Chapter 17 - Miracle

The infected gathered before the Doctor, and she promised them to be her general if they managed to capture the infiltrators. Thou they didn't know about the escaped Sir George; they are just too happy to kill anyone who isn't them and present their corpse to the Doctor.

The generals, guards, and initiates are in an uproar, looking for anyone who might blend with them. The commotion allowed John to slip away from the initiates and proceed back to the room where the Doctor held an audience with her chosen initiates. With the guards out of the way, John entered the Study. 

Towering catalogs, scrolls, and books about alchemy, anatomy, and pet training fill the Study. The place was majestic and colorful, but the table at the corner of the room with the vials caught John's attention.

The vials twinkled in John's eyes, luring him into a false sense of security. John was reaching for the vials when the Doctor leaped from the darkness. She stopped John from grabbing the vials and pierced his left arm with her knives.

John filled the halls of the Keep with a terrifying scream. The pain from the Doctor's knife began to make its magic. The Doctor smiled and assumed John was the assassin that read her journal. The Doctor can hear swords clashing from the entrance to her Study with her Sense. She pressed the knife deeper into John's left arm, pressuring him to scream more loudly.

"First, you read my journal, then you made your way to my dungeon and freed my prisoner. So bold yet ever sloppy." The Doctor says as slammed John to the floor. "I will not kill you. Yet. Knights are so gallant yet easily distracted. Sir George will not leave you; he is known as a knight of the people. Your scream will lure him back here, and he will die fighting for your freedom."

With John's screams, the Doctor's remaining twenty generals gathered at the Study and prepared themselves for George's arrival.

"Frosthold is known for their prowess and endurance, but he is still a man. Worn him off and kill him." The Doctor instructed her followers. She turns back to John and stabs another knife in his left arm. "Now my music box; lure George back to me so we can finish this."

"Come on, you bastards! Have some more!" George yells as three initiates fall with a mighty swing. 

George acts as the defensive line while William covers their flanks. William began to use the sword he got from the mountain and danced gracefully with it. 

William was impressed by how sharp and agile his sword was! This was the first time he used his new sword extensively. The blade was quick and light for him to execute more swings without tiring, allowing William to strikethrough the enemies' defense easily.

During their struggle, John's wails reached their ears. Hearing that his friend was at risk, something in him stirred. 

His mind went blank for a while as he remembered Eldric's suffering with John's scream. His mind began to flash an image of Eldric bloody beaten before him. And John's face began to meld from Eldric as William fears his friend will follow their father figure's death.

William trembled in anger. He held out his sword and unleashed his dance of death. In his wake, the last batch of the initiate that fell before his sword died quickly. 

George looked at his leg and understood another innocent soul was experiencing the same pain he did. Both understood what was happening, and without uttering a word, the two began following the sound of the screams.

He knows that the Doctor has the generals surrounding her at all times and knows he cannot beat them alone.

"Sir George, we cannot beat them head-on. I have a solution, but you won't like it: you will act as bait while I strike from the shadows." William pointed to the wooden beam above them.

George saw the way William fought their foes. He can see that William's attacks are a mix of knight's sword mastery, a squire's defense, and some fancy footwork that made him swift like a leopard in a jungle. William is more of an assassin than a knight.

"Our circumstances need us to change our tactics and adapt. Though I can't entirely agree with honorless actions, I am willing to create a compromise."

"The man he is torturing, he is my friend. A page of Eldric's, John Reed." William grabbed John's arrow and bow and climbed the wooden beam. "we trained in the north mountains with the tribe of hunters to be better. I never thought he would get captured. But when I hear his screams, I cannot help but feel helpless."

"William, I understand you boys went thru a lot, but I want you to keep your head clear during the battle. The Doctor will use that same emotion to distract you." George says as he tightens the bandage on his leg.

"Once we get out of this alive, I will continue your training. Build up a foundation alongside what Eldric has given you." George's comforting words did help William to calm his nerves. But William's drive for vengeance for Eldric and saving his friend cloud his judgment. 

William's Sense helped him pinpoint John's screams back to the Study. He signals George as they press on to save John.

"There!" a masked general yells as he charges at George. As the general engaged George, two more guards sprung from behind and began to assist him in taking George down. But they were felled by William's archery before they could reach George. 

With the general distracted, George managed to slice the general's thighs, and William finished him off with an arrow to the neck.

"One general down, twenty more to go!" William says as he counts all the lettered masked generals with whom they killed before. Maria, one at Lenato's, three with Ingrid's, and one with George.

The two proceed across the Keep. William attacks from the beams and shadows while George distracts their enemies. Although the masked generals are quick and deadly, they are no match for George's superior strength and William's deadly accuracy.

