Lady Diana: Knight

By superninja

A JLA Elseworlds fantasy, Animated Series style.

All characters belong to Warner Bros./DC Comics. This story is not intended for profit.

***

They stopped after many hours, retreating to the safety of the trees and lighting a fire by the dying light of the sun.

The Bat Man soon disappeared, and Diana looked through her pouch down at the withered vegetables she had taken from the previous night's repast. Pulling them out, she offered a carrot to O'Brien.

"Yech�" he said, taking it. "I mean, THANKS."

Diana smiled beneath her mask, as she watched O'Brien shake his head, and take a gagging bite of the mushy meat.

"What do you know of this Bat Man?" she asked him, as she ate a potato.

"Well," O'Brien said, through mouthfuls, "Only that he has this wonderful ability to turn up when you least expect it. And that he's looking for a ring," he paused.

"Is that why he cornered you at the tavern?"

O'Brien swallowed, and opened up a flask at his hip.

"Yup. I was supposed to find out if any of the local gangs had got a hold of it, or had seen it, at the very least." He took a swig from the flask. "Much better," he said, smiling and then holding the flask aloft, kissing it.

"You seem overly fond of drink," she mused.

"I was pretending it was you, my lady," he said grinning, and wiggled his eyebrows in the firelight. "Who knows, if you kiss me, I might turn into a handsome prince or something?" He puckered his lips, and closed his eyes.

"Is that how the sorcery of this land works?" she asked. "I think I should take my chances with the horse."

O'Brien huffed, and took another drink from his flask.

"What kind of ring was it?" she questioned, poking at the fire.

"A signet ring."

They both turned to see the knight standing over them, a pair of dead rabbits in his hand. They remained quiet as he pulled out a dagger and began cleaning them, ending with him impaling them on sticks, and setting them in the fire.

When the meat was ready, he pulled a stick from the fire, and offered it to Diana.

"I will not eat the flesh of animals," she said, pushing the tip of the stick towards O'Brien, who grabbed it from the Bat Man with glee.

"Suit yourself," the knight replied, and took to eating.

"How did you know I was a woman?" she asked.

He paused for a moment over the rabbit to look up at her, and then continued tearing off bits of meat.

"The lilt of your voice, the sway of your hips, your carriage," he said, meeting her eyes. "If I ventured a further guess, I would even say you were royalty."

O'Brien nearly choked on his rabbit, looking over at her. Diana and the Bat Man continued to glare at each other.

A howl set them to their feet. Bat Man quickly began stomping out the fire as O'Brien cowered behind Diana. She shook him loose as Bat Man drew out his sword and put his back to them. His horse was pawing the ground nervously.

The howl was followed by several barks and growls, and the distant sound of horse hooves tearing through the thick of the forest. Diana started towards the forest, as Bat Man put out a hand to stop her.

"A hunt," she said, pushing his arm away.

Trumpets sounded in distance, and Diana watched as Bat Man became rigid, focusing on the noise, his eyes narrowing.

"Alexander's men," he said.

Diana shoved him away and headed out into the forest, leaping over the low branches and rocks. The wind carried the barking on its breath as she drew closer to the chase. Hiding behind the thick trees, she watched as dogs leapt and snarled at the base of a tree. She looked for their target, but could see nothing. What had they cornered?

Men rode up on horseback, at least a half-dozen. They had torches, and were waving them about as they dismounted, handing the reigns off to a boy.

"It's no use hiding!" the tallest of them said, his arms as thick as tree trunks. His armor was covered in spikes of all sizes. His huge helmet, like a gaping jaw, masked his face, but the eyes within gleamed red.

He stalked to the tree as Diana watched, tense. The other men clad in similar armor spread out, fanning the small circle of open space, still waving their torches. Her breath caught in her chest as one of them neared her, and she moved further behind the tree. Sighing with relief when he passed, she peered out again as the large man reached the tree and the dogs quieted when he shouted at them, his voice bouncing off the landscape.

A twig snapped. Behind her. She spun around raising her sword for the second time to Bat Man's neck.

"I could've killed you," she seethed.

"Maybe," he said, turning away from her. "What are Lex's men after?"

"I do not know," she replied, kneeling next to him. "They have cornered something, but I cannot see their prey."

Bat Man's gaze fell upon the giant at the foot of the tree. "Lord Doomsday," he sneered. "It's a magical hunt."

Diana paused, staring at Doomsday, holding his torch aloft. "What is a magical hunt?"

"Alexander is killing off all the magical creatures in his land, one by one."

