by M H Ryan
“I’d rather die than give my kingdom to you,” Bowsette said, pulling back her shoulders.
“Fire,” Cupcake said.
Bowsette’s eyes went wide at the sudden command and the sound of dozens of rifles being fired. The black bullets screamed as they raced toward her. She turned, ducked and exposed nothing but her shell to the onslaught. The bullets crashed into the steps all around her, sending chunks of stones flying. A few of the shots hit her on the shell, ricocheting onto her castle and the cliff walls. Her shell held, but it hurt like hell.
“Is that all you got?!” Bowsette screamed as the bullets came slamming against and around her.
Up the stairs, directly in front of her were, Barkly and Soto. They seemed frozen in the shock and many of the bullets landed near them. They screamed, waving their hands and begging them to stop firing, but the shots kept coming.
She crawled up a few steps, keeping her eyes on Barkly and Soto as they pleaded for peace. She glanced back to see Cupcake firing from her wand that sounded like the twang of a string when it fired. The energy wave crashed into her, smacking her backside and slamming her face into the steps. Blood began to pool in her mouth and she let it drip down from her chin and onto the steps. More bullets struck her and more attacks from Cupcake.
Holy shit, she felt as if she was actually going to die. She wanted to turn around and kill at least a few of them with the fire inside her, but that wasn’t the plan. Crawling up a few more steps, she felt the first tears in her adult life leave her eyes and run down her face. They mixed with the blood coming from her mouth and fell to the steps.
Another strong hit from Cupcake sent her face first into the steps. The sounds of the attack begun to dull and everything around her swirled. The boys become a blur, but she did everything she could to reach her hand out to them, pleading with them. She was going to die now if they didn’t stop this. Her kingdom would fall, her people were going to die.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, blood spitting from her mouth.
She had risked everything on this and now she had failed her people. Hopefully, her family would forgive her.
The shots didn’t hurt anymore and she couldn’t move. She stared at the two men at top the stairs, screaming at the army as they rushed down to her, as if there were going to block the shots with their bodies. But the blur of two men standing over her, protecting her, transformed into something magnificent.
Chapter Ten
She felt soft hands on her and the clatter of metal. The liquid went into her mouth. She eyes popped open with the sounds of war crashing against her.
“Pop Master?” she asked, looking up at the old man. “I told you to stay inside.”
“Sorry,” Pop said and smiled.
She spit out the blood in her mouth and scrambled to her feet.
“Did they…?”
She didn’t even need to finish the sentence when she looked out into the Trench. Dead Royal soldiers littered the ground and the chaos of sounds pounded around her as they bounced through the Trench. She spotted the two men, transformed into beasts greater than themselves. One grabbed and tossed a soldier against the trench wall like a toy doll. His body slid down to the ground.
She took a step forward, but Pop Master grabbed her arm.
“You are in no condition to fight,” he said.
“You can’t stop me.”
“I think I can.”
Bowsette did feel weak, but there was no way she not going to join the fight.
“Then be my guard and fight with me,” she said.
He let her arm go and stood straighter than she’d ever seen him in his life. He pulled the pole from his back and put it into his hands.
“It will be my honor to fight for you,” he said and then produced a green vial she thought was a vitality but had only read about them. Pop downed the green liquid and wiped his mouth.
His straggly arms filled up with rippling muscles and while he still looked old, he filled out the suit of armor.
“Can you run?” she asked.
“I can for now,” he said, some of the rasp gone from his voice. “This won’t last long though.”
“Then run with me now.”
She took a few wobbly steps down the stairs but hit the brown pavers at the bottom at a near run. She jumped over the bodies and ignored the cheers from the people standing in their doorways, watching her run by.
An explosion rocked the entire valley and one of her men flew back in the air. It was Barkly. He landed on his back and slid another twenty feet. The man got on his feet in an instant and ran back into the battle.
Another explosion rocked the cliffs, sending dust over the whole trench. She kept running. She could help. Bullets flew in every direction. Some even made it to her, screaming by and hitting the cliff walls.
“Stay inside,” Bowsette yelled to the old lady standing with a broom and watching the battle as if it was the Kingdom Daily Show.
As she neared Barkly and Soto in their Huckle Berry form, she slowed down in pure admiration. They were a good fifteen feet tall and with muscles that bulged out in every part of their bodies. The puny soldiers were nothing but pins as they bowled through them.
“I’m here,” she yelled to their backs.
Soto turned to her and growled. His face contorted with rage and she stepped back in caution. Pop Master moved forward with his forked pole.
Then Soto blinked and looked down as if he recognized her. Bullets crashed into his head, but she saw those green eyes staring at her and he smiled. He turned and roared at the soldier shooting him in the face and smashed the top of his head into his shoulders.
“Dang,” Bowsette said.
“We shouldn’t be near these beasts,” Pop yelled.
“They are on our side,” she said over the screams, bullets and roars.
“They are on no side,” he said.
A soldier ran past Barkly and neared Bowsette. She took in a deep breath when Pop hurled a re-blade at him. The flat, curved blade rotated through the air and struck the soldiers arm, severing it just above the elbow. The blade kept flying out before returning. The soldier watched the blade, but what he should have been watching was the old man with a mean fork.
