Alexander Khri'pher (2) Trent just stood there and laughed, knowing that Alexander didn’t have the heart to hurt him, no matter how pissed off the Bengal got. He was almost on the verge of being to kind hearted to kill an enemy, let alone a friend. “Does that mean that you’ll come then?” he asked mockingly. “Of course it does, shit-head. I’m not a wimp.” Only after the words left his mouth did Alexander realize what he said. The only real problem about that was that he couldn’t go back now. He couldn’t say that he wasn’t a wimp and then wimp out of a dare. “Then get your striped ass moving, fuzz ball. If we want to keep up with the other knights, we got to go now.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alexander and Trent climbed their way up a tall tree next to the large field that was chosen as the place for battle. They got about fifteen yards up and found semi-comfortable positions to sit in as they knew that the battle might last a good amount of time. Trent laid his hallabird down across two branches and propped his legs up on it. As he leaned back against the tree trunk, his paws behind his head, he scanned over the battlefield, knights from both sides were already assembling about one hundred yards away from each other. The two boys were extremely close to where the action would be, in a tree right on the edge of the field. “So, who do you think will win this?” he asked sarcastically as Alexander adjusted the sword that hung behind his back and carefully hung his bow and quiver of arrows on a near by branch. Alexander just looked at Trent with an ‘Are you really that stupid?’ look on his face. He shook his head and smiled softly at his best friend. “I still don’t know what we’re going to do with you, puppy.” He laughed a little as Trent snarled at the word ‘puppy’ but stopped himself before he got loud enough for any of the knights to here him. “With both our fathers out there, this will be swift and just. They’re the best knights within two thousand leagues of hear.” He stated proudly, quite sure that he and Trent would become that good someday. He looked out through the tree branches at the side of the field where the knights of Droconis Village were preparing themselves. Finally his eyes rested on his father, his white and black fur shining even brighter than his armor. He and Trent’s father, Kryn, towered over almost all of the other knights with the exception of the few bears, lions, and about half of the griffins. When the knights on both sides of the battlefield began to line up in their ranks, Alexander and Trent glued their attention to the battlefield. Down on the side of the field where the knights of Droconis village were assembled, Dolmen and Kryn walked down the ranks, scanning their fellow knights over one last time. Dolmen raised his elegant sword proudly in the air and yelled, “Men, today we fight for our, and our loved ones right to live free!” This got a huge cheer out of his men. “Today, we fight with honor for the knight’s code, unlike our rivals are!” Yet another cheer came from the knights. “Do not let these fools take everything we’ve fought so hard to protect for all these years!” He turned around and looked across the field at the ranks of Duthjack’s small army. Kryn stepped up beside him, his hallabird resting across his shoulders and his arms hanging from it. “This isn’t going to be very easy my friend,” he pointed out to Dolmen. He shook his head slowly, thinking of all the other battles they’d been through. “There’s something about these guys, something stronger and more fierce then anyone else we've encountered before.” Dolmen closed his eyes and sighed deeply. Kryn was right; these people were unlike any other opponents they’d fought against before. “Lets get this started, Kryn.” He looked back at the ranks and yelled the command, “Archers, ready bows!” The archers in the second row knocked their arrows and the rank in front of them dropped to one knee as to get out of the way. “Archers, prepare to fire!” At that the archers raised there bows, aiming them high to make sure the arrows made it the hole way to their intended targets. “Archers, loose!” Dolmen yelled louder then before, and so it started. The archers let loose their arrows and the rest of the ranks stormed forward after them. Alexander and Trent watched intently as the arrows stormed down at Duthjack's army as they to charged at full speed. Both of their jaws dropped when the few knights that actually got hit by the arrows only dropped back a few steps, stumbled a little in pain, and kept going. Neither boy had ever seen anything like that. Even their fathers probably wouldn’t be able to do that. As both contingents collided, they watched with absolute astonishment from their perch in a near by tree. Alexander tracked his father’s movements, as did Trent. Dolmen never missed a beet, blocking each attack and countering with a death stroke of his own. Alexander watched in amazement as his father flawlessly wielded Soulroth. The sword glimmered on the light except for the blood covered edges and tip. Within about ten minutes the fighters were scattered across the field instead of trying to stick with each other. Even Dolmen and Kryn were separated. Dolmen was purposely making his way towards Duthjack, intent on ending this quickly. Duthjack had a ring of his knights surrounding him, making a perfect defense, except of course for against Dolmen. The general cut right through line without any trouble, taking out three furs before slowing down to stand facing his intended target. Several knights tried to attack him but Duthjack raised an open paw and yelled a command in some foreign language. At that, his knights stopped dead in their tracks and went back to the lines. The huge jackal delicately drew his black-iron broad sword, making a few practice swings. With out a word Dolmen charged at top