Chapter 15

"The Fall of Duke Igthorn"

As Lady Bane disentergrated from a reflection of her beam and a light from the Gummiscope caused by Zummi and Foxglove, Duke Igthorn was seen fighting Tummi, Gusto and Gritty when he saw his love and confidant die right before his eyes. Seeing his love die right before his eyes, caused Igthorn for a moment to mourn Lady Bane's death. But, when the three Gummies fighting him saw this as an opportunity to finish him, Igthorn in a fit of rage, swung his sword at them knocking Tummi and Gusto back and injuring Gritty by cutting his chest. Now, the former knight of Dunwyn and duke of Drekmore castle, stormed over towards Cavin and Calla with hate in his eyes. But, Cavin stood in front of his love with his sword back in his hand, ready to defend the Princess of Dunwyn by all means necessary.

"You killed my Lady Bane," he growled. "And now, you shall die right here and right now for doing such a thing!"

"Why do you accuse us?" shouted Cavin. "You shouldn't have come here in the first place. By attacking the Gummi Bears, you only brought pain and suffering to yourself and to everyone else surrounding you!"

"For a long time," cried Calla. "You have attacked my father's kingdom only because you wanted something you could never get your hands on. By attacking the Gummi Bears and destroying Gummi Glen, you have signed your fate and now, instead of getting what you want, you shall die right here and right now!"

A loud gasp from the Gummies surrounding Duke Igthorn was heard and all the Gummies who were still ready to fight surrounded the ex-knight of Dunwyn now wanting blood for the destruction of Gummi Glen. Although he was surrounded, Duke Igthorn was still brandishing his sword ready to take on the Gummi Bears, even if there was a hoard ready to kill him in return.

"You destroyed our home!" shouted Sunni. "All just so you could get rid of us so you could get Dunwyn castle all for yourself and use our Gummiberry Juice to get King Gregor's crown easily!"

"We had everything ready to welcome the Great Gummies to our home!" shouted Gruffi. "But, then you took everything away from us! Right here, right now, we will get our revenge on you for everything you have done."

"SILENCE!" shouted Igthorn. "Yes, I have destroyed Gummi Glen, but so what? I have a desire to rule Dunwyn Castle and have infinite power beyond my control, and I already have the power I need to rule Dunwyn Castle and all of you! Once I have a whole army of Gummi Bears behind me, I can finish what I started a long time ago!"

"It all ends tonight, Igthorn!" said Cavin. "Although many humans have never seen the Gummi Bears except for me, Calla and myself, they have taught me to believe in myself and gave me my first friend that I have had in Cubbi and when I first met him, I had all but given up on my dreams of becoming a knight of King Gregor's and that by doing so, I have achieved my own goal of getting back to achieving my true dream of becoming a great knight. And perhaps, I will be a much better knight than you could ever imagine!"

A loud cheer was heard from the crowd of Gummi Bears as Cavin was joined by Cubbi and then Princess Calla, in her tattered white and blue gown, stepped forward and joined her boyfriend at his side.

"You have done enough damage, Duke Igthorn!" shouted Princess Calla. "I came here tonight representing my father, a good and honest man whom you tried to overthrow many times! By standing with my friend Sunni and her fellow Gummi Bears, I will do something my father had never did to someone like you and that is to end your reign of terror in the capitol of the Gummi Bears and the first step into restoring peace and order to Gummi Bears and humans alike!"

"Enough, Princess Calla!" shouted Igthorn angrily. "Just because you are here instead of your father, doesn't mean that you will be the one who stands in the way of my eternal glory! I will get all the power I need and then I will work on reuniting the ogres that had run away from Drekmore and take over Dunwyn and then both worlds!"

But, all Duke Igthorn did was invite the rest of the Gummies to surround him with their weapons drawn and at that moment, the duke was beginning to regret everything he had said as the Gummies were about to close in on him. He wanted to fight and taking a vile of Gummiberry Juice, he drank and grew superhuman strength to punch a hoard of Gummi Bears into the air and continue to do so until the juice wore off.

"Get him, Gummies!" shouted Gruffi. "He will pay for what he did to our home and our lives!"

