The Last Dragon And Guardian

Staggering up, Duchess Vlaya held tighter to her sword. She has sustained more than a few cuts on her body, but she won't let that stop her. She had to get her daughter to the boat. She turns to the little boy, Ralph. "When I clear a path for you, run with Kidaya for the river. Okay?" She asked the boy in their old tongue. The boy nodded. She smiles at both of them before turning back to look at the remaining men. The little boy who was on the horse was missing, where had he gone leaving his horse behind? Without pondering further, she begins to fight the men again in her attempt to clear the path for the children to run. "Now Ralph." She said not looking back. "Go, I'll come for you two."

"Mama," Kidaya called out beginning to cry.

She quickly turns to her daughter and bends to reach her face. Dapping off her tears with the back of her hand, she smiles at her. "A Lady does not cry, Kidaya. Go with Ralph, I'll come for you too." She was still speaking when a sword slashed through her back twice, causing blood to drip from the sides of her mouth. "Go!" The Duchess says more like a command to Ralph who holds the girl tightly and begins to run with her while the Lady continues to fight with the remaining men.

Ralph runs with the little girl through the woods. The river was not so far away now. He could even hear the tides as they ran closer. He was just approaching the end of the woods when he heard sounds on the tree. Just as he is about to take one more step, a sword is pointed at him from the tree followed by someone who jumped down from the tree and stood in front of them still pointing the sword at Ralph. The little boy with the faceless mask just like the others. He had followed them using the trees. Ralph just stared at the masked boy, pushing Kidaya behind him as if to hide her from him. Both of them stared at each other calculatingly, each expecting the other to try a wrong move.

Ralph knew he didn't have so much time to spend looking at the masked boy in front of him, he had to try something quickly before other masked men arrived. He had to get the Lady to the boat. He had to protect the Lady. So he began to think fast.

"Let them go. Please." Came the Duches's voice from behind them.

It made Ralph quickly look back and in that short moment, the masked boy grabbed Kidaya and placed his sword by her neck threatening silently to kill the girl if the Lady made another step. The Duchess pauses in her steps, throws away her sword, and raises both her hands up. Kidaya begins to cry and Ralph hates himself for looking back and allowing the boy to seize her. It was his fault she was scared and crying now.

"It's okay sweety, he won't hurt you." The Duchess says to her daughter with a smile trying to calm her down.

"How do you know that?" The boy asks.

Smiling at him. "Because you are a good person."

"Don't get the wrong idea. I was asked to kill her, that is what I will do." He says pushing the sword closer to Kidaya's neck. A trickle of blood trailed down her neck from where his sword had pressed in deeper.

"Please." The Duchess begged. "Let them go. Please." She says taking a step. He threatens to slit her throat if she takes another step. The Duchess stops in her step, eyes on the boy. "You do not want her blood on your hand, you will never be able to wash it off, not even with the best and most expensive water or soap. Such blood can never leave your hand once you have it on you. Can you live with that? Will you be able to sleep at night knowing you killed someone so young and innocent?"

"I have no choice. I was given the orders to bring her head, I can't return without her." The boy says.

"You can say we jumped off the cliff."

"Father won't believe me. He Will send me back."

"But at least you will be able to sleep at night knowing you kept someone so young alive and she will be alive because you saved her. You will be able to smile again and not go into misery because you ended something so young. Please, please let them go. Please."

They heard a crack close to them, turning around, they all saw a deer a few distance away. In one swift move, the masked boy raised his sword up higher and...

"No ooo!" The Duchess screams rushing forward to save her daughter when she sees the boy begin to bring down his sword, but she stops when she sees him throw it in the direction of the deer and it kills the deer.

Walking away and letting go of the little girl, he walks off to where the deer had fallen and pulls out his sword. He places both his hands where the deer is bleeding and gets his hand soaked with blood, then he cleans both hands on his black attire. "Go." He says to picking up his sword. He turns away from them and slits his leg by the thigh. This should convince his father better, he says in his mind, limbing away. From far away, they heard the hounds begin to sound again. The rest of the faceless men were near.

