Chapter List
Chapter Twenty-Three
Fea and me were thrown against the floor of a large room. All but one of the people that brought us in left. I reached over and shook Fea lightly on her shoulder. She stirred slightly and opened her eyes.
�What�s going on?� she asked me. I shook my head.
�I don�t know�� I looked around the room and stopped at the person who still remained.
�You�� I said. Richard smiled and stepped towards us.
�Yes, it�s me. You shouldn�t have escaped, fox. Very foolish thing to do.� He said to me. I frowned slightly. Fea looked at him and narrowed her eyes slightly.
�My name is Renard.�
�Is it? Fine, Renard then.� He said then looked at Fea, �And who is this lovely little beast?� he asked. Fea growled lowly. He frowned and reached down and pulled her up slightly by her hair. She cried out and grabbed holds of his hand.
�I asked you a question.� She snarled and held onto his hand to ease the tension on her hair.
�It�s Fea, now let go!� she yelled at him. He blinked and let her go and took a step back.
�Fea? Funny, that name is oddly familiar.� He said to her. She growled, rubbing her head.
�It should. I remember you. You and your men destroyed my village. I came out and tried to kill you.� She said. He then smiled and laughed.
�Oh yes, now I remember. You were the young creature who ran out of her house and attacked me. Your parents were yelling your name for you to get away.� He chuckled and shook his head. �You must be a stupid animal to come here.� She growled and suddenly dove on him. I watched as she tackled him to the ground and pulled a dagger off of his belt. She raised it up and brought it down at his chest but he caught her wrist and kicked her off. He stood up and pulled his sword out of its sheath. She backed up a little, holding the dagger out towards him. He smiled and circled her slowly. I moved back a little, this was her fight and I knew it.
�You think you can take me, fox?� He said. She glared at him.
�I don�t know, we�ll find out. All I know is that I want revenge for what you did to my village.� She said to him.
�You can�t always have what you want. I know, I�ll let you live to be a lovely little concubine for the soldiers after they kill off your little friends.� He said with a grin. She growled and lashed out at him. He moved back and brought his sword at her head. She ducked down then jumped forward, bringing her shoulder into his gut. He fell over but quickly got back up. She swiped at him again but he brought his sword up against the dagger. The force of it made her lose grip of the dagger. He smirked at her.
�Oops, now you�ve nothing to defend yourself with. Give it up, beast, I�ve been trained in all forms of weaponry.� He said to her.
�Oh yeah? What about this?� She slipped her tail around his ankle and pulled his foot out from under him. He stumbled and dropped his sword but managed to stay up. But she didn�t wait long. She brought her canine claws right across his face, leaving deep crimson cuts on his face. He glared at her then swung his fist at her. She ducked under it and brought her claws right up into his chin, digging them in and pulling them out. He cringed and she took the moment to spin and kick him. I watched as he fell to the ground on his back and she went for his sword. He started to get back up when he felt his blade slam hard into his chest, going in deep. His eyes widened and he let out a loud yell, causing Fea�s and my ears to flatten against our head due to the loud sound. He tried to pull the sword out of his chest but knew it would do no good. He breathed heavily and the last thing that rolled through his mind was a thought that scared him, �dealt with by a familiar foe�" He winced and everything slowly went black.
Fea panted slightly then looked at me. I had stood back and watched the whole thing. She smiled at me and walked over.
�Thanks for helping me to get here, Renard.� She said. I smiled at her.
�I�ve �ad abou� as many �thanks� as I can take. Just do me a favor.� I said. She blinked then smiled.
�Sure, what is it? Anything I can do to repay you would be fine.� She said.
�Stop asking so many questions.� I said smiling. She laughed lightly but was cut short by pain in her arm from the earlier attack.
�Fea, y� wait �ere. I�m going t� deal with Emperor Diable.� I told her.
�Okay� but Renard-�
�Be careful?� I asked. She smiled and nodded.
