Overdom Wars

Lia had been wandering between the Castle and Tower when she heard the Overlady's call to arms. She was not normally one for war, but she did like her shiny sword, so she picked it up, put on her cloak, and scurried off to the fountain. She wasn't exactly sure what she was going to do when she got there, but it was her duty as a Minion of the Overlady to fight against things that go bump in the middle of the night, so to war she went.

Overdoms War

"Okay. See you next Wednesday for our usual tea?" the Dark Overlord said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a great deal of work to do. Apparently the internet company doesn't like it if you don't pay your bill for twelve months and your Pilot continues to illegally use their service to watch cooking shows online."

Overdoms

"What? You're concerned about doing something illegally?" Lady A snickered. "Very well tea next Wednesday. Message me and let me know if we'll be at my place or yours."

She flipped a few switches on her throne, waved to Pilot, and vanished from sight.

Overdoms

"Pilot, I told you she wasn't going to fall for that," Bookwyrm said once the Overlady was gone and the anti-teleport shields were raised again.

"Well sir, given her known dislike of Twilight and its fandom, it seemed a likely cause for her to go on the attack."

"Last time I ever ask you for advice," the Overlord grumbled.

"Sir, I must remind you that there is only five days left until the Elder Things rise from the abyss beneath the Tower and slaughter us all. Perhaps you could come up with another plan for provoking war?"

"Fine. I didn't want to do this, but I'm really not in the mood to die this week. Unleash the lumberjack locusts."

Vents in the side of the Tower opened and enormous mutant abominations, part insect and part chainsaw, emerged. The cloud rose into the air and flew straight toward the woods surrounding the Castle.

Overdoms

"Ok, so he's bored, and this rain has got to stop," Lady A muttered, reappearing out the door of her lab, a long white staff in her hand. She flipped the window open again, and carefully climbed out. "This should do the trick, for now."

She skittered along the ledge of the windows, then carefully moved to the next building, slowly climbing up the roof. Climbing is usually difficult when it is wet, but it is even moreso when one is carrying something, which renders one hand unusable. Finally, she settled in on the very top of the watchtower.

"What a view..." she looked down. "LIA! BE A DARLING AND GET THOSE LAST FEW ANIMALS IN!"

Lady A then turned back to her work, settling the pole into place. As soon as Lia was back with the animals, she could finish.

Overdoms

There was rush of air, like wind whistling in the mountains. Lalien, the blind sorceress, listened to it intently, leaning on her wooden staff and keeping the chemical rain off with an umbrella made from running water. A moment later, she shook her head. The result of her spell was not as clear as she would have liked, but she had felt a great evil in the source of the rain.

Lalien gripped her staff a little tighter and began muttering the types of guarding wards she would need to set up. "At least five for darkness, maybe three for disease and add a few to keep spirits light..."

Overdoms

Lia wasn't being much of a darling, but the animals seemed to have found another way in. The Overlady hit a few buttons, and the sky cracked loudly. The rain froze in the upper atmosphere, creating a temporary bubble of protection from any outside influence. That should last about as long as it took her minions to get themselves organized, she thought.

Now, to find a way down.... This might take a few minutes. She heard little bugs start plinking against the outside of the ice. Oh well, everything was safe for now. Too bad she hadn't managed to catch them IN the ice, though.

Overdoms

Lalien had just begun drawing figures on the ground with her staff when the rain suddenly stopped - she no longer heard it hitting the ground. Now it seemed to be father away... As if there was some sort of very large umbrella over the whole castle. She felt a cold and far-off magic that she guessed belonged to the Overlady.

So the Lady was a wizard, too. Just as well. She would set up the wards in case. That dark power she had felt would not merely be limited to chemical rain, she was sure. Waving her left hand, she dismissed her umbrella of water, which splashed to the ground and left a large puddle. Carefully, she traced a rough circle on the stones of the courtyard of the Ivory and Gold Tower. A sort of rich purple mist drifted low to the ground, marking the place her staff had touched. Inside the circle, she drew a crescent moon and three stars, then a long wavy figure along the sides that might have been a vine. Counting out her steps, she drew two letters beside the circle before speaking a long sentence of words that jumbled into each other and seemed to have very few vowels.

The purple mist flashed golden, then sped towards the walls of the castle. Carefully, like a bird settling down on it's nest, the mist encircled the whole castle, hovering at the base of the walls.

Lalien smiled. Although she could not see the results of her work, she could feel the magic protection it now afforded the castle's inhabitants. The Lady would be pleased, she thought.

Overdoms

"An ice shield has formed over the Castle, Sir. The mutant abominations are unable to penetrate," Pilot said.

"A minor setback. Unleash the flame-spitting wyvern-bears. Strong enough to smash through the ice, plus they can fly and spit fireballs. Escalation is a glorious thing."

