Disclaimer: DC owns all the characters herein. I'm so jealous.
Enchanted Mirrors
Chapter Ten: The Final Battle, Part II
As Raven had flown away to assist the men, Koriand'r approached her sister with the lithe, predatory walk of a jungle cat on the hunt. If ever Komand'r had felt fear, it was at that moment.
"So you're going to fight me for the throne, little sister?" she sneered, true to her egoistic personality.
"You," Koriand'r responded with disdain as the two warrior-women began circling each other, "will address me as Princess Koriand'r, or not at all."
Turning on her heel and circling in the opposite direction, making her sister do the same, the dark-haired traitor laughed, "Is this the part where I get scared and hand you the crown or face your wrath?"
"Well, I doubt you shall so easily hand over the crown that does not rightfully belong to you in the first place, but you already fear me, Komand'r."
Another laugh.
Koriand'r smirked. "I can see your apprehension, sister dear. You know you will not be able to beat me. You, weakling, cannot even fly. Even infant Tamaraneans can fly, yet you have not the strength. Why is that, Komand'r?"
The weakling in question growled as the old wound was reopened. "Yes, you're right, Kory, I can't fly. I'm seen as a defect, a weakling, a mutant. And you are the perfect, sparkling, future queen. Well," Komand'r grinned nastily, and Koriand'r instinctively dug her feet in for battle as a response, "not anymore Kory. I'm the queen now!" Komand'r's hands glowed with green light. "So I'll fight you, and I will win!"
Koriand'r was unprepared for Komand'r's speed. Even though the elder sister couldn't fly, she leaped through the air so quickly that her target took the full brunt of a starbolt-powered punch to the jaw.
Flying back, Koriand'r was caught by her red hair. She resisted the need to cry out in pain and glared at the owner of the hand grasping her mane. Noses an inch apart, the sisters glared for a second before Koriand'r's glowing green eyes appeared to literally boil with rage. With a gasp Komand'r tried to back away from her sister's face, but too late: a powerful beam of solar energy burst from Koriand'r's eyes directly into the face before her. Komand'r was unable to hold in her scream of intense pain.
The red-head towered over her kneeling enemy who cried in pain over her burning face, and said, "Flying is not the only strength I possess that you do not." Komand'r glared at her in fury as she continued, "The throne is meant for a Tamaranean strong enough to protect it. And that, Komand'r, will never be you."
Komand'r growled as she regained her feet, "Enough talking."
Hands glowing once more, Koriand'r hunched into a ready fighting stance and replied, "Agreed."
This time the younger sister lunged first, going for the throat of her opponent, but not catching it, catching instead her collar. Using that to her advantage, Koriand'r grasped the choker firmly, spun around twice to gain speed, and threw Komand'r into a nearby marble pillar. She followed the assault with several starbolts into the cloud of dust the bloomed in the crash, causing wind to swirl the fog.
Squinting into the rubble when no sound of pain came, Koriand'r took a few steps forward. Suddenly a flash of green light flew out of the dusty air. Koriand'r dodged three starbolts, but one caught her shoulder, slowing her for another to hit her straight in the gut.
The solar-powered blow pushed the princess back several feet before she took flight and rushed right to the spot from which the shots had come. The lingering dust clouded her vision, but as it started to settle and she began turning in search of her opponent, she was hit from behind. The kick brought her to the ground, and as she fell she turned to face her attacker and sent eyebeams at her. Komand'r shouted out in pain, and Koriand'r smiled at the sound.
Before she could lift herself off of the rubble-covered floor, Koriand'r was grabbed by the shoulders and roughly yanked up. Komand'r shouted in her face, spittle flying in her anger, "You cannot win, Kory!"
"That is where you are wrong," the redhead shouted in response, emphasizing her point with eyebeams that Komand'r easily ducked. However, Koriand'r expected the move, and took the opportunity to tuck her legs up to her chest, her weight supported entirely by her sister's hold on her shoulders, and kicked out with as much force as she could muster. The force of the kick sent Komand'r sailing back towards a nearby wall, but she managed to slide one hand on the ground, slowing her until she could plant her feet and stop herself, crouched down on her haunches.
From her crouch, she glared at her sister, who had flipped from her kick on Komand'r's chest to gracefully land on her feet. With some shock, Komand'r realized that Koriand'r had not stood idle while she stopped her unbridled flight, and that starbolts now soared straight at her face. She dodged to the right, eliciting a smile from her sister, who looked up to observe a section of the ceiling falling onto Komand'r, by grace of several well-placed starbolts after she had been kicked.
As gravity brought the huge section of stone castle down on her, Komand'r stood up to meet it with her fist raised. A huge crash of stone breaking was heard. All the hunks of stone bricks landed loudly on the ground, followed by a heavy silence. Koriand'r swiftly threw a starbolt into the rubble to move the air and dissipate the dust. When the air cleared, Koriand'r's eyes widened, then narrowed with an angry growl.
Komand'r stood in the center of the stone mess, fist still raised, not even bleeding from the impact. "You'll have to try harder than that, baby sister."
Koriand'r took the bait and flew forward.
"What," Komand'r taunted, "can't you beat me without flying? I can beat you without flying or using eyebeams. Why don't you try it?"
