The duchess

The battle

My heart was pounding so fast it was practically shooting out of my chest. We were inching closer to practically death every second. "Just so you know, we will have to kill it. We need one of its bones to pass," Ji explained. Jinx groaned, "How in the hell are we going to do that?!" Ji smiled, "Lots of people have died from this basilisk. It's about seventy years old." Ji said. "How does that help?" Yuri screamed. Ji laughed, "You didn't let me finish, dummy. Basically, if there are skeletons, there are weapons left from the people who died. We will be stocked up with weapons." Jinx, Yuri and I started to cheer. Then, we stopped because the entire place started to shake. It went on for a few seconds but stopped. Yuri took a deep breath, "Should we just go in? Is everyone ready?" I nodded as I grabbed out my dagger. "I'm ready. Ready to kill this bozo," Jinx said as he pulled out his dagger.

We found the entrance to the cave and we all took deep breaths. "Can we say goodbye just in case?" Yuri asked. Ji nodded. Yuri immediately jumped into my arms, "I love you, Irus. You've been an amazing big sister to me." My heart melted. I really love my little sister and I will do anything to protect her. I gave her a squeeze, "I love you to the moon and back, squirt," I said as I kissed her forehead. Yuri let go and jumped onto Jinx. He held her up and they hugged for like 20 seconds. "Irus, you are really strong to do this for your cousins," Ji said. I patted their shoulder, "Thanks, Samisata." They pulled me in for a hug. It was a quick but really sweet hug. "Hey, Miss Noble-ness. You've been a pretty good friend. Even though we kind of act like siblings," Jinx joked. I smacked him, "Thanks, 'big bro.'" We laughed. "Everyone ready?" I asked. They all shook their heads to say yes.

Yuri took my hand and squeezed it. I squeezed it back. Then, we all sprinted into the cave. The place was enormous and we ran behind a huge boulder. It looked as if the basilisk was sleeping. That thing was about the size of the Kaika castle. Then, we heard little roars. "Baby basilisks," Jinx and I said at the same time. One ran? No... Wiggled? Yeah, wiggled towards us. We pressed our backs against the boulder. I held my breath. As it wiggled past, it turned around to look at its mother but saw us as it turned. "Oh crap," Jinx very quietly said under his breath. The baby basilisk screeched and wiggled toward us. Its mother roared. "Oh god! Split up! I'll go with Ji this way. You go with Yuri that way," I yelled. We took off in our different directions. I saw four more baby basilisks. "And there is the new generation of these monsters," Ji joked. How could they say that in this situation?! I was about to yell at them, but then I saw the basilisk going right toward Yuri and Jinx. Toward my little sister.

"Yuri!!" I screamed. I can't let anything happen to her. I just can't. I saw her and Jinx holding hands and trying to sprint away from its gaze but you can't get away from something like that so easily. "Oh my god. We have to help them! But what am I gonna do with a dagger?!" I said to Ji. They shrugged and looked around. "What are you doing?!" I yelled. They looked at me and rolled their eyes, "I'm looking for a weapon to help us distract it, smart-alec." I blushed but decided to shake it off. I nodded and looked around then, I saw the perfect weapon. A bow and arrow. "A bow and arrows, Ji! It's exactly what we need, Samisata!" I exclaimed. They laughed. I got up and sprinted to the bow.

Perfect. I grabbed the bag of bows off the skeleton's shoulder. Yuck. The basilisk was still chasing Yuri and Jinx. I could hear Yuri screaming. "Haru! Get your head back into the game! Shoot it!" Ji yelled as they ran toward me. They ran up beside me and I started panicking because I haven't shot a bow in years. I shook it off and grabbed a bow and attached it to the arrow. I hope this works. It seems really old. I took a deep breath. "Ji, you have to scream to get its attention," I commanded. They nodded and screamed. I shook the whole place as it turned. I focused the arrow at its neck. Then, zing. The arrow flew right through its neck. It screeched and roared as it laid down and died. Ji jumped into my arms, "Yes! Yes! Yes!! Oh my god, we did it, Irus!" I was stunned and practically couldn't speak. How the heck did just a single arrow kill that giant beast?

Ji let go of me and asked, "What's wrong?" I looked up and saw Jinx on top of the body and he pulled out his dagger. He dug the dagger into its side and jumped off the side. He made a huge slit on its entire right side while screaming. I officially knew it was dead. "Irus, oh my god!" Yuri yelled as she sprinted toward me. As soon as I saw her I bursted into tears. I ran toward her and when we met I gave her the biggest bear hug ever. "That was the scariest moment of my life!" She exclaimed. I felt her shaking so I squeezed tighter. "It's okay now. We're alive," I said. Jinx ran over with multiple bones. "Ha! That was fun!!!" He exclaimed. Yuri let go and we looked at him with shock. "Fun? Fun!? Explain to me how that was fun, you idiot!" I yelled. He laughed, "I like when my adrenaline is pumping. I think it's fun!" I rolled my eyes and walked up to him and grabbed a bone from his arms.

"Everyone grabbed two just in case," Ji explained. I turned around and snatched another as he tried to dodge me. He's such an imp. After we all had two bones, and a few extras for Camisee, we talked to decide what to do next. "Should we go back up? What if Kir and Camisee can't make it through the night? We have to go back. I... I can't lose him," Ji said while shaking. It looked like she was on the verge of breaking down. I gave her a tight hug. "They'll be okay. We have time, so if we all agree, we can go back up. That's alright with me," I responded while letting go. Jinx shrugged and pulled Yuri in with one arm, she giggled, "As long as I'm with Yuri, I'm good!" Yuri shrugged, "Don't care." Ji smiled. "These poor little guys, their mama is gone," Yuri whined about the baby basilisks. Ji chuckled, "So is mine, they'll get used to it." Yuri went silent. I couldn't help but to snicker. Dark humor.

We all agreed to go back up and we began our ascend. After an hour of lugging ourselves up all those stairs, which was really hard, by the way, we made it to the last staircase. "Camisee, Kirtop! We're back!" Ji yelled. They sprinted up the last one and Kirtop met her at the top. "Oh thank god you're okay! And thank god you're back! I can't stay another second with this kid," Kirtop exclaimed. Yuri laughed as Camisee turned into a dragon and leaped into her arms, "Yuri, Yuri! You back!" She screamed. Yeou followed Camisee and when she turned back into her human self, she jumped onto her shirt and slowly climbed up to her shoulder. "Hi Camisee, were you nice while we were gone?" Yuri asked. "I was really nice while you were gone, me and Kirtop played princesses!" Camisee exclaimed. "Sounds like you two had fun! You played the princess, didn't you, Kir?" Ji teased. "Oh shut up!" he snapped back. "Hey, don't give me that sass." Ji replied in a stern voice. "Now that that's all taken care of lets go" 
:) 1384 words great job 👏