Le Sigh
Lord of Microsoft Paint
Queen Violet Flame stepped out into the courtyard in full armor. The sunlight glinted off the steel of her large sword and armor. The strong wind blew her cape around majestically. She was more than a bit anxious and worried, yet upon her face was a determined smile.
A few stared at her in awe, and these she smirked at. "What? This is my war, too. I don't see why all you soldiers should get to have all the fun." They laughed, and it was a good, wholesome laugh.
Violet continued to stride forwards, nodding to her knights, Lanslet and Kota, as she passed them. Finally, she stopped at the front, among her soldiers, sword at the ready.
At last, they could see them. Great shapes in the distance. Violet and a few others squinted their eyes to see what they were. Battalions, perhaps? Great war machines?
As they came forth, they all saw they were no machines, nothing of the sort at all.
They were dragons.
***
Duty, honor, queens, kings, kingdoms, and countries all of these words felt meaningless to Lanslet as he stared up at the sky, as dragons approached. Once a proud son of the noble House Almeric, now just a wayward son who found a home as a knight of Purplexia. Fear and doubt wormed their way deep into his young and fragile heart. His body shook with unknown terror, a feeling he hadn't felt since the night he ran. He desperately hated this feeling.
For a brief moment, his eyes meet with Kota's and time seemed to stop as all of his fear seemed to fall away. All the tension in his heart and mind quickly fell away in that brief instant. A grin tugged at the edge of his face as a hearty laugh escaped him. "Dragons, they brought dragons to fight us. A terrifying sight indeed." he looked to men and drew his sword, raising it high in the air. "But we are the unstoppable Royal Guard of Purplexia, it will take a lot more than a couple of dragons to shake our will." The men cheered loudly at his triumphant declaration.
The young knight took a deep breath before he began to sing aloud.
"The creak of an iron hinge
A cold dark shape within
Held in a sheath so plain
A long slender blade
It has its own free will
And it uses me to kill
Steel wrapped in skin
Let the struggle begin
New moon, bind my soul
White hot, the steel was etched with fire
Spirit blade, made my own
I call you Need out of my desire"
***
The storm hit.
It was like a giant wall of beating wings and clawed talons, shining copper scales and dagger-like teeth. The archers shot down many of them, but there were so many. They crashed against the walls and soldiers, and quite a few were snatched up, screaming.
A dragon snapped at Violet. She quickly dodged out of the way, and decapitated the great beast with a swipe of her large sword. The creature fell, and it's rider leaped from it's back and landed in front of the queen.They pulled their visor up, and Violet saw it was none other than Rosa Dream herself.
"Greetings, sister," Rosa said. "I am sorry that it had to end this way."
She turned to see Kota, and the woman sneered. "I see you brought your pet dog with you as well."
"Commander and personal guard Kota, actually, Dream." Kota growled, spitting out her name like poison. "I have been waiting for this day, Rosa." She twirled her swords, still staying in front of Violet.
Rosa just smiled bemusedly at Kota's threat. "So you have." She turned to Violet. "But my real target here is the queen. How have you been, sister?"
Violet raised her blade to her cheek, point outward like a spear. "Honestly? Not very well. I believe this time my luck will change."
Her sister chuckled. "We'll see, Violet. We'll see."
They clashed. It was amazing. If they had been fighting side-by-side, it would have been synchronized. In any case, they were able to match each other's blows almost perfectly. They were a storm, and any soldier trying to flank one of them would get easily sucked in and destroyed.
***
Lanslet stood firm as one of the dragons came crashing towards him with the creatures mighty talons ready to tear him to ribbons. It seemed like Lanslet was a goner, at first. Then the dragon let loose an unearthly wail before slumping over. From beneath the beast as a slender blade shot out, piercing it’s rider through the chest. "Come now, it will take more than that to defeat me." Lanslet pushed his way from underneath the dragon, now lying bleeding from a rather small wound that bleeds fiercely. His tunic stained with the creature's blood. "Spearmen, ready yourselves. Aim between for the dragon's chest. Their hide is vulnerable there.”
In a surprising move, a rider leaped down from his mount as it soared overhead. Crashing into a group of knights, he quickly dispatched them with a single swing of his lance. The warrior stood tall among his enemies; he exuded rage, launching himself towards the royal guards closest to him. In the brutal onslaught, Lanslet heard a man cry out "It's...it's the Beast! Ranald Artair is fighting for the enemy!"