Landing in front of her sister, Koriand'r began throwing blows at her sister, most of which were dodged, and said, "I am not stupid, Komand'r, and I shall not fall for your petty tricks."
A hard punch painfully caught Koriand'r in the jaw, and she retaliated with a kick at Komand'r's side, making her stumble, and opening her to another blow from Koriand'r's foot in the back of her head. Finally, Koriand'r thought, I brought her to her knees.
She did not have time to take pride in her temporary victory, as Komand'r got right back up and furthered her attack with calculated fury. Koriand'r raised her hands to block the punches at her face. Suddenly Komand'r spun and threw her elbow into Koriand'r's stomach.
The red-head leaned forward as her breath was stolen by the blow. Her sister mocked, "Well, doesn't that make a nice target?" Koriand'r did not understand the comment until her sister's elbow came down on her head. She fell forward, but caught herself on her hands before she fell to her knees, supporting herself on all fours.
Using her low position, Koriand'r shifted her body so she could kick Komand'r's feet from under her. The false queen would have caught herself with her hands as her younger sister had, but Koriand'r's hand grasped her ankle as she fell, and yanked up, causing her skull to slam painfully against the marble floor. Letting out a pained grunt, Komand'r succumbed to the daze of the head wound for a few seconds, long enough for Koriand'r to ready a powerful starbolt. As Komand'r's eyes opened once the dizziness had passed, she saw her sister above her, before the blinding light of a starbolt filled her vision.
In desperation, Komand'r threw up her powered hands to block the oncoming assault. Her own starbolt clashed with Koriand'r's, and the combination created a huge explosion. For just a split second there was tense silence as the two energies fought against each other, before the light, followed by the sound, followed by the force of the explosion burst out like a microcosm of a supernova. The sound of it echoed through the entire throne room as the energy crashed a hole in the wall next to them. A large ballroom was now visible on the other side, through the once again dusty air.
Though spared the brunt of the burns from the blast as she had stood several feet away, Koriand'r was thrown back by a wave of hot air made by the explosion. Rather than fall off her feet or crash into a wall, she took flight away from the last vestiges of the explosion and the falling rubble from the wall.
For most any other living creature, the blast would have been deadly, but for Komand'r it was a severe burn at most. It smarted greatly, yet Komand'r still got up. Trying to gain some space from her sister, Komand'r backed out through the hole in the wall. Koriand'r followed.
Koriand'r narrowed her eyes at her still-standing sister, wondering what it would take to bring her down. Looking over her enemy, the princess remarked, "Sister, you appear tired, and you are covered in burns. Should you not accept defeat now?"
Komand'r growled, "Why would I give up a fight I'm winning?"
"You are not winning," Koriand'r declared surely, "and you never will be. It is time I stop showing you mercy, sister."
Despite the pain of stretching the burns that covered her face, Komand'r laughed. "Yes, Koriand'r, show me your great pow-"
Komand'r's mocking was cut off by Koriand'r's fist to her throat, choking her. Immediately following, giving Komand'r no chance to recover, Koriand'r grabbed her sister's arm, pulled her over her shoulder, and slammed her hard on the ground. She pulled Komand'r back up, swinging her in an arc over her head, to slam back onto the ground.
Koriand'r powered up one hand with a starbolt, while the other hand firmly clasped her sister's wrists together. The dark-haired warrior on the ground loosed a starbolt of her own towards Koriand'r, but it was flicked away. The red-head's face was uncharacteristically expressionless as she, holding her sister down, used her powerful starbolt to burn to bottom of her sister's feet. She held her starbolt against Komand'r's feet long enough that the shoes melted and burned away, and Komand'r was left howling in pain from severe burns on both feet.
Koriand'r thought, that should keep her off her feet. She knew it was cruel to do such a thing, but she needed Komand'r to stay down.
"Kory!"
The shout from her friend made her turn her head. All four of her comrades stood outside of the hole in the wall, smiling at her. They all sported burns from starbolts, except for Raven, but nothing seemed particularly harmful. Koriand'r smiled widely. Her friends had assisted her to victory, and none were fatally injured.
Raven started walking towards her friend, heart filled with happiness for her friend's victory, and intense satisfaction that their quest to win Koriand'r's throne was finished. Raven did not smiled outwardly, but after years knowing each other, her best friend could see the smile lurking in her eyes.
Richard followed Raven, and Victor and Garfield followed after him. When Raven was a few yards away from her friend, she opened her mouth to congratulate her friend on the victory, but stopped short.
Why did it seem so quiet all of a sudden?
She realized the answer as she was blasted off her feet and onto the ground several feet away. Komand'r had stopped screaming and crying, and she had thrown a starbolt at Raven, one much more powerful than any the soldiers could have achieved. It actually made the ever-silent Raven cry out in pain.
Richard cried out her name fearfully as he ran to her sprawled body. Koriand'r, infuriated, flew to her still conscious sister and, harder than she had ever hit anything before, punched her in the face. The force of the blow, especially as it cracked her skull between the marble floor and Koriand'r's fist, was finally enough to knock Komand'r out.
Richard held the love of his life on his lap as he cried out desperately for her to respond.
A/N: Is that a tad cruel? I've been trying to use cliffhangers more, since I usually never do. So what do you think? Is it suspenseful? Nerve-wracking? Are you desperate for the next chapter? Review! Cheers