Author's Note: Here it is, the climax! Aren't you excited? It seems like it was a very long time ago when I started this... And now it's almost over. I'm not like sad or anything though. Stories need to end sometime. Now I can go on and write new, different things.
Well, anyways, here it is. I hope you enjoy it; I sure did.
XXXIX: The Magnificent
Not even Yugu and Kleid realized that Curvetail and his squad were attacking until the daggers started raining down on them. The two female weasels had given up hope that they would be rescued by their remains of their old group halfway through the week. They hadn't even bothered to tell Murkeye, who seemed to have blended right in with Regner's crowd.
Everybeast was lounging about, with only a few standing guard, watching Salamandastron. They didn't know that they were watching the wrong way, however. Some creatures were trying to figure out what Regner was doing and who the weird ferret that had just shown up was, but most of them were just minding their own business, not doing much of anything.
Then, a stoat suddenly hit the ground, dead. A few of the group gathered around their fallen comrade, trying to figure out what just happened. Then, another one dropped dead. The group all seemed to realize that they were under attack at exactly the same time, and began to mobilize into action.
"Regner, we're under attack!!" squealed Reyla as she and her mate ducked down, hoping to avoid whatever it was that was killing everybeast.
Regner smiled, drawing his saber. "Excellent! Those stupid hares finally decided to show their faces! Ballantyne, wait here and watch as I squash the Long Patrol once and for all! Telson, Reiss, get the troops into formation, and hurry up!"
Regner's two captains began to run down the dune. The got halfway to the bottom when a knife fell from the sky, landing right in between them. They both looked at the dagger for a minute, with quizzical expressions on their faces. Reiss turned back to Regner and said, "Sire, this knife came from the opposite direction of Salamandastron."
"What?!" exclaimed Regner, "If that's true, then who's attacking us?!" Another knife fell from the sky, striking a rat directly on the top of the skull, killing him instantly.
Ballantyne looked in the direction the knives were falling from. "It appears you're being attacked by eight- no, nine- assorted characters, none of whom I've seen before."
Regner saw what Ballantyne was talking about almost immediately and was mortified. It was Conrad's crew! So they hadn't died in the fire! The warlord suddenly found himself in a very difficult position. Even if he did defeat these nine, he'd find himself outnumbered by the Long Patrol. It was like being in between a rock and a hard spot.
Weltsnout was leading the charge, reaching into Jeld's big bag and pulling out a throwing knife, then heaving it into the sky. Jeld hadn't been exaggerating; there really were about fifty of them in there. However, since he was just randomly throwing them, he hadn't managed to strike any more than three creatures.
The rat never really got a chance to show just how good a fighter he was to Curvetail and Jeld and the rest, as his head suddenly imploded when a pair of bolas wrapped around his neck. The bag of throwing knives went flying, smacking the sand with a plop and depositing the weapons everywhere.
As Buvul slowly snuck around a dune to retrieve his bolas, the other eight members of Conrad's crew continued their charge, some a little unnerved by how quickly Weltsnout had been killed. It seemed like they would never know if he really was a miniature version of Percival or not.
Telson and Reiss had grouped together the small horde, which had been a fairly easy feat once everybeast found out there were only eight attackers. "When they come o'er that dune," Telson shouted, "Give 'em all ya got!"
The eight ran over the dune in question after a few seconds, but instead of giving them all they got, the horde suddenly found themselves also being attacked from behind. Kleid and Yugu began to wreak havoc on the horde's turned backs. Kleid felled two with arrows and Yugu stabbed one in the back with her short sword.
Reyla and her mate went for the two weasels while Telson attempted to regroup the horde again before Curvetail and the rest got to them. His efforts were in vain, however.
Regner watched in absolute horror as his horde began losing numbers very quickly. He turned to the seven creatures that had just showed up with Ballantyne and shouted, "Get over here and help, you lazy idiots!"
However, this shred of hope was suddenly ruined as well. Davian swung his claw straight into Corzon's face, blinding his old friend. Darkscale jumped back, narrowly avoiding another of Davian's claws. The lizard then turned and went for Skrobb the rat. Skrobb, however, had no intention of being mauled to death by a crazy reptile. He grabbed the closest thing to him, the unfortunate Roth, and shoved the ferret in front of him like a shield.
