Sarah had barely understood her mother's shouted message when she heard a thump and groan coming from the direction of the kitchen. She set down the plates and walked to the door to see her father sprawled out on the ground just outside the back door.

"Dad!" she shouted, and ran over to help.

He was grimacing in pain, and raised a hand to rub the back of his head.

"Damn, she always gets the drop on me…" he groaned, twitching as his hand rubbed where his head had hit the ground.

"Dad, what happened?" Sarah knelt down, looking for any signs of injury. How could this happen at the same time her mother went to run an errand?

"Hahh…" Stephen sighed with exasperation. "Your mother's flown off the handle, that's all."

"Huh?"

"Anyway, I'm fine." Stephen sat up, then lithely got to his feet and rolled his shoulders. "I just need to get some things is all, then I can go after her."

"You're going after mother? Why, where's she going?" Sarah asked, confused.

"Hmmm…" Stephen hummed, pondering how much to tell Sarah. "I reckon she went to go find your brother and drag him home for dinner."

Sarah could barely keep up with the rapidly changing situation and before she knew it, she was walking down the path to the village hand in hand with her father in the dying light. He had a length of rope coiled around his shoulder and a leather cap on his head, with long flaps covering his ears and beyond. As they walked along, Sarah heard a voice call out from one of the nearby houses.

"Oh Stephen, are you looking for James too?"

Stephen stopped and turned to the house. Cynthia, one of the village gossips, was leaning out her front window.

"Not James, no, but I take it you've seen Helen tonight?"

"Oh yes, she seemed to be in quite a hurry. I'm sure James will catch an earful when she finds him." Cynthia chuckled. "Oh is that you Sarah? My but you've sprung up like a weed! You must have grown a half a foot since last I saw you."

"I- I haven't grown that much, it's only been a week!" Sarah raised her voice unintentionally.

"Well we'd love to stay and chat Cynthia but we need to go fetch Helen. Have a good night." Stephen interrupted before they could get wrapped up in a long conversation and pulled Sarah away as they headed towards the village.

As they continued on, Sarah asked her father where they were going.

He sighed, replying "Probably the smithy. I'm guessing James got wrapped up in work and-"

Bong. Bong. Bong.

The tolling of a bell interrupted him.

"Dad! That's the emergency bell!" Sarah cried, alarmed.

She turned and looked up at her father's face and could see the color drain from it.

"Oh gods…" he muttered, then looked down at Sarah.

"Sarah, we need to hurry to the Lord's Manor, as fast as you can."

His grip tightened around her hand as they both raced to the far side of the village.

By the time they got there, the gate was bent and wrenched open, and two gate guards were knocked out cold lying on the ground.

"Aahh!" Sarah shrieked at the sight of the bodies lying still on the ground.

Stephen quickly let go of her hand and bent over to check them.

"It's alright, they're breathing just fine. We need to go stop your mother."

"Huh? Stop mother?" Sarah sputtered, but her father was already sprinting through the front garden path to the central courtyard, where shouting could be heard.

Sarah ran after him as fast as she could, but her father raced ahead, his speed boosted by his class.

A moment later, she could hear her mother's voice, sounding more panicked than even several weeks ago, when she'd been yelling at James on his Class Choosing day.

"I need to talk to the Lord! Bring him out here or let me in!"

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Sarah continued running and heard a reply.

"Silence! The Lord has retired for the day! Stand down immediately or you'll just add to your crimes!" A deep older man's voice replied.

In the dim light of evening, only partly alleviated by light from the windows of the manor, Sarah could see a troupe of knights led by a man wearing dark clothing, which highlighted his bright silver hair.

"There's no time, get the Lord right now!" She could see her mother, pounding on the door, screaming.

"Knights, arrest that woman!" The silver-haired men shouted, and the knights stepped forward in unison.

Sarah couldn't believe her eyes as she slowed to a stop, some twenty yards away.

The knights rapidly jogged forward in formation, the wings spreading out to surround her mother in front of the door while the vanguard rushed towards her mother's back, as she continued pounding on the door. Then, as soon as the knights were in range, it was like her mother had vanished.

Helen tracked the approaching knights as they surrounded her and she kept pounding on the door to get the Lord's attention. Surely he had at least heard the emergency bell sounding after she broke through the front gate? But the only response had been the butler and the local knights. That was all well and good, but she needed the Lord.

