Episode 26: The Truth Hurts
The Ducks and the two princesses stared at the horrific landscape.
Dead trees were crumbling to the ground, fires were burning along the path that lead to the castle, and the sky was gray from the smoke.
"We can set this right, we got the—" Pearl stopped speaking when she opened the book.
She and the others were shocked to discover that it was actually the fake copy.
"I don't understand; Wildwing, you said you threw the fake to Louran?" the princess asked, but she noticed that he had a look of dread on his face. Then, the realization came quickly to Pearl, "Wildwing, what have you done?" she asked.
He stared at her and replies, "I did it to save your life; there was no other option."
"You tricked me?!" the princess said, anger was rising in her voice.
"I had to, listen, you don't understand," he said, but it was no use.
"No, I understand plenty, you traitor!" Pearl replied, angrily and threw the fake book at his face.
"Pearl, please—" "You are a RAT! With feathers! And I don't need any of you!" the princess cried out and faced the path to the castle.
"I can do this myself!" she said, but Wildwing grabbed her by the arm.
"Pearl, it's too dangerous! You'll be killed!" he replied, but Pearl shook her head.
"I don't care! I'm going to get back the book!" she angrily shouted, pushing him aside, but he still held onto her.
"I care! Don't do this!" the mallard continued to cry out.
"Get off me! I'm going to set things right!" Pearl bellowed out.
Then, she pulled off the mask and used her other arm to punch Wildwing in the beak, hard. The leader fell backward and the others gave out gasps of shock, but Pearl had dashed off.
"Don't let her get away!" Wildwing ordered and they rushed after her.
The princess, however, knew her way around Avalon, even with it in disarray and she went off to hide, clutching the mask in her hand.
"Pearl! Pearl, please! Come back!" Subria called after her.
The princess found her secret place; a blacksmith shop that had a secret underground room and she hurried inside and waited and listened.
"Pearl! Pearl, where are you?!" Wildwing called out, but he knew that she was nowhere in sight.
"Wing, it's no use, we know nothing of this place," Canard said, but his friend pushed aside.
"Are you saying that we should give up?! I'm in charge and we have to find her!" Wildwing demanded, but Canard placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Wing, you need to relax, besides you should get your beak looked at, she got you real good," he said, pointing to Wildwing's beak; blood was slowly streaming out of his nostrils.
"I don't care, you have no idea how…" the leader stopped speaking and Canard stared at him.
Wildwing struggled to hold back the tears and his friend realized what he was talking about.
"You're in love with her, aren't you?" Canard asked, "And you did throw away the book like it was trash, just to save her life?"
"I couldn't let Louran kill her and I had to trick her," Wildwing replied, just as the others had arrived.
"We can't find her anywhere; if she hadn't stolen your mask, you would've traced her steps," Nosedive informed his brother.
"I'm such an idiot, I should've followed close behind," Subria said and the tears fell from her eyes.
"Hey, hey, don't go beating yourself so hard, we'll find her, I promise," Duke said, comforting her.
Below the blacksmith shop, Pearl was in a rage; she was angry at the Ducks, but mostly towards Wildwing for tricking her, and she was angry at the world.
She looked at the mask and says, "This is all your fault, Wildwing! I hate you!"
She raised the mask high above a rock, she planned on destroying it, but she couldn't do it and she held it to her chest.
"He really did it to save my life," Pearl said to herself and decided to leave her hiding spot.
Just as she got out of the underground room, she looked at the face of her hated enemy.
"Welcome home, princess," Louran said with an evil grin on his face.
Just then, her shadow grabbed her by her wrists and she knew it was the 'Shadow' page.
Then, out of the blackness, she saw the spells, but they had black hues around their bodies, and she knew that Louran transformed them into dark entities.
"What did you do to them?!" Pearl demanded.
"Something I wanted to do for a long time; them becoming my assistants in dominating this world, spreading fear and mayhem, and the pathetic peasants begging at my feet," Louran said, featuring the spell book; its colorful cover had changed to black.
"However, I will be needing you in the ceremony," he added.
"What ceremony?" Pearl asked, her fear was rising inside.
