Chapter 26 – The Finishing Touches
A blinding glint of steel flashed for an imperceptible instant as the cape buffalo dodged just in time to avoid being sliced in two, but one of the curved horns of the giant beast was a casualty to the lightning fast blade wielded by the largest and toughest male tiger in Zootopia. For Alexei, Reynard's personal bodyguard, had taken the place of Sheba and offered each of his opponents their choice of weapons to use against him since he would not be using paw to paw combat.
While the cape buffalo was only slightly bigger than he, the following two opponents, a female rhino and male bull elephant were enormous, and Alexei had decided on his specially made extra large single-edged curved blade with a squared guard and long grip that could be used two pawed or single pawed. The weapon was 145 cm in length and weighed 4.9 kg, and yet the tiger wielded it so fast and powerful it was like a knife blade in his paws.
The tiger also wore his side sword, a slightly curved 80 cm blade, sheathed by his side in a scabbard to be used as a backup weapon or for close quarters combat. The great tiger on occasion demonstrated he could fight with both blades at once, but as a practical matter he only used one at a time. He was currently fighting an extra large cape buffalo who had decided on an enormous battle axe.
The buffalo used the axe to great effect both defensively and as a healthy deterrent to closing attacks. But the tiger was fast, acrobatic and agile seemingly attacking from all sides at once keeping the buffalo on the defensive. The cat constantly probed the defenses and would slice away at him as he got through the buffalo's guard time and time again. As the buffalo began to exhaust himself from his constant defensive maneuvers and the numerous cuts all over his body, he began to strike out more and more desperately trying to catch the huge cat with the cutting blade of the axe. The only problem was that the buffalo's movements were too telegraphed and the tiger easily dodged them quickly counter striking. Once the buffalo swung too far and the tiger rotated the blade and brought it slashing downward full force nearly severing the buffalo's arm. One-armed the buffalo was doomed as the tiger sliced him apart. He then jumped against a wall flipped forward slicing upward with his huge blade from behind the startled buffalo cutting deep into his thick neck leaving a stream of red blood in its wake. The buffalo realized it could no longer even raise the heavy battle axe and Alexei struck lightning fast striking deep across the front of the buffalo's neck severing his carotid artery causing him to fall forward onto the floor dead.
Those assembled were amazed at the brutal efficiency of the tiger with the enormous blade as it seemed like a giant claw extending from his body. It was as if it was a part of him and its effects deadly and brutal in their effectiveness. Sheba seemed to appreciate the huge tiger's efforts on her behalf, and Reynard was pleased to see she had gained some respect for the bodyguard. Perhaps there is some hope for the two of them to find a little moment of love in this world after all.
The fights against the rhino and elephant figured to be messy bloody affairs and those thinking such were not wrong. The opponents were far too thick and bulky for simple cuts to sever their flesh, and the great tiger had to guard against getting the blade stuck in their hide. He was still armed with the backup sword and his natural weapons, but trying to kill an elephant or rhino paw versus hoof was extremely difficult.
The rhino chose a large mace and shield. That combination along with its natural body armor made it quite a defensive opponent. It's enormous horn could easily impale and kill the tiger if the rhino could strike with it. Reynard noticed his goddess loved the great tiger although not quite as much as the tigress. The fox figured that must have to with how much a kindred soul the tigress was to his mistress. But Alexei was about to put on a show that might help change her mind.
The great cat approached the female rhino like he was going to engage her, but instead rolled forward under her shield slicing the blade across her legs. As she turned the shield instinctively, the tiger instead crouched under her continuing to spin around her slicing the blade deep across her legs spinning her around as she tried to follow him and then suddenly rolled outward with his blade held up defensively. Then giving her no chance to recover, he instantly struck across her arms, chest and shoulders weaving the blade around spinning and slashing.
Then suddenly he feinted toward her neck and instead impaled her belly with a good half a meter of steel striking under the shield that had followed the upward feint. He instantly withdrew the blade spinning to the side cutting down deep on an exposed arm. The rhino tried to keep up with the movements of the tiger, but they were far too fast and constant and seemingly were coming from everywhere. The neck and head of the rhino were enormous and well-armored so the tiger instead decided the best strategy was death by a thousand cuts.
Alexei struck over and over slicing into the arms of the rhino making it difficult for her to wield the mace and shield, but he got too close and she was able to catch him with a mighty swing of her mace catching him in the belly throwing him to the side spinning. He righted himself before hitting the wall, but was clearly hurt by her crushing blow. Her successful strike energized her giving her a small shred of hope as she grimaced trying to ignore the severe pain screaming from all over her body. She pressed forward attempt to strike a follow-up blow on the injured cat swinging with all her remaining might, but the wily striped bodyguard ducked her blow thrusting his blade with both arms impaling her nearly the full length of the blade and then just as quickly pulled it out.
