Lillia almost skipped into the next room after asking the three knights to dance. She had even offered one of them her blessing. Everything felt lighter about this third room. Like nothing could go wrong in the space. Like Lillia was finally on the right track.
The actual lighting of the room was one gigantic chandelier in the center, hanging from what was now a towering domed ceiling, larger and more stunning than Lillia had ever seen back home. Across the ceiling, just at the edge of Lillia’s vision, fantastical murals of great battles were…
Battles. Lillia’s hair stood on end.
Lillia had subconsciously put her weapon away during her time in the portrait room. She pulled the Bramble Slasher back out holding onto it tight with both hands as she approached the center of the room.
Around the edge of the room, close to the walls, sets of tables appeared. They were all small, circular, the kind that were set to the side at parties to balance a drink and allow a guest to take a break from the dance floor.
Back at the door Lillia had entered through, three knights marched into the room. They had all drawn their weapons.
Lillia sagged, the tip of the Bramble Slasher’s gleaming blade tapped the floor. “Come on. You know what wasn’t what I meant.”
[Lillia used Indignance - Level 2: There was no target!]
The knights took two steps forward, setting themselves up along the perimeter of the ‘dance’ floor that had been laid out by the tables. Once they were there, two shuddered, stood at attention, and then locked.
The third knight, the one carrying a traditional longsword, stepped over the line onto the dance floor, just as his hollow foot clanged against the stone, the floor shimmered. Stone gave way to wood, and the hollow sound of the dungeon faded away. Overtaken by the swelling sound of music.
Strings plucked nowhere to create sound everywhere. Horns blasted from beyond the walls in waves that bounced off of them. A single voice pierced the room, the low tenor of a young boy singing in the traditional tongue.
Lillia shuffled backward, holding her improvised stance with the bardiche and giving the knight more space as the cacophony of sounds settled down. As the instruments found their place, Lillia’s throat tightened.
Screw cake. She missed balls.
The knight stepped forward at an awkward pace. It was staggered and—and Lillia realized that the knight was following the beat.
Lillia had invited the knights to dance, so they were going to dance. Based on the tempo and the knights movements, her first dance tonight was to be a Basse. Low, slow. Feet on the floor. One. Two. Three. Four.
“Starting with such a formal dance, Sir Knight,” Lillia said as she followed the tempo across the floor. The knight matched her approach, turning his straight line into a slow circle as they rounded the floor toward each other.
The knight had his blade held forward toward Lillia, so she matched. The princess kept waiting for the moment he put it away. For the point where she was close enough that they stopped pretending to fight and offered her a hollow gauntlet as a hand to hold.
A knight who could properly dance and wasn’t going to boast about his achievements in a misguided attempt to win Lillia’s heart? That sounded like a dream.
The moment never came. Lillia and the knight were only steps apart. Lillia raised the bardiche and the tips of their blades touched. The music cut, the sound of ringing steel echoed in the suddenly empty chamber.
Lillia stared at the knight, past the slits in his visor and into the nothingness behind them. The knight’s sword trembled against the blade of the Bramble Slasher. Lillia could feel the vibration in her palms and heard it rattling through the knight’s empty body.
The knight pressed into the contact, pushing Lillia’s bardiche toward the floor. She resisted for a moment and the knight immediately redoubled the pressure, almost throwing the polearm out of Lillia’s hand. How was a literal empty suit so strong? What the hell was all of this? Lillia wasn’t packing much muscle but at least she was a living creature.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
“Sir Knight,” Lillia said through gritted teeth as she struggled to maintain grip on her weapon.
The knight looked up to her, the empty scratch of steel on steel punctuating the motion.
“Join me on the dance floor for this Basse?”
The knight took a step back, and Lillia almost lost balance and the pressure on her weapon vanished. The knight spun the sword twice around, flashing the steel around himself before stopping with it pointed toward Lillia’s throat.
Slowly, the music resumed. For the first bars, the knight’s arm bobbed with the music. One. Two. Three. Four.
On the fourth, the knight swung. Lillia got her blade in the way and they clashed on the first note. The knight pulled free of the clash, bringing the blade around for another strike. The blades rang out on two. The knight took a step away and aligned his blade for a forward lunge on the third note. He lunged on the fourth. Lillia followed the timing and was out of the way before the blow was close to landing.
