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6. A Fight in Another World
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A few minutes had gone by and Lyra still wept over Gavin's body. I stood by her side, but I knew we couldn't stay there. It was times like these where I really wish I could talk.
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“Quack…” I squawked out and she finally broke her focus.
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Lyra looked at me and then everyone else that had fallen. She turned back looking at the dead body of the ogre too. I think she finally realized that whoever sent the beast would come looking too.
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Like magical clockwork, I sensed multiple people slowly closing in. I pulled at Lyra's leg, quacking quietly enough that she understood, and then a branch snapped nearby. We moved away from the massacre as a small group of soldiers took our place.
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“Look at this mess. Damn ogre died killing them all,” said one soldier.
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Another soldier stepped forward after surveying the whole battleground. He looked to be the leader. It was a gruff old human man with a short beard. His hair was blonde and he stood out like nobility, but somehow had the aura of a barbarian at the same time. I took notice of Lyra's eyes widening at recognizing the man.
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“He didn't kill them all. All the soldiers and even her little bodyguard are accounted for, but the elf princess seems to have escaped,” said the man walking up to Gavin and looking at him closely before kicking the side of his dead body.
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“But Sir Khandre, all the men our scouts tallied are accounted as dead. Did she do this?” asked one soldier.
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“This one. Eldreblud. Queensgard to the Ghisendra line. Since the mother passed, he has been assigned to the daughter almost all her life. You can see that his blade is missing because it's the one embedded in the ogre's skull. They died killing each other,” explained Khandre.
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“Khandre…” said Lyra under her breath in disbelief.
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*Wait, elf PRINCESS?! How did I stumble into this. What are the odds?! This is getting dangerous, we need-*
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I don't know if it was shock or anger, but Lyra stood and stepped out of the brush we were hiding behind.
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No no! What are you doing?!
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“Quack?!”
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“Khandre you swine!” she said, raising her dagger once again to another threat.
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I quickly waddled after her as the men took notice and Khandre faced her.
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“Ah, Princess Lyrianna. Saves me the trouble of hunting you down,” he sneered, drawing his behemoth of a sword.
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“You dare attack an envoy of peace brokered to your king?! When my father hears of this, we'll never trade with you again!” Lyra screamed with tears in her eyes.
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“You see. That's the problem. Why trade at all, when we can just take the land and it's resources for ourselves? As for your father, well, you know it's a bit of a journey between the kingdoms, and with you soon to be dead and all, we'll have blindsighted the elven kingdom before he knows anything,” boasted Khandre.
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*This guy was the baddest of bad news. But I want to honor Gavin's last wish and follow through on the old man's wants as well. It all comes back to Lyra. So, I have to make a stand here!*
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“Men. How about first crack?” chuckled Khandre, resting his blade into the ground and leaning on it.
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His group of five men moved in with their blades drawn. Lyra's hand holding the dagger was shaking. I could see that she was scared and I know she wants to fight, but I can't let anything happen to her. It was time to rise up! I stepped between her and the men.
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“Duc?” she questioned.
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“Quack.” I said, glancing back at her with a nod.
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“What the hell is that?” asked one.
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“A duck you moron.” said another.
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“It's in the way.”
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“Then kill it first.”
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The meager soldier thought nothing of me as it neared me with his sword. I’m sure he thought a quick stab into me and I'd be out of the way. Yeah right! No chance!
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I remembered that speed and offense were my true strengths. That I shouldn't try to counter whatever they're going to attempt. Instead, I should strike first. The clarity was there as I calmed myself. A burning overwelmed my insides.
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This was my first time battling people in my new life, but I knew it was bound to happen. I can't let them being human outweigh my will to take them down. In my heart of hearts, I know a hero would never kill if they didn’t have to… I'll do my best to incapacitate them.
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Steam began to rise from my bill as I finally pushed the heat inside up and out. The men looked in terror as a fire breathing duck unleashed an explosive wave of fire in their direction, blowing them all back with extreme force into trees behind where Khandre was standing, knocking their now crispy bodies unconscious.
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Khandre stood there in disbelief for a moment, as did Lyra, “What the hell kind of duck is that?” he uttered.
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“My duck!” shouted Lyra, “Go Duc!”
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With what felt like overwhelming motivation, her cheering me on was enough to fire me up even more. I gathered wind molecules under my webbed feet and cascaded forward at super speed towards Khandre who had drawn his big sword, ready for a battle.
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However, with my speed it was like he was moving in slow motion as I headed straight for him. I extended my left wing once I was close enough and nailed the side of his sword. The force expelled it from his hands and as he was disarmed, I went in for a headbutt. Slamming my little head into his big head wasn't the brightest of ideas as it did knock him back, but it also discombobulated me quite a bit.
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I dropped to the ground, regaining my senses when the man started laughing, “A duck that can use magic? That's really something. But you're not the only one!”
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Khandre reached out his hand towards me and I began to float. I had never been this exhausted before but after taking a couple of heavy blows, one being from an ogre, I wasn't really at the top of my game. He seemed to be using a different kind of wind magic as it swirled around me, lifting me into the air, inside the wind bubble, the oxygen was being vacuumed out. Khandre was suffocating me with his magic and I was helpless!
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*This can't be how it ends. This can't be!*
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End Part 6
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Author's Notes #3:
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I definitely hope and wish someday to see this as an anime or manga, but just having it in book form is enough for me. To finally put something out in the world that I poured everything into, even just for fun, would be a great personal accomplishment! So, if you're reading this, I think I've done it!
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When it came to language and violence, trying to determine what the age rating and how far I'd go with certain things, ended up being simpler than I thought. While the creature on creature violence is brutal, I tried to keep it quite tame to hit a teen rating/young adult. Life and death are obviously the biggest stakes in most stories as it is with life, so I felt I did alright with the story content and telling it how I wanted without censoring myself too much.☆
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𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹
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Duck Fact #3: Duck's have a field of vision of 340 degrees around them due to each eye being on the side of the head. Their eyes are far better than humans and can see farther things in sharp focus. Also, they can move each eye independently, making for a neat defensive mechanism as they can easily sleep with one eye open to look out for predators!
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𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹
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⋆༺𓆩The.Fellow𓆪༻⋆
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