�Yeah.� I smiled then walked past her. She grabbed my arm and I looked at her.
�I�m sorry about what happened to Damien.� She said to me. I sighed and patted her shoulder.
�Just make sure �e �as a proper burial in case I don�t come back-� She then quickly brought her hand up and smacked me. I blinked, confused.
�There, that should have gotten rid of that nonsense talk of not making it back.� She told me. I smiled slightly.
�Er� thanks.� She smiled.
�Anytime.� She released my arm and I started off through another door. I walked slowly, being unarmed I didn�t want to get any unwanted attention. I had no idea how I would defeat the Emperor now but I didn�t care. I had to try.
I turned a corner and started down the hall. I felt a hand grip my shoulder suddenly and I was yanked sharply into a room and thrown against the ground. I winced as I hit the stone floor. I looked around the room. It was a very large room with suites of armor and tapestries all over the place.
�Welcome, Renard.� My ears perked up and I looked towards the door. It was then closed by a tall man wearing all black, who had deep black eyes, and black hair to match; Emperor Diable. I stood up quickly and watched him.
�I�ve heard much about you, the leader of the AFAS. So nice to meet you.� He said to me calmly.
�I�ve �eard a lot abou� y� too, Emperor Diable.� I said to him in the same tone. He looked me over slightly then grinned.
�Yes, a perfect resemblance.� I blinked, suddenly confused.
�Excuse me?� I asked. He smiled and walked towards me slowly, holding my own sword in his hand.
�You look exactly like your father, only with your mothers eyes. Your mother had the green eyes, the Irish side of your family. But the rest of you is just like your father.� I growled.
�Don�t you dare talk about my parents as if you knew them.� I said to him. A wide smile spread across his face.
�But I did.� He said, �I never thought I�d be seeing you again either. It was quite a while ago. I was merely a slave guard in Ireland. Your parents were a real pain in the ass. Always trying to get away from the farm. One day they did, a week after you were born. Well, I was on the team sent to go and find them. And when I did find them, I dealt with them as they should have been.� I glared at him and lunged at him. He expected it though and moved out of the way, caught my arm, then twisted it behind my back. He brought the sword to my neck and held me there.
�After I killed them I got you and hid you away from the others until you were old enough to be sold.� He grinned at me as a low growl emitted from my muzzle. �To think, my success is all because of the money I got from selling you!� He laughed then moved the sword and kicked me forward. �E killed my parents! Then used me t� gain power! I can�t believe this! I thought to myself as I got back up and faced him.
He chuckled lowly.
�I see you also have your fathers habit of attacking blindly.� He said. I growled lowly at him. He then pointed my sword at me and smiled.
�So, you�ve come here to kill me? Hoping to end all of this?� He asked. I just nodded to him slightly. He grinned then dropped my sword on the ground in front of me. I blinked and looked from my sword back up to him.
�Lets see it then.� He turned away from me and walked towards a table. I reached down and grabbed hold of my sword, gripping the hilt tightly. He took his cape off and lay it down on the table. He then turned to me and grinned slightly. He grabbed hold of the bone hilt of his sword and pulled it from the sheath.
�So, you are the most skilled fighter in all of your pathetic kind? Well, we�ll see how well you do against me.� He said to me. I watched as he started to circle me calmly. I turned as he went around me, keeping my sword ready.
Without warning he lashed out at me, his sword coming up from below. I spun my sword downwards, slamming the tip of his against the ground. Unexpectedly though, he twisted his sword, causing mine to go under his. He then brought it up and I felt the very tip graze against my chest. I winced and pulled away from him, putting a hand to my chest. I growled and grasped my sword in both hands then swung sideways at him. He was ready and held his out to the side, brought it over, hitting mine to the side then twisted his sword pointing up and slammed the hilt onto the top of my head. I cringed and moved back, one hand on my head.