"CRIPES!!!" Roth screamed as Davian bit into his neck, ripping off a huge chunk of flesh and spraying blood everywhere. The ferret tumbled to the ground, writhing in his death throes.
Glasseye and Skrobb exchanged an uneasy glance for a split second. Roth's last word actually had been 'cripes'. Then Skrobb ran. Glasseye chased after him, his sword drawn.
Davian was going to pursue when the blinded Corzon latched onto his back and tackled him to the ground. Corzon began to pummel Davian, hissing and screaming. Wemys reacted fast, however. He grabbed a sword that Darkscale had sheathed and went at the lizard.
Wemys never understood Corzon's motives, and he never would. The stoat hacked and slashed at the lizard's back, many times hitting only armor but actually striking the lizard just as much. He struck down about twenty times, his anger rising with every slash. That stupid lizard, who had betrayed his friends for no feasible reason! How could he have done that?
Davian pushed Corzon's blind carcass off of him. Still encased in golden armor, King Kirrent's strongest yet stupidest general rolled up, facing the sky, his mouth hung open dumbly.
Wemys turned the sword to Darkscale. The lizard didn't even attempt a fight. Darkscale sprinted away, never seen again by any of them.
"Why… How… could he… betray you…?" Wemys asked Davian.
Davian knew the answer. It was because the lizards didn't really have friends. They just had acquaintances. To them, if there was a leader who would lead them to victory (or even defeat), they must serve them. That was how they had served King Kirrent, and that was how Corzon had served Lord Regner. The only two lizards who had ever gone against this had been Kalzmar and Marclaw, and both of them had paid a price. Davian didn't know if it was the right price, but it was a price. Instead of saying these things, however, he merely shrugged.
"Let's… kill… Regner…!" Wemys shouted. He felt his anger increasing, his thoughts racing, and all reason leaving him. Then he charged at the weasel, holding his sword high. Davian followed right behind him.
Back at the battle, things had gone in the favor of Curvetail's group. They hadn't been outnumbered by a whole lot after factoring in the creatures Weltsnout, Yugu, and Kleid killed, and the rest were all a disorganized mess. However, Reyla and her mate had been giving Kleid and Yugu bounds of trouble.
Karder had hit Kleid early on in the fight, cutting her deeply with his sword. The archer fell to the ground, and Karder didn't give her a second glance, even though she wasn't dead yet. He then turned his attention towards Yugu, whom his mate Reyla was fighting… and losing. However, Karder didn't get a chance to help her, as Garland jumped out of nowhere and began to attack him.
Reiss ran around, easily ducking under most blows due to his height deficiency. He dived around the swinging chain of Tadds, crouched beneath simultaneous attacks by Lersot and Rebule, and was about to break away from the fighting when Swiss suddenly leapt in front of him and plunged his dagger into the short weasel's stomach. Reiss looked horrified. Swiss pulled the dagger back and continued fighting, leaving Reiss alone.
The short weasel immediately began to scream in agony. "He got me! He got me, I tell ya! I'm dyin', I'm dyin'!!" Reiss seemed completely unaware that he had just been stabbed by a trick dagger, and that he was completely unharmed.
Telson, however, was giving them a lot more trouble. The experienced veteran kept them at bay with his hatchet, swinging it around wildly yet skillfully. Curvetail leapt at him, only to swiftly leap back as the hatchet almost cleaved off his head. Tadds swung his chain forward, but Telson actually caught it in midair. With a strong tug, he dragged the screaming rat forward, where the hatchet smashed through his skull, killing him almost instantly.
"Tadds!!" shouted Jeld as his assistant's head split in two. He drew his deck with the unnaturally pointy edges and threw several cards right at Telson. The all bounced off the ferret as if it were nothing.
"Is that all ya can do?" Telson mocked, "I once knew a fox named—"
But the ferret never got to tell that particular story. Sensing a weak point, Curvetail swung his ball and chain savagely, smashing Telson's ribcage. The ferret crumpled in a bloody heap.
There were only a handful of Regner's horde left, and they were being quickly dispatched by the remaining seven members of Conrad's crew. Regner wasn't watching, however. Wemys and Davian were charging straight at him.