As they got nearer to the Study, the generals began flooding them with the Keep's guards, but all met their end with William's bow. William and George defeated fifteen more generals. 

Finally, George and William are standing before the door where John and the initiates are held. William paused and began to use his Sense. He can detect breathing inside and hear John breathing and writing in pain. 

"A concerned rabbit will bare its teeth. The Doctor is no different." William mutters as he climbs down the beam. Knowing that he is facing another Zonian like him, he must be careful not to be heard to keep the element of surprise.

William climbed down the beam and tapped George's shoulder. He whispers to George that the Doctor expects George but not William, so he asks George to keep her talking, and he will make way to save John. 

George wishes him luck. He doesn't know how William will do it, but he puts his trust in him. William began to climb the Keep's wall by the sea to reach the roof.

George opened the door and was greeted by two generals standing before him, acting as a wall. 

George looked up and saw stairs leading up to the Study where Lady Margaret had just finished cleaning her bloodied plague mask. 

Two more generals are standing beside Margaret as they hold a young man with a knife sticking out of his left arm. George figures that this must be John.

"Incredible, Sir George." The Doctor says as she puts the mask back on. "You defeated most of my generals."

"I must admit they are quite something," George humors her, hoping William will achieve whatever he is planning.

"A knight fighting with a bleeding leg yet not worn out from the fighting? This must be the Frosthold innate strength I have read from the records!" the Doctor pondered while the rest of her generals were seizing George. They are afraid of the prowess of taking down fifteen generals by themselves.

George tries to press forward, but the Doctor holds a knife to the beaten John. 

"Be a good specimen, George. Your life for this scoundrel. I promise not a blade in him. All I want is to dissect every part of you until I understand what makes every Frosthold strong." The Doctor signals the two generals to arrest George.

"Must be a blessing from the Lord. As he always guides the righteous against the demons of this earth." George says as he readies himself from the two generals slowly approaching him with weapons drawn.

"But what you need right now is a miracle from heaven if you want to be saved from this demon." the Doctor gloats over him with her red eyes.

Before the general can reach George, the miracle drops from heaven.

Seeing a glass window directly where the Doctor was standing, William leaped from the roof, breaking the glass window! While falling, William threw John's blade at one of the generals holding John down. 

With his captors distracted, John frees himself from their grasp, grabs his blade, and finishes off his captors with a slice to their necks. 

William landed beside his friend, unsheathed his blade, and tried to deal a deadly blow to the Doctor. But her Sense quickly allowed her to dodge his attack.

The Doctor called for her guards on the roof to shoot down William and John, but none came.

When William climbed the Keep's walls to the roof, he quickly took every guard by surprise with his archery. None made a sound, and he ensured the Doctor would not detect his footstep. 

The Doctor made a run for it and escaped back to the Study. George cries for the boys to follow her while he takes the two generals. William asked John if he could stand and fight. John assures him that he is okay by showing the cut on his left arm.

"But that knife she placed on my arm, that pain was intense. It's something I've never felt before." John comments as he asks William to help him tie a cloth to the wound. 

"She is not only a Zonian but also an alchemist. " William says, reassured that his friend is doing well and asked him to be careful as the Doctor's coated knives will inflict ailments that hinder them, like what John just felt.

The two boys chased after the Doctor back to her Study. They found the Doctor decked herself with more knives from the table. She furiously throws some at them but to no avail as William deflects it with his sword. 

"Damn you." The Doctor began whistling a familiar tune. Rats! More of them began to crawl out of every hole, pouring out from every corner of the room. 

As she whistles aggressively, the rats begin circling John and William, waiting for her to give the order to gnaw on their flesh. But before she can signal the rats, William uses the full power of his Sense! 

After the last encounter with the three generals with Ingrid's tribe, he began to understand the flow of their whistling. William then imitates the Doctor's whistling and begins to command the rat to circle the Doctor instead.

"WHAT?! A ZONIAN?!" Margaret yelled. Shocked to see another Zonian, the Doctor unmasked herself and activated her red eyes to prevent the rats from attacking her. She whistles louder than before, commanding the rats to gnaw on the boys.

But with the Sense, William copied her whistling and prompted the rats to attack Margaret instead! More rats began to gather in the Study but were confused about who to attack.

Seeing this opportunity, John hurled one of William's daggers toward her. The Doctor dodged it, but it made her whistle in a different tune, a different command. 

"NO!" the Doctor yells as she realizes the command she accidentally gave off. The rats began biting on the floor, weakening the Study's foundation. And with the weight of the numerous rats, the floor cracked! 

And with a loud split, all fell into the darkness of the sewers where their showdown would begin.