speed, his sword in both paws at his side. The fight only lasted a few seconds, quick and strong attacks, and even quicker dodges and parries, both Dolmen and Duthjack never stopping even to catch their breath. For a moment it looked as if Dolmen was gaining the advantage, and Alexander was extremely excited at this, but when the general made a powerful down stroke with one strong arm, Duthjack grabbed his wrist in mid swing. He placed his sword across Dolmen’s neck, smiling evily the entire time. Alexander’s eyes widened in fear as Duthjack moved Dolmens wrist in an attempt to point the tiger’s own sword at his chest. Dolmen fought as hard as he could, but to no avail. His sword was now pointed directly at his own chest, and he couldn’t do a thing about it. With a small smile and a swift movement, Duthjack pushed the sword down. Dolmen gasped for breath as he felt the cold steel inter his chest. His blood ran cold and he felt his own flesh tear from his chest all the way through to his back. Alexander screamed at the top of lungs, fear overtaking him completely. He watched in despair, tears flowing to freely to be stopped, as his father fell to his knees, and Duthjack pulled the sword back and walked away. Alexander watched in horror as his father fell to the ground, motionless. Without hesitation or caring about how high up he was, Alexander jumped from the tree. He landed flawlessly, almost fifteen yards down, and began to run as fast as he could towards his father. “Alex! Alex, stop!” Trent screamed but Alexander didn’t hear him, he just kept on running. Trent watched as one of Duthjack's knights noticed his friend on the field. “Damn it!” he muttered as he quickly grabbed the bow and quiver from where Alexander had left it, drew and knocked an arrow, and let loose. The arrow caught the knight in the back in his neck and he fell to the ground. He did the same thing seven more times, the arrows never missing their targets. He went to reach for more arows as another knight noticed Alexander, but found none left in the quiver. “Fuck!” he yelled as he looked back up at his friend, sure that the Bengal wouldn’t notice the attack and surely be killed. To his surprise Alexander didn’t even look as he drew his sword from his back and drove it backwards through the knights waist. Trent sighed in relief as he finally realized Alexander could easily take care of himself. The relieved wolf jumped from the tree to follow his friend. As the battle raged on around him, Alexander finally made his way to his dying father. As he fell to his knees, he put an arm under Dolmen’s head and propped him up a little. He buried his face in his fathers chest and began to sob even worse then before. “Father, don’t die! Please, you can’t die now, you can’t leave me!” he felt a soft paw being placed under his chin that then lifted his head up. Dolmen coughed up a little blood and then looked into his son’s crying eyes. Even as he was dying, there was a certain sparkle in Dolmen’s eyes. “Son, there’s no stopping this, even if I wanted to, so there’s no use in telling me not to die.” Alexander began to say something but Dolmen stopped him. “I trust that you will live on without me.” “But father, I can’t live on my own yet. You havn't finished my teachings.” Dolmen shook his head slightly and continued to speak. “You won’t be alone, Kryn will take you in. He and promised that if either of us would dye, one would take care of the others son. He will treat you as one of his own, hell, you're already like one of his own, as Trent is mine.” Just as Dolmen said his name, Trent finally reached them and fell to his knees on the other side of Dolmen. Dolmen looked at Trent and smiled. “Promise that you’ll keep my son out of trouble Trent.” he said with a soft smile. With no trace of emotion except for one tear rolling down the side of his muzzle, Trent whispered, “Of course I will Dolmen.” Dolmen looked back at his son and smiled softly. Alexander was still staring into his eyes. “Son, live strong, dye strong.” He said with a slight studer. “Live strong, dye strong, father,” Alexander repeated quietly, his tears still flowing freely. The saying was the golden rule of the knights of Droconis village. It meant everything to anybody who wanted to become a knight of the Order of the Dragon. Finally, all life left Dolmen and he went limp in his son’s trembling arms, his eyes staring at the bright blue sky. Alexander sobbed as his placed a paw over Dolmen’s eyes, closing them for him. He just sat there sobbing for a moment, the battle still going on around him but no one even noticed him and Trent. Eventually he looked up, pure rage now taking over. His eyes were now the deepest, most evil red possible. His body was shaking with the purist of rage; his heart almost pounding it’s way through his chest. He looked around a few times, and his eyes finally rested on what he was looking for, Veren Duthjack. He slowly stood, carefully laying his father down. Trent stood up beside him and tried to talk but Alexander heard nothing. His mind was so filled with anger that he didn’t hear a thing. He reached up and drew his sword again, starting to slowly walk towards Duthjack. Someone came up on his left, a huge brown bear, his large ax raised high. Alexander didn’t even take his eyes off of Duthjack as he stepped into the bears attack and drove his sword through the intersections in his stomach armor. He withdrew his sword and continued to walk. As he picked up his pace more furs attacked him but to no avail. He finally began to run at full speed, flawlessly swinging and stabbing, taking down fur after fur as he came closer to his target. Eight, nine, ten. Knight after knight fell before he reached Duthjack. He ran towards Duthjack's back, his sword held horizontally in both paws as he ran. Duthjack heard a few warnings from his men. He stepped to the side