She looked down in shock completely ignoring the crouching tiger which pounced skyward driving the blade upward through her neck into her skull. He then immediately released the embedded blade kicking off her belly with both back legs rolling backwards barely avoiding her massive collapsing form.
He waited for help from the assistants to roll the rhino over so he could remove his blade and was checked over by the medics. He had some bruised rips which were painful, but he decided to proceed to the final battle with the huge bull elephant. The medics gave him some pain medication to help and bandaged and padded his ribs enough to hopefully prevent them from hindering him too much. Reynard noticed Sheba was quite appreciative of his decision to continue despite his injury. Reynard had heard her betray her concern for the tiger when he had been injured, and she been his greatest cheerleader roaring with approval at his devastating strikes.
The bull elephant decided on a combination halberd in his trunk, war hammer in one hoof and a huge shield in the other. The elephant swung the halberd with his trunk nearly hitting Alexei causing him to dodge and weave as the huge monster advanced on him. The elephant had superior range with his trunk and the reach of the halberd, and had superior defensive capability with the war hammer and large shield. Alexei decided he would have to change his strategy, carefully watching the approach of the elephant judging the reach and speed of the enormous creature.
The elephant advanced cornering the tiger grinning in victory as he brought the halberd smashing down onto the head of the cat. But Alexei sidestepped the crashing trunk and halberd instead slashing forward with all his strength and weight coming into contact with the enormous thick muscled trunk and cleanly severed it.
As the elephant stood frozen unbelieving staring at half his trunk lying on the ground, Alexei didn't hesitate continuing his motion stepping forward and slashing the backs of both the elephants legs and jamming the blade of the weapon through the groin and into the belly of the huge bull. But the elephant had recovered trumpeting in anguish spinning to the side and slamming the shield against the head of the tiger causing Alexei to lose control of the hilt leaving the blade impeded nearly its entire length. The bull rampaged in pain at the tiger trying to crush him with it's massive body, war hammer or shield. The tiger desperately rolled and leaped forward out of the range of the enraged beast and came up drawing his secondary sword.
The elephant came rampaging forward, but the movement was obviously ripping it apart on the insides as the embedded sword cut into its internal organs causing horrendous damage. Alexei tried to move inside the elephant's guard slashing and striking with his sword while carefully spinning, dodging and weaving trying to avoid the enraged bull's frenzied attack. But the elephant hit the tiger a glancing blow with a shield and followed it with a strike of the war hammer knocking Alexei into a corner stunned. The elephant suddenly charged the corner landing upon the helpless tiger.
The room froze and everyone gasped. Sheba screamed in horror, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Reynard instantly opened the door pulling throwing blades, but realized he was too late. As he pulled back to toss the first blade, he instead let it drop lifelessly to the floor behind him as he saw the huge form of the elephant standing motionless in the corner. He called all his assistants in as well as the watching council, and they all grasped the huge elephant from all sides lifting upward and back. It took nearly everyone they could find to pull the elephant away from the corner. The huge bull teetered upright and then crashed backward as everyone scrambled to get out of the way.
Reynard immediately moved forward trying to remove what remained of his bodyguard and friend only to see an enormous pile of grayish and pinkish gooey pillows or casings several meters high. The fox was confused and unsure of what he was looking at until he looked back at the elephant on his back and saw its belly had been sliced open and a trail of gigantic entrails continued from the cavity to the pile of massive intestines and organs he saw piled in the corner where the tiger should be.
Reynard began desperately yanking on the huge gooey sticky globs pulling them away and immediately others joined until the saw a piece of razor sharp steel sticking upright and then saw some glimpses of orange and black stripes. They scrambled to uncover the tiger and finally exposed his head and body. Once they found his shoulders, the entire crew lifted him up by each armpit and pulled his slime covered body from the pile of entrails lying him flat on the floor.
The good news was he didn't appear to be crushed, but the bad news was he wasn't breathing. They attempted to press against his chest on his heart, but Coal and Rath were having problems pressing hard enough to have any effect and they called to try and get one of their Rhino gang members who was on the upper deck of the ship. Then all of a sudden a striped mass of fury came through knocked everyone out of the way and Sheba jumped on Alexei's chest pressing down with both paws together rapidly while Coal used his paws to make a seal on the sides of Alexei's mouth and Rath blew inside trying to get air to him. The medics then brought in a special breathing mask they placed over the tiger's mouth and a pump to quickly administer breaths while another readied a defibrillator placing a sealant on the paddles and yelled, "Clear." But just as Sheba moved off his chest for them to administer the shock, Alexei began coughing and spitting up some mucus. They removed the mask and cleared his mouth and throat and then attached an oxygen mask over his face while the medics monitored him.