He dispatched Wemys easily enough; as soon as the stoat got close to him, the warlord swung his saber, leaving a bloody gash down Wemys' chest. He fell back and rolled down the hill again. But as soon as Regner had done that, Davian was at him with fangs and claws bared. Ballantyne seemed to have vanished, which was for the better anyways; the ferret was useless in combat situations.
Conrad's crew now began running up the dune, also to exact revenge on Regner. The weasel didn't panic in the slightest, however. He knew full well he could kill them all.
Back down below, Reyla suddenly found herself in a very bad position. Yugu was attacking relentlessly. With her mate unable to give assistance, Reyla knew that she would have no chance at beating Yugu.
Instead, she threw down her weapon. "I surrender!" she exclaimed. Seconds later, her head was lopped off by one of Yugu's swipes.
Karder saw this. Completely ignoring the fact that Garland was attacking him, he launched himself at Yugu. Her back turned, the weasel had no chance. Karder's sword went into her back, severing her spinal cord.
"You killed her, you stupid—!"
Karder had begun to kick Yugu's lifeless body, but he didn't even get one in before Garland slew him with one slash of his sword. Then he continued to stab the dead body several times, similar to what Karder had planned to do to Yugu's slain carcass.
However, Garland also didn't have a long time to do this before a bloody pair of bolas wrapped around his chest, smashing the center of his body. He collapsed to the ground, adding to the pile that consisted of Reyla, Yugu, Karder, and Kleid.
"Bolas?" Kleid suddenly said, spitting out blood, "I oughtta shoot that coward Buvul… Where's my bow?" The weasel rolled over in search of her weapon, revealing a large, fatal-looking gash.
With all of Regner's horde dead, the battle was now everybeast versus the Magnificent himself. Regner kicked Davian, tipping him off-balance and sending him falling back down the dune. The weasel began to make very good use of his advantage with the higher ground.
Lersot, who had been leading the charge-within-a-charge at Regner, was slain almost instantly as he reached the top of the dune, with Regner slashing him viciously in the neck. This caused the normally cowardly Rebule to leap at the warlord in anger, but Regner made short work of him, too.
Kicking Rebule's carcass back down the hill at his approaching foes, Regner assessed the situation. He wasn't as good a fighter as Deathblaze, and he wasn't as smart as Ballantyne, but he was balanced, and Regner had every intention of using both his brains and his brawn to the fullest. He did not let anger consume him one bit, even though his entire horde had been, once again, completely demolished. Ballantyne was still alive, and so was Deathblaze, and he could easily gather up another, larger horde in an even shorter period of time. All he needed to do was survive this final bout with the vengeful members of Conrad's crew.
There were only a few of them: Davian and Wemys, both of whom were making their way back up the dune behind him; Crowley and Swiss, both of whom were charging straight up the middle, but shouldn't be much of a problem (Regner knew how stupid Swiss was, and Crowley was covered in injuries); Murkeye, who was lagging in the back and looking a bit reluctant to fight; and Curvetail and Jeld, the real threat, both of whom were trying to hit him from the sides (Jeld had also picked up a regular sword from a fallen soldier).
Seven vengeful fighters, all against him. He could handle that.
Regner suddenly charged forward at Swiss and Crowley. Crowley kicked up a cloud of sand in an attempt to slow the warlord down. It didn't work. Crowley found himself on the end of Regner's saber, his last magic trick a dud. Swiss dived forward and stabbed Regner, but for some dumb reason, the dagger point retracted into the hilt, not even scratching the warlord. Regner knocked Swiss down as he pulled his saber out of Crowley.
Crowley wasn't dead yet, though. He swung his spear like a club, tripping Regner and sending the warlord flying down the dune, right into Murkeye. Regner stabbed the cook in the heart, slaying her instantly, then turned around to finish off Swiss and Crowley.
However, the other four attackers were already upon him. Curvetail was in the lead, and hit Regner head-on. The weasel nimbly ducked under the swinging ball and chain. Curvetail swung his weapon back, about to crush Regner's head, when an all-too-familiar pair of bolas hit him in the chest, bringing him down in a bloody heap.
