Chapter Nine
Captain Corden and her brigands don't attack the town of Knox until late the following night. The broken moon is full and bright. Hawk-men and groundlings charge the entrenched moks, firing their lasers. Tiger mutants and carocks hide in the trees, providing cover fire. Great green balls of energy fly forth from the treeline, destroying huts and blasting barricades. The first wave of brigands go over the dirt mounds and ponjee stakes to be met by a horde of angry moks. The hawk-men and groundlings fire their lasers and swing their swords but they are no match for the size and strength of the moks. Now another magical attack comes, this time blasting apart the dirt mounds which protect the moks' defensive trenches. Next comes the main force, led into battle by Ogre, Squeak, and Uruk. Artemis hovers over head on his magic flying carpet, while Captain Corden brings up the rear shouting orders. Uruk and Squeak clear a path through the moks for Ogre and his team to pass through. Ogre and the bandits placed under his command, mostly amazons and carocks, make a b-line straight for the prison where his fellow crew mates are held captive. Once freed and armed, they will overwhelm the moks with sheer numbers.
Uruk is a one mok wrecking crew. Every mok that steps in his way is smashed by his enchanted morning star The lucky ones are struck in the chest and sent flying, grievously injured but could survive with medical treatment. Those who aren't so lucky fall at Uruk's feet, where he finishes them off with a mighty blow to the skull. No amount of medicine can help them.
Squeak is just as devastating in his own way. No mok seems to be able to touch him. They swing and stab with their weapons but catch nothing but air. He ducks and dodges, pokes and slashes, leaving many moks bloody and dying.
Artemis floats overhead on his magic flying carpet. He raises his staff above his head and unleashes blast after blast of magical devastation Emerald beams of light leap from the eyes of the skull of the staff, destroying buildings and barricades A green beam strikes a mok and vaporizes him.
Captain Corden leaps up onto a dirt mound, her crystalline rapier in hand, shouting orders to her men. A mok runs up to face her, his spiked club raised high to strike. She stabs him in the gut, freezing him solid. Then she pulls her sword free and slashes him, causing him to shatter like a cheap bottle of wine. More moks attacked her, and more moks were left shattered in pieces. Then she hears a very familiar and very hated battle cry.
"Yaaaaaaa-hee!" Shouts Thundarr as he runs towards her with his Sunsword ignited and at the ready.
Captain Corden glares at the blonde barbarian as he charges. She holds her blade in a ready stance and waits upon her hated rival. Thundarr strikes at Captain Corden with his Sunsword, which she parries with her crystalline blade. He strikes again, and again she parries. Corden counters with thrusts and slashes, all of which are parried by the fiery blade of Thundarr's Sunsword.
Uruk strikes two moks simultaneously with his huge spiked mace, sending them flying. Then another mok approaches This one Uruk recognizes as the famous Ookla. A wicked smile spreads across his face. Ookla is holding a large log as a club. He swings at Uruk with the massive piece of wood. The black haired mok strikes it with the enchanted morning star and smashes it into splinters. Then Uruk goes on the attack and starts swinging wildly at his opponent. Ookla ducks, dodges, and stays out of reach.
Squeak is battling a mok who is trying desperately trying to hit the smaller human with a pair of short wooden clubs. Squeak ducks, dodges, and parries with his twin sai. He kicks the mok in the side of the knee, driving his heel into the kneecap. Then he delivers a spin kick to the back of the mok's other knee and sent him sprawling on the ground. Squeak raises his twin sai and prepares to drive them into the downed mok, but a set of bolas wrap around his legs and trips him up. He cuts the cords with his sai and gets back up. He looks over to see Eekra standing there with her quarterstaff in hand. They charge each other and engage in an incredible martial arts duel. Staff, sai, kick, and punch fly back and forth, with neither combatant getting the upper hand.
Ogre and the bandits under his command cut through the village, heading straight for the prison. Some mok archers shoot down some of the bandits with stun arrows. The bandits fire back with laser guns. Some of the moks with clubs and spears get in their way and Ogre cuts them down. They get to the prison and see one black maned mok holding a trident standing guard. Ogre thinks the mok looks vaguely familiar, but doesn't think much of it. Two of the amazons shoot him with their laser guns, knocking him down. Ogre cuts through the prison door with his enchanted blade. There are no guards in the guard room, apparently everyone's out fighting. He cuts through the other prison door and enters the ancient vault. The pirates imprisoned within cheer as they see their old comrade return. The amazons and carocks distribute their spare weapons to their allies. Then Ogre leads a charge out the door. As he's exiting the building he stops suddenly with a look of surprise. He looks down to see a trident thrust into his chest. He looks up to see the face of the mok they had shot down to get into the prison. It's at this point Ogre realizes why he looks so familiar. He's the mok that Captain Corden let escape the wizard's stronghold. The mok takes the enchanted falcion and runs off, jumping on his equart and rides towards the battle.
Princess Ariel launches a magical counter attack against Artemis. She throws a ball of energy at him which should have knocked him from his magic carpet. Instead it just bounces harmlessly off his robes. He laughs and fires back. Ariel blocks it by conjuring a magical shield, but the force of the blow sends her flying backward. She tumbles into a backward somersault and returns fire, this time a much stronger blast coming from both palms. Again, her spell just deflects harmlessly off his robes. He points his staff at her and unleashes another blast of magical energy. Ariel dives out of the way, does a hand spring, lands on her feet and fires back. This time she aims low, and blasts Artemis' flying carpet. The device is destroyed and the wizard falls to the ground, landing hard on his back.
"You'll pay for that witch," he threatens as he gets back to his feet.
"That's sorceress!" Ariel counters, and launches multiple magical blasts at the wizard. Again they have no effect. Artemis just laughs.