Duke Igthorn continued to try and defend himself, but the Gummies proved to be overbearing to him and he decided to drop his sword and run away. This gave the Gummi Bears the advantage and Zummi and Foxglove zapped Igthorn with the Gummiscope and Igthorn kept dodging them with every shot that was fired from it.

When, Igthorn reached the exit, he could see that the only bridge out of Ursalia was destroyed in the battle and that he was trapped like a rat. Igthorn debated whether or not he should surrender to the Gummies, but no, in his mind, he had to fight the one remaining force that now stood in his way between him and ultimate glory.

"I may be trapped like a rat," cried Igthorn defiantly, taking notice of Sunni and grabbing her. "But I will not go down that easily!"

"Let her go, Igthorn!" shouted Gruffi. "She has nothing to do with you!"

"Oh, I will let her go," said Igthorn. "But only if you surrender first!"

And to prove he wasn't bluffing, Igthorn pushed Sunni to the edge of the cliff and threatened to throw her off unless the Gummies surrendered to Igthorn. So, they did, but Calla managed to distract Igthorn by grabbing Sunni while he was looking at the Gummies surrendering . However, Igthorn stepped on Sunni's dress, causing it to rip and that made Sunni furious and she kicked him to the ground, right in full view of the rest of the Gummies. That was the Gummies signal to move in for the kill, but Igthorn was not going to go down that easily.

"I may be defeated," he growled. "But at least I will go down fighting pathetic little bears like you!"

"You have said quite enough, Igthorn!" cried Gruffi. "This is for Gummi Glen!"

And to prove that Gruffi meant what he said, he kicked Duke Igthorn in the stomach and caused him to yell and scream in pain.

"This is for the stealing of our Gummiberry Juice secret," shouted Sunni and she stamped her slippers on his hands and then spat on his forehead, which left big gasps to come out of the rest of the Gummies present.

"And that was for ruining my favorite dress," she shouted. Finally, Princess Calla emerged and place her left foot on Igthorn's neck and digging the spike of her heel into his neck, she made driplets of blood emerge from his neck and it was only until he saw blood out of the back of his eye, did he plead for Calla to stop.

"And that was for all the times you attacked both Dunwyn and the Gummi Bears," she said defiantely. "If you want to live, you will come to your knees and beg for mercy."

But, Duke Igthorn despite the beatings and injuries he sustained at the hands of the Gummi Bears, did not surrender to the Princess of Dunwyn. Instead, he rose to his feet and drew a pistol that he had kept in his boot and with Calla grimily watching the point of the pistol pointed right at her, the rest of the Gummies stepped back and Calla was seemingly helpless to run, so she stood there ready to accept her fate. But, Captain Blastus, having learned that not humans were evil, ran to Calla's side, trying to protect her but it was too late. Igthorn fired the shot and struck Captain Blastus in the chest, flying him back into the crowds and everyone stood aghast at what they just saw happen right before their eyes.

"KILL HIM!" cried Ursa and the Gummies, now enraged by what they saw, dragged Igthorn back into the crowds and the former Duke of Drekmore, sustained blow after blow after blow as he tried to endure the pain that was being afflicted upon him. Later, they stopped and Igthorn, gravely injured, tried to get up and make peace with the Gummies. But, they showed no mercy towards him.

"Gummies," he begged. "Please have mercy on me, I only meant to become a better leader and maybe if you work something out with me, perhaps we could do that. What do you say?"

But, the Gummies stayed silent, knowing that Duke Igthorn had one more trip up his sleeve and just as he was about to pull his pistol back out again, a shot rang out and struck Igthorn in the chest. Igthorn moaned and groaned at the pain that he was now in, but there was little the Gummies could do to help him. Staggering over to the edge, he tried one last time to beg for mercy, but it fell through and the Gummies all blew at him and the former Duke lost his balance and looked up at the sky as he fell back.

"Lady Bane…" he whispered and he fell off the side of the bridge and without screaming, plummeted into the chasm below.

Everyone stood silent for they all knew that the battle was over. Igthorn and his allies were dead, but the damage was already done.