Overdoms
Lia was still skipping with her shiny sword when she heard her Overlady's voice. "LIA! BE A DARLING AND GET THOSE LAST FEW ANIMALS IN!" it shouted from somewhere way up high.

Lia looked up and saw Lady A at the very top of the watchtower. She saluted and sheathed her sword. "Here, leetle animals," she called whilst clapping her hands. "Time for some lovely cappuccinos." Once she had a merry band of animals following, she led them past the gates of the castle and into the courtyard. "What good little creatures," she said as she poured them bowls of coffee.

The Side Effect
Ten months before the outbreak. . .

"The Lord gives and the Lord takes away," said the minister, holding his Bible. "We're here today to celebrate the life of a young man who was taken from us long before his time. Mike Robison was a good kid. Loved his parents and sister and pets. Never missed a Sunday service in his life." His voice droned on as he listed the good attributes of the dead boy.

Tate never heard a word of it. She was focused on the coffin. It was closed, due mostly to the fact that he was too cut up from the accident and partially because her mother couldn't bear to look at her youngest child and know that he was dead. Tate thought that that was a halfway selfish reason for keeping the casket closed, but it wasn't her choice and deep down she felt the same way. Her hand had been squeezed in a comforting way more times than she could count and she was beginning to smell like old lady perfume from all of the hugs she had received.

She fidgeted with the edge of her skirt and stared at the ground as the service came to an end. They were going to lower the coffin now. She had to escape before everyone saw her breakdown and cry.

So Tate Robison ran.

Three weeks before the outbreak. . .

"It's not the end of the world, Tate," said Sadie King, pushing her curly hair over her shoulder and leaning forward into the table. "You've gotta get out of this funk you've been in since everything with Mike. You're depressed. Get out and do something fun. Go, I don't know, shoot something if that makes you feel better."

Tate took a sip of her coffee and made a face at her friend. "I don't need to do anything. And I'm not depressed."

Sadie rolled her eyes and banged her head on the top of the table. "You're so stubborn," she said, voice muffled by her hair. "Just admit that you haven't been the same since Mike died."

"Fine," Tate said angrily. "I haven't been okay since my little brother got killed by a drunk driver and I didn't get to say goodbye. I'm kinda doing my best to hold it together most days." She stood up abruptly and pushed her chair in. "Maybe you're right. I do need to go shooting."

The Side Affect

When they had briefed him, they had informed him that his target was a senator. They also had clued him on on his target being a female. What he hadn't been briefed in on was that she was attractive. Not to mention the fact that she was a single-mom with two kids.

"This job is freaking brutal." He muttered, it wasn't fun. Ruining families, but it paid good."

Colton Edward Ryker was looking down the 3x20 power scope of his FN SCAR-H Long Barrel. The combat rifle fired a 7.62×51mm round. It was more powerful than the standard military ammunition and he liked that. Anything that put more lead down range was a plus to Ryker. That was also the reason that the magazine held a total of twenty bullets, not that he ever planned to use the whole clip.

His local? Well he was in Shelby, the capitol city of Ford. Ward was perched atop a billboard, his subject was nearly a mile away and approaching her car with a stroller containing two small children. "I'm sorry, me childer."

The Pear is his cargo-pocket began buzzing and in response Colt reached down and pulled out the smart-phone. "'ello?"

"Sir, this is Wilson. The NAH just jumped up ten points and I've got a broker here who wants advice."

"Listen up you gobdaw, this isn't really a good time- hold up! The NAH started climbing? Tell him to buy, I think they hit bottom. Thats savage! Heck, buy me thirty percent." Meanwhile, his target had put her children in the car and was walking to the driver door. This was his chance. Colton took a breath, exhaled and stopped halfway through. Then he slowly and smoothly squeezed the trigger. This set off a series of reactions, eventually ending in a firing pin smashing through a small steel wall and into a tiny amount of explosives.

BANG.

"Congratulations Mr. Ryker, you are now a minority owner in NAH."

The Side Effect

POW!

"No, no! That's the remake! Why on earth would you want to watch that one??"

POW! THUD!

"O.K, the original is the one starring Harold Lance and Vivian Yearwood. It's kinda tame on the gore by todays standards, but it has a strong story and the acting is great. Also, miss Yearwood isn't too shabby on the eyes..."

POW! POW!

".. oh and Christopher Milan's score is excellent. Much better than that droning garbage HackSign pulled together for the remake."

After informing his friend of the differences of the two "The Apex" films, Richard McTiernan laid aside the pistol he had been using to shoot the targets at the end of the field.

