Regicide

Chapter 16

A storm was brewing. Black clouds enveloped the sky, and raindrops pittered down onto the world. These kinds of things did not usually happen in the desert, though sometimes they formed around its edges.

In a few days, Dune finally tracked down Bone. She was at the edge of the land, where cliffs dropped down to meet the blue abyss lapping at its rocky face. He had never seen the ocean, and while he felt a small amount of awe at its eternal stretch into the horizon, he did not stop to admire it. Dune grimaced in disgust at the scent of Bone- its mere existence offended him.

There were small trees growing around the cliffs, with vines and logs and moss, all wet in the rain. There was very little sand, only small specks were wedged in between some of the rocks as if they had been blown in from the desert to remind Dune of his home.

Dune could see Bone behind one of the trees, trying to shelter from the raindrops. He growled softly to himself, and approached slowly, consciously feeling anger course through his body.

Bone inhaled sharply, and caught whiff of Dune's stench. She blinked, not believing what her nose was telling her. Turning around, her eyes widened slightly when she saw the small runt standing twenty meters from her. But he did not look like much of a runt anymore- he was well muscled, with the skulls of her old friends attached to his three of his limbs- it seemed the one place remaining was saved for her. He had cuts carved into his body, looking recent- though there was one which she was able to recognise- the one on his chest. It had become a scar, permanently plastered to his breast.

Dune stopped in his tracks and eyed her, his breath becoming agitated for a few moments. She was so much bigger than he was, and the glower in her green eyes struck him like lightning.

'You,' she snarled. 'How are you still alive?'

Dune looked at her, instinctively freezing in place as a wave of fear flowed through him when he heard the sound of her voice. The rainwater caught in his feathers, drooping them down with their weight.

'And those skulls. You killed them all, didn't you? Disgusting runt.'

Bone narrowed her eyes at him, feeling nothing but fury over the deaths of her friends. Tears gathered at her eyes, but she blinked them back before Dune would notice.

'You really do have a lot of luck in fights, don't you, runt? Well, if Fern couldn't do the job, then I guess I'm gonna have to do it myself.'

In the dark skies, a flash of lightning silently struck.

'For my friends, and for my mother- I am going to rid the world of you, son of Blaze and ex-alpha of my pack.'

The thunder followed, a loud rumble echoing in the sky. The water droplets fell harder, and while Bone stepped away from her shelter, she became drenched in the liquid.

The two watched each other, neither one moving. Suddenly, Dune darted towards her, the only sound made by him being the sound of his feet. He opened his jaws, and pounced at her, only for her to sidestep and smash her claws into his face.

Dune cried out in pain, and scrabbled backwards, the world spinning around him. He stumbled, unable to maintain his balance.

'Pathetic,' Bone muttered, flexing her reddened claws. Dune clutched the side of his visage while warm blood trickled from it, mixing in with the rainwater.

She took a step towards him, and desperately, he stepped back. Bone opened her mouth in a barely audible battle-cry and ran to him. The two became a kicking blur, scratching and hitting each other aggressively. Dune felt his claws rake through her flesh, and felt stinging pain whenever he himself got cut. The sounds of their battle was smothered by the rain hitting the ground, though that in no way made it seem any less frantic. Dune's tail lashed from side to side, while Bone's jaw seemed constantly open in a permanent snarl of loathing.

He slipped, and Bone was upon him, flaring her moist feathers. He writhed beneath her, though she planted her feet on him and stabbed him with her sickle claw. She snarled, her teeth glinting as another bolt of lightning flashed.

Her clawed hands wrapped around Dune's throat, and she raised him up. Grimacing, he struggled out of her grip and pushed her away, stepping back a few paces. The thunder boomed, and Bone nonchalantly shook her body, shaking off some droplets.

Dune ran forwards, and the two locked their bodies, holding onto each other tightly and slashing at their sides. He pushed against her and got her to step back a bit, though she dug her feet into the ground and froze. Dune strained against her, yet she did not budge.

'Big mistake, Dune. The cliff is right behind you,' Bone chuckled, and tightened her arms around him. She pushed him back, slowly, sadistically. Dune felt utter horror at the realisation that he could not resist her strength. Panicked, his taloned feet scrabbled for a hold, yet he felt the rocky ground pass under his scaled pads. Bone held Dune's chest against her own, and felt little mercy when she felt the vibrations of his heart speeding up and hammering against the walls of his breast.

Dune's sickle claws tried to dig against the ground in a final attempt to stop Bone from pushing him to the cliff, though they merely scraped against the rocks. He retracted them back up, grimacing in pain as he understood their tips had nearly been taken off.

They reached the edge. Dune desperately clung to the land with his feet, though Bone forced him back and they slipped off, dangling underneath him. His hands held onto Bone's arms, which were the only thing preventing him from falling.

She looked him in the eye as rain pattered around them. She could see the anger and fear swirl within them, like magma in the crater of a volcano. There was even the smallest amount of pleading within them, as if begging her not to drop him.

If Bone decided to show him mercy, there was a chance that Dune would see things in a completely different light. If she acted like the bigger personality and decided not to throw him off the cliff, he would question, ponder, think; why? There was a chance that his analysis of her compassionate action would lead him to spare her too, and think twice if bloody vengeance was truly the right thing to do. This would lead to great internal conflict and regret, but in the end, Dune would likely become a far more moral personality.

But, in this reality, such a thing did not happen.

At the exact moment she let go of him to fall to his death, a bolt of lightning struck and illuminated the dark and stormy skies.

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(Worthless weakling... )