The Princess Edd
Chapter Twenty
The two men stood in the corridor with eyes locked as Eddy raised his swords, ready to fend off any attacks that Rolf could throw forward.
Five seconds of silence passed.
And Rolf turned around and ran down the corridor.
Undeterred, Eddy took off down the hall, the wooden shoes on his feet clomping loudly as he ran.
Dazed and confused, Rolf entered the first door he came to and locked it behind him.
Eddy ran up against the door trying to open it, but it was no use. "ED!" he called down the corridor. "ED, I NEED YOU!"
Ed was still holding the still limp Marie. "I can't leave her alone!"
"HE'S GETTING AWAY FROM ME, ED! PLEASE! EEEEEEDDDDDD!"
Thinking fast, Ed propped Marie against the back of a niche in the wall, moving a body on the floor in position to stabilize her. "I'll be right back."
Marie nodded, careful not to disturb her precarious position.
Ed followed the sounds of Eddy banging against the door, and upon reaching the locked door, pushed it off its latch with his bare hand.
"Thank you." Eddy took off through the door after the Count.
Unaware of the events transpiring below them, the king and queen were escorting Edd to the honeymoon suite.
"Strange wedding," the king mused.
His wife nodded. "Yes, a very strange wedding." She opened the door for her husband. "Come along."
Edd took the stairs ahead of them before the king so he could kiss his cheek.
The king was surprised. "What was that for?"
Edd sighed. "Because you've always been so kind to me, and I won't be seeing you again, since I'm killing myself once we reach the honeymoon suite."
"Won't that be nice?" The king called to his wife. "She kissed me!"
Rolf knew the layout of the fortress and was running the most convoluted route he could think up on the spot. Unfortunately, he could still hear the sound of Eddy's wooden shoes following him everywhere he went.
At the same time, Ed had returned to collect Marie and help her find Edd. But she wasn't anywhere to be found where he left her, and one of the fallen soldiers was missing their weapon.
"What do you have to say for yourself, Colonel?!"
"They wouldn't stay and fight, Kev! I'm sorry!"
Kevin huffed in frustration. "Go find those soldiers and have them assigned remedial training. I'm heading back inside to see that the princess remains safe."
Realizing he wouldn't shake Eddy off his trail, Rolf decided to lure him to the ballroom. He brought a sickle from his belt, he ran backward into the ballroom until he saw Eddy running down the stairs, at which point he threw the sickle at Eddy, which nailed him in the chest.
Eddy froze in place and staggered backward into the stairs. "I'm sorry, bro." His breathing started shaking. "I tried. ... I tried."
Rolf sat down on the edge of the pool table. "You must be that little Dutch boy Rolf taught a lesson to all those years ago. Simply incredible. Have you been chasing Rolf your whole life only to fail now? Rolf thinks that's the worst thing he has ever heard." A smirk crossed his face. "How marvelous."
Edd reached the honeymoon suite, and the king and queen left in search of their son, granting Edd privacy. He sat down at the desk under the window and searched through the drawers until he found Kevin's handgun.
He checked that it was loaded, released the safety, pulled the hammer back, slid the barrel into his mouth,-
"There's a shortage of perfect tongues in the world;" Edd whipped his head toward the voice he heard, "it'd be a pity to damage yours."
Edd dropped the gun and ran for the bed. "Marie! Oh, Marie, darling!" Edd wrapped his arms around his true love. "Marie, won't you hold me?"
"Gently." Marie was wary about her still progressing recovery.
"At a time like this, that's all you can think to say? 'Gently'?"
"Gently!" Marie squeaked as Edd squeezed tighter, prompting him to release.
Eddy grabbed onto the rocky wall and hoisted himself up to his feet, surprising Rolf with his strained efforts. "Good heavens. Are you still trying to win? You've got an overdeveloped sense of vengeance. It's going to get you into trouble someday."
Rolf drew a sword and made a thrust at the sickle still embedded in Eddy's chest, who smacked the sword down to his left thigh.
Rolf made another thrust at the sickle, but Eddy smacked it down again, this time into his right knee.
The swords clanged together, and Eddy managed to balance himself.
"Hello. My name is Eddy McGee. You killed my brother. Prepare to die."
The swords continued banging against each other.
"Hello. My name is Eddy McGee. You killed my brother. Prepare to die."
Rolf was pushed back against and along the dining table.
"Hello! My name is Eddy McGee! You killed my brother! Prepare to die!"
"Stop saying that!"
Eddy dodged three swipes, between each he jabbed Rolf's left thigh, then his right knee, and then pushed him back into a corner.
"HELLO! MY NAME IS EDDY MCGEE! YOU KILLED MY BROTHER! PREPARE TO DIE!"
Rolf tripped over a stool, and Eddy forced him to lie face down, whereupon he thrust his foot atop Rolf's head. "Offer me money!"
"Yes!" Rolf wheezed as his skull cracked.
"Power, too! Promise me that!" Eddy flipped Rolf over.
"All that Rolf has and more! Please!"
Eddy reached for the sickle in his chest. "Offer me everything I ask for!"
"Anything you want!" Rolf made a move to sit up.
Eddy beat the sword out of Rolf's hand, plucked the sickle from his chest, and punted Rolf against the wall.
He pushed his face into Rolf's. "I want my brother back, you son of a shepherd!"
The sickle plunged into Rolf's heart, twisting as it did so.
Throwing Rolf's body to the floor, Eddy ripped off a piece of fabric from the dead Count's shirt and covered his own chest wound.
Spitting into the pool of blood on the floor, he trundled back along the corridors he had come through to find Ed again.