It was a good day to be at the shooting range. The weather was surprisingly mild for this time of year and Rick sorely needed an excuse to "go shoot a monkey" as he jokingly called it. The morning shift at the store had not been kind to him today. Rachel, the fiery and very attractive redhead daughter of Mr. Collins, had tried getting him fired... again. Something about Rick "putting his moves" on her or something plus being a lousy employee. All lies and thankfully Mr. Collins knew this. Still, it was frustrating to say the least.

"You do have an accent that drives the girls mild, ya know." Bart teased as the two friends headed back to the cafe on the grounds.

"Heh, Sarah gives me a hard time about that already. She wants to know how come I have a "cool accent" and she's stuck with a typical Shelby accent." Rick chuckled slightly as they neared the small cafe.

Blood of the Sword

It had been a long road to get to where he was now. From the time he had left Camelot at age seven, he’d gone through a never-ending process of change. When he started out on this path to knight-hood he’d been a child, who’d been drug off to strange new world. The castle Joyous Guard, home to Lancelot Du Lac, the greatest knight who’d ever lived. Or so the scribes said, but to Gabriel Adrian Pendragon he was Master Lance. To Gabe, Lance was everything, a mentor, teacher, friend and above all a father-figure.

That’s why it was hard to look into the King’s face and connect that image to the words 'dad'. In the past, Arthur had been someone he saw on occasion, at feasts, tournaments and other such events while Lancelot had always been there, teaching, training and instructing the young man in the ways of the world.

“Kneel, my son.” Ordered Arthur, so that is precisely what Gabriel did. He’d become a knight in just a second, it’d been his lifelong goal. But at the same time, it was a change he wasn’t sure that he was ready for. For after he was knighted, he’d be thrust back into a world he hadn’t known since childhood. The world of a Prince, that’s what the knighting was really about. It wasn’t about the young Pendragon becoming a knight; it was about him having to switch his families.

“Do you swear to speak only the truth?”

“I do”

“Do you swear always to be loyal to your lord?”

“I do”

… The list went on, until the King reached a particularly funny promise which then proceeded to utter, lacing it with mirth.

“Do you swear to always defend a lady, except when she is defending you?”

Chuckles went out across the crowd. The story of Galahad had once saving the Prince was well known by now and was a source of giggles for everyone. Except for Gabe, he was rather embarrassed by the whole thing.

“I do.”

Well then! By the power invested in me, by God and my forefathers. I dub thee a knight,” with those words Arthur unsheathed Excalibur and touched Gabriel’s shoulders with the regal sword. “Rise Sir Pendragon, Knight of Camelot.”
Sir Gabriel Adrian Pendragon stood, a knight and a prince. Ready for the former but not at all prepared to be the later.

Blood of the Sword
It was happening. Gabe’s knighthood was happening, right now, and there was nothing Blair could do to stop it.

She knew the proper response would be to be happy for her older brother, to congratulate him and rejoice with him. But she couldn’t. Because right now, he was getting everything she ever wanted.

She watched as Arthur told Gabe to kneel, a hint of a smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. And there was admiration hidden in his gaze as well as a smile. How much had she wanted to see the same look of pride that Arthur bestowed upon her brother now?

She sat forward in her uncomfortable wooden chair, gripping the armrests. She was ready to make a run for it, but was stopped by her mother’s hand on her arm. Queen Guinevere gave Blair a slight shake of her head. Blair could read her mother’s disapproval in her expression. No. Wait.

Blair bit her lip and sat back, watching Gabe’s knighthood play out in front of her.

“Kneel, my son.”

A collection of pretentious words followed; King Arthur asked if Gabe would swear to do various things, and Gabe agreed.

She zoned out until the crowd burst into a chorus of chuckles. Blair rolled her eyes. Oh, yes. The illustrious Galahad, saving her brother’s life. Blair had only heard that story a million times.

And then, in a rush of events that Blair was powerless to stop, Arthur withdrew his sword from his sheath. “Well then! By the power invested in me, by God and my forefathers. I dub thee a knight.” He pressed the flat of his blade against both shoulders, and tears of shock and frustration burned at Blair’s eyes. It was over. It was done.

“Ladies and gentlemen, there will be a banquet directly following the ceremony. Please give us some time to set up the tables, and then we will adjourn to the banquet hall,” Arthur announced.

The crowd started buzzing and milling about the room. Blair whooshed out a breath and stood. Finally, she was free. She turned towards the door.

“Blair.” Guinevere’s voice was low, her voice stern. “Aren’t you going to congratulate your brother?”

Blair turned back around and held her head high, trying to keep her voice even. “Congratulations, Gabe. I hope you wear your knighthood well.” And according to just about everyone, better than I would.

She let out another pent up breath and then walked to the left side of the throne room, exiting into a narrow hall. She glanced on either side of her. Good, no one was around. Here, in this hall, was the only chance that she had to let out her emotions. All other times, she would be forced to fake happiness for her beloved older brother. She leaned against the wall, closing her eyes and breathing deeply.

