Throughout the many ages of man, history has foretold of the most epic heroes of all time. Heroes such as the Grecian demi-god Hercules, and the mighty child pharaoh, Tutankhamun. Heroes that believed to have been blessed by the gods, such as Moses, and tales of bravery and treacherous adventures that explored far off lands by heroes like Odysseus, and Marco Polo. Even the gods themselves where recognized by history as heroes, such as Thor and Odin, protector of man, as well as Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus, who saved the world from the rule of the Titans, but among these where the holy knights of the renaissance. During this age, many legends had made their mark in history, such as King Charlemagne, and King Henry IIV, but it was also a time of darkness as we explore a legend that was lost to history. The legend of the Black Knight.

Fearsome and more than a worthy advisory, the black knight stroked fear in the hearts of many. Where ever he went, death was sure to follow. Those who had crossed his path, never lived to tell the tale. He was believed to be the hell spawn of the devil, born from the fiery pits of hell, manifested in Darkness.

But it wasn't always told as such. He once served under the lordship of King Arthur. Known as a skilled warrior, he showed great power and might on the battle field, but his loyalty was to himself. He had served the great king for a few short years, before his betrayal of the royal family caused his name to be wiped out of history. He grew to resent his lord, and conspired against him with a band of people who wished King Arthur's Death. Ultimately, He was the one to take the king's life. With the king dead, the conspirators had sought to take the throne for themselves, but found that they were betrayed as the knight then turned on them, spilling their blood alongside the king. From then on, he grew dark as he fled to the barren forests, forever marked as a monster. A soulless, blood thirsty, black hearted murderer wanted for the most heinous of crimes… but within his dark soul, a heart still beats. It beats against the darkness that has consumed him, waiting to escape from its master's grasp, and release him from his torment. The heart he strived to protect. The heart that was the key to so much of his pain and despair. The heart he had been ignoring for some time…

"what was that?"

"what?"

"that noise." Replied the solider.

"I don't hear anything."

"shh! Did you see that!" whispered the soldier to his comrade.

"what?" demanded the clearly annoyed soldier.

"I think someone's watching us."

"Oh come now, that's just ridiculous and you know it. We're the only people here for miles around! No one goes into the forest anymore ever since-"

"shh! Keep quiet! What if 'he's watching us?"

The annoyed soldier raised a brow at his comrade before yanking his arm from his grasp, resuming their trek. His partner slowly hobbled after him after a moment of reluctance.

"I swear I heard something Phil!"

"Me too."

"You did?"

"Yeah, it's the sound of you being stupid." Retorted the soldier as he ignored his comrades burning glares.

"How far did you say the war camp was?" asked the solder absently.

His comrade grumbled under his breath as he took his time slipping off his pack, and searched for the map.

"It should be right up ahead. About another hundred feet?"

"You sure you are reading it right?"

"Pretty sure."

The soldier gave his comrade a skeptical look.

"If there is, by chance a camp within a hundred feet from here, don't you think we'd be able to see it by now?" questioned the soldier.

His comrade seemed to take note of his words as he looked confusingly at his surroundings.

"Err.. Maybe we made a wrong turn…" replied he comrade.

The soldier face palmed as he let out a frustrating groan.

"Damn it Earl! I gave you one simple task and you still screw up!"

"its not my fault! This map is confusing!" shouted the other in protest.

"How is a straight line from "fort" to "war camp" mentally hard!?" demanded the soldier.

"I was trying to avoid the monsters!" replied his comrade.

The soldier paused for a moment as he furrowed his brows at his comrade. "What monsters?"

His partner held up the map facing towards him as he pointed them out.

"You dumbass, those are just doodles and a coffee stain!"

The soldier huffed in anger as he paced back and forth, until pausing in front of his comrade.

"You know what? Let's just turn around and return to the fort, get some rest, and try to find camp in the morning."

"That actually sounds better than my plan." Replied his comrade.

"What was yours?"

"Stripping off our clothes to make a shelter and hold each other for warmth."

"That's a horrible plan. Never speak of it again."

"Agreed."

The two soldiers gathered their things and started trekking towards the opposite direction.

"Hey Phil?" asked his comrade.

"What is it now?" asked his partner irritably.

