A King's Legacy Ch. 44

The assassin's hands trembled ever so slightly, and Rust took his opening. "MARK!"

The adolescent jumped to the opposite side of Corper, quickly taking a more apprehensive stance beside the veteran. Corper wasted no time scolding his student. "What did you learn about managing how you react?"

Rust grumbled out his response sullenly. "I know. That was stupid."

"Yes, it was." Corper answered flatly. He added a little more on behalf of his student's inexperience. "You should remember to thank Oust for that, given we survive this."

Oust and Rust both looked to the bear in alarm. Corper answered their silence honestly. "There are no assurances on a battlefield."

"I wouldn't go that far...." Richta answered coldly, her stance seemed more rigid than usual to Oust as she gripped her right wrist with her left hand. Her scarlet gaze lifted to meet her brother's as she spat the last of her threat. "I can assure you, my brother, you will be regretting that."

As his sister finished the ominous warning, her eyes settled back on the small human cowering behind the three beasts. Oust spoke hastily in alarm. "Rust, will you let us handle this now? Can I trust you to keep an eye on him?"

"Yeah... I can do that, Oust... just promise me this...." There was something strange about his young friend's tone in that moment. A single glance the fox's way quickly made Oust understand why the bear was being so easy on his youngest student. Rust finished his plea as more painful tears welled up in those blue eyes. "Don't let her beat you. We can't just let her win.... My uncles deserved better than that."

Oust saw his friend in pain and shared in that pain. He was more than crushed about losing the runt, but he couldn't do anything for him except honor him. He could maybe keep his sister from taking anyone else away from him. The tiger answered soundly. "I don't think I can beat her." He braced himself as the tigress charged at him, finishing his statement just as she stepped into his range. "But I'll face her all the same."

Oust struck forward, Richta sidestepping as he had predicted. Oust matched her step immediately, getting closer in her range than he was comfortable with being. She struck swiftly but Oust ignored it. Taking a punch was something he had gotten quite good at.

It was a little strange. It still hurt when she connected, but her blows didn't seem as crippling as they used to. Oust took his opportunity and took Richta by surprise with it. He snatched ahold of her forearm with his left hand, quickly grabbed her shoulder with the other, and swung his brow into her own with all the weight and force he could muster.

Richta recoiled sharply at the unorthodox method, not used to Oust doing much aside from defending. The tigress wouldn't be bested by some sneak attack, however. Her knee came up immediately, catching Oust sharply in the ribs as she broke three on impact. As her brother hissed out in pain, the assassin immediately went for a follow up, knocking away both of his arms before rapidly striking him in the face twice in return. Oust was disoriented briefly, and the skilled tigress wasted no time moving to capitalize on her opening. She turned with her next strike, aiming to take him down with a precise punch to his temple.

Her breath caught in her throat when a larger, brown hand caught her assault so quickly. Corper shoved Oust back with his free hand before he allowed Richta to pull herself loose and retreat a few steps. Corper spoke before Richta could. "Rust, tend to your ally. I'll hold her for a moment."

"You'll have to excuse me, but I'm not much one for being held." She hissed out her taunt as she eagerly rushed right back in.

Rust was almost dumbstruck as he healed up Oust's wounds. The speed at which the two beasts were matching blows didn't even seem possible. He couldn't even follow half of their movements until they were already withdrawing for the next strike. Despite Richta's decree, her assault was being expertly matched. She was being held.

With a roar of frustration, the tigress became even more erratic, her determination to win leading her to put more and more effort and force behind every hit. Corper was far more silent, but his pacing matched her own even in such extremes. Without warning, the bear took a step forward.

Richta had little choice, being forced to take a step back as she continued her murderous attempt to strike the beast in a place that mattered. Corper advanced once more.

A low growl echoed from between her drawn back lips, her snarl as ferocious as her resolve. Even so, she was forced another step back. Corper pushed her once more, stepping forward defiantly, crossing the line she was fighting to hold.

Her frustration rose to new heights as she was forced to withdraw yet again. That was exactly what Corper needed. Her paw faltered as it caught on a stone, unseen by the tigress so consumed by her task. Corper quickly took another step forward, reared back in preparation, and landed a rib-breaking fist of his own against the torso of the tigress.