Blair felt numb to her core. She had been hoping that by some miracle this knighthood would not occur, but it had. A few tears slipped down her cheeks. For everyone else, this was a great gain. Who wouldn’t want Gabe to protect their kingdom? But years and years of training and swordplay and trying to prove herself to her father had shattered in this moment. No one in this kingdom knew how much Blair had lost.

“Looking forward to the roast mutton?”

Blair jumped, wiping the tears off her cheeks. It was Gawain. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

Gawain stepped through the door to her left and onto the stone floor. “I hear that the cook is making honey cakes.” He leaned against the wall next to Blair, folding his arms. “I’m going to be expected to escort you, you know.”

Blair dropped her eyes to her feet, gritting her teeth. “I know.”

“The banquet hall’s almost ready.”

“Really?” Blair asked, her tone completely monotone.

“I believe so. Your father’s men work fast.” Gawain extended his arm to her, and she reluctantly grasped it. “Shall we?”

They started walking down the hall, and Gawain looked at her. “Are you ready for the announcement?”

As if the knighthood wasn’t enough, tonight was the night that Blair’s betrothal would be announced to the entire kingdom. She held her head high, pondering a response. “Of course I’m ready,” she said, her tone icy, even though she wasn’t ready at all.

They reached the door to the banquet hall and Blair’s heart sunk. She briefly thought of running away, but she couldn’t. She had to fulfill the expectations set before her, no matter what the sacrifice. No matter how much she hated it.

Blood of the Sword

Galahad du Lac stood near the front of the crowded hall in Camelot Castle, dressed in her finest court clothes of blue and green, and beamed at her best friend Prince Gabriel Pendragon. She had known him since he was seven and she was six, and seeing him now achieving everything he had dreamed about, she felt she might burst with pride for him. The two were best friends and had been so since his squireship to her father began. Though a full year younger than he, she had always followed his example in the knightly arts as far and fast as she could, learning to wield mace and lance, ride a charger and run the tilt.

"Do you swear to always defend a lady, except when she is defending you?”

King Arthur's query turned her smile into a smirk for a moment, and a ripple of quiet laughter made it's way through the hall. They all knew the story. It was nearly six months since the hunting of the wild boar that had nearly killed her and Gabriel; six months since she had saved Gabe's life and been named the first female knight of the three realms. She thought she detected a wince of embarrassment from the prince, but since he was facing his father and not her, it was impossible to be sure.

A moment later, though, as King Arthur smiled, lifted his sword and called his son a true knight of Camelot, Gabe stood proud and straight. Despite the solemnity of the moment, Galahad felt she would like to erupt in cheers. Such an act would, of course, have shamed her in the eyes of the king, so she kept her jubilant spirits controlled. Just wait till they break out the ale; then I'll hurrah with the best of them, she thought as Gabe turned to face the crowd. She looked past him to the wooden thrones behind the King and the Prince, where Queen Guinevere and Princess Blair sat. Galahad rolled her eyes at the princess's not-so-subtle look of jealousy.

Weakling, she thought in disgust. If she wants to be knighted so badly, let her put in all the hard work that Gabe and I have!

“Ladies and gentlemen, there will be a banquet directly following the ceremony. Please give us some time to set up the tables, and then we will adjourn to the banquet hall,” Arthur announced.

As the courtiers, guests and servants broke their formation and began milling about the room, Galahad pressed forward to congratulate her friend. But there were so many waiting to do just the same thing that she hardly got a word in edgewise. She tossed her head in annoyance, but couldn't help thinking that Gabe looked really splendid tonight. Most of the time, she didn't think of him as a prince - he was Gabe, her best friend, her fellow dreamer and confidant. But tonight, he looked like a Pendragon.

Galahad felt a slight pang as she realized he would no longer be living at her home, Joyous Guard; he would have duties of his own now and they could never again be so nearly brother and sister. She brushed the thought away. This was a celebration, and her temprament was not made for unhappiness.

A page announced that the dining hall was nearly ready and Galahad walked as quickly as was possible while still maintaining her dignity. She was going to try for a seat near the royal family, and given her standing in the kingdom, that did not seem so impossible. She wanted only to be near enough to laugh with Gabe, punch him in the shoulder and perhaps - oh, if it could be so! - to hear King Arthur speak and even have him address her. She smiled at the thought and searched for a seat near the royal dais.

As the courtiers, guests and sundry tramped into the dining hall, a splendid hunting hound slipped away from the grasp of a servant and ducked under the immense table. No doubt the dog was merely looking for the scraps that would fall during the long feast that was to commence, as any dog might. But keen eyes might have noticed that there was a strange light of intelligence in the hound's eye, as if waiting for something more.