�Humph�. what a disappointment you are, Renard.� He said. I growled and brought my sword upwards at him. He did the same thing I did, hitting my sword into the ground. I grinned slightly and pushed off my sword, jumping up and landing a kick right in the center of his chest. He slid backwards against the ground but quickly rolled over backwards, standing himself back up. I pulled the end of my sword from the stone floor and circled him slowly. He watched me and smiled.
�Adaptability is good. But not good enough when compared to pure skill and experience.� He said, charging at me. I swung right at his neck but he ducked down under my attack and swung low at my ankles. I jumped up over his sword and kicked off the back of his head as I went strait over him. He cringed and turned towards me, bringing his sword out as he did so. I was still turning around when he did and was welcomed by a sharp pain as the sword caught me across the side. I yelled out as I fell to the ground. I got back up on my hands and knees, holding my side with one hand though. I could feel blood on my hand but tried to ignore the pain. My ears perked up as I heard footsteps and I turned my head to look at Diable. He brought his sword down at me, catching me across my shoulder. I yelled out again, the pain unbearable. Lightning flashed outside from the storm as he walked over in front of me.
�Renard� You got a couple good hits in but do you really believe you can kill me? You�ll be joining your parents very soon.� He said with a smirk. I growled and switched the sword to my other hand, my right arm hurting bad from him hitting my shoulder. I brought my sword up towards his chest but I wasn�t very good with my left hand and he blocked the attack easily.
He hit my sword against the ground and held it there. With his other hand he reached to his belt and pulled a dagger out of the sheath.
�I really expected more from you, Renard.� He grinned then brought the dagger sharply into my back. I yelled out loudly, it hurt worse than anything I had experienced before. He moved back some and circled me slowly. I shuddered slightly.
This is it I thought, it�s all over� I closed my eyes and cringed as the Emperor reached down and pulled the dagger out of my back. I was feeling increasingly weak as my own blood left my body from the many wounds. He moved back in front of me and grinned.
�Don�t worry, I�ll finish you off now so you don�t just bleed to death.� He said. He then brought his sword high into the air above my head. I growled lowly and with my last ounce of strength, brought my sword up ands strait into his chest all the way up to the hilt. His eyes widened and he stumbled backwards. I pulled the sword from his chest and he fell over, motionless. The evil Emperor Diable was no more.
My vision blurred slightly and I lay down on the floor, too weak to get up.
�Renard!� I heard faintly. I forced myself to look towards the door. I saw Fea and Anthony run inside. They grabbed me by my arms and started pulling me out of the room.
�We�ve got to get him to the medic now!� Fea said. Her and Anthony took me all the way out of the castle to where our medics were located in the field. I took a small glance around. The battle was over and there were bodies all over the place. I knew we had won.
The sun was just beginning to rise. I also noticed that the rain had stopped. I cringed as I was laid down on a blanket. I could feel the medic trying to work on the large wound in my back. I couldn�t imagine what they expected to do about it.
�Renard! Renard are you okay?!� I heard to my left. I looked over and saw Jewell and Charlie by my side. I winced slightly but gave a weak smile.
�Renard, don�t you dare die on us.� Charlie said to me. I didn�t reply to them. I didn�t want to talk. I just wanted to sleep now. I�ll be fine y� guys� jus� give me some time t� rest an� pull a blanket over me. It�s bloody cold� I thought, as if expecting them to hear me.
�Renard, Renard listen to me.� Jewell said to me, �You need to stay awake.� Stay awake? Why would I wan� t� do tha�? I�m tired. I�m going t� sleep� I thought. I slowly closed my eyes. Charlie shook me, despite the medics orders not to.
�Renard! Stay awake! Renard!� Charlie yelled at me. I didn�t answer him. I just fell into a very comfortable sleep, the best sleep I�ve ever had. The last thing that went through my mind was how beautiful the sun looked when I saw it, the sounds of birds chirping in the trees above me, and the smell of a cooked meal being prepared for the weary fighters. It was wonderful.