Out of the Ashes Ch. 09

Chapter 9: Losses

(7,5k words, romance, plot chapter, action, drama, size differences, female muscle)

"Perfect!" a rough, older voice responded.

The fully armoured soldier bowed subtly towards the stunned waitress and innkeeper and awaited the arrival of her leading officer. Judging by the armour she wore, Margaret rightfully assumed that she was the protégé of the now new commander of the royal guard.

Alexia's successor seemingly issued orders outside the tavern, but neither Margaret nor Manuel were able to understand anything beyond muffled and incoherent voices - many voices.

After some time, there was eventually one voice that stood out, a very noticeable and familiar male groan.

"Forward!"

The door sprung open and the duo behind the counter were shocked to see a tied-up Remy being pushed before an even more intimidating figure than the already waiting soldier.

Equipped with nothing short of the finest armour and weaponry, suited for her new position, she immediately demanded the respect her prestigious rank and impressive stature rightfully deserved.

Not that either would have been required to make Remy look puny and insignificant in comparison.

The blonde boy looked bruised all over his body, noticeably his face, but nothing was as severe as the guard's reputation would have suggested.

He kept his gaze low as they traversed the distance from the entrance up to the stunned royalty and his boss.

The sheer weight of the armoured intruders would have easily been enough to make the shabby floor creak loudly with every step they took towards the counter had it not been for the new padded carpet Alexia rolled out for just that exact reason.

Unaware of her comrades' arrival and still sleeping in the darkest corner, Alexia remained concealed - for now.

Margaret exhaled in relief when they walked past her dormant girlfriend and straight at her.

"Maggie, it's not what it looks like, I swea-, unghh!" Remy tried to explain before the commander's fingers dug deep into his shoulder to silence him.

"You will talk when I allow you to, scum!"

Remy didn't dare to object and the 9ft tall veteran returned her gaze to the blonde royalty.

"We finally found you, your highness. You are truly a sight to behold now", the new commander said and formally bowed before Margaret in tandem with her younger and smaller protégé.

"Your highness?"

Margaret shook in her boots when she heard Manuel addressing her like that. For a moment she even forgot that he was still standing next to her.

"Please, she must be mistaken?" he asked with a trembling voice.

Her blue eyes tried to avoid the balding human, but his pleading voice couldn't be ignored.

Manuel looked devastated. He was trying to sound like he didn't believe a single word he was hearing, but his gaze clearly showed that he already knew that this was nothing but the harsh, unforgiving truth.

"I... am ..." Margaret muttered, unable to form any words of meaning or offer any solace to him.

She silently stood there trying to talk to him, but her rising anxiety didn't allow her materialize the apology she was forming in her head.

"My princess. You are safe now. We are here to bring you back to the palace!" the younger guard said and took off her helmet to calm down the distressed princess.

It was one of the younger squires. Beth.

Nearly the same age as Alexia and at the palace for almost as long. Margaret knew her for most of her childhood, but even so: it didn't take away from the shock of having them stand before her- trying to bring her back.

Margaret didn't know how to reply to that. Nor did she know how to resolve this situation. All she could do was play for time.

"I... how ... did you...?"

"Find you?" the commander replied and because of her helmet's more open design to give orders more easily her devilish smile was revealed.

Her smirk eventually gave away her identity. There were some members of the royal guard standing at such a massive height, even a few with blonde bordering to grey hair, but only one with such an unsettling grin.

"Trust me, it was much harder than you could even imagine. But once we started to doubt that you even made it, we were blessed by fortuna herself," she said and mockingly clapped Remy's back.

"All it took was one treacherous little snake like this one."

"That's not true!" Remy screamed and earned another tight grip into his battered shoulder.

"What did I just say?" she asked and kept on tormenting the young boy.

Blood started to soak through his shirt as the commander clearly enjoyed his suffering.

Hearing her former comrades' voices was something Alexia got used to after years of service and nothing that would alarm her subconscious to react but hearing Remy's loud scream of agony did.

Alexia yawned quietly and reluctantly lifted one heavy eyelid. It felt like a herculean task after last night's rutting.

That changed when her brain processed the scene, she and Margaret found herself in. Her grogginess vanished within seconds and she had to stop herself from gasping audibly and giving away her position.

She stared at her two comrades in disbelief, but had to consider her options - and quickly.

They all culminated into only one conclusion ... that they would never allow Margaret or her to stay here.

They got their orders and were determined to comply to the highking's wishes ... no matter what. They simply had to ... for their own sakes.

Alexia looked around and searched for anything to defend herself if things would turn as bad as she expected and eventually, she spotted the plate with food that Maggie left for her at the nearest table.

And the knife next to it.

She cautiously got up and remembered just in time how to avoid the signature creaking of the floor which annoyed her so often in the past.

Slowly but steadily she snuck towards her former comrades and more importantly Margaret, armed with nothing but a blunt kitchen knife and deep down still hoped that this was just a disturbing nightmare she would wake up from any moment.

"Stop it! Let him go, Cassandra!" Margaret ordered.

