SWORD OF DARKNESS

by RedAlphaWolf1

the fallen knight Doberman Claw has long been known for his follies and failures, but what if at heart he was still loyal to the royal family and knighthood that evicted him? what if he must help the paw patrol rescue knights to find and destroy the evil twin of the mystic sword Excaliber known as Caliburn before the duke of flapping-ton can use it against the world!

9. RACE TO FIND EXCALUBUR PART 1

SWORD OF DARKNESS-THE RACE TO FIND EXCALIBUR PART 1

(OVER THE OCEAN/0134HRS)

Claw looks over the blackened waves as he lay on Sparks saddled back thinking 'This is a real life chess game with Duke William, I can make no mistakes, the fate of the world depends on me being able to out think him; If I were Duke William what is my first move? How do I act as a paranoid, power hungry madman armed with the most destructive weapon of all time?' Claw raises his eyes and he looks at the dragons wing while inspiration mentally slaps him and smiles in thought 'Of course! I use Caliburn to heal Acheros so he can fly and gain control of the nearby settlements. What's MY first counter move?' Claw pauses and considers it 'I need the storybook of Barking-burg if I am to find Excalibur and challenge Caliburn and Duke William... If the book has not been destroyed yet.' Claw looks upon the dark horizon singing his favorite lullaby from his puppyhood. Claw finishes just as the island of Barking-burg comes into view. 'Now the real test begins.'

(OVER BARKING-BURG CASTLE/0149HRS)

Sparks glides fast close to the castle with the wings spread so Claw can run and jump off his wing to the castle wall. Sparks is flying too fast and as Claw jumps and hits the floor hard with a "Thud!" and rolls a few times, his armor loudly making his presence known as he comes to a stop. Claw groans a long "OW!" and climbs to his feet knowing that from this moment on stealth is of the utmost importance. Realizing his dragon was circling the castle and would be a dead giveaway that he was here Claw decided to dismiss him for the near future. "Sparks, leave at once!" Sparks however groans in refusal and looks at Claw as he continues to circle the castle. Claw at wits end simply takes off for the wooden door at the castle tower and unsurprisingly it is locked. He uses his sword to slice the wooden door in half and moves down the stone staircase toward the castles main body. When Claw got to the main body he began a thorough search of each room searching for THE ONE BOOK that can bring all this to an end. At last he comes to a locked iron door and he uses his claw to pick the lock and he opens it to reveal a sleeping duke William in an unfinished bedroom laying on a massive bed in the room with the sheathed dark sword laying on the table opposite the door. Seizing the opportunity Claw sneaks around the sleeping dukes bed and looks upon the sword as it begins to glow while he opens the night stand to reveal the book of Barking-burg, which he promptly takes and hides in his pup pack without thinking or breaking eye contact with the sword Caliburn. Unblinking, he takes his pincers and picks up the dark sword it shows him in a brief vision of what it can do for him

(BEGIN VISION.)

As the vision comes into focus Claw finds himself sitting on the throne of Barking-burg with the sword of Caliburn by his side, Princess Catherine, Earl Richard and Ryder are his servants, Claw looks on at the throne chamber. The paw patrol comes in dressed in their rescue knight gear when Chase walks up and says "Mission accomplished sir-" The knights lay before him and hang their heads with closed eyes as Chase continues "-What is thy next bidding sir?" Claw is unsure of how to answer when a woman comes up dressed in a full 3 piece suit and lay a gold bar before him and says "From the city of Onaburg, the payment for your rescue knights services, sir." After accepting the payment Chase turns and shouts "Clear the court! It is time for the kings daily dragon ride!" Claw walks outside to see the death dragon, loyal as a dog laying in wait for him in a quiet dignity. Claw climbs on and takes off when Claw hears the sword from beyond the wall of the vision making a promise as the vision comes to an end.

(END VISION.)

