CHAPTER 8: ALFRED'S AUDIENCE
(POV: Ja$-?.)
As James and Emily were resting from their fight, Henry and Gordon were still tag-teaming against Alfred. Sparks flew as the broadswords clashed. Making sounds of heavy swings against heavy swings. It was certainly a fight to be reckoned with. As the two sturdy Sorcerer-Knights then locked swords with their foe, Alfred grinned devilishly.
"How shocking." He remarked to his foes. "I never thought that two lowly ranked rats like you could even stand this long against me. You both should be proud of such a feat."
"Rats?!" Henry exclaimed.
"Of course we would stand this long against you!" Gordon grunted. "We trained very hard with our swords, and so we won't be that easily beaten!"
"Oh sure." Alfred replied sarcastically. "And who says I won't choose to go after Edward next? Or Thomas? Or even... Scotsman." He whispered into Gordon's ear, as the Sorcerer-Knight in blue then scowled.
"ARGH!"
"KLANG!"
"DON'T THREATEN THE LIFE OF MY BROTHER!" Gordon shouted as he then began to clash blades hard with Alfred.
"Gordon! Calm down!" Henry cried.
But Gordon wouldn't as he continued on to clash swords with Alfred crossly. Suddenly as the two arch enemies continued to clash swords, the blade of Gordon's weapon shattered in half making the Greasley to be defenseless.
"Goodbye Gordon!" Alfred said triumphantly as Henry then came charging in to protect his friend.
(POV: Henry.)
"CLASH!" Sounded our blades as they came into a lock.
I was not about to let Gordon die. He was one of my greatest of friends and I would never leave him to die by the hands of one whom we both considered to be our arch nemesis.
"Word of advice!" I said to Alfred. "Next time, when trying to kill one of us, be sure that the other is dead first! You careless cucumber!"
Alfred gave me a scowl after I said that.
"How dare you insult me!" He shouted back as he parried me backwards. "Don't ever treat me with disrespect, peasant!"
"Peasant?!" I exclaimed. "Disrespect ? I only disrespect you for how you treat us!" I stated as an argument. "You are that, Alfred! An insolent fool, who thinks that he's above the people all around him as if he's a royal!"
Alfred's scowl then began to get bigger, until it turned into a smirk. Then to our surprise the former B12 driver began to laugh maniacally. As we looked on, shocked and speechless, Alfred then sighed as he eased off from his laughter.
"You know..." He began. "What's funny about what you said just now, Henry, is that you're not too far off."
"Not too far off?!" I gasped. "You're not saying..."
"I am!" The foe of Gordon and mine replied. "I am of the royal rank, or was once part of it! Heck, I do believe that you know my twin brother too, his name is Allen."
"Allen?!" Gordon exclaimed. "You mean that magicborn prince who tried to force Lady to marry him?!"
"The very same, Gordon." Alfred replied. "Though it was one of those occasions where the twins looked nothing alike, Allen was like a true brother to me, and we took the fact of our rank with pride. However..." He went on. "Those misusers that came and invaded our palace one day killed our parents and forced the knights and guards to flee with my brother as I was left behind! I was soon later adopted by those peasants Holden Family even though I deserved so much more! I hated it! I hated it all!"
As I took this all in, my jaw was dropped, and many questions I once had were all answered. Now that his past was revealed to us, it all made sense. Why Alfred thought that he was better than any of us, why he wanted to have his engine with the number 1 so badly, and why he was angered when he didn't get it. He was once a person who lived a life, standing tall and triumphant over everyone else, before it was all ruined and undone by those souls and people in life who did not know how to behave or not harm others. As much as I hated Alfred, I couldn't help but feel pity for him for how much pain he felt on the inside. But even with that pity, I knew that there was no way that I could negotiate with him. As I then looked at him, I gave a scowl as I gave my stern message to him.
"Though I now understand your reasoning, Alfred, all that you've done so far was still wrong! I have no intention of losing to you either, so if you need to release all of your pain, DO IT NOW!"
Alfred just scowled and screamed as he charged up and clashed swords with me again. I could feel all of his pain through his blade as well as his anger and hate. He hated me and Gordon for taking numbers 3 & 4 as well as his only chance to find some height again. He hated it all, and that was what fueled his powered strikes. As he then continued to fight me, my broadsword's blade shattered, and I fell to the ground with a thud. As I looked at him, Alfred somehow seemed to look more calm than he did previously.
"Consider this a thanks for being my audience." He then said to Gordon and I as he sheathed his sword. "But the next time that we meet, I WILL kill you both."
And then before we can say anything else, Alfred darted away.
(To be continued...)