"Your demise and the demise of your friends," the wizard grimly laughed.
Pearl took a deep breath and gave out the loudest scream that anyone can hear for miles.
The Ducks and Subria had heard it, "It came from over there!" the African princess replied and they followed her.
Louran silenced Pearl with his hand, "Scream all you want, but your friends will be out of your reach," he said as the Shadow enveloped her and she vanished.
"Pearl! Pearl!" the Ducks and Subria cried out, but she was nowhere in sight.
"Well, well, well; Mighty Ducks, welcome to Avalon, my Avalon," Louran said from atop a building.
"Where's Pearl?!" Wildwing shouted, holding up his blaster.
"Violence gets you nowhere," the dark wizard replied.
"You're one to talk, old man," Nosedive taunted him.
"As for your princess, I'm going to keep my word in what I planned to do to her and all of you," Louran answered, featuring a grim smile and held up the mask.
"However, if you can find her within three hours, I'll spare her, but I can assure you, you'll never find her and me!" he added and threw the mask at Wildwing and he vanished, his laughter echoed.
"That…that…monster!" Subria shouted, tears spilling from her eyes.
Duke took her into his arms, "You bet you're right, when I get my hands on him, I'm going to tare him to shreds," he said to her.
"Shhh! Guys, did you hear that?!" Tanya warned and they listened.
Just then, a large creature raised its hind legs above them and more swarmed in.
Then, humans in ancient clothing appeared from the shadows, holding up bows and arrows and anything else they could use as weapons.
"Whoa! Here's the cavalry!" Mallory exclaimed, pulling out her puck blaster.
"Don't shoot them! They must be Pearl's people!" Wildwing commanded.
"Who are you?" a female voice asked and a woman on top a palomino horse appeared.
"Queen Gwenever!" Subria exclaimed and she showed herself to the woman.
"Subria? Is that you?" the queen asked, stepping down from her horse.
"Milady, yes it's me, listen, Prydwen is in danger, Louran has taken her," the African princess explained.
Gwenever nearly collapsed, but grabbed onto her horse's mane, "How could this happen?" she asked.
"It was my fault, I did something stupid, and she ran away," Wildwing said and Gwenever looked at him and the other Ducks.
"What did you do that made her run away?" the queen asked.
"I tricked her into believing that I gave a fake copy of the spell book to Louran, but I gave him the real one to save her life," Wildwing explained and all of the humans stared at him.
"Louran has the real Book of Avalon?" one man asked.
"You sentenced all of us to death!" another cried out and everyone exploded in anger at Wildwing.
"Quiet!" a powerful man's voice echoed throughout and they hushed. Then, a man dressed in ragged robes stepped forward and Subria kneeled before him.
"Your Majesty, I see that Louran failed to kill you," she said to him and the Ducks bowed to him.
"You there," the king pointed to Wildwing and he lifted his head up.
"You said you gave the book to Louran in order to save Prydwen's life?" he asked and the mallard nodded.
"But Louran has her, I believe he intends to kill her," Wildwing explained.
"My queen, I believe it's time," the king said to his wife and she nodded.
Subria's face whitened, "My lord, you don't mean…"
"No Subria, there is a way of saving Avalon and Prydwen, but only the pure of heart can enter there," Queen Gwenever said.
"Okay, can someone explain to me what do we need to do?" Nosedive asked, but Mallory elbowed him.
"Are you familiar with King Arthur?" the queen asked the Ducks.
"A little, but we always thought he existed in myth," Tanya answered.
"I can assure you, he was real, and so is his sword, Excalibur. There is a saying that one pure of heart can take Excalibur from Arthur's tomb and use it to slay the darkness and bring the light back to Avalon," Gwenever explained to them.
"My wife will lead you to Arthur's tomb, but once you're there, some of you might experience a painful sensation within your body, meaning you can't enter, but only one of you might be able to take Excalibur," the king said to them as he hoisted the queen back onto her horse.
Then the king walked up to Wildwing, "I'm putting my trust in you to save my daughter, please don't fail," he sounded like he was pleading.
"I won't," Wildwing assured to the king, bowing to him.
Queen Gwenever sent her horse into a walk and the Ducks and Subria followed behind her.
