Reluctant Departure
Pendergast, Striker, Bolt, and the other knights who accompanied them stood there in bewilderment once they heard King Zog's booming orders. Bean, Elfo, and Miri stared at Zog in shock. Luci, however, watched in excitement at the unfolding situation. The one-eyed knight stood there staring at Koga, confused.
"What're you all standing around looking stupid for? I said arrest that man!" Zog roared.
"DAD NO!" Bean cried as she rushed over to her father. "STOP!"
"I SAID STAY OUT OF THIS BEAN!" Zog grimaced. "MERTZ, TURBISH! RESTRAIN HER!"
"WHAT?" Bean's eyes widened. Mertz and Turbish grasped their arms around Bean's arms, holding her back. "NO! LET GO OF ME!" The princess tried breaking away from Turbish, and Mertz couldn't free herself.
Zog turned his attention to Pendergast, Stryker, and Bolt. "I said stop standing around and arrest Koga for treason against the king!" He pointed his fat stubby finger at the tall, long-haired wanderer.
The three knights looked at each other and then gazed at Koga. Koga sighed and glided his hand through his lush black hair. "Sorry about this, guys," He said earnestly. "Looks like I have to put in my two weeks' notice."
"I don't think you'll get your paycheck, though," said Luci. "I heard Bunty's check bounced again."
Without warning, Koga dashed forward and swiftly kicked Styker in the face, knocking him back. The wanderer delivers a swift elbow to the back of Bolt's head, knocking him out cold, goes to Pendergast and flips him flat on his back, then rushes out of the room.
"KOGAAA!" Bean called out to him.
Zog lets out a frustrated groan. "Oh, goddamn it! VIP! VAP!" He shouted. Two small men wearing matching red shirts and hats appeared through a small door in the wall. "Sound the alarm! I want all knights to go after Koga! NOOW!"
Vip and Vap rushed outside the room and into the stone hallways. Vip hops onto Vap's shoulders and reaches for a rope with a bell tied to it. Vip leaps, grabs the rope, and begins tugging with his body weight, ringing the bell. This would send a signal to all others in the castle. They all rang the bell to signal all the other knights in the castle. The horde of knights rushed down the stoned hallways but stopped once they saw Koga running their way.
"Captain Koga! What's the emergency?" The knight asked.
Koga, not wanting to attack any more of his friends, had to think of something to get their attention off of him quickly. The first thing that came to mind gave him a big smile. "The jester took the last sweet roll!" The knights all gasped. With glares and bloodthirsty intentions, the knights stormed past Koga with their swords drawn as they searched for the jester. "What's the big deal about sweet rolls anyway?" He rolls his eyes. With that, Koga sprints down the halls, continuing his escape.
He makes a few left turns, right turns, and runs straight into Mertz's mom, who fell right on her butt. For some reason, she wore the knight's chest plate, helmet, and gauntlets but never the leggings. Koga always found it weird for someone to go into battle with only pink slippers on.
"OOF! My goodness, Koga, what's the rush?" She asked, looking up at the tall wanderer.
"Sorry about that, Mert'z mom, but I'm in a rush!" said Koga, about to walk past her, but she grabbed his leg.
"Hold it right there, mister! You're not just going to knock a lady on her tushy and walk away! Help me up this instant, young man!"
"Oh my god," Koga groaned. He turns around, cups his hand on Mertz's mom's underarms, picks her up, and places her on her feet. "There!" He turned around to run off, but she quickly told him to stop.
"Not so fast! You and I are going to have a talk about how you treat my baby boy!" said Ms. Mertz angrily.
"Ms. Mertz, trust me, I would love to have a detailed conversation about why your son is such an easy target, but I have to—" Koga would pause and stare past Ms. Mertz. Pendergast, Stryker, and Bolt were heading his way with a group of knights. "Oh goddamn it…"
"My son is a what? Let me tell you something—WHOA!" Ms. Mertz was hoisted up in the air by Koga. "What do you think you're doing? Put me down this instant!"
Pendergast looked at Koga in shock. "Koga! I can't believe you! You'd use Ms. Mertz as a human shield?!"
"Like you guys wouldn't have done the same thing!" said Koga.
"I mean, I would…" said one knight.
"Yeah, me too," said another knight.
"Isn't that why she's there besides Turbish?"
"All of you are a bunch of good for nothings!" said Ms. Mertz
BANG!
Koga felt a metal object collide against his head. He turns around and sees a knight holding a frying pan in his hand, staring at it in shock at its dent. "How come when my wife uses it, it's so deadly?" He scratched his cheek, confused.
"It's all in the swing, honey," said Ms. Mertz.
"To hell with this…" said Koga. The wanderer tosses Mert'z's mom at the crowd of knights, along with the one who whacked him with a frying pan, and he turns around and sprints down the halls.
"Koga! Over here!"
Koga turns around and sees Miri. Half of her body was sticking out of the stone walls, and she gestured for him to hurry. He hurried her way, knelt, and crawled into the small doorway. Miri hit the switch, and the door closed. The two could hear the metal footsteps of the knights walking by. The silhouettes of their shadows pass by the hidden entrance. Koga sighed and placed his back against the wall. "Thanks Miri…" He smiled at her.
"No problem," said Miri.
Koga looked around the small space he was in. "I had no idea about this secret passage being here. Why is it so damn small?"
"That's how all the secret passages are. It's like they were made for little people," The scraggly-haired burnet replied. "N-Not that I'm that little…I'm just saying."
Koga looked at the three pathways before him. "Where do all of these go?"