After a few minutes he finally regained consciousness and sat up with his back to the floor looking confused at the elephant and the giant pile of intestines all over.
"What happened?" The giant Amur tiger asked confused as he looked questioningly at the very concerned tigress who was holding him in her arms.
Reynard answered his bodyguard, "It seems you were stunned and the elephant tried to crush you in the corner, but you must have had enough sense to raise your blade above you as he came down and you cut a hole completely through his gut. Instead of falling on top of you, you fell inside of him."
Alexei shook his head in wonderment and got a grin as the giant tigress rubbed her face against his ignoring the gooey mess and then giving him a few huge licks with her massive tongue.
Coal made another amazing observation, "You are fortunate you were not sliced apart by your own original blade which was sticking through that chest from the back of the bull. Fortunately the giant guts of the beast intercepted the huge blade protecting you from being sliced by it."
Alexei nodded but then showed a red mark down his shoulder, "I was actually sliced by it, but was very fortunate that what struck me was the dull side."
Reynard tried to get the attention of his tigress lieutenant and remarked to all, "Well how about we get Alexei to the medical bay to be fully checked out. I tend to like to have that done when one of my crew comes back from the dead. That sound okay Shea?"
Sheba nodded her head and removed Alexei's blade from the body of the elephant and cleaned it placing it back in its scabbard. She then helped to carry Alexei out of the room and to a temporary medical bay setup for just this kind of emergency. Sheba, Reynard and a few others stayed outside while they checked the tiger over thoroughly and others worked to clear the huge mess from the room.
The duels had taken the entire morning and the early afternoon to complete, and they still had 370 executions to get through. Reynard had promised his mistress a day of glory and offerings like she had never imagined possible and the next phase of the punishment would help him keep that promise to his goddess.
They decided on something they had read about in the histories called the gauntlet. They would release twenty prisoners into the room. Waiting for them would be a gauntlet of punishers consisting of Sheba armed with her teeth and claws, Coal with dual equal blades, Rath with a stave and Reynard with a full brace of throwing daggers. Each would spread out so as to avoid hitting each other and would essentially kill the twenty as fast as possible.
Reynard was essentially the insurance policy if any prisoner tried to flee or if any of the others were having any problems, as the fox would fire missiles of death rapidly killing any who caused any problems. The fox was quite happy to sit back and let the others enjoy the work as he actually had quite enough of killing for a long time to come. But gladly prepared himself to ensure his lieutenants were not harmed if things got out of control.
They had selected those with fighting skill and the biggest most powerful condemned to fight in the duels. The remaining 370 were the smaller and weaker condemned and were all unarmed so they reasoned that they could handle twenty at once. If there were any problems, or if the number seemed too easy, they planned on adjusting the number up or down as they went.
As the doors opened and the first batch of twenty entered, it was quite chaotic as those entering all tried to run back out the door and it took an entire group on the other side to try and force them to stay in the room as the desperate mammals forced their way back out. The outer six fell and were quickly dispatched by a swipe of Sheba's paws and jaws and a few cuts by Coal and crushing blows by Rath. However fourteen of the prisoners all managed to force themselves back out the door and they had to spend a good ten minutes rounding up and capturing the ones on the loose. One even managed to get to the top and jump off the boat, but a beaver gang member was able to easily catch them in the water until others arrived to haul them back.
They had learned their lesson with the first batch and instead brought the second batch completely into the room blindfolded. A full contingent of staff stood at the door to the exit and they removed their pawcuffs. The assistants then quickly removed the blindfolds and exited. The group of twenty looked around quick confused until they heard the huge tigress growling and noticed the other armed gang members, and then mad chaos reigned as a mixture of screaming, frozen staring and running in all directions occurred. If it wasn't for Reynard's mistress giving him strength and encouragement, he might have gotten sick at the massive slaughter as death surrounded him on all sides. But the fox had watched the video tapes of the House of Horrors and the various sex clubs those assembled were responsible for and the fury inside him rose and consumed him as he let knives fly in three different directions striking three different prisoners who had decided they had seen enough and taken off into various parts of the room. Sheba was a one kitty wrecking crew shredding limbs, torsos and anything she could reach. Rath and Coal made sure to give her plenty of room as they didn't want to accidentally come anywhere close to the shredding machine. The black panther and lion calmly dispatched anything within reach, and then pursued any of those that had fled. One desperate wolverine had remained unnoticed and had leapt at Coal from behind while the panther was busy dispatching a couple of targets. But the wolverine forgot about the fox waiting in the corner of the room who let two blades whistle through the air, and Coal turned feeling something crash into him only to see the dead creature at his feet with two knives protruding from its neck.