At the last possible second, she dropped low to the ground and swept out with her leg, catching two of the knights. She then guided their falls in front of the rest of the approaching knights and dived into their midst. She caught the arm of one approaching knight and swung herself forward, simultaneously pulling him down to the side, making him lose his balance and fall in front of another knight who had reacted faster, and was reaching out to grab her.

But she had already redirected her own momentum into a flying kick into the helmet of another knight, cleanly knocking him out with a blow to the temple even through the helmet. She dived into a somersault under more grasping hands and then, balanced on her hands, kicked up with her heels into another knight's chin, foolishly exposed due to his unfastened helmet.

At this point the knights in the vanguard finished falling and hit the ground.

Helen was a whirlwind, striking out in multiple directions and diving and tumbling around and in-between the dozen armored knights.

One of them pulled out a short baton, only to find a foot flying towards his wrist. His hand spasmed open reflexively and the baton was plucked from the air and then thrown, precisely striking another knight in the temple – knocking him out cold – and then bouncing off into the gloom somewhere.

One knight was flung crashing into another.

A knight fell and had his helmeted head stomped.

Another swung his baton and the madwoman dodged, his strike hitting another knight just behind her who had been doing the same as him.

After a minute, only two knights were left conscious, but tangled under the bodies and armor of their unconscious comrades.

"ENOUGH!"

A young man's voice rang out with authority. From the side, the Lord and a young man arrived to stand next to the butler, who was shaking his head in disappointment. Everyone could see the drawn sword in the young man's hands, gleaming white in the night.

The butler fell to a knee and placed his hand on his chest, bowing his head to the Lord.

"My lord, I apologize unreservedly for this disgraceful display."

The young man pointed the sword at the woman and shouted. "How dare you! Stand down before the Baron!"

Helen dashed forward directly towards her target. "My Lord, you must-"

A shadow rose from the ground and swung a baton, catching her in the temple. She crumpled to the ground instantly, unconscious.

Sarah gaped at the sight. Then shouted, "Mother!"

Stephen caught his wife as she collapsed, then quickly bound her with the rope he had brought. The Baron, young man, and butler all stared at him in shock and surprise while he bound her quite a bit more tightly than anyone should rightly need to be bound, and then keeping her in front of him where he could see her, Stephen knelt before the Baron.

"My Lord, I apologize for my wife's outrageous behavior."

Sarah was dumbfounded, but heard heavy breathing behind her. She whirled around to find the village smith, Jared, panting as he ran up the path behind her.

The Baron looked around, at the collapsed knights, the out-of breath-smith, the young girl and the penitent father and the unconscious mother and the embarrassed butler and his outraged son, and he sighed deeply.

He turned to his son first.

"Christopher, sheathe your sword."

"But father!" the young man protested, "these invaders are-"

"Christopher, you're making this situation more dangerous with that sword out than it would be otherwise. Sheathe it now or I'll dismiss you."

Christopher grit his teeth a moment, then sheathed the sword.

Then he turned to the butler.

"Jeeves."

"Yes, my Lord." the older man replied.

"How long did the knights last?"

"Less than a minute, my Lord."

The Baron sighed again.

"Start the recovery protocol and prepare for a debriefing. We'll decide on a new training regimen tomorrow morning."

"Yes, my Lord." he replied, head still bowed, before standing up and walking over to where the two conscious knights were crawling out from under the pile of bodies and armor.

Then the Baron turned, not to Stephen who remained kneeling before him, but to Jared, who was only just now catching his breath next to Sarah. The Baron's eyes flickered over Sarah for the barest instant, and she shuddered under the weight of his gaze, her knees growing weak. But before she could collapse, the Baron's gaze settled on Jared, who fell to a knee and spoke without leave.

"My Lord, there's a terrible emergency, my new apprentice has gone missing and his mother, Helen, is on a rampage-"

"I know, Smith. She's already been subdued." the Baron replied, gesturing to where Helen lay bound next to the kneeling Stephen.

"Eh, what? But the only one who could- oh, I see Stephen beat me here." Jared said, squinting in the dim light to see Stephen and Helen.

"But what's this about your apprentice being missing?"

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