Richta plummeted backwards, grasping at her wound in agony, but careful not to express such pain. She was trained better than that. Richta was back to her feet with a single graceful move, never slowing or giving the bear the time to follow-up.

Corper wasn't planning on it, he knew the damage he just caused. Without ever moving from the stance he had reverted back to, the bear spoke with his own mocking tone as he called out to the tigress clutching her side. "You seemed determined to get my name earlier. Forgive me, I merely believe in proper introductions...."

The veteran took a step forward. Richta took a step backwards in uncertainty. Corper finished his introduction stoutly. "My name, is Corper Paxus. However, when I was a general in the Aloran army, I had a more infamous title, one that was well-earned. Tell your father it was Corper the Collapser that bested you. Tell him he is next."

"Corper Paxus. I didn't receive that name, but I'll be happy to deliver it to him with news of your defeat." Richta was as stony as ever when she answered.

If nothing else, Corper could admire such resolve. The bear glanced down at his palms. They were tender from catching her destructive attacks. Despite his taunting, Corper still wasn't so certain he would win here. All it would take was him letting her hit him somewhere he couldn't afford, and he may not be able to recover in time. She had youth on her side. However, so did the bear, albeit in other ways.

Oust rejoined his mentor's side, speaking in awe of what he had witnessed. "Master... that was incredible."

"It was a lucky strike, and one I may not be able to pull off again." Corper was being honest with his pupil but Oust rejected such humility.

"I've never seen someone match her like that... I've never believed that anyone could beat her before...." Oust marveled quietly.

"That's what they wanted you to think, Oust. That's how they kept you so weak." The teacher was teaching, even in such a moment. Oust was not the only one he was trying to reach however.

Richta stood up straight, narrowing her eyes at the pair of opponents standing before her. She had underestimated the bear, but she wasn't beaten.... The fox's prayer magic could prove an issue, however. She wouldn't be able to outlast them that way. More than that... she was so strangely unnerved by everything. That was uncharacteristic for her. She was strong, she was steel, she had to be. She could not afford to break. She did not lose, for losing meant death. She embraced such a truth long ago. She would fight. She would survive. She would win.

She attacked once more, her claws as sharp as her determination.

Corper intercepted her immediately. Within moments, he had pushed her backwards several paces once again. When the bear readied his timed strike this time, she was quick to take a leap back in rapid retreat.

Corper spat on the Candori name, trying to both anger his opponent as much as he could, and offer his student a bit of truth. "You only need to stop being so afraid of them, young one. It isn't so easy for them to win when they aren't beating on mere cubs."

Richta mostly ignored the jab, she was far too busy maintaining her breathing, and calculating her next best move. She was being outmuscled by the veteran, and it was quickly proving she may not be able to take him down without putting a crack in his armor first....

Her eyes shifted to Flose once more during that skirmish before she returned them to her current foe. She answered with a smirk. "Fear is the only reason Oust ever made it this far. It's the only thing that's kept him alive."

Corper countered, finally trying his luck. "I think we both know you mean that's how you survived." Richta's eyes narrowed as the bear continued. "You've lived in fear of your father, of what else he may make you do, and of who else he will make you end. But you also made sure everyone lived in fear of you, because that is power in your eyes, that is how fear keeps you safe."

"No. My own strength is what keeps me safe. No matter the things I must do to win... I know I am capable of worse. If they fear my strength, then they are wise." The tigress ended her statement with a heavy and concentrated sigh. Her voice took on an apologetic tone after. She whispered as she sped right towards Oust and Corper both "Forgive me, brother, but you have to come back."

Just before she reached the pair, Richta Candori suddenly fell through the earth below. She reappeared beyond them both.

Oust was panicking, already well aware of what her goal was. In truth, he had been panicking since the moment she appeared. His brave gamble with Flose had helped ease such fear, but the realization that he only made the human a target made it soar to new heights. Oust Candori was moving before his sister ever re-emerged from the earth. His fear that she would hurt him again was settled at last; Oust was far more concerned about that human. His speed reflected as much.