and extended a leg, which Alexander tripped over. The Bengal tiger hit the ground, rolled, and was right back up on his feet. His ears were laid flat against his head and his razor like teeth were bared in a low scowl. Duthjack just laughed as he dwarfed the small tiger. “And what the hell do you think you’re going to do?” he asked with a chuckle. “Look behind you and find out asshole!” Alexander growled, swinging his sword around a few times in his right paw. Still laughing a little, Duthjack turned around. His laughing immediately stopped as he saw about fifteen of his men, dead or dying, all in one line leading to where he was now standing. He whirled back around to seeing Alexander charging at him. Duthjack raised his sword to point at Alexander’s throat but the tiger spun, knocking it out of the way. At this Duthjack also spun around, though in the opposite direction. As both Alexander and Duthjack came to face each other again, they both found the cold steel of a sword against their throats. “Very good young one, no one has ever done that before,” Duthjack said softly as he and Alexander held their positions. A few of Duthjack’s men looked in amazement as Alexander and Duthjack stood off, swords at their necks. “Maybe this village’s people are worth something. You are an even better fighter then their general though.” “Their general was my father you peice of shit, and you killed him!” “I’ve killed many fathers young one, not to menchin many mothers in the process. You were just the only child of someone I killed to seek revenge, let alone seek it only five minutes after I killed him,” Duthjack stated. He chuckled a little as a few ideas rushed through his head. “I’ll tell you what; you lower your sword and I lower mine. Because of your actions, I have come across an idea. I’ll leave your quaint little town alone for a while, as it seems to be at least a little worthy of respect if you are any kind of example of it's abbilities. When you’re ready, weather it be two days from now, or twenty ears from now, you find me and attempt to avenge your father. I don’t wont to kill a young child because he was unprepared in attacking me.” Alexander growled low again. He did like the idea but wasn’t going take Duthjack up on his offer for two reasons; there is no proof that Duthjack would keep his word of leaving the village alone, and Alexander didn’t want to wait to bring justice to the fool that struck down his father. “I don’t think so smart-ass! I’m going to kill you here and now!” Just as he said this Duthjack spun around with impossible speed and hit Alexander over the back the head with the hilt of his sword. Alexander went to move but all of the sudden everything went black. He could feel himself falling, banging his muzzle off the ground, and then all consciousness finally left his body. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alexander felt a strong but soft paw gripping his shoulders and shaking him lightly. “Wake up Alexander. Come on man, wake the hell up!” urged a deep voice from somewhere in the darkness. Alexander’s ears were ringing horribly so he couldn’t quite tell who it was. There was another hard shake, this time a little more violent. Alexander rolled over on his back but didn’t open his eyes. “Please dad, I’ll get up in a minute,” he said, not remembering what had just conspired. All of the sudden Alexander felt a paw leave his shoulder and smack him hard across the face. In an instant he snapped awake and sat straight up. “What the fuck is up with you dad!” he yelled, his eyes still very blurry. “I’m not your damn dad you idiot,” Trent said blatantly from beside Alexander. He looked pretty exhasuted, his breathing was heavy, and there was blood splattered on his face and close. Alexander sobered right up after seeing the blood. “Oh shit man, are you hurt?” he asked worriedly. Trent chuckled a little and shook his head. “No, it’s not mine,” he said quickly, pointing down at the blood covered hallabird beside him. “Those bastards sure did give up a fight, but once you fought the ass that killed your dad, they just up and left.” Alexander finally remembered everything that happened before he got knocked out, bolted to his feet, and ran towards were his father had died. There were several knights standing around Dolmen’s lifeless body. Alexander tried to push his way through but a large bear turned around and grabbed him. “No Alex,” the bear said in a deep voice, struggling to hold Alexander back. “You shouldn’t see this.” Alexander growled deeply at the huge bear. “I already saw him, now get the fuck out of my way!” he yelled, bringing his knee up into the bear’s crotch. The bear released his grip on Alexander and fell to the ground like a rock, both paws between his legs. Alexander left the bear to maon in pain and pushed his way past the rest of the crowd, finally reaching his dead father. Kryn was kneeling over Dolmen, a single tear welling up in one of his eyes. He looked up to see Alexander kneeling beside him. “Alex, I’m sorry this happened, we got split up in the battle and…” Alexander raised one paw to shush Kryn. He was still looking at his father as he said, “No Kryn, it’s not your fault.” Though he was softly crying, the tears freely flowing down his short muzzle, he showed no other emotions. “You were his best friend in the entire world, and the last thing he would want is for you to think that his death is your fault.” Kryn looked at Alexander confusedly, a little shocked at the fact that Alexander was quite calm even though he was looking at his dead father. Kryn would have expected someone in his situation to be completely un-cunsolable. But Alexander was holding in his emotions quite well. “Very well,” Kryn said softly. He reached down to pick Dolmen up as to take him back to the village, but Alexander quickly grabbed his wrist.
Copyright © 2004 Draco Streaver |