"You don't suppose those legends are true?"

"About what?"

"You know, the guy who murdered King Arthur and those workhands?"

"Oh don't tell me you actually believe in that muck." Groaned the soldier.

"But what about all those reports of people gone missing?"

"King Arthur died by assassination from the English army. Those work hands probably got into the way."

"But-" his comrade was about to protest before he was cut off.

"As for the missing travelers! They could have been easily killed by bears or ran into other soldiers. Accidents happen, Earl. People are just too stupid to realize that. When something goes wrong, they assume its witch-craft, or some type of sorcery at the works, but for a small community like ours, we blame it on the legend."

The soldier paused as he realize his comrade had stopped moving. He turned to face his partner with a questioning look.

"What's wrong? Why have you stopped?"

His comrade didn't move as he stood frozen, his body facing to the right, staring at something in fear. The confused soldier, not getting any response, slowly moved towards his colleague and tried to find what exactly he was looking at.

His face paled considerably as his gaze fell onto the bloody campsite down below a rift just a few meters in front of them. His comrade seemed to have difficulty breathing as he fumbled for his partner, gripping the front of his uniform as he started to hyperventilate. His partner clutched his shoulders and shook him violently to try and calm him down.

"Earl. Earl! Pull yourself together! We have to get down there and search for survivors!"

"Go down there? Are you crazy!" protested his comrade. "We'll be killed!"

"Whatever found this camp is gone now. We have to get down there and save anyone if we can!"

"I'm not going down there, Phil!"

"You are a soldier! Its time you started acting like one you glorified pansy!"

At this point, the fearful soldier had managed to pull away from his comrade, but ran the wrong direction and plummeted into the rift. His Partner caught up soon after as he leaped after him, landing a few feet away from the soldier as he picked himself up.

His partner had already drawn his sword and shield as he readied his battle stance, positioning himself in front of his partner as he finally got to his feet and armed himself.

They both slowly moved through-out the camp, careful not to make too much sound, other than their chain-mail clanking against the light amount of plate-armor they sported.

The one soldier was cool and collected, ready to fend off any danger that may be lurking. His comrade, however, was skittish as he tried to keep an eye on his surroundings by turning swiftly to and fro.

They decided to spit up as they checked for survivors, but after an hour of checking tents and bodies, they finally gave up searching, assuming there were no survivors.

The braver of the two turned to his comrade with a grim expression.

"Let's start gathering the bodies..."

His colleague slowly nodded as they both made quick work of gathering the bodies of the fallen towards the center of the camp as they laid them side by side. By the time they were done, their hands and upper arm where stained in blood. They voiced a short prayer in respect before washing up at a nearby stream and resting under a tree. There was a long moment of silence before one soldier finally spoke.

"We best get back to the fort and give them the news about the camp. They'll bring some men down and take care of the bodies."

"What are you going to tell them?" asked his comrade.

"Isn't it obvious? Clearly the camp had been raided by either bandits or enemy troops."

"Oh.. Right."

…"Phil?" asked the other soldier.

"Yea?"

"Did the camp have horses?"

"Why do you ask?" asked his partner as he furrowed his brows in confusion.

"Well, ones running right towards us…"

They both perked up as the sound of hooves and neighing got louder. As it came into view, they could now see a rider who drew out his sword as the horse thundered closer. The braver of the two quickly grabbed the other and shoved him to his feet as they both ran through the dense wooded forest with the horseman gaining on them.

The rider slowly raise his sword, ready to hack their heads right off, when a figure came out of nowhere appeared just up ahead of them.

The rider seemed startled by this, his sword slightly lowered as he looked up at the figure, catching him off guard as he was knocked off his horse by an oncoming tree branch. The rider fell with a heavy thump, his steed not ceasing as it charged pass the two soldiers, who leaped just in time before being trampled by the mighty beast. The horseman groaned as he slowly got to his feet, glaring at the two soldiers and the figure who had distracted him. The figure, who was still unrecognizable, fled into the dense over growth of the forest, leaving the two soldiers and the rider alone. The soldiers had gotten themselves up, and had their swords drawn.

The braver of the two step forth.

"Enough of this! Who are you and who are you working for!"