"You're kidding me!!!" Curvetail roared as he fell into the sand, dying. From fairly far away, Buvul smiled triumphantly. That put his kill count to four, it seemed, even though Garland hadn't been dead when he pulled the bolas off of him.
Buvul suddenly toppled over dead, with the last arrow Kleid ever shot embedded in the back of his skull.
Regner jumped back, completely off of the dune now. Jeld, Davian, Wemys, and Swiss all ran down after him.
"Only four of you left, see!" Regner shouted, "And one of you doesn't even have a working weapon! Ha!"
Wemys charged forward, tackling Regner to the ground. The weasel kicked him off, sending the stoat flying through the air. He swung his saber just in time to deflect an attack from Jeld. Swiss jumped down and stabbed him yet again with his trick dagger, but all he was met with was the click of the blade retracting into the hilt. Jeld suddenly regretted very much his decision to give Swiss that.
Regner pushed Jeld back into Davian, and the two fell in a heap. Swiss charged him another time. Regner attempted to stab the fool, but Swiss got to him quicker. Regner, thoroughly annoyed, smashed him over the head with the hilt of his saber. Swiss crumpled in a heap, blood spurting out of his skull.
Wemys tried to hit him from behind again, but Regner dodged out of the way and tripped the stoat. Crowley, dying on the dune, hurtled his spear at the warlord, but it didn't even come close.
"Stupid old spear, I wanted a better weapon, but no, stupid Jeld had to stick me with the stupid weapons," he mumbled, just before he rested his head back and died.
Regner backed up some more. Only three left. He could do this. The warlord spotted Ballantyne, up on top of a dune, watching intently. All he needed to do was kill three vengeful fighters and then he could reform his horde and come back better than ever. It would be like eating cake. Although Regner didn't really have a taste for cake.
"Things are falling apart, aren't they?" came a voice. Regner looked back to see that it was Caldwell, still tied up. Regner decided that after he killed these three, he'd deal with that one once and for all.
Wemys charged him yet again. Regner blocked his sword and kicked him back. Jeld went for him, and Regner swung his sword to the side, slicing halfway through the gambling stoat's arm. Jeld fell to the ground, screaming and writhing in pain, the golden coin dropping out of his mouth.
"Only two left," Regner muttered to himself. Wemys and Davian encircled him, neither attempting to get too close at the moment. Regner waved his saber at them menacingly.
"Ya killed them all!" Wemys shrieked, "An' I'll get ya fer it!"
"You're a horrible fighter," Regner replied, "There's no way you could beat me. Not even Jeld or Curvetail could beat me!" He raised his saber, ready to finish off the injured Jeld.
Davian leapt forward. Regner had been anticipating this. He slashed at Davian, creating a diagonal red line all the way down the front of the lizard, tearing the already tattered white cloak that Davian had been awarded for being one of the three generals of King Kirrent, a title which was completely meaningless now.
This didn't matter to Davian, however. The lizard continued his charge, grabbing Regner by the neck. The weasel warlord stabbed forward with his saber several times, impaling Davian in numerous places. The lizard began to throttle Regner, showing the same inability to die that Lord Oxpaw had, so long ago in that dark hallway of Salamandastron. Well, Regner had survived Oxpaw and he'd survive this stupid lizard.
A million thoughts flashed through Davian's head at once. There was Corzon, betraying him for his new master, and Kalzmar, betraying the old master, and Marclaw, claiming that he was the master, and King Kirrent, who wished he was the master. All of them were dead now. And Davian finally realized that he was going to join them. But not before he took Regner with him!
The lizard, unable to dig his claws into Regner's neck, kicked the weasel squarely in the chest, and then released him. Davian slowly fell backwards, bleeding from a million spots. Regner flew backwards as well. Straight into the waiting claws of Wemys.
---
The beach was silent, other than the quiet lapping of the waves against the sand and the occasional caw of a gull. Only a few creatures were still standing; the rest were dead, piled in heaps upon each other.
Jeld slowly walked amongst the dead, his arm bandaged but still crying out in agony. He held one of his bags, and as he passed by a creature he had known, he pulled out everything he had won from them in all his seasons of gambling and gave it back to their rightful owner. The stoat figured it was the least he could do.