Lanslet froze in his tracks as he heard the name of the attacker. It was none other than the man who helped him when he ran away. He couldn't explain it but he started rushing towards the area where he heard the cry came from. A part of him didn't want to believe, they must have been mistaken on who they saw but his fear was confirmed as he saw the man he respected almost as much as his grandfather. "Ranald!" He shouted across the courtyard.
Ranald looked up toward the man who called out to him and a genuine look of surprise took him. "Well, well if it isn't Lanslet. So this is where you ended up. A dog for the queen. I thought you were better than this."
Anger flashed across the young knights face. "How can you be a part of this?!" His fists clenched tightly around his the handle of his sword.
"It's simple. I want to see the Queen fall. I want her to suffer as I have suffered. And I really hate to have to fight you, but if you're in my way, then so be it.”
“Ranald, you bastard!” Lanslet cried, and the two rushed forward and became locked together in combat.
***
Rosa stepped back to make a pierce, huffing. She was having a very hard time trying to kill Violet. The queen was mostly relying on her own training, which should have left them both without a scrape. But Rosa had already suffered a nick to the face and a few cuts on the side, while Violet was unharmed.
"H... how?! How can you... we trained together! I was... we never could defeat one another, we knew each others weaknesses!" Rosa cried between gasps.
Violet smiled. "Call it karma, sister."
"Rrrgh!" Rosa growled, frustrated, as Violet once again managed to completely and effortlessly dodge her attack. "Stop it, sister! Let me seize the throne in one piece, will you?"
"Let me think... no," Violet said.
"Argh! I don't understand! I know you like my own hand! I should be-" she stopped as an idea occurred to her. "You have a Blessing, don't you?"
Violet froze. She was correct, of course. After the assassination attempt, the guards had found what was, indeed, a Blessing located on the assassin's back. The queen had decided at that moment that she ought to get one of the mystical tattoos herself, which enhanced her strength, speed and health.
Rosa raised her blade. "Well, it won't help you now, sister."
They collided again, but this time it was different. Now, Rosa was spearing at Violet, pushing her back. Violet was forced to keep moving back. "Why the change in tactics?" Violet asked in between exchanges of blows. "Afraid of me now that my trump card is in play?"
"No," Her sister replied. "I don't give a damn about the Blessing. I don't need to destroy it to kill you. I just need to put you in a position to get yourself killed."
Violet's eyes went wide, but not before Rosa dashed into her reach and pushed her off the wall.
It was a long fall. Violet's cape fluttered in the wind, before falling flat as the queen fell to the ground with a sickening crunch.
Rosa looked on from above. "I'm sorry it had to end this way, dearest sister," Rosa said, turning to the losing army. "But I have a kingdom to conquer."
***
Everything went into slow motion for Kota. She reached out with her senses, and dropped one of her swords as a single tear slowly rolled down her face. She ran to the end of the wall and looked down. With a simple glimpse she indeed saw it was true.
She just as quickly turned back around to face Rose Dream. "You bitch!" she growled, pain in her voice, as tears continued to fall, "Your own sister! Your own blood! You will pay for this!"
Rosa was able to block most of the blows, but she was slowly getting worn down. Kota was strong, stronger than her. So she called over six or seven of her soldiers to help finish her off. Honor be damned.
Kota grinned as she could even feel that Rosa began to tire, "What's wrong, Rosa? Surprised that I actually am what is spoken of me? Or are you just upset that you could actually lose this?" she mocked Rosa as they were in a sword lock, using all their strength to try to disarm the other. As Rosa called over more troops to try to out power her, she grinned. As she continued to duel the other troops, she grinned, as they were easily no match for her. She snapped a soldier’s neck and tosses his body at the others. Another she uppercut to the jaw with her arm guard and impaled him in the chest with her sword, and the other she ripped his throat out with her bare hands.
The fool, Rosa thought as she saw Kota forget about her and focused on the soldiers. Now, she would be distracted. Now would be the soon-to-be queen's chance.
Rosa lunged forward with her sword for one final attack.
***
Without warning, Lanslet rushed forward towards his once called friend and stuck with such speed and seemed that all Ranald could do was defend. "All this chaos! All this suffering! How could you be a part of it!" With each strike, his blows seemed to become ever sharper. "You were my friend. My brother. You showed me how to live and now you help the ones who wish to destroy all that we have!"
Was this really the same boy he had found all those years ago? he thought quietly to himself. "I can't stop. I'll never stop. The royal guard took the only thing I cared about in this world. They killed my brother. They mistook him for a bandit and killed him without hesitation. I can't forgive them. I just can't."
"Then we should end it here," Lanslet said as he focused everything he had into one more attack. Ranald answered in kind. In a flash, both rushed towards the other, ready to give a killing blow.