Pop in one quick motion stabbed him in the chest, shook his pole free and caught the re-blade, stuffing it back into a holster at his leg.
“I could have fried him,” Bowsette said.
“That kind of thing should be above a princess. Besides, it felt really good to do that.”
Past Barkly and Soto were about fifty more soldiers back stepping toward the gate. This was going to be over soon. Then she spotted them, near the gate. The princess bitch duo, Cupcake and Banana. Were they trying to get away?
“Boys!” she screamed and they both turned to her. “Get the princesses!”
They growled and nodded their heads in unison. They turned and ran straight through the guards as if they were field grass. The ones that weren’t trampled knew what they were running for and they ran after the beasts, firing and stabbing at them. Bowsette jogged behind them all, watching the advance toward the warp gate. Then she spotted Little Miss Yellow Hat standing at the top of the stairs, raising her wand high.
Cupcake stood at the console and for a second, looked directly at Bowsette. She stopped for a second, scowling before running up the stairs and into the warp gate just as it formed.
“They’re getting away!” Bowsette screamed.
A soldier stabbed at her, but Pop slapped his hand with his pole and then relieved the man’s shoulders of his head.
“Wait, stop!” she screamed as she watched precisely what Banana was doing on the gate’s steps.
Banana swirled her wand in a circular motion creating a large disc of sparks, and crackling energy. In seconds, she had it larger than Soto and soon, it was the size of the entire warp gate.
“Turn around!” she screamed, hearing her voice echo through the trench. “Run away!”
&nbs
p; Even the Royal soldiers turned and noticed the thing being created over the gate. Bowsette found herself running next to a couple guards until Barkly scooped her up in his arms and ran faster than she ever could. Soto had a protesting Pop Master in his arms as the four of them moved away from the gate at an amazing pace.
Bowsette looked back under Barkly’s arms to see Banana walking with her wand held high into the warp gate. The swirling thing she created moved with her, wrapping around the warp gate like a ring over a finger. It spun, crackled and sparked. The second she disappeared into the gate, the blackness vanished and the disc she had made swelled out for a second and then imploded into the gate.
A bright light hit her first and she used her strength to pull Barkly down onto the ground. He fell on her just as the concussion of the blast hit them. She felt it in her bones and teeth and the blast lifted Barkly and her into the air. He held onto her and together they crashed down on the ground, sliding a good hundred feet before stopping.
The sounds of the explosion sent an echo through the valley and every window in the trench exploded in. She covered her ears and then heard the cracks of rocks breaking from the cliff wall and the pounding sound of them hitting the ground. A massive boulder landed just five feet from them, kicking up a cloud of dust.
“We got to keep moving,” she said.
Barkly let go of her and his arms collapsed to the sides, not moving.
She reeled in pain and grabbed at her stomach. It felt as if all her insides had been smooshed to jelly. Soto, still carrying Pop slid to a stop next to them.
She pulled on Barkly, but he was too heavy to move.
“We got to move, guys.”
Soto set Pop down to help Bowsette. Together, they pulled Barkly along the ground. She pointed to the spot, which was once going to be a dress shop. Now it was more or a less a recess against the cliff wall. She pulled Barkly in with Soto and Pop. Another rock landed just outside the dress shop. She wanted to pick that rock up and carry it all the way to the Grand Kingdom, and shove it straight up Banana’s ass. How could they do something like this?
Soto breathed hard and stared at Bowsette. “Are you okay?” his voice sounded like a growl and it took a second for her to gather what he asked
“Yes, I’ll be okay, but Barkly isn’t responding.”
“The berry is going to wear off soon,” Soto growled and then yelled as he started shrinking in size.
In a few seconds, the beast of a man became a man.
Barkly shrunk down into the small man he was next. She kneeled over him, holding his hand.
“Pop, do we have any more red?”
“I used the last of it on you, Princess.”
“Get me the healing salve.”
Pop handed her the cup. She wasn’t even sure where to put it, but she rubbed it on his hand.
“Barkly, can you hear me?” Soto asked, touching Barkly’s face. “He’s not waking.”
“He saved my life,” Bowsette said. “He has to be okay.”
She let go of his hand and laid her head on his chest. She heard his heart beating and felt his lungs expanding and contracting. He was alive, he just needed a reason to wake up. She reached down to his pants and slid her hand, grabbing him gently by the balls.
He coughed and opened his eyes. She let go of him and grabbed him around the neck.
“Thank goodness,” she said. “I thought I was losing you.”
He rubbed his head and groaned. “What the hell happened back there?”
“Banana went bananas,” Soto said with a smile.
“She created a nuke,” Barkly said, laughed and then started coughing.
“What’s a nuke?” Pop Master asked.
“Just a huge bomb,” Soto said.
Bowsette gasped when she saw Barkly’s hand pull away from his mouth, covered in blood.
“Shit,” she said. “You’re bleeding on the inside.”
He looked at his hand and set his head back on the dirt. “Just fricking great.”
“Do you have a hospital?” Soto asked, panic filling his voice.
“No, we have to go to the other kingdoms.”