As he gave Murkeye her medal back, another creature walked by. This was Reiss, who had suddenly realized that he hadn't been stabbed and that he wasn't going to die. The vertically challenged weasel didn't even give a second look to Jeld as he walked past, off into the forest, with a destination unknown to all but himself.
Jeld paid the departing weasel no heed as he moved onto Curvetail, who had so unfortunately been killed by Buvul. Carefully, Jeld removed the bolas wrapped around Curvetail's chest and cast them aside, before he gave Curvetail back a pair of very sturdy boots.
Jeld continued, sorting through his large bag as he passed each one of his fallen comrades. After he gave Lersot and Rebule their things back, he began to walk back down the dune, over to where Tadds lay, his head split open.
As he approached the rat, another creature began to speak. It was Telson, who had been struck by Curvetail's ball and chain. "Y'know…" Telson began, "I once knew a ferret named Telson. Nice feller, too, until he got hit by a giant iron ball and his chest caved in. Heh… Pretty good story, don'tcha agree?"
Jeld ignored the ferret. Normally, he would have finished him off for what he did to Tadds, but this wasn't the time. The Long Patrol would deal with him later. Jeld walked by Wemys, who was sitting down on the ground, cradling his head. Jeld had something to give him, too, but he guessed that it could wait until the stoat was feeling better. Next to him lay Regner, who had been beaten, bitten, and almost torn to pieces.
As Jeld continued with his duties, an oddly-dressed ferret climbed over a dune and walked down to where Regner lay, stopping just in front of the body.
"Ballantyne…" Regner whispered, "I can't move. Help me… Please…"
Ballantyne stared down at his leader solemnly. He had thought that he had been moving towards a new beginning, that he and Regner would rebuild what they had lost trying to conquer Salamandastron. But Ballantyne had enough medical expertise to know that Regner was dying. And it wasn't a ruse this time.
Jeld gave Kleid her necklace back and turned to Garland, who lay nearby. Garland was not dead, though, although Jeld could tell that he, like Regner, would be dead very soon.
"They killed Yugu…" Garland said, "Killed her…"
"I know, Garland," Jeld replied sadly, "They killed Curvetail an' Crowley an' the rest, too. I'm sorry."
"I jus' wanna go to sleep, now…" Garland murmured, "I'm tired…"
Jeld said nothing. He watched as Garland slowly closed his eyes, never to open them again.
Ballantyne had begun to drag Regner back. Jeld ignored them, placing a small statuette by Garland, something Jeld had no idea why Garland had in the first place, but not daring to even question it in his mind.
"It's going to be all right, sire," Ballantyne told Regner soothingly, "I'm taking you back to Castle Regner, where everything will be all right."
"Did you see me, Ballantyne?" Regner babbled absent-mindedly, "I killed almost all of them. My worthless horde couldn't take them out, so I had to! Ain't that amazing?"
"Don't say 'ain't', it isn't proper grammar."
"Oh, well." Regner's eyes clouded over, and his head slumped over. Ballantyne closed his eyes. Regner was dead for real, this time. Ballantyne hadn't shed a tear when he had thought Regner had been crushed by the giant badger, but he knew he was going to this time. Why was this time different? Ballantyne decided not to waste his time trying to figure out as he dragged Regner the Magnificent's body back in the direction of Castle Regner, watery tears running down his face.
---
Wemys woke up. He hadn't even realized he had fallen asleep, as he had a dream that seemed so completely real, where all of them- Conrad, Limptail, even Davian- were all sitting around the campfire back in Mossflower Woods, just like it had been before Regner got involved. Then he woke up to the depressing reality around him.
His mind once again compared his predicament to the stories Curvetail used to tell eons ago, the depressing ones where all the protagonists died and all the antagonists lived. He was surrounded by death, and he quickly picked out all his slain comrades. Curvetail, Crowley, Murkeye, Kleid and Garland and Yugu and all of them all lay, strewn about haphazardly, many with injuries that looked like they might have been home in a story told by Telson.
He felt a piece of parchment slipped into his pocket. He pulled it out and unfolded it, and instantly knew what it was and who had given it to him.