The gauntlet continued one batch after the other with various alterations, but Reynard could only call it what it was and that was a mass slaughter. The fox enjoyed the beauty of one-on-one duels as the combat held interest and challenge to him. But this slaughter on an unheard of scale sickened him. He had expected there would be guilty parties that deserved such treatment when he undertook his missions, but if he had known this would be the result, he was beginning to wonder if he would have done it again. The fox had to keep thinking about all the innocents in the worst conditions possible in ultimate hopelessness. He had spent quite a lot of time among them understanding what had befallen them. Those visits and images recorded by the mercenaries gave him the strength of will to continue to make sure this never happened to any others. As they continued batch after batch, even Sheba seemed to be getting a bit exhausted at the amount of slaughter. The only one that seemed insatiable was Reynard's mistress who was in ultimate ecstasy reveling in the death and chaos bathing in the blood of the fallen.
The gauntlet lasted two hours. Two hours of blood, guts, screams of anguish and horror, the loss of bowels and bladders, expressions of terror and despair, begging, pleading, prostrating, severed limbs, weeping and death on an unimaginable scale.
Finally it was over as the last one fell. All four of those who had been executioners felt cold inside. Committing murder on such a horrific scale did something to you even if it was justified and necessary. You had to shut your normal self away and become merely an instrument of Azrael, a bringer of earthly justice and righteous to the land.
Going forward Reynard realized he now had to focus on the living and helping all the innocents adjust to their newfound freedom. Most of those rescued could not be immediately returned to their families as they needed a great deal of counseling, medical care and love before they tried to readjust to their former lives. Some communities like bunnies had a huge support group waiting for them and could be returned almost immediately. When Rachel had gone back with her parents after being rescued with Aza from The Dungeon, she had a huge family that all made her feel welcome and loved. She admitted to Aza there were moments where she felt tainted and worthless, but her family quickly removed those feelings and doubts convincing her that she was the most precious thing they had and nothing that happened to her could change that. For those that did not have such a support system, Reynard had hundreds of kids who had been through the same thing the captives had gone through and they all helped the rescued adjust and gain back that hope and confidence they had lost.
But he had one task remaining before he could focus on the recovery process which was very well funded now due to his special fundraising efforts earlier in the day. First they released the boat from the mooring and moved it south into one of the deepest sections of the Marshlands and began the grisly process of dumping the 450 corpses or what was left of many of them. The fifteen that had bought their freedom had already been transferred to another ship and all finished transferring assets and signing and videotaping confessions. They were all being well treated and were set to be returned to their homes that evening. All of them knew the consequences of speaking about anything that occurred. The full confessions and mounds of evidence of their crimes were quite powerful deterrents to those fifteen from ever uttering a word about anything. Part of the agreement for their cooperation was that no word of their crimes or involvement in any of the activities would ever be exposed as long as they kept their silence and never committed any such crimes ever again.
They then moved the ship back to the temporary dock and then stripped everything possible from the ship they had been using for the executions. The ship had been set to be retired anyway and they were about to send it off in style. They then marched the 279 prisoners onto the ship held in pawcuffs and some with their legs restrained as well to varying degrees. All these prisoners were also wired together with cables attached to various structures in the ship. They then took the ship out into the deep water south of the city and the assistants all begin disembarking from the ship.
Reynard then got on the intercom to the entire ship pronouncing his sentence and the final punishment, Phase III, announcing calmly, "Assembled convicts, you have all been found guilty of horrific crimes against innocents and all deserve a sentence of death. However, the crimes did not rise to the level of many others. Most of you are guilty of slavery and nothing more. Because of this all of you have been given a chance, a chance at redemption and life. For any of you that survive, I hope you see this as a new opportunity to change your lives and dedicate yourselves toward the betterment of others. If however you are found to have returned to your former crimes, believe me, you will be praying for the sweet cold embrace of death if we find you."
The fox then explained the chance they were given, "If you all work together, it is possible all of you could survive. Panic and chaos is the enemy. Keep a calm head and you just might live. Those with an unfair advantage with regards to swimming such as tigers, bears, beavers, otters, hippos and any other mammal with a natural ability to be adept at aquatics have been handicapped to some degree based on their natural advantages. Remember, if you all work together, you can all get out of this alive. I am a believer in redemption, and am cheering for such an outcome. Good luck!"