If he could only move on the notes, that made this simple.
The knight pulled their sword back to their side on one. The tip of the blade sparked along the ground as he readied it for another strike.
Lillia struck first, cutting in front of the beat to try and knock the head off of the knight.
A brilliant flash of steel and Lillia’s blade was batted aside like it was nothing. The knight lashed out, off tempo. Lillia leapt backward, kicking in the air.
The princess went flying. Her jump accelerating alongside the kick to send her twice her own height into the air. Lillia screeched as she flew through the air. She was going to crash, she was going so fast and—
The momentum faded just before Lillia landed, and the boots tapped smoothly down onto the ground. Lillia stood wide-eyed for a moment.
The raucous clanging of the knight, charging toward her, ruined Lillia’s chance to be shocked at her own abilities. The armor rattled as he bounded towards Lillia, blade held out to his side, prepared for a lethal strike.
Lillia tried to follow the angle of the blade, but knew she’d never find it in time. The rest of the rooms had been puzzles. This one had to be as well.
Lillia had broken the rules of the dance.
One, two, three. Lillia found the beat on four, taking one step to the side and then another at the top of the following bar. The knight stopped his charge. Lowered his blade. Joined the dance again.
This time, when their weapons touched, there was no pause to the music. The lethality was just part of the dance.
One. Sparks. Two. Clash. Three. Sidestep. Four. Strike.
Lillia followed the tempo. Occasionally she found herself out of position but, she was dancing, she could recover herself. A stumble turned into a dodge, accidentally lurching forward became ducking under an incoming blow. As long as Lillia could retain the count in her head. As long as the swords were swinging alongside the band, she could do this.
Not only could she do this, but she was getting better at it. When the music had started, Lillia’s steps were harsh and clunky. Now, she was dancing. Her feet barely left the floor as she and the knight glided around the room, dancing in the facsimile of death. He was a perfect construct, Lillia was a perfect princess, neither of them would ever drop the dance.
One. Two. Lillia felt the smile slipping through her focused scowl. Three. Four. The glittering candlelight as filtered through the crystal chandelier danced around the room with them as weapons flashed. One. Two. Their blades sparked off the flagstone in unison.
There was no end to the dance, and for a breath, Lillia was fine with that. Between the strikes she closed her eyes and saw a prince on the other side of the blade. She saw a shared performance instead of a fight.
But it was a fight, and as perfect as Lillia was, she understood that she would tire before iron and steel would.
Four.
The knight struck and Lillia caught the telegraphed blow on the blade. She shoved it away on one and retreated on three. Before the knight could resume his attack, Lillia took over the lead on four, slipping around the blade and counter-attacking instead of just dodging.
One. The blade high towards the head. Two. The shaft of the polearm towards the leg. Three. The shaft high as the blade swung low.
The knight was magically skilled, but only on perfect time. The second Lillia took control, she danced alongside the music but added the imperfections and improvisations that a human partner would match.
At least any partner worth a damn would.
The knight never stumbled. He never broke. It was a slow surrender. Blows from the haft unblocked. The sword arriving late to parry and never striking back.
One. Two. Three. Four. One.
Lillia fully pushed timing when she saw the opening. The knight’s blade was too high to parry her strike as long as it landed at the start of the count. Lillia found the edge of the rules, but didn’t allow the knight to break form. The hooked end of the Bramble Slasher caught the back of the knight’s knee.
The empty suit buckled. Lillia pulled. It collapsed into a pile on the dance floor. The music cut. The clanging of armor against flagstone echoed off the empty walls.
Silence.
Clattering applause as the knights on the far end of the room applauded the dance. Now that she was out of time, Lillia took a moment to catch her breath. Her muscles were sore. She was choking down air faster than she could use it. She’d been swept up in the moment and hadn’t realized how much more quickly she should have ended that fight.
Especially if there were two more to go.
A third joined the round of applause behind Lillia. Flesh on flesh. Skin on skin.
“Well! Princess that was quite the show!”
Lillia turned. She knew that voice. The text explained before she could see the man on the edge of the room. Past the words. Blonde hair, silver armor, broad shoulders, and a stunning jawline.
[Vanquish - Eisel the Usurper]