Garden Knight

Part 17

The castle lay like an old man of the hill, the moonlight shone on his craggy, tumble down the face. Moss clung in the shade of the ancient walls like a straggly beard. The once-proud turrets had crumbled in places giving the impression of a disheveled party hat.

The wasps and hornets come and go outside of the Castle as the robed bug stood close to the castle. He stood atop the tree branch and held his rusted nails, a leaf tied around his neck and on his face with two eyeholes and a mouth hole with the poison dripped from his open mouth. He lept from the tree and floated towards the castle.

Caro had woken up to Willy nudging him. "Uh, We got a little issue?" He said. "There's another Mantis here?" Caro pushed himself out of bed and stepped out to see a bleeding Devil Flower Mantis.

Standing tall and proud she looked to Caro and Willy with teary eyes. Caro took a moment, putting his hand out only to see grief. The grief surged with every expelled breath, always reaching higher peaks, never sufficiently soothed by her long intakes of the damp spring air. Tears began to spill from her helpless eyes onto the newly growing grass. Her gaze fell from bloom to bloom. At that moment the sure knowledge that life would go on without it, that time was only stopped for her, undid her completely. Caro ran over and hugged her as she continued her crying. "The Royal Killer," She hissed. Caro looked up at Count Orlok. "He got my wife..." She said. "He's coming here," she cried. "Nosferatu held him off long enough for me to flee," She said wiping her eyes. "I came to warn you," She looked at him before turning. "He'll likely send ambush bugs as he did for us," Her heart was as barren as the moors on a desolate winter morn.

With that, she left. Caro and Willy stood watching her leave as Gaulin stepped from the cafeteria and rung a bell. "Snails! DinDin!" She shouted. The snails piled in as she approached the two knights. "What's got you two?"

"Apparently the royal killer killed Queen Nosferatu and is on his way here." Willy turned to Caro who bit his fingernails. "But, We should be able to handle this, I mean You killed Agnus, You should be able to handle anything, Right Caro?" He asked as Caro slowly nodded.

"Why would he come here? Neither of you two is kings, Queen Bee is barely a queen, and all I do is teach magic?" She said. "Hell, the snails have no kings they only look up....to you two...." She took a moment. "Son of a bitch they call you the snail kings!" She said. "Alright! How many kings and queens has this guy killed?" Caro raised up both hands. "Ten?"

"Twelve counting two ant princes," Willy said.

"Not good," Gaulin said. "Caro, Do you think we'd have enough time to well train your body?" She asked. "Last time you broke 40 percent you weren't home for weeks, Something tells me that this Assassin is going to break 40 percent." She looked to the nodding Caro. She looked at Willy. "We will be back, Keep Queen happy," She said walking to the Mushroom Garden.

Those fungi, grotesquely like the vegetation in the yard outside, were truly horrible in their outlines, a slug was on the ground near a mushroom. The slug had to be at least four inches long and had a slimy yellow appearance. "Give me 20 percent," She said as Caro lifted his hand and fired. A semi-large blast ripped through mushrooms around the two. His hand was broken and bleeding as she nodded. "30." She smiled as another blast broke the beetle's arm, twisting and mangling it. "40!" He lifted his mangled arm up slowly and fired. The pain and cracking of bones ripped from up his arm to his ribs, breaking and jutting a rib out of his side. He stumbled and grabbed his rib as he watched a dragon land in the garden. It wasn't a winged dragon, instead it's a red-yellow creature, scales without feathers, wings, or a beak. Gaulin took a step back. "It's a Newt," She whispered. "Oh god," She turned to see the Snail Garden. "Those big things eat snails and-" It opened it's mouth biting and reeling its head back seemingly swallowing the slug before him in one motion.

"Slugs." Caro nodded. "It smells the snails," he said grabbing his blade slowly. "It looks like Baldur?" He said watching the Newt sniff into the air as it slowly walked through the mushroom-filled garden.

Gaulin nodded. "A newt is a salamander in the subfamily Pleurodelinae, also called eft during its terrestrial juvenile phase. Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats over the year, sometimes even staying in the water full-time."

It was a Great Crested Newt. It was like a tiny black dragon with beady eyes searching for a way to escape the warm hand it was trapped in. Its long toes were speckled yellow and although it moved quickly they knew that it was nothing compared to the speed with which it could swim. Suddenly it started running towards the Snail Garden. Caro looked at his arm as he raised it.

He fired only two percent as the energy bounced off the back leg of the Newt. It turned and opened its mouth. It suddenly chirped. "60 percent," Caro said firing a larger than ever blast, the left arm shattered, as did his ribs and horn. The horn hit the ground, his left eye became blood red, his leg and feet each shattered as he coughed up blood, he braced for the pain to hit him all at once, Suddenly doubling over and puking as he heard the blast hit the Newt. The newt was split in two as he barely stood, he hit the ground hard.

"Caro! You fucking idiot!" She picked up the knight. "What is the matter with you!?" She walked toward the garden.

"I had to make sure my people were okay." She heard him say as he coughed and closed his eyes.