A couple of assistants unlocked the ends of the long cables that snaked around the entire ship connecting the prisoners and began pulling them free until they had several hundred meters of cable piled up. They locked the door to the top and set a remote charge in front of the door. The captain then released all the seacocks at once releasing water into all the ballast tanks and the hull simultaneously scuttling the ship.
As the ship began to fill with water, all those aboard began to transfer to the sister ship they had parked alongside and quickly but orderly moved across a walkway with rails that had been setup between the ships. Fortunately it was a fairly calm day late in the evening so the shaking and movement between the ships was fairly minor. However as water began to pour over the sides of the ship and down into the hold there were screams and a great deal of pounding on the door leading to the upper deck.
Reynard got on the intercom again issuing a warning, "Please stand back from the outer door. There are charges set and it will be blown in a couple of minutes. Anyone within the blast radius could be injured, killed or knocked unconscious. This is your last warning. Good luck to you all."
The fox then put the intercom speaker down and calmly strolled across the walkway following the final crew. Once they were sure all were retrieved they began withdrawing the bridge between the ships. As the sinking ship got low enough in the water and the water began to pour in over the sides, Reynard set off the remote detonator blowing the door to the upper deck and potential salvation for all those trapped below. All other exits above deck had been sealed so it was the only escape for any that didn't wish to sink to the bottom of lake. Reynard, his council, the ship's crew, and his assistants and gang members all watched as the ship slowly began to disappear below the surface of the water.
"Are none of them going to get out?" Coal wondered.
Jasper's excellent eyesight in the low light picked up something, "Wait… I see something in the water there!"
Sure enough in the water they could see many dozens of forms floundering around. All those along the side pulled out binoculars watching the action.
The scenario did not look good for their chances of survival though as most of those in the water seemed to be spending all their energy punching and kicking and climbing over the bodies of others using their fellow captives to help keep them above water. A few of the others seemed to realize what was going on with the giant melee and decided to head out on their own moving in different directions. The captain had picked the exact point equidistant from all land so it didn't really matter which direction they swam as they all were about the same distance from land. For any understanding the currents, they may be able to ride the currents to help them make landfall. However trying to swim with restraints was extremely difficult and very slow and tiring. They had already seen a few of those swimming away struggling in place and a couple disappearing beneath the water.
The captain had checked radar and still didn't see any nearby vessels, but it was possible some of the swimmers might be able to locate a ship that could rescue them close to shore. But the vast majority of the survivors seemed to be collected in the area where the ship had sunk all hanging onto each other using the dead and suffocated as a makeshift life raft. They remained with the floating mass throughout the night intercepting a couple curious ships and discouraging them from approaching.
By the first light of the morning those still remaining alive on the mass was greatly diminished. Either part of them had decided to strike out on their own or had succumbed to elements and sunk to the bottom. Reynard and the captain decided it wouldn't be a good idea to be seen in the water in the light of the day and left the area heading northwest to the Marshlands. They arrived in one of the hidden bays in the Docks District a couple of hours later and his lieutenants and council went to take care of critical gang business and then get some rest. He also suspected Alexei and Sheba had other personal plans based on the looks the two had been giving each other.
Reynard arrived home at Maupertuis and took a long shower to clean off the many layers of blood and gore that had collected and hidden in his fur. He then had a warm bath drawn and sat in the warm water just relaxing resting his aching muscles and trying to calm his headache and rest his weary body and mind. They had a tub that was able to heat itself and maintain a constant temperature and Reynard decided to take full advantage enjoying a long relaxing bath. After about thirty minutes, he heard the door open and something got into the water with him. He smiled as the love of his life snuggled up next to him hugging him tight and rubbing her head under his chin. He wrapped his paws around her and gently touched his muzzle to hers licking her nose resulting in a giggle from his gorgeous vixen.
"What did I ever do to deserve you?" The fox remarked with a sigh.
She smiled and snuggled close, "I think there are well over a thousand children and adults that are free today that weren't a few days ago as well as many thousands of other kids who were given a future where none existed that would argue you are deserving. But my own personal answer is that I couldn't ask for a better husband or father for my kits."
Reynard pet his love's head grinning, "I think I will stay around the house for the next few days if that is okay. I have been away from you and the kits far too long."
Aza got a big grin hearing this, "Are you finally finished?"
The fox sighed, "For now… but I fear we are only just getting started."