"Foolish woman! I have the wizard Karoth's robe, staff, and spell book! You might as well be fighting me with card tricks!" He launches another blast which Ariel blocks again, and again is sent flying backwards. "I offer you one chance Ariel! Surrender to me and become my paramour and I shall stop this slaughter. Your friends will be enslaved, but they will have their lives!"
"Never!" Ariel replies.
Artemis points his staff at the sorceress. "Then die," he says.
An emerald beam of light leaps from his staff out at the sorceress. Ariel unleashes a magical blast of her own. The golden beam of Ariel's spell meets the green energy of Artemis' magic halfway between them. The two spells push against each other. Sweat pours down Ariel's face as she struggles to fend off the magic of her adversary. A cruel grin spreads across the face of Artemis as his magic inches closer and closer the the sorceress. Now his magic is only about a foot away from disintegrating her. Ariel struggles to maintain her spell, but knows that Artemis' spell is too strong. Just as she thinks all is lost, a mok comes riding past on his equart, holding a glowing falcion in one hand. As he passes the wizard he brings the enchanted sword down onto the magic staff. The curved blade cuts right through the bone shaft, cleaving it in two. Ariel falls to her knees in exhaustion as her opponent's spell ends. Artemis stares at the ruined staff in horror and disbelief. He's about to say something when the staff explodes in his hands. When Ariel recovers enough to go over and check on Artemis, all she finds are the tattered remains of his robe.
Ookla is not faring too well against Uruk. Thus far he has avoided being hit by that powerful weapon, but he is running out of tricks. He has no weapon to match the awesome power of Uruk's enchanted morning star, and Uruk is too well schooled in mok combat techniques and tactics. And despite having swung that heavy weapon for so long, the one eyed mok didn't seem to be tiring. Just as it looked as though Uruk is about to crush Ookla's skull, the mok from the prison leaps at him from the back of his equart, tackling him to the ground. Now it's a fair fight, magic mace against magic sword. The duel is fast and furious. The sword wielding mok fakes to Uruk's right then dodges to his left, Uruk's blind side. Before he even really knows what happened, he's looking down at the curved blade protruding from his chest. Uruk's weapon falls to the ground, and the evil mok drops down next to it.
Princess Eekra and Squeak are fighting a fierce battle of their own. They move about so quickly and furiously that the other moks and brigands are afraid to interfere. Squeak splits Eekra's staff in two with a strike from one of his sai. Eekra quickly changes tactics, using the two halves of the weapon as Filipino sticks. After several more moments of fierce, fast fighting the weapons of the two combatants become locked in a clinch. Eekra kicks Squeak in the chest, sending him flying backwards. Being smaller and weaker than your typical mok, she doesn't kick him as hard as other moks would've. She still sends him a good three or four yards away though. Squeak tumbles to his feet and then launches his twin sai at Eekra, one after the other. The mok princess deflects the first sai with her Filipino sticks, breaking the weapons further and rendering them useless. Then a split second later she throws herself into a back bend, causing the second sai to fly over her, missing her by inches, and lodge itself deep into the back of a brigand. She then leaps at Squeak and attacks him with her claws before he can recover from the surprise. He backs off, bloody claw marks across his chest and abdomen. She stands there at the ready, in the Tiger Claw position. Squeak adopts a Dragon Stance. They eye each other for a moment, both recognizing and respecting the others' skill. Then they launch themselves into a furious martial arts battle. Eekra ducks under a spin kick and claws Squeak's back. He retaliates with a flurry of punches, all of which Eekra blocks, then she claws him down each cheek He attacks again, this time hitting her with a roundhouse kick. She's stunned by it, and he follows up with a flying kick to the face which knocks her on her back. Squeak then reaches out to the sai which Eekra had deflected and summons it to his hand. As he turns to stab the mok princess through the heart he stops dead in his tracks with a look of shocked disbelief on his face. He's once again face to face with Eekra. For some reason which he can't comprehend, his arm won't respond to his command to stab her. He looks down and realization sets in. She had thrust he fingers through his solarplexes and up behind his sternum. The only thing keeping him on his feet right now is her. She yanks her hand out of his chest and holds it up. The last thing Squeak the bandit martial artist sees in this world, is Princess Eekra holding his heart in her hand. Then he falls to the ground and sees no more.
Thundarr and Captain Corden continue their duel, neither of them getting the upper hand. Thundarr strikes furiously, and she parries every blow. The pirate queen retaliates just as fiercely, but still can't get past the barbarian's defenses.
"Surrender Corden!" Thundarr declares, "Chief Ogrot will show you more mercy than you deserve!"
"Never barbarian!" She replies, "I've spent years planning my revenge! I'm gonna make a rug out of that mok! And I'll be making a fur coat out of that friend of yours, Ookla!"
"Never!" Cries Thundarr, and he attacks again. Corden just laughs.
"You can't beat me barbarian," she says as she parries every attack, "I'm the greatest swordsman who ever lived! Do you think I kept an entire crew of men in line with just my looks? I was captain because no one can best me with steel. Not them, and not you!"
"What men?" Thundarr asks, "You are here alone!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Take a look around you! While you've been fighting me, your crew have been losing."
Corden backs away from Thundarr and takes a look around. While she and Thundarr have been fighting, her old crew has been recaptured, her new crew was being rounded up, Squeak and Uruk were lying dead on the ground, and Ogre and Artemis were nowhere to be seen. She turns back to her adversary and snarls.
"You won't take me alive! I may be beaten, but I'll be back!" Then she raises her crystalline sword into the air and declares "Captain Corden! Queen Of The Brigands!"
Just then she's struck by several stun arrows simultaneously She collapses at Thundarr's feet, unconscious Thundarr turns and waves thank you to Ookla and the village archers for their assistance.