Chapter 5: The Star Sword
Duke walked hurriedly back to the pond, not bothering to wrap up in his long, black trench coat to keep the cold morning rain from seeping into his feathers. His heavy boots clomped determinedly along the sidewalk and occasionally sunk into a particularly deep puddle. Duke, resembling most closely an earth species called a Madagascar Teal, happened to grow up on the warmer side of Puckworld. Reflecting back on his childhood, he recalled how it rained there far more than it snowed and was overcast much of the year. The darkness made for a sturdier, more steadfast duck culture—prone to stoic and detached emotions. However, Duke never fit into that category. He loved poetry, the arts, and tales of the daring adventures of Drake DuCaine. He was inclined to long walks in the night, running about in the rain, and day dreaming of being a hero of Puckworld one day. His dreams of being a daring-do-gooder always got him in trouble with the other thieves, like his rival, Falcone.
However, on this night, he took no pleasure in the misty air and soft, Romantic rumbles of thunder in the distance. Instead, he allowed the rain to depressingly trickle down his beak and soak into his shoulders.
What is happening to me? he thought. Those strange visions were more than just images wrought by stress. And the Star Sword…it was somehow at the center of them all. But how? I've got to go home and check on that Sword. Maybe it's trying to tell me something? Send me a message?
Duke also thought about his new acquaintance and how when he even slightly brushed against her fingertips, those images swelled in his mind. He wondered—briefly—if she had any connection to the barrage of mirages, but quickly shifted his focus to the embarrassing scene he had caused back in the bar.
Oh, Carmel! What a fool I've made of myself! How will I ever find her again? Well, after that fiasco, she probably will never want to see me again.
He signed longingly into the night and massaged his aching forehead with the palm of his hand, lumbering on in the soft rain until finally, he arrived at the arena. He carded in the side door and walked down the cold, concrete stadium hallways until he reached the location of the pond's secret elevator. Again, Duke used a hidden keypad located on the side of the elegantly concealed elevator doors and waited for the lift to reach him. When it arrived, the doors speedily whooshed open and he stepped in, finally noticing how drenched he was. As he rode down to the underbelly of the pond, he shook out his long hair and peeled off his soaked trench coat. Finally, the elevator doors swished open again and he stepped out into the living quarters of their secret hideout.
Duke looked down at his watch. 4:30am. He knew at least Wildwing would be up soon. He had about a half hour to examine the Star Sword before he was discovered—that is, assuming Tanya's alarm system didn't trigger before he could look at it.
As he approached the dimly lit, three-story-tall room that contained the super computer, Drake One, he felt a sudden pang of guilt. Sure, he was just going to peak at the Star Sword, but not telling his teammates about what he experienced or why he needed to sneak in to Drake One's room was not normally is style. If one of his teammates had experienced similar visions, he would want to know about them and help. However, headstrong Duke felt that this time, he needed to complete this mission alone. There as something deeper to this mystery that only he could understand—eventually.
As he walked up the steep stairs to reach the platform that held the computer's elaborately complicated buttons and control mechanisms, he felt his heart pound unexpectedly nervously. Once on the platform, he placed his ear to the floor and began running his forefinger along the lines of the surface. He was looking for the top of the concealed safe containing all of the Mighty Duck's "souvenirs" from all their earthly adventures. Finally, Duke found the groves in the flooring he was looking for and without wasting further time, he stood up and centered his weight on the tile he had just traced with his finger. He then lightly bounced up and down three times, gently dislodging the spring mechanism that allowed the safe to rise from the flooring. Just as he calculated, the buried safe lifted from the floor and displayed all of the rare objects he and his team had collected in the course of a year on earth.
There was the time traveling orb that Dragoness had used to send them forward in time, just to get rid of them so he could conquer the earth in their time! Then, there was Brawn's head. Luckily, he was fast asleep and snoring. Duke smiled a bit, remembering how huge and formidable the bounty-hunting robot had been when his head was still attached to his deadly body. Now, he looked as harmless as a sleeping child. Then, there was the Star Sword, as untouched as when he had first placed it in the safe. Duke slowly reached out to touch the handle of the sword, and just like when he touched Carmel, an image surfaced in his mind. Like a jolt of electricity, it shocked the grey duck to see Falcone, his most formidable rival in the Brotherhood of the Blade. He was laughing cockily, as if he had already won something. He also saw himself behind Falcone, leaning against a wall in his old thief's clothes and dawned in all of his best thief's gadgets. And Carmel was there too, shaking her head as if in disgust.
Where are we? What time is this? What am I doing over there when I know I am clearly standing on Drake One's platform?
And as suddenly as the pictures zapped into his mind, the visions drained away. More fleeting and confusing than the barrage of images he experienced at the bar.
Duke quickly released the handle of the Star Sword and stepped back, holding his head in his hands. He shook his head violently, trying to come back to what he knew to be the real world. Then he looked up at the safe full of treasures and realized he had to push it back into the floor before he triggered any unknown alarms. The slender drake took a few steps back, then ran up to the safe, jumped on the top shelf and used his full weight to push the safe back into the floor. With some mechanical resistance, the safe eventually sunk into the floor and out of sight, its top self once again becoming a tile on the floor of the platform.
Duke quickly ran to his chambers, just wanting to get away from the world outside of his doors. He violently threw his damp trench coat onto the floor, tore off his soaked, black clothes and dawned a fresh pair of soft, black boxers. He then flung himself onto the inviting and clean sheets of his bed and nuzzled his beak into the soft pillows.
Before he could begin to reflect on the absurdity of his day, the duck drifted into a dreamless sleep, only making an involuntary quacking noise as he snored restlessly into what remained of the night.