The sword promises if Claw will kill the duke where he sleeps and as he comes out of the vision the swords final words in his head speaking to him "I will give you all that you desire: Power, the death of your enemies, wealth, a true dragon to ride, and so much more if you will just kill the duke where he lay and destroy the book of Barking-burg." The fallen knight looks at the sleeping duke and raises the sword to strike when the duke turns in his sleep to face the fallen knight. As Claw looks upon the face of duke William he snaps to realization of what he is about to do and he throws the sword toward the opposite wall, causing it to hit with a loud 'CLANG!' waking up William. Claw tries to run, but William jumps and slams the door shut in front of him and picks up Caliburn then turns to Claw grinning while his eyes begin to glow purple as he raises Caliburn and says "You should have killed me when you had the chance! Now you have no way out and I will make sure you suffer a slow, painful death!" Claw looks at the duke in fear and his mind is franticly thinking for a way out as he starts looking around and he notices a piece of wooden paneling that looks thick enough to hold the sword behind him and taunts the duke by shouting "YOU THINK YOU ARE A MASTER OF THAT SWORD! I BET YOU COULDN'T EVEN STAB THE BROADSIDE OF A BARN WITH THAT THING!" The duke roars and does just as Claw thought, the duke roars and power stabs as Claw jumps, causing the duke to miss, causing him to stab with all his strength into the paneling, causing the sword blade to become imbedded in the wood just long enough for Claw to open the door and run as fast as his 4 legs will carry him. Claw runs franticly for the castle entryway, jumping over the rail railway and using the pincers to grab the banister and swing down then he drops down and continues to the castle entryway stopping only long enough to pull the lever to drop the drawbridge and looks back to see the duke William running down the stairs after him, he screams in fear and runs over the bridge before it had finished going down! "Sparks! Where are you?!" Claw looks on as he hears a grunt and sees Sparks lands in front of the drawbridge and he jumps on, thankful the faithful dragon had stayed around when he needed him most! The dragon takes off for the skies when he hears duke William scream after him "You will never reach Excalibur! I will see to that! Acheros stop them NOW!" Out of nowhere the black dragon comes in from above and tears off Sparks right wing, the dragon to roar in pain as he falls to the ground with Claw still in the saddle. Once on the ground Claw jumps out and looks on at Sparks in anguish "I should have never gotten you into this!" Sparks sits up and uses his fire to cauterize the now severed wing stump and stop the bleeding as Claw says a piece of basic dragon knowledge "A downed dragon is a dead dragon." Claw then turns his attention to the black dragon Acheros as it landed in front of him and Duke William walks calmly in front of Acheros and stops before the fallen knight and simply smiles as he clutches Caliburn tighter and as the two stare at each other in hatred Claw notices the dukes eyes are glowing purple as the evil sword pours its evil into him unrestricted. Claw barks out his sword and charges forth, his body boiling over with hatred and anger directed at the duke and death dragon that had caused all this! Acheros is about to go to his masters defense when the William calmly says "No, you deal with Sparks, I will deal with Claw, this ends right here, right now!" Sparks roars and bounds forth toward the black dragon launching a massive fireball toward Acheros wing, which bounces off with no seeable effect and Acheros responds by sweeping with his claws causing a bloody wound on Sparks stomach and then tries to take off. Sparks responds by jumping and taking hold of the wing the fireball hit and squeezing, resulting in a gunshot loud breaking of large bone, followed by a sickening wet tearing sound as Sparks swings and raises his fore arm, and proceeds to ram his claws home in Acheros stomach, paying back what was given to him. The swinging of Sparks on the now broken wing, causing it to be pulled off, making the dragon to roar and fall to the ground with a earth rattling 'THUD!' The two now quickly climb to their feet. The two now grounded dragons circle each other sizing each other up while the duke and Claw face off in an epic battle, sparks flying and swords ringing when Sparks makes the first move going for the neck of the death dragon, causing a bleeding wound, to which Acheros responds by slicing down Sparks side and Sparks rebounds by slamming a fireball into the throat of the black dragon resulting in the scales of the black dragon breaking off from the heat! Acheros responds by breathing smog on Sparks leg, The poison quickly spreading up the body, eating painfully down to the bone along the way. Sparks knows the poison is fatal, and responds by ripping out the throat of Acheros right as the black dragons breaths another round of poison breath, the results spewing on Sparks face right as Sparks breaths fire down the ruptured throat of Acheros the death dragon! The gas and fire mixing resulting in a massive explosion that knock Claw and Duke William off their feet! Claw scrambles to his feet followed by Duke William to see the smoke fade away to find both dragons laying together a tangle of smoking skeleton! There was no doubt that the two dragons were dead. Claw, tears running down his face, seizes the opportunity and runs for the dragon highlands with the dukes words trailing after him. "Mark my words! You will know no peace! I will find the sword and destroy Excalibur! This is not just a promise, but a sacred vow!" Claw at wits end takes shelter in the now dead Sparks cave, pulls out the book of barking-burg and then uses his pup tag to call Ryder.

(LOOKOUT TOWER/SAME TIME)

Ryder wakes up to his pup pad ringing and vibrating, Ryder sits up in bed and wipes the sleep from his brown eyes as he answers the call with a sleepy "Hello?" Claws frantic voice echoes through the speaker as he screams the situation "Ryder, I need you and the rescue knights here now!-" as he slaps the tag - causing the magnetic hold to release - and pulls off the pup tag from the collar and mashes it, causing it to begin a video call by making a small projection of Ryders face. "I have the book of Barking-burg.-" Claw lifts up the book so it is in the camera view "I am in bad need of help! Sparks is dead! And the death dragon is too! Caliburn has taken the mind of the duke!" Ryder looks at the pup pad with a serious look on his face and says to Claw "Stay where you are, I can access your location with your pup tag." Ryder ends the call and accesses the location of Claw as he calls the paw patrol into the air patroller then wakes the Princess and earl, and franticly explains the situation to them all as the air patroller takes off for Barking-burg.

(SPARKS CAVE WITH CLAW)

Claw smiles and thinks to himself 'The duke found the text to find Caliburn in the back, but if he had torn the front of the book he would have found the text leading to Excalibur.' Claw smiles and opens the book of Barking-burg and pulls at the hidden compartment at the FRONT of the book and pulls out the text and memorizes all of them and then leaves the book and text behind with his pup tag laying on top of it as he continues on to find the weapon to end all of this!

(END SWORD OF DARKNESS-THE RACE TO FIND EXCALIBUR PART 1)