Duchess Vlaya kneels in front of her daughter. "Kidaya." She called in that endearing voice of hers. "Kidaya Simon Ishaya. Heir of House Ishaya, future Duchess of Houston, never forget who you are." She says smiling.

It only made the little girl cry more and hug her mother. But after some minutes, the Duchess pulls her away and turns her around, her back facing her. She begins to loosen Kidaya's dress. Ralph turned around and faces the forest when he saw the Duchess begin to unbutton her daughter's dress. When Kidaya's back was bare, the Duchess pulls out a pin from her hair and begins to sketch on her back just like her father used to. It hurt the little girl, especially since the Duchess used the tip of the pin. Kidaya bit down on her lower lip to keep the cry away as the pin dipped into her skin and blood trickled down wherever the pin went.

"It is the last piece your father found Kidaya. It will guide you home." The sounds of the hounds was getting closer. "What is the key again, Kidaya?" For the first time, her mother asked her.

Crying. "Behind the house with no door, beneath the tree with no leaf, the eye is seen." She says turning to face her mother when her mother was done buttoning up her dress.

Smiling at her daughter as tears fill her own eyes too and begin to roll down. "You must never forget it my dear. It is the only eye." The Duchess says amidst tears, imitating the same words her husband has always used after their daughter said the key.

Kidaya cries hugging her mother again. The Duchess wraps her hands around her daughter engulfing her in a tight embrace. "Come here Ralph." The Duchess says to the boy nodding at him to join in the embrace. Sniffing. "You must take care of Kidaya, Ralph. She is your sister now, the only one you two will have in the world."

"Mama." Kidaya cried.

"Please protect her Ralph. You two must stay alive." The hounds were closer. The Duchess pulls out a piece of wool clothing and wraps it around Kidaya. "Now run Ralph, run. Run Kidaya, run, the faceless men are coming. Run!" She says pushing them away. "Run!" She commands nodding at Ralph who grabbed Kidaya and begins to run with her even as the little girl protested. Duchess Vlaya watched until the children were lost in sight. She smiled, turning to face the impending fate.

She would have gone with the children, but one of the faceless men she had been fighting earlier had driven a sword through her chest. She could feel life draining out of her, she knew she had little time left. She didn't want to die in front of the kids. So picking up her sword, she waited for the faceless men to arrive. She saw their leader ride forward with the rest of them, her husband's head in his hand. He had killed Simon. The Duchess could feel her heart break into a million pieces. "Simon." She whispered as though it was a prayer. Tears rolling down her cheeks, she tightens her hand around her sword. "I will be with you shortly, Simon. For better and for worse." She said as the men surrounded her.

The leader of the faceless men got off his horse and walked towards her, the little masked boy beside him. "It's the end of the road, Vlaya. Give it up." He says stopping in front of her.

She raised her sword to strike him but he was fast to grab her hand by the wrist, but not fast enough to stop her left hand which also strikes him simultaneously with the other. He caught her right hand, but her left hand with the pin she had used on Kidaya stabbed him on the shoulder close to his neck. A little closer and he would dead. Duchess Vlaya cursed herself for not being able to strike him in the neck like she aimed.

The moment she had attacked the leader, one of his men rushed forward and slashed her by the side. He raised his sword to finish her off, but his leader stops him.

"Finish her!" The leader says to the boy beside him.

The boy stares up at his father in shock.

"Finish her off." The man repeated.

From behind the tree where they hid and watched, Ralph covered Kidaya's eyes with his hands when he saw the boy raise his sword up and aim for the Duchess's neck. He watched as the sword ran through the Duchess and she fell down to the ground oozing blood. The Duchess was Dead. He thought he had covered Kidaya's eyes, but his fingers had parted when his body reacted to the sword descending down for the Duchess's neck, and Kidaya had seen the little boy kill her mother. She didn't even scream out due to shock and fear, she just stood they and watched. A little distance away, she could see her father's head hanging down beside the horse. Her parents were gone! She had no one else in the world.

She was alone!