"Why?" she replied, a painful expression on her face. A brief picture formed in her mind of her homeland, filled with magical creatures of all sorts. The Centaurs had been her teachers as a child, spending hours on the green hills of Themyscria teaching her of the movements of the stars. She had friends in Mermaids and the people of the sea kingdom below, who had taught her to swim.

"There," said Bat Man, shaking her from her memory.

Lord Doomsday had stabbed his torch into a low branch, and Diana watched in amazement as it fell to the ground, changing form.

The man was tall, with a heavy brow, and skin as green as newly unfolded leaf. His pointed ears pushed up through his red cap, and the man struggled to get to his feet, painfully clutching his side where he had been burned.

"A changeling," Bat Man said, wide-eyed. "I thought they were all dead."

Before, she could speak, Bat Man had jumped into the clearing, bashing together the heads of two of the hunters. Lord Doomsday turned with a growl, kicking the fallen man in the side and barking orders.

"Kill him!"

Doomsday took slow steps towards Bat Man, passing Diana and she leapt from the shadows onto his back, carefully evading the sharp points of his armor.

"What's this? Have you brought one of your knats into battle again?"

He swung around, trying to throw Diana off, and shredding her leggings, cutting a deep gash in her thigh. She brought the hilt of her sword down hard on his helmet, throwing off his line of vision as it slammed down past his eyes. Diana braced herself as he charged back into a tree, determined to impale her on his armor. Leaping free, she jumped over his head and to the ground before him.

"I'll kill this one, Bat Man," he yelled over the clamor of his hunters fighting the dark knight. Diana took a fighting stance as he accessed her. "Lord Bane and I have a wager on. The last one died cursing your name after my master's Jester tortured him."

Diana charged him, ducking his heavy arms and pushing her blade deep in between the gap in his leg armor.

"Hahahah," Doomsday backhanded Diana, sending her sprawling to the ground, as he pulled her sword from his skin with little thought. "Do you know he made the Jester Chief Interrogator after that, Bats? He impressed my master with his natural gift."

"Shut up!" Bat Man said, swinging his long-sword, and bringing it down over Doomsday's head. The armor cracked, but Doomsday just continued to laugh. Bat Man pulled away, as Diana drew her lasso from her belt. Throwing a quick glance over at Bat Man, he nodded, and charged Doomsday again.

Doomsday caught the sword in his gauntlet, as Bat Man pressed forward. It cleaved the gauntlet, and Doomsday's blood began to drip from the wound. Still, he clutched the sword, taunting the Bat.

"I hope this one screams as well as�"

But his taunting was caught short, as Diana pulled the lasso taught around his legs, pulling with all her might as Doomsday fell to the ground.

Bat Man put a foot down on his helmet, exposing the flesh between his head and neck. Raising his long sword, he readied his strength to draw it down.

"Stop!"

Diana and Bat Man swayed as though a fog had settled in their brains. Shaking off the influence, Diana turned to see the green man on his feet, his arm outstretched towards them.

Just as he caught their attention, he collapsed again, clutching his side. Batman stared down at Doomsday, and the point of his sword poised over his neck. He ground his jaw, his hands tensing. Diana placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Would you be no better than your enemies?"

Bat Man's hands shook. Diana sent a silent prayer to Aphrodite, asking her to lend him compassion.

After a moment, he tossed the sword aside, and turned away from them, walking into the forest.

***

They charged along the highway, each now on a horse thanks to Lex's hunters. Riding along side the green man, Diana brought her horse closer to his, and leaned over to speak with him.

"What is your name?!" she yelled over the clamor of the hooves.

"J'onn," he said. "I am the last of my kind!"

"Bat Man said you were a changeling!"

"That I am, my lady!"

"I'm fighting in the Tournament of Champions, so I would rather you didn't give out that information freely!"

J'onn looked over at her, smiling. "Forgive me, but I touched your mind earlier. You have a warrior's spirit, I wish you a good journey!"

Diana watched as he broke away from them, heading into the forest. He stopped at its edge. Diana pulled her horse to halt.

"You have made a friend! Perhaps someday I will be fortunate enough to repay your kindness!" he shouted, waving and then heading into the woods.

"Some thanks," O'Brien said, pulling his horse into a trot beside hers. "We save his life and he runs off, just like that."

"You didn't save anyone," Bat Man said, walking his charger to the other side of Diana. "He has more pressing concerns."

They steadied the pace allowing the horses to walk instead of tiring them.

"Why is Alexander killing all of the magical creatures?" Diana asked, turning to Bat Man.

"He fears them," he said, "Fears the old ways, when man and magic lived in peace together."

"Why have they not risen up against him?"

"A few have tried, but Lex is merciless," he replied pausing. "Do you miss your magic rope, yet?"