There was the sound of metal hitting flesh, and the sound of blood pouring onto the stone floor below them.
"Forgive me ...my friend." In a shocking turn of events, Ranald slumped over onto the ground with Lanslet's sword still deep within his chest.
The young knight looked on in horror at his victory. His hands shook violently as he fell to his knees.
***
All went silent for Kota, as a fiery hot burning sensation pierced her side. She gasped as the pain. It was unlike any she had ever felt. Both of her weapons fell from her hands. Kota looked at Rosa as a small trickle of blood fell from her lips. "It… It only makes sense, you know…? You wanted Purplexia to yourself so badly, that you were willing to slay your own sister…”
Kota fell to her knees. She emitted a wracking coughed, and blood splattered onto the ground. “Even though all you had to do was come back home… Violet would have ruled Purplexia with you… She… She never once wanted you dead, or as an enemy… She only wanted her family..." She looked back up at Rosa once more. "My only question is… Why...? Why end Purplexia like this…?”
Rosa looked down at the body of her enemy. "I do not care how I take over this realm, so long as I do it. I regret it had to end this way, but so be it." She pulled her sword free and continued on her way.
***
Lanslet saw Kota fall to the ground, and his mind began to unravel. "No!" He screamed as he rushed madly towards her. Gently he held her in his arms, tears streaming down his face. "I failed you ... I ... failed everyone. I'm so sorry Lady Kota. I wasn't strong enough."
“L-Lanslet, I…” Kota coughed again. Her breathing was shallow and raspy as she lay there in an ever so slowly growing pool of her own blood. She knew her time was growing ever so slowly. As she looked at her ally through hazy vision, she managed to croak out with her last breath, "Y-you...You need to bring me...m-my...my body...T-to the Nor...Northern m-moun...tains...They'll...they'll know what to do...please...please..."
With a final breath, Kota died.
Lanslet knelt by her side a moment longer. Then he carefully lifted her up and made his way to a horse that hadn't run off in the chaos. With as much care as he could, he laid her across the horse, using a rope to keep her from falling off. He would have to stop and find a cart later if he could. Once he was sure she was secured he made his way to Ranald's corpse. After sheathing his sword, he also took the mercenary’s lance. With one last long look, he left the castle with Kota's body. He wasn't sure what he would find, but he would fulfill Lady Kota's dying request, even if it would cost him his life.
A few stared at her in awe, and these she smirked at. "What? This is my war, too. I don't see why all you soldiers should get to have all the fun." They laughed, and it was a good, wholesome laugh.
Violet continued to stride forwards, nodding to her knights, Lanslet and Kota, as she passed them. Finally, she stopped at the front, among her soldiers, sword at the ready.
At last, they could see them. Great shapes in the distance. Violet and a few others squinted their eyes to see what they were. Battalions, perhaps? Great war machines?
As they came forth, they all saw they were no machines, nothing of the sort at all.
They were dragons.
***
Duty, honor, queens, kings, kingdoms, and countries all of these words felt meaningless to Lanslet as he stared up at the sky, as dragons approached. Once a proud son of the noble House Almeric, now just a wayward son who found a home as a knight of Purplexia. Fear and doubt wormed their way deep into his young and fragile heart. His body shook with unknown terror, a feeling he hadn't felt since the night he ran. He desperately hated this feeling.
For a brief moment, his eyes meet with Kota's and time seemed to stop as all of his fear seemed to fall away. All the tension in his heart and mind quickly fell away in that brief instant. A grin tugged at the edge of his face as a hearty laugh escaped him. "Dragons, they brought dragons to fight us. A terrifying sight indeed." he looked to men and drew his sword, raising it high in the air. "But we are the unstoppable Royal Guard of Purplexia, it will take a lot more than a couple of dragons to shake our will." The men cheered loudly at his triumphant declaration.
The young knight took a deep breath before he began to sing aloud.
"The creak of an iron hinge
A cold dark shape within
Held in a sheath so plain
A long slender blade
It has its own free will
And it uses me to kill
Steel wrapped in skin
Let the struggle begin
New moon, bind my soul
White hot, the steel was etched with fire
Spirit blade, made my own
I call you Need out of my desire"
***
The storm hit.
It was like a giant wall of beating wings and clawed talons, shining copper scales and dagger-like teeth. The archers shot down many of them, but there were so many. They crashed against the walls and soldiers, and quite a few were snatched up, screaming.