The knight gave no reply as he raised his sword once again, and charged towards them. the two scrambled out of the way before the deadly weapon could make contact with their flesh, and retaliated, swinging towards him with all their might, but they didn't get a good hit as the knight turned swiftly, and blocked with his arm braces, pushing them back with pure might. He swung again, nearly hitting them, but they managed to dodge and move a good distance of 5 feet away from their advisory, before having an axe thrown at them, just missing by a hair as it embedded itself into a tree. The two looked at one another, before high tailing the other direction for dear life, shouting for help. The knight pursued them, ripping his axe from its embedment and charged after them. They ran a few good meters before plummeting into the ground into an unseen Cliffside. The two clung to each other as they tumbled awkwardly down to the forest below. When they finally stopped, they looked frightfully at their surroundings, then back up to the cliff side where they fell from, only to find the knight peering down at them, then turning away after a moment of examination.

The two calmed themselves, thinking the worst was now over. They both gave out an uneasy laugh as they tried to catch their breath.

"That was a close one." Stated the braver one.

"Yea. Wait till the guys here about this." Replied his comrade.

They sat there for a moment as their breathing finally gotten steady, but as they got to their feet and dusted themselves off, they froze in terror as the sound of thundering hoofs and neighing echoed above them. They stared up at the Cliffside just in time to see the knight once again upon his horse as it leaped after them. It landed gracefully just ahead of them by a few feet as the knight rounded the horse, turning to face them. The two stared up at the rider's massive form, his dark armor giving him a bulky intimidating look as he withdrew both his sword and his axe. Even with the distance between them and it, they could hear his breathing as he huffed angrily, steam seething out from his helmet into the cold autumn air. He slipped off his steed and marched towards them, turning into a full blown charge as he closed the gap between them. The two soldiers, having nowhere to run, held each other for dear life as they shouted in horror of the sure death that the rider will bring, but just a slit second later, a loud clanking sound silenced them as they watched with wide eyes at the dark knight, who had frozen mid step, then falling forward face first before them. As the large form retreated to the ground, it revealed a woman with a large branch raised in midair who was standing just a foot or two from the unmoving form. She was wearing a deep green dress with the straps hanging just off her shoulders, and a dark purple cloak with the hood up and the cape covering her. She wasn't thin, but she wasn't extremely large either. She was about 5 foot 4 with pale snowy skin. She had orange red locks flowing from her hood, and amber-brown eyes. She had a bulky look, the word 'chubby' suiting her well. The two soldiers looked from her to the form, then at each other, before pulling away in relief.

The two soldiers turned their attention to the woman as she lowered the branch after poking the form and shrieking.

"Thank-you miss. I think we would have been dead if you hadn't shown yourself." Voiced the jumpier of the two.

"I saw you running through the forest being chased by that guy. I thought the two of you were in trouble so I.. followed." replied the woman.

"What are you doing here anyway? No one ever goes into the forest, it's dangerous."

"I could ask you the same thing, miss." Replied the braver soldier bitterly.

"I live here. My family has lived off the forest for years. If I didn't know how to fend for myself, I wouldn't be here saving your bums." She retorted.

"Now wait just a minute. You didn't 'save' us, we could have taken him ourselves without your help." Protested one of the soldiers.

"What he means is!" intervened the other. "Was that we appreciated your help, and we will take care of things from here."

The woman gave them a skeptical look as she raised an eye brow at them. Finally, she gave up as she turned to take her leave.

"I'll let you handle it then. I should be going now. The sooner you leave, and take that guy away, the better."

The two soldiers watched as she whistled into the trees. They watched with amazement as a large Hungarian work horse reared into view, pulling a cart behind it as it came to a halt in front of her. She gently mounted the large chestnut brown, white feather hoofed stallion, and slowly road off into the forest, leaving the two soldiers alone as they gathered the black Arabian stallion, and tying up the mysterious rider.

first chapter of a new project! starting fresh with a clean slate, and since the legend of the black knight was simply a one time only apearance in the story of king arthur and the holy grail, i have more creative freedom with this one. :D i think i'm going to have alot of fun writting this, but unlike my first story, i'm going to try and post a chapter every week, and not post any too eairly. can't wait to see where this will take me. :d

-Demise/Scary, which ever u prefer. :3