"It was a gift�from my mother," she said sadly.

"It was necessary to bind Lord Doomsday. He is a creature of magic himself." Bat Man pulled his horse to a stop. "We should rest. Alexander will be wary of his hunters absence, and will send others."

***

Another night. Another fire beneath the bright moon and the star-filled sky. Bat Man watched Diana wince from the pain in her thigh. The wound that Doomsday had given her was deep. He retreated into the woods again, and returned with small game, as well as a few roots, mushrooms and herbs. O'Brien was already fast asleep, thanks to the remaining contents of his flask and the wear of the journey.

Bat Man returned, setting his gatherings down, and began grinding herbs together, pouring water from his own flask to mix them.

"You heal quickly," he said, leaning towards her and laving the sticky mixture onto a strip of cloth torn from her leggings. "Another gift from your mother?"

Diana sat up staring back at him, as he moved to place the poultice on her thigh. Taking it away from him quickly, she placed it on the wound, and tore off another strip from her legging, tying it around the wound.

"What do you mean?"

He sat down, and began preparing the game for the fire, ignoring her question.

She stilled his knife hand, crushing the wrist with a vise grip. He merely stared down at her hand, and she removed it, settling back into her place with little hope of an answer to his cryptic comments. They sat in silence for a few moments, Diana fuming as he continued cleaning the animal.

"If I were to lift your mask, would I see 'the beauty of Aphrodite for all to behold'?" he finally spoke, placing the first animal on a stick.

Diana's eyes went wide and she swallowed, as though a stone was in her throat.

"Daughter made of clay," he began again. "Educated people know of you, although I must say you're considered a myth." He settled back against a log, and placed the food into the fire.

"You're going to throw Alexander into fits," he finished with a roguish grin, and pushed his helmet down over his eyes to rest.

She sat up for a long time, watching him sleep and considering his words. How had he been able to discover her identity so easily?

He woke with a deep breath, and pulled the meat from the fire, testing its readiness. Diana shifted, wondering if he'd seen her spying on him.

"How does your leg feel?" he asked, stripping a piece of meat from the bone and devouring it.

"Better," she said with apprehension. She watched him eat quietly for a few moments, and then shifted closer to him. "You know all of my secrets," she said in a low voice. "What of yours?"

Bat Man glanced over at O'Brien, checking for sure that he was sleeping. "My parents were murdered," he said, setting his jaw and then taking a bite from what Diana presumed to be roasted squirrel. "That's enough, for now."

"No, not enough," she said, staring at him, as he continued to look away. "Why do you hide your face?"

"Because the man behind this mask is dead."

O'Brien stirred in his sleep, and they quieted themselves for a moment.

Diana ventured a glance toward him, seeing him suddenly small, crouched by the fire, as though he were a child.

"They killed my mother. My father. And then left me in the forest to die," he said, pausing with great weight. "They should've killed me as well�but now they'll pay for it."

"Who will pay?"

He finished off the last of the food, and turned away from her to sleep. "I don't know," he muttered. "I don't know."

Diana watched him sleep again, for awhile. But this time, he turned and tossed as though troubled by a demon. She regretted asking him of his past, and the dreams that it brought him.

***

"Your body has a center," she said to him. "All of your force is gathered there. You must simply manipulate it to direct the force elsewhere."

Bat Man was being particularly cold today, and Diana wondered if it had to do with the fact that he'd told her too much for his soul to bear.

He wasn't wearing full armor, although he insisted on masking his face. She had done away with her own mask, much to O'Brien's delight.

The Eel had completely brushed off the notion of learning hand-to-hand combat, and was practicing his latest routine on the horses with the hope of earning some coin at the Tournament.

After failing to throw Diana twice, and talking over her instruction, Bat Man finally began to get the hang of it, and was rewarded by Diana laid out on the ground smiling up at him. But even this new knowledge wasn't enough to melt his icy mood, and he remained brusque as she declared the lesson officially over moments later and headed out into the forest.

Bat Man began tidying up the camp, with O'Brien leaning against one of the horses, his eyes shifting between the animal and Bat Man as if to conspire against him.

"What's that you say?" O'Brien asked the horse. "No! Not the 'L' word!" he said with a mock-gasp. "Not the Bat Man. It's not even in his vocabulary."

Bat Man narrowed his eyes briefly at the other man and continued going about his business.

"You probably mean 'lost' or 'lonely'," he continued, feeding the horse a piece of long grass. "Or 'looney'. Yeah, that fits the bill all right."

Bat Man stood up and stalked over to O'Brien, who gulped and tried to take cover with the horse.