()()()()()()()
Somewhere under the earth, Pearl awoke to find herself chained to a boulder, and she was dressed in one of her princess dresses.
"I thought I spruce you up for the occasion," Louran said, circling around her.
"Let me go, you creep!" Pearl demanded, but then, she saw the 'Silent' move her finger and the princess felt her lips tighten.
"I had a talk with your friends and I must say, they were pretty angry," Louran replied and explains, "I gave them three hours to find you, but honestly, I think they never will, considering that I will terminate you in an hour."
Pearl made a muffling noise, but Louran gave a grin, "What's that? I'm being unreasonable? Well, my dear, I love to be unreasonable," he said and grimly laughed.
'Please Wildwing, you have to hurry,' the princess prayed and succumbed to sleep once again.
()()()()()()
A few miles away from Avalon, Queen Gwenever lead the Ducks to the base of a rocky hill.
"King Arthur's tomb is just beyond those trees, but this is far as I dare go," she said, "Remember, if you start feeling a painful sensation within your body, don't go any further."
"All right, Ducks follow me, Subria, stay here with the queen," Wildwing ordered and the Ducks followed their leader. They came upon a rocky cliff and they slowly walked on.
Just then, Nosedive and Grin gave grunts, "Man, my head hurts," the young mallard said.
"My senses are going crazy," the giant duck replied.
"Don't go any further, go back," Wildwing ordered and they nodded.
"Be careful bro," Nosedive said, as the leader, Canard, Duke, Mallory, and Tanya went on.
A few steps later, Tanya fell to her knees, "Ah Drake, what a migraine I have!" she said.
"Head back, Tanya, we'll be all right," Duke replied and she went back.
At that moment, Mallory pressed her hands to her ears, "Ouch! I have a loud ringing! My head is going to explode!"
"Come on sister, you could use some water," Tanya said, taking the black belt soldier away.
"Let's hurry Wing," Canard said and they went off.
A little further up the path, Duke stopped and knelled over, "Wow, I never had stomach aces this bad before!" the ex-con exclaimed.
"Can you walk back?" Wildwing asked and Duke nodded.
"Keep going you two," he commanded and the two remaining Ducks hurried off.
Then, out of the mist, they saw a stone arch that looked like it was leading them to a hole in the hill.
"Ah!" Canard cried out, his hands cupped around his head.
"Canard, are you okay?" Wildwing asked, but his friend pushed him away.
"You go, you have to be the one," Canard demanded and Wildwing hurried passed the arch.
Inside the open cave was lit torches and dead flowers lined the walls and in the middle was a sarcophagus.
Wildwing quietly walked up to it, the outline of a man wearing a crown laid upon it. He pushed the stone lid off slowly and he was staring at the mummified remains of the great king.
"King Arthur," Wildwing whispered and kneeled at the tomb.
"I may be talking to a dead king, but I hope you can hear me," he said to it.
"I did something awful to your descendent, Princess Prydwen, and I need Excalibur's help. There's a great evil over this land and it's really my fault, but I just couldn't let Louran kill her. She…she means so much to me," the mallard explained.
Just then, a bright light hovered over the corpse and it took shape. A blade appeared, followed the hilt that was made of bronze, it was Excalibur! Wildwing held out his hand and the sword moved over to him and he took it.
"Thank you, I'll never forget this," the leader replied and he hurried out of the tomb.
()()()()()()()
Back at the clearing, the Ducks, the queen, and Subria waited for Wildwing's return.
"Do you really think a sword will be able to defeat Louran?" Mallory asked Gwenever.
"Excalibur is the mightiest of all swords, but it is only a tool, one must put his faith in it," the queen replied.
Then, a bright light appeared before them and the mist parted, revealing Wildwing, holding Excalibur.
"Holy mother of Ducks!" Duke exclaimed as everyone stared at him.
"What's everyone looking at? We got to go!" Wildwing ordered and they snapped out of the trance.
"Can you keep up? I think I know where Louran is holding my daughter captive," Gwenever said, getting back on her horse and it went into a gallop.
The Ducks dashed into a run, following the queen and she lead them far from the hill side.