It was a picture of him. The artist had been his sister, Madison. It was a very good sketch, and Wemys had always regretted losing it in a bet with Jeld. There was a second picture Madison had drawn, that one with Percival in it, but Wemys didn't see it anywhere. It seemed that Jeld had kept that picture.
Wemys folded the picture back up and put it in his pocket. Jeld was gone now; Wemys couldn't see him anywhere. The stoat looked around to see if anybeast was stirring. There was Telson, who seemed to be mumbling something, but Wemys ignored him. He looked over all of the bodies of his fallen comrades, trying to see if one was missing. As expected, Jeld wasn't among them, but there was also one other: Swiss.
"Swiss?" Wemys asked, hoping that the dopey fellow hadn't left. There had been a time that Wemys had groaned every time Swiss showed up, but now he wouldn't be happier if he could see the creature that sort of looked like a pine marten, but not quite.
"Oh, wot?" came a reply. Wemys ran in the direction of the voice, a bit unsteadily. He climbed over a sand dune and looked, hoping to see Swiss standing there.
Swiss was there, along with about twenty hares.
"Who's that?" asked Lieutenant Tabbins, pointing at Wemys, "Can we trust him?"
"That's jus' Wemys," Swiss replied, "He's my friend."
Wemys slowly walked down the dune, until he was standing right next to Swiss. The sight of the hares unnerved him. Conrad had always been afraid of the Long Patrol, and Curvetail had told him that it was for a good reason.
"This fellow Swiss here was just telling us wot happened," Tabbins explained, "We found him holding a trick dagger as if it were a weapon. Pretty funny stuff, wot wot?"
There was a round of laughter from the other hares. Wemys watched them nervously, although Swiss seemed perfectly calm.
"Yeah, I get why you're nervous," Tabbins continued, "I'd be nervous too, if I were you. I know our reputation is that we're big and bad and we kill any vermin that crosses our path, and normally that pretty much true, but we made an exception for you two, considering you helped us out big-time by getting rid of Regner and his horde before he killed our colonel."
Wemys looked around at the mention of Colonel Caldwell, but the hare in question wasn't there. He had been taken back to Salamandastron so that the numerous injuries Regner had dealt him during his tortures could be healed.
"We're gonna let you bury your dead, if you want," Tabbins announced, "Then we'll let you be on your way. Just don't terrorize us peaceful folk like I know you vermin like to do. Or wotever."
Swiss and Wemys exchanged glances.
"Yeah," Tabbins sighed, "Whenever we wipe out a group of vermin or wotever, there's always just a small amount that get away, and somebeast always says that we've seen the last of them. Well, we never did see the last of them. Those lizards came back and that stupid ferret came back."
"Well, we've seen the last of 'em now, sah," Clements said, "Regner's dead for sure now, and only about two got away."
"Oh, be quiet and eat your victory cake," Tabbins scoffed, "We've never seen the last of them. They always come back. Always!"
Clements shrugged. As long as he got his victory cake (he just hoped that the cake wasn't a lie), everything was good enough for him. Again, Wemys and Swiss exchanged glances.
"Now, the only thing we can really say is that we hope we've seen the last of them, because that's the truth. If you don't hope you've seen the last of them, then you're out of your bally mind. Now, you two," he pointed at Swiss and Wemys, "go and do wotever, and get out of here. Because, even though you helped us out, I know you aren't just happy, good little vermin, and I really do hope I've seen the last of you."
END PART III
Second Note: So, there you have it. The six that lived were Wemys, Swiss, Jeld, Ballantyne, Darkscale, and Reiss. The two with unknown fates were Skrobb and Glasseye. And the dying one was Telson.
It's funny; I always read a story, and when an awesome minor character gets killed off, I'm always like "If I wrote this story, I wouldn't have killed off any of the characters I like". The irony about it is that in this story, I actually DID kill off most of the characters I liked. The only characters I didn't kill for the sole reason that I liked them were Swiss and Reiss, and neither of those were even my favorites among the minor characters. Oh, well. I guess it just works like that.
The Epilogue is short and sweet. It's divided into four parts, each part focusing on a different character. You'll see what happened to a couple of characters you haven't seen since Part II...