Surprise! Chapter 12 out in record time, it'll be some time before I get free time again so this is my way of saying sorry by rushing out another chapter. Enjoy!
The sound of screeching metal resonated throughout the room as Finn leaped away from the tart toter in another shower of sparks. "You... but, but you?" Finn couldn't gather his thoughts properly, only managing to repeat the two words in a different sequence. He studied his opponent, the bite marks that left chunks of the tart toter missing was gone. The uniform that adorned his body was also repaired, medals gleaming on his chest and black boots that shone. Finn then glanced around, finding the dummies returning to their areas and powering down.
"I did tell you that I'd be here tomorrow to high five you yesterday didn't I?" was the only reply before the old man pressed the assault. Finn barely parried an almost impossibly fast stab to his flank before trying to counter with his own heavy swing. Blades met and locked as both parties strained against each other.
"Aren't you mad?" Finn asked through gritted teeth, inwardly wondering how in the world this old man was so strong.
The Tart toter grinned. Then he grabbed Finn's sword hand and head butted him. "Who says I'm not lad? He burst into crazed laughter at that and continued swinging his sword while Finn was still reeling.
Finn grunted as the impact from his sword blocking the swings shot through his arms. Every blow was made with hammering force, contrasting with the thin rapier and the old man using it. "You know, Ugh-he grunted with the force of blocking another attack- you fight rather well for a mad old man, in fact you might just be the third person to give me such trouble at sword-play."
"Who might the other two people be then boy?"
"Well, my sister." Finn thought of Fiona's own crystal sword "And the other is the man who slaughtered a fifth of the royal guard not too long ago."
"Hahahaha, I see. Billy." The tart toter laughed a bitter, resentful sound, finally stopping his attack and seeming deep in thought as he lowered his sword, twirling his mustache with one hand.
Finn drew closer to the old man, lowering his own sword. "Wait, How do you kno-"
The tart toter sent Finn sprawling on the floor with a back handed strike before Finn even had a chance to blink or finish his sentence. "Oops, so sorry. You startled me." The old man stood over Finn for a moment before offering him a hand. Finn took the hand, pulling himself up... only to get head butted once again, feeling the air get knocked out of his lungs when he met the ground. "Get up lad, yer enemy's not gonna fight fair. That's the first lesson an adventurer like you ought to learn. As for how I knew it was Billy, I fought with and beside that lad when he was about your age too. Only he'd be able to do something like that."
"General Tart here was the one who taught Billy how to be a hero." A familiar voice echoed through the room and Finn turned to find the Candy Queen walking slowly towards the two of them in a white lab coat.
"Milady. I shall take my leave." the tart toter bowed before leaving
"Forgive me your highness but I am really confused now, who is the tart toter really? And where've you been?"
"Ah, well you see, he's headed to the others now, he was supposed to call you to my lab. I think he got a little bit carried away..." She looked at Finn's bruised and battered form. "Either way, it'll be easier if I explain at my lab where the others are."
Finn nodded before following the enigmatic queen out of the room.
When they arrived in one of her labs after navigating through a sprawling mess of secret tunnels and winding hallways, Finn found everyone else already waiting for him and the queen. When none of them sniggered, his hand automatically found it's way to his face, feeling the area where he had cut himself earlier in the morning. He was slightly shocked to find that his face was without a mark, the cut had healed in a matter of hours. He also found that the area that had healed was in fact rather cool to the touch, as if an ice-pack had been pressed to his skin.
"I bet all of you are wondering why I brought you all here today." The Candy queen's words pulled him back to the present through his thoughts.
"Well, I think it's safe to say that most of us are actually more curious about the Tart-toter than anything you're about to say right now mother." Bonnibelle cast a sidelong glance at the man standing to the side of the room at rapt attention.
"Well Bonni, for a start, his name is Edward Tart, he is the grand-general of the Candy Kingdom. You hadn't been born yet, but this man trained Billy and he helped raise the Kingdom. He ferried royal tarts only because he was the most qualified to do it. I felt it appropriate to reinstate him after working on him in my lab these past few days."
Just about every jaw in the room slammed into the ground at this point. Literally in the case of Jake.
"Of course, I haven't just been spending my time on bringing the good general back in both mind and body. Why, that would just be incredibly inefficient, spending a few days to rebuild an old general? I mean, what good would a general be without an army." The queen pulled a lever in the wall and immediately, the walls and floor of the room turned transparent. Again, jaws dropped. The entire room was held over an enormous chamber almost half the size of the kingdom. Filling this chamber was a sea of uniform battalions, knights on horseback, archers, pikemen, even a bunch of cannons around the place. The soldiers must have been in the thousands, each one equiped with uniformed equipment that displayed their rank and legion. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present the grand army of the candy kingdom."