Flose trembled in fear as that scarlet gaze emerged from the ground beneath his feet. There was no mistaking that look, she had come to end him. She had emerged up to her waist when she reached an arm forward and snatched hold of the human's cloak. She reared her free hand back and prepared her first and final strike against him.

Flose could only freeze in place, his vulnerability in the situation strikingly clear to him. The moment her second hand reached him, it would all be over. Without ever realizing it, Flose sent out a desperate plea for his life. Though not obligated to answer, the serpent did so anyway.

Richta released the human immediately, taking a step back as she emerged fully, moving just out of range of the coral snake's strike at her. That was all the time Oust needed.

Richta stepped forward, preparing to end the serpent's life with a rapid blow, overcoming her wariness of the reptile by sheer focus. Her strike was as fast as ever. Oust caught her by that wrist all the same. She wouldn't be getting another hand on Flose.

Clarity... always so sudden for the tiger. His disbelief as he stared at the hand caught in his grip was immense. The thought rang loudly in his head that moment, drowning all others as that icy hold on his heart melted away at long last.

'I caught it?'

'He caught it?'

Richta was alarmed when she had the thought. Rust was impressed as it crossed his own mind. Corper was smiling in pride as he celebrated such achieved strength.

Flose, however, was feeling nothing but gratitude. He looked back to Oust, still quite shaken by the attempt on his life. Thankful tears welled in the human's eyes as he stared up at the tiger. Oust wasn't looking at Flose, but the artist was certainly seeing him from quite the heroic perspective.

The tiger had a focused appearance, his gaze affixed on his opponent's own strongly. The way he moved after seemed smooth, and almost even hypnotic to the human. He had trouble following the full movement, but there was something graceful about Oust in that moment, something determined, and undeniable. There was beauty within that beast, there was a rhythm to his steps.... There before him, unmistakably, stood a piece of living and flowing art. The artist was truly admiring Oust with a detailed eye, as all art deserved to be.

The tiger was never any wiser to the human's feelings at the time, his own were more than enough. He needed to protect the weak from his family, like he couldn't do before. His very being was telling him that he needed to keep Flose safe. That was all he needed to focus on. Anything else would slow him down, and the tiger was embracing the speed that came with letting everything else melt away. Oust feared losing Flose more than he ever feared Richta.

Richta collided with her brother once more.... Her free hand came up to break his arm, much the same as she had done to Stahl.

Oust caught her by the wrist a second time. The younger beast turned himself, using his grip on both of her forearms to pull her over his shoulder and slam her to the earth below as he released her.

Richta phased through the ground before it ever hurt her, fluidly using the momentum to reappear on the other side of her brother. She connected another blow on the side of his head, but Oust was turning into another strike of his own. His paw caught her on the neck, the tigress raised her arms to try and soften the spinning kick's impact to little avail. She was knocked to the earth by the strike. She did not phase through this time, instead, she simply caught herself on her arms, panting heavily.

Oust stepped forward, raised his fist, and struck with a speed even his sister had trouble following. She was able to get a grip on his arm, and shift his trajectory, skirting beside him as she pulled herself up by the hold. She pushed into her attack with both the added momentum, and her knees, making for a truly tooth-rattling uppercut connecting against her brother's jaw.

Oust felt his knees go weak a little, but clenching his teeth seemed to subdue the feeling long enough to counter. Using the very tactic his master had first used to take him down, Oust launched a final, measured strike directly against Richta's windpipe. Both siblings fell back from each other, clutching at their most recent wounds as they stared down the other.

Richta's eyes fell to Flose, and she considered trying to regain control with another hostage, but her last such victim saw right through her play.

Rust appeared behind Flose immediately. He placed a hand on Flose as far away from the serpent as he could manage and spoke his trigger a second time. The fox and the human both reappeared behind the bear, well out of her range. Rust smirked at the tigress, happy with any blow he could deal her at this point.