A dragon snapped at Violet. She quickly dodged out of the way, and decapitated the great beast with a swipe of her large sword. The creature fell, and it's rider leaped from it's back and landed in front of the queen.They pulled their visor up, and Violet saw it was none other than Rosa Dream herself.
"Greetings, sister," Rosa said. "I am sorry that it had to end this way."
She turned to see Kota, and the woman sneered. "I see you brought your pet dog with you as well."
"Commander and personal guard Kota, actually, Dream." Kota growled, spitting out her name like poison. "I have been waiting for this day, Rosa." She twirled her swords, still staying in front of Violet.
Rosa just smiled bemusedly at Kota's threat. "So you have." She turned to Violet. "But my real target here is the queen. How have you been, sister?"
Violet raised her blade to her cheek, point outward like a spear. "Honestly? Not very well. I believe this time my luck will change."
Her sister chuckled. "We'll see, Violet. We'll see."
They clashed. It was amazing. If they had been fighting side-by-side, it would have been synchronized. In any case, they were able to match each other's blows almost perfectly. They were a storm, and any soldier trying to flank one of them would get easily sucked in and destroyed.
***
Lanslet stood firm as one of the dragons came crashing towards him with the creatures mighty talons ready to tear him to ribbons. It seemed like Lanslet was a goner, at first. Then the dragon let loose an unearthly wail before slumping over. From beneath the beast as a slender blade shot out, piercing it’s rider through the chest. "Come now, it will take more than that to defeat me." Lanslet pushed his way from underneath the dragon, now lying bleeding from a rather small wound that bleeds fiercely. His tunic stained with the creature's blood. "Spearmen, ready yourselves. Aim between for the dragon's chest. Their hide is vulnerable there.”
In a surprising move, a rider leaped down from his mount as it soared overhead. Crashing into a group of knights, he quickly dispatched them with a single swing of his lance. The warrior stood tall among his enemies; he exuded rage, launching himself towards the royal guards closest to him. In the brutal onslaught, Lanslet heard a man cry out "It's...it's the Beast! Ranald Artair is fighting for the enemy!"
Lanslet froze in his tracks as he heard the name of the attacker. It was none other than the man who helped him when he ran away. He couldn't explain it but he started rushing towards the area where he heard the cry came from. A part of him didn't want to believe, they must have been mistaken on who they saw but his fear was confirmed as he saw the man he respected almost as much as his grandfather. "Ranald!" He shouted across the courtyard.
Ranald looked up toward the man who called out to him and a genuine look of surprise took him. "Well, well if it isn't Lanslet. So this is where you ended up. A dog for the queen. I thought you were better than this."
Anger flashed across the young knights face. "How can you be a part of this?!" His fists clenched tightly around his the handle of his sword.
"It's simple. I want to see the Queen fall. I want her to suffer as I have suffered. And I really hate to have to fight you, but if you're in my way, then so be it.”
“Ranald, you bastard!” Lanslet cried, and the two rushed forward and became locked together in combat.
***
Rosa stepped back to make a pierce, huffing. She was having a very hard time trying to kill Violet. The queen was mostly relying on her own training, which should have left them both without a scrape. But Rosa had already suffered a nick to the face and a few cuts on the side, while Violet was unharmed.
"H... how?! How can you... we trained together! I was... we never could defeat one another, we knew each others weaknesses!" Rosa cried between gasps.
Violet smiled. "Call it karma, sister."
"Rrrgh!" Rosa growled, frustrated, as Violet once again managed to completely and effortlessly dodge her attack. "Stop it, sister! Let me seize the throne in one piece, will you?"
"Let me think... no," Violet said.
"Argh! I don't understand! I know you like my own hand! I should be-" she stopped as an idea occurred to her. "You have a Blessing, don't you?"
Violet froze. She was correct, of course. After the assassination attempt, the guards had found what was, indeed, a Blessing located on the assassin's back. The queen had decided at that moment that she ought to get one of the mystical tattoos herself, which enhanced her strength, speed and health.
Rosa raised her blade. "Well, it won't help you now, sister."
They collided again, but this time it was different. Now, Rosa was spearing at Violet, pushing her back. Violet was forced to keep moving back. "Why the change in tactics?" Violet asked in between exchanges of blows. "Afraid of me now that my trump card is in play?"
"No," Her sister replied. "I don't give a damn about the Blessing. I don't need to destroy it to kill you. I just need to put you in a position to get yourself killed."
Violet's eyes went wide, but not before Rosa dashed into her reach and pushed her off the wall.
It was a long fall. Violet's cape fluttered in the wind, before falling flat as the queen fell to the ground with a sickening crunch.
