the chevalier. The bullet has lodged in the breastplate, and the helmet is dented from the fall. They come to as I yank the helmet off and try to stab me, but I bash them in the face, dazing them long enough to give them to Anar. I use a cloth the girl at the red needle convinced me was stylish to keep in my pocket to catch the blood. The chevalier has almost reached us, so I stand and incinerate the sacrifice before continuing to run.

I hear the chevalier cursing as they take off their cloak to smother their companion who they don’t know is already dead. Needing all the power I can get, I take the opportunity to reach the second one.

This one’s leg is trapped by the fallen horse. They don’t even see me coming as I rush up under concealment, yank off their helmet and punch them unconscious. I give them to Anar, burn them, then run while casting concealment again.

I don’t really have a plan to finish the knight off. I’m faster than them, and could run, but that would mean leaving my gear as that would slow me down too much. I could run far enough to enchant more bullets, but I only have two more.

I could probably kill them easily with four magic bullets, but it’s not guaranteed, especially if they manage to dodge some. Besides, enchanting them will give time for reinforcements to show up.

If I’m going to kill them, I’ll need to be point blank– close enough for them to kill me. I’ll have to find a way to approach without being seen.

With this in mind I begin running in circles and burning everything with repeated firestreams, then hide under concealment. They rush through the fire without harm, but the smoke obscures their vision– allowing me to stand only a few paces away and sling a bullet directly into their helmet.

Metal shards fly as they stagger back, but they’re still standing so I load another, and hit them again as they’re still recovering their vision. This time blood flows.

They yank their helmet off– now too dented to see through– and throw it at me. I dodge easily out of the way and cast firestream, catching their exposed head.

They scream in pain, covering their face with their arms as they continue to rush towards me. I drop the stream at the last instant to dodge their blind sword swing, leaping away to draw one of the magic knives which I throw at their head.

They turn to face me, but can’t see through the knife’s invisibility, and is struck by it in the forehead without realizing the need to dodge. They stumble forward then collapse to the ground. A few seconds later the knife fades into visibility, having penetrated to the hilt.

I pick up a few rocks which I sling into their head to make sure they’re dead (they’re too dangerous to get close enough to sacrifice if they’re not) then throw the second knife for good measure. I quickly turn over the body to check for loot. They don’t have a coin purse, and their sword, while magic, is far too big for me. However, they do have a nice enchanted dagger.

It’s bigger than Tanyth’s and is almost a short sword for me, but the magic is too good to pass up. Standard enhanced sharpness/toughness, plus self repair and cleaning. Finally it has an interesting sentence that seems to have something to do with blood– it’s difficult to figure out.

It’s not as sharp as the knives, and is too large to throw, but self-cleaning would alone make it worth taking and the hidden feature is intriguing. I’ll strap Tanyth’s horizontally to the back of my belt later, and hang this one vertically as my new primary weapon.

Being mindful of the attention the fire is causing, I rush back to my packs and slip them on. Disturbingly the wolf is no longer there. I put it out of my mind as I head to the woods, but then I spot it laying by it’s former rider– licking them and trying to nudge them awake, whining when they don’t move.

… There’s no reason to kill it. It might come after me, but its power will have faded without its master. If it does track me, I’ll deal with it then.