“How can you not have a hospital?”
“You destroyed it in case you didn’t remember.”
Soto pulled back his shaggy hair in frustration. “We’re going to have to take him through the gate, get him some help.”
“I’m okay,” Barkly said, sitting up and coughing. Blood covered his hand.
“Oh, man, this is bad,” Soto said, pacing next to his friend.
“The gate is destroyed,” Pop said. “I believe that was their intention. We are days away from any hospital.”
“He’s going to die,” Soto said.
“I think I can help.”
Bowsette turned to see the old woman that was sweeping out her house, walking toward them.
“Hello, Fremma,” Pop said, greeting the woman.
She was just as old as Pop.
“Hello,” she said. “Is he worthy?”
Pop looked down at the young man lying on the ground and rubbed his chin.
“I think he is.”
She hobbled forward, extending her wrinkly hand toward Bowsette. Inside a palm that hadn’t seen a leisurely day in its life, sat a bundle of cloths. Curious, she took the fabric, feeling something substantial in the middle of it.
“Careful,” Freema said.
She unwrapped the cloth, one piece at a time until Bowsette saw what she had. She gasped and covered her mouth, wishing she had taken greater care uncovering it.
“How did you—” Bowsette started to say.
“Something left over from better times,” Fremma said. “I was just waiting for the moment I was going to need it, but it looks like this boy needs it before me.”
“Are you sure?” Bowsette asked. “You know who he is, right?”
“I do and while I can never forget what happened, I can forgive,” Fremma said. “And I think it is good for the kingdom if he lives to fight another day.”
“You could sell this for what this entire kingdom is worth,” Bowsette said. “Maybe more, it’s priceless.”
“Stop trying to talk her out of it,” Soto said.
“I saw what he did out there and if he is on our side,” Fremma said. “I believe we can once again be the kingdom of old. I would give ten of these to see that again before I die.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Bowsette said.
“What is it?” Soto asked, staring at the blue liquid in the small capsule.
“It’s a life potion,” Bowsette said, looking at it in complete wonder. “This isn’t supposed to exist anymore. There hasn’t been an account of one being used in…”
“A hundred years ago, by your uncle. I was there,” Pop said.
“Give it to him,” Soto said.
Bowsette took the blue liquid with a shaky hand. For the second time, she cradled Barkly’s head and poured a liquid down his mouth.
Chapter Eleven
The boys looked tired and apparently, the Huckle Berries took a toll on them. Soto leaned forward on the wooden table, seemingly lost in thought at the question Bowsette asked of both of them.
Barkly was faring much better than Soto though. Probably because of the life liquid given to him. It was crazy to think that such a thing even existed in her kingdom without her knowledge and somehow, it gave her hope that she would be able to find the other things that had seemed to disappear from the world. If an old woman had been hoarding it, what else had been lost to time or wars?
She felt the uneasiness in her chest as the consequences of the Trench warp gate getting destroyed settled in. Was there even a person in existence that could rebuild such a thing? It seemed that most of the advanced tech had been lost two hundred years ago in the Great War. Yeah, they still had the wands and the gates and many other mysterious items of power but little had been kept on their actual creation. They could make trinkets of power like her bracelets and mag
ical eyes, but the truly powerful items were mostly a mystery as to their origin.
In a way, she thought of the Trench gate going down as a gift. She had never traveled far from a gate. Not many had in the last two hundred years since they were built. The nearest gate would be the neighboring Grass Kingdom. She had never spoken to that princess and in hindsight, she wished she would have reached out to her in less needy times. Nothing like meeting a person for the first time and asking for a favor.
“I mean,” Soto said with a long breath. “We have already sealed our fate with yours when we decimated the Royal guard.”
“We’d do anything to protect you,” Barkly added. “I am with you, Princess Bowsette, to the end.”
Soto sighed. “This isn’t that simple, Barkly. Are we really helping this world by doing this or are we just hurting it more?”
“This is a war, Soto,” Barkly said. “And if you haven’t noticed, Bowsette isn’t exactly swimming in resources here. If she does this without us, she’s going to get hurt or worse. Can you let that happen?”
“No,” Soto said. “But—”
“There is no buts,” Barkly said.
Soto wiped his face and set his hands, palm down on the table. “I think my actions have answered the question, but I’ll make it official. I’m with you Bowsette, thick or thin.”
“Oh, well, I am definitely staying thick,” she said and winked.
Barkly and Soto both laughed.
“Well, I am happy to have you with me. This will be a lot more fun with you two,” Bowsette said.
The door flung open and Pop Master walked in, carrying a black pillow with an eye on it.
“Come on in, Pop,” Bowsette said.
“Princess, the daily morning show has just been sent out and I think you all should watch it.”
Bowsette took the magical projector eye, turned it on and rolled it to the middle of the table. The image of Cupcake projected up a few feet over the table. She wore a dark red dress that ran up to her neck and sleeves that ended round and puffy at the wrists. There were more rings on her fingers, the commanding rod was back at her hip and there was a new necklace that hung from her neck in a thick chain that held a large red stone. More trinkets or old, powerful relics. If they were relics of old, why hadn’t she worn them in the battle?
