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26. Meaning in Another World
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"Prince Wallen?" Bea said with shock.
It was the prince from the mountains that had helped us get back to the elven kingdom!
He stood there with his slicked back black hair and a black trenchcoat that he seemed to be cudding together to hide his fancy clothes underneath. After examining the situation, he looked to Lazaris, "And so? Our deal."
Lazaris nodded to Azelfor who reached the sack I was in out to the prince. I quacked to no avail as he held me down at his side, "You have the girl. Now for both parts of the deal."
Xernus and Azelfor looked back and forth between the two as Lazaris nodded his head in acceptance.
"You or me?" asked the prince flatly.
Lazaris looked up and placed his hands on his hips, "I suppose you're closer."
My bag jostled slightly as Wallen's coat opened for a brief split second and metal flashed. Azelfor's head was seperated from his body in the air as each thudded into the muddled ground with a splat. Wallen inspected his blade for any blood before putting it away.
"Boss!" shouted Xernus is disbelief.
Lazaris put his hand up to quell him, "I know you couldn't take me at my word that he would never talk, but with that, you have your little bird and I have some funding, correct? It's time I pushed a couple of my rivals out of this town."
"And the girl. I know that was an unexpected bonus to you when I reached out for an elf to spy on this party for me," Wallen said turning to take his leave.
"When the Remerging happens, I plan to be on top. Beastfolk will never be slaves again you here," stated Lazaris in a serious tone.
"It will be as discussed before. Selected leaders for different places. One king or queen to rule them all. Enough fallout from the cracking has been had," said Wallen pulling me up over his shoulder.
What are these guys going on about?
"You never talked about any of this stuff," said Xernus fraughtly.
"Not now," gestured Lazaris to say goodbye to the prince, but in that moment, Xernus eased the tension on his blade in Bea's back and she pounced.
Bea spun outward to the right and pushed the katana away towards Lazaris, but he stepped back as Xernus resisted. He forced her to slide backwards as he regained control of his blade and prepared for a fight.
Prince Wallen seemingly stopped to watch. I started flapping my wings and conjuring any magic I could in hopes of escaping to help, but nothing worked! I looked on as Xernus began swinging his katana in fluid motions towards Bea. I could tell she was using her spark as her aura glowed green.
She burst forward in between his missing sword strikes and pulled a knife from one strap on her left side and the hatchet from her right side. She closed in to stab Xernus, but he shifted his weight and pulled the katana back, clashing againt the hatchet. Bea used her other weaponized hand and gored the dagger through his right arm.
"Oh, I haven't seen those in some time. Suprised they didn't all go in the fire," chuckled Lazaris taking another step back from the fight, "If you could hurry this up. I have plans for her."
Xernus winced and grunted in frustration as he swung again and Bea ripped the knife back out. He was fast like her, but despite his sword's longer reach, Bea managed to react and deflect each strike he attempted. No. In fact, she was faster. And it wasn't even close!
My viewpoint was getting skewed a little, but I could see it. Every time she rebuffed him, she also launched a counter attack in that split second. Cutting him, knicking him, bleeding him, little by little. Xernus was huffing now. Blood seeped all down his body and Bea remained unscratched.
"I guess you did make something of yourself didn't you, little girl," said Lazaris as the excitement was wearing down, "Cutting and dying your hair. Changed your name. And what, took a couple fighting classes?"
Xernus raised his katana again and Bea stepped back. He had turned towards Lazaris and let out a snarl, "How could you! Just for her?!"
But Lazaris caught the weakened sword fighter's blade and pulled him forward, "Some wars require casualty."
"War? This is personal for you. Your damn ego and disgusting face!" screamed Xernus as Lazaris growled, twisting the katana out of Xernus' hands and then thrusted it down through his chest, causing Xernus to topple over into a pool of blood.
Bea wasn't letting the moment die down though. She chucked her throwing knife at Lazaris and despite the speed he had just shown, took it in the shoulder but with no reaction. He pulled it out and threw it on the ground as she ran up on him with her hatchet.
"Ah, brings back memories, right?" he mused as she swung the hatchet towards his head. Lazaris side stepped and buried a claw into her side causing her grip to loosen, he then took her hatchet out of her hand.
"Xernus' blade was an extension of himself, but this, this means something to you. Daddy's little girl, right?" he chuckled as he held her floating in the air with his claw in her side and inspecting hatchet in the other hand.
Then he dropped her to the ground as she wimpered, making her watch as he smashed the weapon she had cherished and used this whole time in front of her. The wooden handle cracked into multiple pieces as the head fell to the ground chipped. Bea had tears in her eyes.
Dammit! Let me out!
I struggled back and forth, but all my efforts were still in vain. The prince clutched me tight, still watching the battle play out with intrigue.
"You know, I really wanted to drag this out. I've waited a long time for this. Ever since we only found one body inside that burned pile," Lazaris clutched Bea by her throat and lifted her back into the air with one hand and popped out a claw on the other, "I suppose I can at least carve your face for what you did to mine."
Through exasperated breaths, near choking, Bea smiled, "You, were wrong, about one thing."
"Oh? And what's that?" Lazaris humored her.
Lazaris' flesh teared as the chipped axed blade flew up from the ground through the back of his head, coming out the front where Bea had left the scar, splurting blood across her face. Lazaris' grip loosened and let go as she caught the axe blade in her hand.
"This is an extension of me because it means something," she spit out at him.
"M-magic. Where the fuck did you get magic," he coughed out as half of his head fell off and the rest of him collapsed to the ground.
The prince seemed amused at the results, "Oh good. I fear in the end he would have been more trouble than he was worth anyways."
Wallen turned to leave again, but Bea charged at him.
No! You're hurt! He's faster! Stop!
"Quack! Quack! Quack!" I sputtered inside of the bag.
The prince swiftly roundhouse kicked her on approach into the burnt wood pile remnants of her old home and continued on his way.
Nooooo!
"QUACK!"
As we got farther and farther away from her, I couldn't see her move or if she was even breathing.
Is she dead? Is she?!
My duck self was only making noises, but Wallen promptly ignored me as he stepped back on to a main street where a carriage was waiting for him. He threw me into the back and got in. The carriage quickly took off, headed for the city entrace, and in no time the city scape disappeared and I... or rather we, were on the great road again. But to where and why? I have no idea.
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Author's Notes #12:
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What a crazy wild ride this one has been. I really put everything I had into coming up with the ending for this volume. And personally, I feel like I made the right decision on some character choices overall knowing where I want to go in the future. unlike the first volume where I left the ending very ambiguous in case I never wanted to continue, I definitely made it so I would have to continue this. I mean honestly how can it end like that?! Bea was brought to the forefront of these final parts to be my leading star for a moment.
When it comes down to it, this is a world full of people. Who they are and where they come from may be very different from each and every one another, and sometimes those are the stories we want to tell. Exploring Bea's past and who she used to be compared to who she is now was a great test of what I could do as a writer. I wanted to do sort of a twist with her character and raise the stakes to the maximum. With that, I wish to present you the bonus story (2 Extra Chapters in this Volume), and until the next volume thank you for reading!☆
𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹
Duck Fact #12 (Final in the Series):
Believe it or not, but most duck species do not actually quack! The all too familiar sound comes from females of the genus anas, with the males producing a raspier version. And a duck's quack will only echo if it's facing south. Other ducks communicate through whistlings, gruntings, yodeling, and cooing.
𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹
-𝐓𝐡𝐞 ֶָ֢ 𝐅𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰ᝰ.ᐟ