The RHPK

Chapter 2- Where It Starts and Where It Ends are the Same

Chapter 2- Where It Starts and Where It Ends are the Same

She was a peasant. No one knew her except for her mother, Janis, her father, Chad, and her brother, Zachary. Underneath the thatch roof and inside the log-walls, a father and an older brother stood with deadly serious expressions.

They were going to war.

The mother was standing, sobbing into her husband's chest as the daughter stood absolutely dumbfounded.

The king ordered peasants to fight. Peasants. All of the good soldiers had died?

And there was the girl's family as they parted. Janis, Chad, and Zachary. Janis went to her hammock that had been caked in dirt in most places on the outside. She sobbed, mostly yelling Chad and Zachary's names.

The little girl- about five- went to the furnace and sat down in front of it. The charcoal had basically disintegrated. "Mummy?" she called.

"Y-Yes, sweetie?" Janis sniffled.

"Will Zach and Daddy disintegrate like charcoal?"

And that's when Janis lost her mind.

In the next four days, she attempted to murder the king, broke the leg of the respected noble Daniel, gave her daughter a black eye, and killed the horse, Chestnut. King Duke decided it was time to take matters into his own hands, and sent the woman away. Janis had disappeared by morning.

And her daughter? She was scarred for life. She was being taken care of by a guard's wife, Maria. "Eat your porridge, daughter," Maria would sing, dancing around with a bowl and holding a loaf of rye bread. The little girl would just eat obediently, despite not being Maria's daughter.

News spread fast that Zachary and Chad- two legends- would be passing through the castle to report to the king. Funny how fast they became legends, huh?

Maria allowed her little "daughter" to see the soldiers as they passed through. Everyone crowded around the dirt path, standing on straw and mud. Everyone held their breath as the gate lifted.

Cheers instantly gave way into terrified screams.

The village in front of the castle was being raided by warriors of the Fur Clan. And the little- now eight-year-old- girl was standing in the midst of horror and death. Fires broke out, singing every last bit of a home she had left. Maria screamed before she was struck down by a massive man with bulging muscles and ugly veins popping from his gray skin.

And then it happened. Anger. The little girl, a little eight-year-old girl, became the Pink Knight. She shrieked out a frail war cry and pulled an ax from a dead man's body. She kept shrieking and took one direct swing through the man. She whipped around and sliced the next man. And the next. She kept shrieking as she ran through, slicing up men that not even the guards could hold off.

And then the heroic soldiers came through to report to King Duke.

The Little Pink Knight- the girl without armor- whipped on them and starting yelling furiously. "YOU! YOU WERE TOO LATE!! DONE BASKING IN THE GLORY?! THEY'RE ALL DEAD!!" She squeezed her fists at her sides and dropped the ax. She couldn't kill them- they hadn't wronged her in the way the Fur Clan did.

The remaining people just stared at her in amazement. The head soldier stepped up and bowed to the Little Pink Knight. He bowed to an eight-year-old girl.

"I am Chad Hearts. I lead this sector of the military, and I am dreadfully sorry that we had not arrived sooner," he said in a powerful voice. She looked up at him.

"Daddy?" she whispered. "I thought you disintegrated like charcoal."

His eyes widened, and he pulled his daughter into a back-breaking embrace. "Kill the rest of them," he ordered his men.

"Yes sir!" they shouted and marched off.

All except Chad and another man.

"Where's Mommy? Is she okay?" he asked, pulling back to look at his daughter.

"She went crazy and has probably disintegrated," the Little Pink Knight said softly.

The Fur Clan returned in bulk.

*  *  *

"Ashes, ashes, we all fall down," the LPK sang softly, doing a twirl in the middle of all the chaos, ax in hand.

Seven dead men from the Fur clan lied around her, all chopped with an ax. She looked at a little girl holding her dead mother's hand and sobbing. Another huge man was walking towards her with a spiked hammer. The LPK walked calmly over to him and tapped his shoulder.

He whipped around with shock and anger in his eyes. She ducked from his swing and swung her ax so his legs were chopped clean off. He screamed, toppling onto the ground and clawing around desperately.

"Mercy! Have mercy!" he begged.

"You were about to kill a little girl. Were you not prepared to get killed by a little girl?" the LPK asked innocently.

"NO!!" He grabbed his hammer and and swung it at her knees. The LPK saw this, jumped, and kicked his face.

"You had no mercy when you killed my people. Now I'll show no mercy as I kill you!" She sliced off his head clean.

Her father was being hauled on a tight skin towards the castle. The other man who had stayed behind was staring at the girl with a mixture of fear and pride. He walked over to her.

"Rosanna?" he asked. The LPK turned around to look at him.

"Yes?" she said quietly.

"It's Zachary. Dad is..." he trailed off and kneeled down to her level. "I'm sorry, Rose. I-"

"Shh. Your fate is sealed. Everyone around me dies. Enjoy your last moments in this life because I have brought the misfortune of death upon this land."

"Sis... how-"

"Sh."

He didn't say anything. He just held her close and started sobbing. A twenty-year-old soldier crying on the shoulder of a mindless eight-year-old.

"Zachary?"

The LPK looked up and saw a stern looking man with muscles that didn't look threatening. He looked at her with wide eyes. Zachary wiped away his tears.

"Who's that?" the man asked quietly.

"That's my little sister. Didn't I tell you about her Tom?" Zachary said.

Tom shook his head and stuck out his hand. "I'm Tom. What's your name?"

"I..." the girl trailed off.

"Her name's... it's..." he grabbed a fistful of his hair. "Damn! Sis, what was your name?"

She just looked at her brother. "I don't need a name," she said softly.

They just stared at her with dazed expressions. Then, the next wave of Fur Clan soldier arrived. The LPK picked up her ax and walked to them calmly. Zachary was struck down by a hefty hammer. His skull was disfigured, and he died. His little sister avenged him with a roar.

She whipped to the others as they ganged up on everyone.

To her right, the remains of her smoldering home crashed down. Her misery started there. Right under the thatch roof and inside the log-walls. She started to cry. She cried as she swung her ax, as she killed off the Fur Clan warriors.

"YOU ALL SHOULD DIE!!" she screamed as the king pulled her into the gates of the castle.