Garden Knight

Part 22

The garden was silent. Still. No one moved, every snail was in their home while it rained and when it stopped they stayed in the home. They were ordered to by Caro and Willy. Gaulin and The Queen were silently hiding behind a snail house as Caro stood in the middle of the street waiting for the assassin. The world seemed still in that moment leading up to the arrival of the assassin and in a way it was. The rain had stopped, The air had stopped, no wind blew, no cloud moved, no one dared make noise otherwise they'd all be found out and possibly hurt.

Caro was still, hiding his eyes, as usual, gripping his blade, and playing with his magic hand. He was nervous everyone could tell. Willy especially. "Honey, I know you worry about the snails but they'll be fine, worry about the task at hand, okay, and when we're done we can go get some dinner or go visit Tibby or anything you want, okay?" Caro nodded, closing his eyes for a brief moment only to open them and see the bug, drenched in mud and dripping in what looked to be blood. Wearing a bright green mask over his mouth he was late.

"A 1 on 1 is it?" Toan asked as Caro stabbed his blade into the ground. "Ah, No weapons as well," Toan snickered. "I see," He looked at the knight for a moment. "That won't be necessary," He said. "I'm not here for you, your snails, or your boyfriend, I'm here for the queen you got hiding in this dump," He said. "Now, where is she?" He stared at the beetle who simply cracked his knuckles. "Tell me where she is false knight," Caro cracked his neck then popped each finger. "Protecting her?" He asked before growling. "Not only are you considered royalty but now you, a false knight are protecting it?" Caro was not even looking at him anymore which made Toan furious. "Why are you not speaking? Don't tell me you believed in that bullshit the royals told us, only royalty can speak, all bugs can speak!" He stepped through the muddy floor as Caro opened his mouth he smirked.

"8 percent," He fired a medium blast that sunk into the mud. The mud bubbled and splashed in Toan's eyes. Caro smirked. "Now! Everyone!" He shouted as the bug wiped and tried cleaning his eyes. He opened them to see 6 bees circling him, a firefly and mantis sitting together on a roof along with the queen and Beetle standing in front of him. The spears the bees held each aimed at his throat as Caro crossed his arms. "Where's Agnus?" He asked moving close to the bug.

The lightning clapped and the rain resumed as if nothing had happened. The bees looked to Caro for orders as he pointed. "Take his mask off," He ordered. "If he tries anything besides telling me answers stab him." The bee pulled the mask off to see a mangled busted face. Scars, burns, and cuts littered his face, his eyes were bright red and his hair was a bright white. "Where is Agnus?" He asked.

"A puddle in the mud." Toan looked at the other. "You should be proud of your brother, he's got farther than you did. He managed to land a hit on me," He smirked and laughed. Caro nodded his head, a bee stabbed his back as Toan growled. Blood along with smoke leaked from his back and poured around the group of bees. "My blood when it boils to a point becomes poisonous gas, it'll melt through each and every bee and reach you," The smoke poured and ripped through the bee knights, turning each of them into nothing but piles of yellow and black.

The assassin wrapped himself in smoke before lunging at the beetle. He suddenly hit the ground as the queen held her hand out. "Thanks for teaching me freeze," She said to Gaulin. "Everything okay down there!?" She asked, Caro raised a thumb and nodded. She smiled. "Good!" She said.

Toan writhed and moved as the pressure got harder, the hand seemed to plunge him into the ground. "Lighten up!" Caro shouted as the gas stopped swirling and fell. The ground below melted and contorted as the queen raised her hand and watched as the assassin brought himself to his knees.

"Why help me? Why not end me now?" Toan asked looking at the beetle. "You're not like the other royals, not you or her," He turned to the other royal. "Nor that Mantis," he said. "All of you are strange, yet I can't keep letting royalty go! I let the Weevil King go but you three!" He launched to the air and opened his wings flying towards the bee. A sudden noise of a snap and thus the assassin was pulled back into the mouth of a god. The frog stood in the middle of the muddy street, feet dangling from his mouth, blood dripping down his chin and leg as it tilted his head.

"Come now Odin, We have much more work to do," A voice said. The poison dart frog jumped back and hopped away from the garden. "Oh," The voice seemed to snicker as the thumping of the frog got quieter. "Garden Knight we will meet again, of course when You're stronger," The voice said as everyone in the Garden stopped moving and heard it.

Caro held his head. "That voice..." He mumbled.

"G-god's it can't be," The queen said.

"What the hell did you do to anger him!?" Gaulin asked.

Willy tilted his head. "Who's a voice is that?" He asked. 

"Athos."