"Just know this," the knight said, pointing an accusing finger at the cowering clown. "Whatever effect she has on us, it's not natural. She's a creature of magic, not real in the sense that you or I are."

Bat Man turned away from him, as O'Brien countered. "Well, I saw her in her dressing gown, and everything looked pretty real to...URK!"

He tried to swallow, but it was very difficult with Bat Man's gauntlet around his neck.

"And don't talk about her that way," he snarled. "I don't like it."

***

"You're doing it again," he started.

"Doing what?" she replied testily. He had been picking on her ever since they left camp.

"Sitting up too straight in the saddle."

She looked over at O'Brien on the horse beside her. He was yawning, hunched over like a limp leaf.

"No, no," Bat Man said, wincing. "Don't look at Eel, he rides like a slob, no one will take you seriously.

"I resemble that remark," the clown replied sleepily.

Diana was surprised to see Bat Man smile, even if it was for a fleeting moment.

The trail ended without warning. They had expected to round a bend, but there was nothing in front of them but forest. As they tried to come up with a solution, a warm breeze came through the trees. The horses shifted nervously.

"Something is wrong," Diana said. "We should pull off the trail, and set up camp for the night."

She looked to Bat Man for agreement, but both he and O'Brien had already dismounted, heading into the woods.

Sighing, she leapt off her own mount and reigned in the horses, a deep frown on her face as she followed after them. After calling to them futilely, she became silent and the forest became darker, denser. The men were under some sort of enchantment, no doubt about that. But who or what was influencing them, she couldn't see. And what was worse, the forest seemed to be enveloping them and she wasn't sure she could find their way back to the trail.

The men stepped into a clearing, continuing their trance-like walk, as she went to follow them, the forest sprang up as though a living thing - bushes and brambles shutting her off from them.

Diana could barely see in front of her face. She pulled out her sword and began hacking into the plants. Where one was cut in two, another sprang up in its place. Leaving the horses behind, she began to fight against the growth, as it scratched and clawed at her. She hit something metal. It was a suit of armor.

"Bat Man?" she gasped as the moonlight glinted off it. But no, it wasn't his. It was empty. Deciding to give up keeping track of the moments, she cut her way through determined to succeed. When she finally did reach them, the sight disgusted her.

All over the forest floor, there were empty husks of armor, helmets, swords, and bones - those of men, horses�any number of animals. Hanging above her, wrapped in vines were Bat Man and O'Brien.

"I don't recall inviting you," said a trilling voice from above her. The woman came to her on a stairway of vines, clothed only in leaves. Her green skin gave off an unearthly sheen in the light. "But if you came of your own volition, who am I to disappoint my children?"

"You will free them both, now." Diana said angrily. The woman reminded Diana of a Dryad. But no, they would never kill so ruthlessly.

The vines holding the men shook in concert as she began laughing.

"Or what? You'll cut me with your little sword?"

A vine snapped out, closing over her wrist. Diana yanked her hand free, tearing out the vine. The other woman frowned, but resumed her taunting, as she brought Bat Man to hang next to her head.

"It's a shame to kill this one," she said, rubbing her hand across his chin. "So handsome. Maybe I'll kill you instead?"

Diana leapt backward, but vines rushed at her like snakes across grass, grabbing onto all of her limbs. Fighting, she lost her sword and was hefted in the air.

"Come, my children. It's time to feast!"

Diana looked on in horror as four giant plants shifted into the clearing. They looked like a flower that was closed before the morning sunrise. But when each of her children opened its blossom, there was no flower but a great gaping hungry mouth.

Diana tried to cry out before she was thrown into the nearest one. The world went dark as it shut on her, the walls secreting a liquid that was starting to burn her skin. She called out to Gaea, begging for the strength to destroy the monster. She didn't want to die this way.

"Oh well," the green woman said, turning to Bat Man. "I hope she doesn't taste as tough as she talks."

Diana gave a last surge of strength, and felt the walls shred as its mother screamed in pain.

"Nooo!"

The sobbing woman fell to the ground, as Bat Man and O'Brien were released from their living shackles, and tumbled to the forest floor.

"Whatever spell you have put on them," Diana said, seething and covered in muck, "You will release them. Or we can try that trick with another of your 'children'."

"No, take them," she begged. "Take them and leave."

Bat Man and O'Brien shook their heads, coming out of the trance.

Diana helped O'Brien to his feet, as Bat Man stared down at the woman, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword and a loathsome sneer on his face.

With one look, Diana told him, "No."

As they walked away, Diana turned back to her. "If I find you have made any new victims after today, I shall return to finish this."

The woman of ivy wept onto her knees.