"One is towards the kitchen, another to Zog's room, annnd…" Miri scratched her head. "I forgot where that one goes. I only ever used this to sneak food out of the kitchen."
"Great…now I gotta crawl out of this little ass space just to get out of this castle,"
"Yeah…it sucks," She nods. She placed her eyes on Koga. "So…you're really leaving, huh?"
"I don't have much choice. I attacked my friends and used Mertz's mom as a meat shield. To top it off, I upset the fat king. I'm pretty sure I'm fired."
"Yeah, it looked like Zog was going to explode,"
Koga laughed. "I wish he did," He stared at Miri. The wanderer noticed how sad she looked. "You wanna come with me?"
"I was thinking about it," said Miri. "I want to…but I have my reasons why I can't leave…I'm sorry, Koga."
Koga smiled at her. "Don't worry about it. I had a lot of fun hanging out with you, Miri."
"Me too. Please stay safe out there," Miri returned the smile.
Koga pats Miri on her head and starts down the path on the far left. The wanderer follows the path through the secret passage. It felt like he was walking for hours. It didn't help that he was kneeling the whole time and trying not to get stuck. Finally, he makes his way to exit, hits the switch, and leaves the secret passage. He squeezes his way through, panting and exhausted. He lies on his back and wipes the sweat off his head.
"I thought I was never going to get out of there," said Koga, tiredly. He opens his eyes and stares at four guards glaring down at him. The wanderer blinks. "Mind getting me some water?"
The four guards reached down to grab at Koga, but Koga sprang to his feet with a drop kick to one of the guards, landed on his feet, and swiftly kicked the other two, knocking them out. Koga looks around and sees a whole squad of guards running towards him. To Koga's misfortune, his pathway had led him to the courtyard, where a majority Knight's of the Zog table was waiting for him. The knights charged at him with their swords drawn. Koga had no choice but to draw his sword and defend himself.
One knight swings his blade at Koga. Koga blocks, parries, and kicks the knight away, sliding him across the ground. Two other knights rush Koga. He draws the sheath to his sword, blocks one knight, kicks the other away, spins around the knight whose attack he was stopping, and leg sweeps him flat on his back.
Koga rushes through a group of knights, trying to stop him with a flurry of slashes that knocked them back. He was almost to the exit. "FIRE!" said a knight. Koga turns around and sees a horde of arrows heading his way. He drops his long sword, takes his colossal sword, and swipes the arrows away with one swing.
The knights wasted no time in surrounding Koga. The wanderer stood with both hands around his mighty blade and eyed down everyone who circled him. This was getting bad. Even if he held back, he could still fatally hurt his friends.
"You don't have anywhere to run to now, wanderer," said Zog, stepping through the crowd of knights with Pendergast. "So, how's about handing over that key? If you do, I might make your execution less painful!"
"How thoughtful of you," said Koga sarcastically while glaring a hole through Zog.
"You're welcome. I pride myself on being a thoughtful king," said Zog, smiling proudly.
"Excuse me, everyone," said Oona, stepping through the crowd of knights and standing between Koga and Zog. "Has anyone seen a small purple bag lying around? It has nothing of importance in it…but I have misplaced it. Has anyone seen it?"
They all stared at Oona. Koga would place one arm gently around Oona's neck and hold his sword to her. Zog and the knights all gasped. "He's taken the queen hostage!" said one knight. Zog places his angry gaze upon the knight. "Thanks for the obvious observation, you moron!"
"Sorry, Oona," Koga whispered. "Don't worry…I'm not going to hurt you."
Oona let out a blissful sigh and grasped Koga's forearm. "Well…that's disappointing."
Koga looks over at Zog. "If you don't want your queen to be hurt, you better listen to my demands!" He placed his sword closer to Oona. "Do we have an understanding?"
Zog mumbled and clenched his fist. "FINE! WHATEVER! What are your demands?"
"First, I'd like a horse. Second, I want all of my stashed putting to be loaded up on said horse; third, I want you to hand over Elfo and Oscar!"
Zog's eyes widened in fury. "WHAT? You already have the key. Now you want my daughter, the elf and the only man who knows about immortality?!"
"It's that, or queen is going to lose her head, Zog," Koga threatens while checking around to see if anyone will sneak attack him.
"GRR! ARGH! DOH! You'll get the elf and Oscar, but you're not getting my baby girl!"
"You say that like you care about her," said Koga.
Zog glared into Koga's emerald eyes. "You don't know a damn thing about me, boy. You don't know what this family has been through…I'm the only one who can fix it! And you're screwing it all up."
"Why don't you go ask Bean how to fix it?"
Zog's face turned red with anger. "HURRY UP AND GET THIS MAN HIS CRAP!"
The knights had gone to grab all of what Koga asked for: his horse, his belongings, Elfo, and Oscar. Elfo walked over to Koga, confused and scared.
"W-What the heck is going on? Are we just going to leave like this? What about Bean and Luci?" Elfo asked timidly.
"Just get on the horse, Elfo, both of you," said Koga, gesturing to the both of them.
"KOGA! KOGA WAIT!" Bean screamed from the astronomy tower. "DON'T LEAVE ME HERE! PLEASE! TAKE ME WITH YOU!"
Koga looked up at Bean. He wanted to take her with him. He wished he could. But…he had to deal with the cards he was dealt. It was already too late.
Koga looked away and slowly approached the horse while still holding onto Oona. Once he was close, he shoved her away and hopped on the horse. He snapped at the reins, and he rode off.
Elfo looks back and gives one last glance at Bean.
"Goodbye Bean…" Elfo whispered.
He could hear the princess calling out to them as they rode off.