Hey, thank you all for the support - I love hearing from you. So because I have noticed this story has gotten quite a few followers since last time here is a new chapter for you guys. Also thank you Yiuokami for letting me use her amazing art as the cover to this wonderful story, if you get a chance look her up on Deviant art. And these characters aren't mine or it may have actually ended this way.
I stumbled out the door and turned to say something but it was too late; the door was already closed and locked. Well at least I got the chance to help them out just as much as they had helped me. Keeping that in mind I continued on chasing the sun and looking for the girl I had lost once more, as I walked image after image flowed through my mind. Each little experience we had ran through my mind, from when we had first met to the moment that I knew I was in love with a clumsy duck. Each word said and every look she had given me remained ever etched in my mind just as vividly as the night I had found her again. She had looked so different and yet the same, those familiar features had been so similar yet different. They had been refined over time and created something even more beautiful than I could have imagined, she was prettier even than she had been when she was Princess Tutu.
It was these thoughts that kept me going, I had done this to her and now I had to fix it. I had let too many of the people that I love fall into the hands of the Ravens but I would not lose her to them too. Again as I traveled I found the days wearing on without any sign of life, hardly even a bird in the sky to keep me company as I marched on. It was nearly two weeks after the day Ahiru was taken, or at least to the best I could figure out – I still have no idea how long I was at the cottage, when I finally spotted another traveler. It was an old man whose wagon had broken down on the side of the road and I, having remembered the lessons that Ahiru had always taught, approached him to see if he needed some help.
"Ah someone with a young and strong back, I need help putting the wheel back on my wagon and I also need help finding my horse." The old man said as he smiled over at me, there was something slightly unsettling about it but I pushed it to the side and started working on hoisting up the rear of the wagon so I could put the new wheel on. Surprisingly the new wheel went on without a problem and once it was properly fitted I had the man point me in the direction that he said the horse had gone off in, after telling him I would return shortly I stepped off into the woods.
The setting sun was casing odd shadows on the dying trees and making it seem rather ominous, something that I could appreciate as a writer. Despite my bad feeling about this, something I believe comes from being a writer, I continued into the forest only stopping to light my lantern. In here it was so dark that the light of the half-moon couldn't pierce it, the soft breeze sent shivers up my spine as it felt more like the breaths of a creature rather than a natural wind. The farther I went the more hope I lost for finding the horse, just as I pondered turning around a tuff of hair renewed my interest and hope. With the hope that the horse was nearby I pushed on.
An un-measurable amount of time passed before I stumbled into a clearing, something had drawn me into running though I stopped short at the sight ahead of me. On the ground in the center of the clearing was the dried carcass of a horse, the brown hair falling off revealing the gray dry skin underneath. Chunks of the animal had been removed as if it had been pecked at by vultures though the black creature leaning over the horse's neck confirmed that it wasn't vultures that were responsible.
Upon noticing me the creature stood and raised its black wings sending the scent of rotting flesh in my direction making me gag. It slowly started stepping towards me like a cougar hunting its prey and like a deer I turned and ran. I know it wasn't what I should have done but I just couldn't stay there. Instead of following me there was the sound of hundreds of birds taking flight and a laugh that will forever haunt my sleep.
"Runaway little knight, runaway from the fate that will befall you," it cackled, "why don't you just give up and let yourself be taken to the place where your family and lover wait. In the dark that the light will never penetrate, a place where true beauty lies in hopelessness, a place where you don't have to try anymore to be something you aren't. That is where you belong. You search for a place before the beginning and after the end, between the bindings but out of the cover. Can you find it before it's too late? Or are you already too late?"
The words hurt but they made me remember why I took on this quest in the first place. With a glint of fury in my eyes I swung around to face the darkness, she was never afraid of it and right now neither am I. "Come out and face me, if you want me you have to come and get me. I am no longer the just the knight, I am her knight and I will fight to the death to keep that title and save her." I shouted into the darkness.
"Then your wish shall be granted, but can you beat them this time Knight?" The voice said as a number of half raven men stepped out of the forest and approached me, I had been looking forward to this rematch for quite some time. As they stepped closer I drew my sword and lunged at the closest hitting him fatally on the first strike, I mean business and I intend to prove it. Just as the first creature fell the next was upon me, I spun and struck out as creature upon creature descended on me. For each enemy I downed it seemed that two more rose up to attack me, despite the adrenaline I had rushing through my veins I could feel my strength starting to fail me. I tried to push it out of my mind grunted but as a harsh blow landed on my back and I realized I might not make it, as more blows landed and the darkness clouded my vision I whispered one last apology to Ahiru. Just as the darkness started to consume me a light shown from the West and enveloped me in a strange warmth.