Rosa looked on from above. "I'm sorry it had to end this way, dearest sister," Rosa said, turning to the losing army. "But I have a kingdom to conquer."
***
Everything went into slow motion for Kota. She reached out with her senses, and dropped one of her swords as a single tear slowly rolled down her face. She ran to the end of the wall and looked down. With a simple glimpse she indeed saw it was true.
She just as quickly turned back around to face Rose Dream. "You bitch!" she growled, pain in her voice, as tears continued to fall, "Your own sister! Your own blood! You will pay for this!"
Rosa was able to block most of the blows, but she was slowly getting worn down. Kota was strong, stronger than her. So she called over six or seven of her soldiers to help finish her off. Honor be damned.
Kota grinned as she could even feel that Rosa began to tire, "What's wrong, Rosa? Surprised that I actually am what is spoken of me? Or are you just upset that you could actually lose this?" she mocked Rosa as they were in a sword lock, using all their strength to try to disarm the other. As Rosa called over more troops to try to out power her, she grinned. As she continued to duel the other troops, she grinned, as they were easily no match for her. She snapped a soldier’s neck and tosses his body at the others. Another she uppercut to the jaw with her arm guard and impaled him in the chest with her sword, and the other she ripped his throat out with her bare hands.
The fool, Rosa thought as she saw Kota forget about her and focused on the soldiers. Now, she would be distracted. Now would be the soon-to-be queen's chance.
Rosa lunged forward with her sword for one final attack.
***
Without warning, Lanslet rushed forward towards his once called friend and stuck with such speed and seemed that all Ranald could do was defend. "All this chaos! All this suffering! How could you be a part of it!" With each strike, his blows seemed to become ever sharper. "You were my friend. My brother. You showed me how to live and now you help the ones who wish to destroy all that we have!"
Was this really the same boy he had found all those years ago? he thought quietly to himself. "I can't stop. I'll never stop. The royal guard took the only thing I cared about in this world. They killed my brother. They mistook him for a bandit and killed him without hesitation. I can't forgive them. I just can't."
"Then we should end it here," Lanslet said as he focused everything he had into one more attack. Ranald answered in kind. In a flash, both rushed towards the other, ready to give a killing blow.
There was the sound of metal hitting flesh, and the sound of blood pouring onto the stone floor below them.
"Forgive me ...my friend." In a shocking turn of events, Ranald slumped over onto the ground with Lanslet's sword still deep within his chest.
The young knight looked on in horror at his victory. His hands shook violently as he fell to his knees.
***
All went silent for Kota, as a fiery hot burning sensation pierced her side. She gasped as the pain. It was unlike any she had ever felt. Both of her weapons fell from her hands. Kota looked at Rosa as a small trickle of blood fell from her lips. "It… It only makes sense, you know…? You wanted Purplexia to yourself so badly, that you were willing to slay your own sister…”
Kota fell to her knees. She emitted a wracking coughed, and blood splattered onto the ground. “Even though all you had to do was come back home… Violet would have ruled Purplexia with you… She… She never once wanted you dead, or as an enemy… She only wanted her family..." She looked back up at Rosa once more. "My only question is… Why...? Why end Purplexia like this…?”
Rosa looked down at the body of her enemy. "I do not care how I take over this realm, so long as I do it. I regret it had to end this way, but so be it." She pulled her sword free and continued on her way.
***
Lanslet saw Kota fall to the ground, and his mind began to unravel. "No!" He screamed as he rushed madly towards her. Gently he held her in his arms, tears streaming down his face. "I failed you ... I ... failed everyone. I'm so sorry Lady Kota. I wasn't strong enough."
“L-Lanslet, I…” Kota coughed again. Her breathing was shallow and raspy as she lay there in an ever so slowly growing pool of her own blood. She knew her time was growing ever so slowly. As she looked at her ally through hazy vision, she managed to croak out with her last breath, "Y-you...You need to bring me...m-my...my body...T-to the Nor...Northern m-moun...tains...They'll...they'll know what to do...please...please..."
With a final breath, Kota died.
Lanslet knelt by her side a moment longer. Then he carefully lifted her up and made his way to a horse that hadn't run off in the chaos. With as much care as he could, he laid her across the horse, using a rope to keep her from falling off. He would have to stop and find a cart later if he could. Once he was sure she was secured he made his way to Ranald's corpse. After sheathing his sword, he also took the mercenary’s lance. With one last long look, he left the castle with Kota's body. He wasn't sure what he would find, but he would fulfill Lady Kota's dying request, even if it would cost him his life.
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