Richta gazed at her brother, the closest one to her, and she looked to the other three a ways off after. It was a hard truth for her to accept, but she had little choice. This was not a fight she could win anymore. With crushing acceptance that she really would have to go back alone, the older sibling stood a little straighter, and spoke through a strained voice, one Oust assumed was surely only due to the recent strike to her throat. "So... you choose weakness? The only way you can ever be strong, is by relying so much on the strength of others.... You should know as well as I do, baby brother... we can only count on our own power."

Oust did not answer, but Richta continued anyway. She cast her scarlet gaze low, turned her back on her brother, and gave him an order. "Stay dead, Oust...."

The tiger looked to his sister in surprise, lowering his own guard at the development. He remained silent, observing, letting her continue uninterrupted.

"I killed the human, I ran across you, and I killed you too... wherever this other human has been hiding, go there, and join him. Disappear. Live your life. Never return to Alora...." Richta was speaking softer than Oust remembered she could.

"Sister... you don't have to go back either. You don't have to live under him.... You--" Oust didn't get to finish his reasoning.

"No. It's different for me. You know why it's different, Oust.... But you can escape. He won't come looking for you, so just stay dead. However, I need to be clear on one thing, baby brother...." Richta stared Oust directly in the eyes, and narrowed her own threateningly, delivering the last words she ever expected to say to her brother. "Don't you dare EVER make a liar out of me... you stay gone. You stay away. Father never knows you still live. If he finds out, you and that human will bear the punishment with me.... I'll make sure of it."

The tigress stared for a moment; a final glimpse of the one fellow sufferer she thought she still had abandoning her as well. She accepted that he couldn't bear it. She accepted that she was stronger, that she could still survive it all alone. She turned away from him, looking back no more.

As she phased through the earth, the assassin spoke so quietly that even Oust had trouble hearing her. "Goodbye, baby brother. May your death be kinder than your life."

As quickly as she came, the tigress had departed, leaving the fox, the human, and the tiger with a mix of anger, confusion, and sadness. In the case of the bear? Nothing short of pity. It was truly a shame he couldn't reach her.

===

The boar glared at the lion in frustration, even going so far as to spit in his direction before shouting towards the prince he had failed to defeat. "YOU SEEM TO BE FORGETTING SOMETHING..." The boar tightened his grip on the handle of the dagger, the one still buried in the snout of the crocodile. Paired with both a squelching gush of dark blood, and the muffled cries of the reptile, the sickening sound of the steel sliding free from the maw filled the lion's ears. The mercenary brandished the bloody dagger tauntingly, finishing his statement as he placed it against the throat of his hostage. "I TOLD YOU... I'LL KILL THIS FUCKIN' LIZARD BEFORE I DIE ALONE!"

Tyfin cautiously took a few steps forward, coming to a halt as the boar pressed the blade closer to the skin of the croc. "Alright, you want to live, I want my soldier to live. You let him go; I let you walk free."

The boar refused what he could only see as a blatant lie. "I WON'T FALL FOR THAT! YOU'LL TURN ON ME THE MOMENT I LET 'EM LOOSE!"

Tyfin sighed heavily as he advanced two paces closer, his patience wearing thin. The boar tensed again, prompting the lion to stop once more.

Fraxis looked to the prince before him and saw what was happening. Tyfin was letting himself be leveraged for the croc's sake, something nobody else ever did for the common beast. Fraxis was accustomed to being used and discarded, that was the way the world worked for the poor. That wasn't the way it worked for Tyfin, though.

Tyfin could easily charge the boar and take him down by getting in range. It would only require Fraxis dying first. The croc's life meant enough to the lion to stop him in his tracks. Fraxis was tired, far too tired... but seeing someone willing to fight for him? It made his choice easy in the end. Tyfin was a king actually worth dying for. It was the least Fraxis could do to make up for what he had done.

With a sudden swoop of his powerful tail, Fraxis knocked the hooves of the boar right from under him. The blade sliced cleanly through the reptile's throat as the mercenary fell to the earth. Fraxis followed the swine into the dirt. It didn't take long for the sand beneath the croc to quickly turn into mud born of his own blood. Even as he lay dying, Fraxis was confident he had made the right choice. The alarm in the prince's eyes was more than enough proof that the croc held value to him.