The now named veteran stopped but chuckled menacingly towards Remy before addressing Margaret again.

"As you wish. But keep in mind that he looked for our help not the other way around. So maybe you want to save your compassion for someone who didn't betray his friends and kind so willingly."

Cassandra did let go of Remy who fell on his knees and held his bleeding shoulder. He didn't dare to look up to his crush or the person who raised him like a father to clarify the armoured hermaphrodite's claim.

Standing now at almost the same height as the new commander and even taller than her protégé, Margaret could see past the two guards and eventually noticed movement behind the two.

Her eyes widened in shock when she spotted that her childhood-friend was holding nothing but the old knife from earlier. With the intention to kill ... if the situation would require it.

Margaret quickly composed herself and tried to take her gaze off Alexia, otherwise she would have taken away Lexi's opportunity to strike.

Alexia slowly nodded and with a silent gesture asked Margaret to keep the conversation going while she thought of something, anything, to find a way out of this dilemma.

"Is... that true, Remy?" Manuel eventually asked when the silence almost got unbearable.

"No... I didn't know that... they ..." the blonde boy muttered and shook his head angrily. Tears were dripping from his cheeks. "I am so sorry."

"Are you starting to cry now? For real?!" Cassandra hissed and smacked him with the backside of her hand. He crawled away from the imposing warrior for as much as the rope allowed -like a beaten dog.

"I ordered you to stop," Margaret repeated, much less passionate than before the revelation.

Even in this miserable state and after getting already enough of abuse, Margaret couldn't force herself to feel too much empathy for the suffering twin. Not now, not after forcing her into this situation.

"Is that so?" Cassandra calmly said.

"You will do as you were told, Cassandra! And I order you to leave this place and never come back!" the princess shouted, but couldn't fully keep her voice steady and dominant.

"Well. I am afraid the orders of the highking outweigh yours, my princess," Cassandra replied and lifted her helmet and revealed something truly horrifying.

A hideous scar, reaching from above her upper lip, over her obviously multiply broken nose and even reaching into one of her normally signature vibrant blue eyes - blinding it, was disfiguring far stretches of her face.

"I can't let you get away again. Not this time.", Cassandra concluded and didn't even try to hide what she was implying.

Margaret was left shocked because of that sight. Not only by the sheer magnitude of Cassandra's disfigurement, but also because she knew how this wound got inflicted in the first place. She saw it with her own eyes, she just didn't know it at that time.

"It... can't be..." the rightful heir gasped and looked over Beth's shoulder and saw the same shock in Alexia's eyes. "Why?"

"I learned not to ask 'why' a long time ago. Orders are orders, no need to question them," the scarred commander said and came closer.

"You...it's you..."

Margaret was confused to hear these words come from right next to her. Out of Manuel's mouth.

She looked at him and saw the old man shaking top to bottom, cold sweat emerging from his receding hairline. He wasn't just afraid, but having a panic attack.

"Manuel... are... you alright?" the blonde waitress said and reached out to rest a hand on her shaking bosses' shoulder to calm him down.

He didn't react at all and mindlessly lifted his left hand and pointed with one of his two missing finger's stubs straight at Cassandra.

"Do I know you? Wait a second..." Cassandra said and leaned over the counter to look him dead in the eye. Her devilish cackle returned in full force and her eyes widened once she remembered him.

"You are the pianist from all those years ago, aren't you? Two sons... yes?"

Again, he didn't reply and kept on pointing at the one person who made all his past trauma resurface in that very moment.

"And there was a wife. I remember. At least she was brave enough to step in, unlike you..."

His lips trembled with hate, still, no words were coming out, but his eyes fired up as soon as the new commander mentioned his wife.

Margaret started to tear up as she remembered when she was told about Manuel's past and couldn't imagine what it must feel like to stand before one of your children's murderer... and taunting him.

"Manuel..." she said and softly tried to pull him back from Cassandra's grinning face.

"See, that's what I meant Beth. You either finish them off as soon as you got the chance or you will have to deal with them in the long run," the one-eyed veteran mockingly remarked and kept on looking at the shivering innkeeper.

"Leave him alone! Leave US alone! Just go!" Margaret shouted.

Cassandra sighed and rolled her eyes as she looked over to her protégé and nodded - not noticing her enraged predecessor standing behind them.

"This went on long enough. We don't got time for this."

She looked once more at Margaret directly and rested one hand on her sword's hilt.

"We have to move out before the militia mobilizes ... or Alexia returns," she grunted out of spite while mentioning her former rival. "So, I will ask this only once: 'Will you follow us willingly, or not?'"

The blonde waitress gasped and one last time looked over to Alexia, getting into position, before making her decision.

"No... I won't."

"Fine. Beth, shoot the innkeeper. That should convince her," Cassandra ordered.

Beth obeyed without a second thought, although she looked far from thrilled, hearing this simply cruel order.

She reached for her pistol and pulled it out of her holster and was ready to aim at Manuel.

"NO! DON'T DO THAT! PLEASE!" Margaret screamed and was about to jump in front of the petrified innkeeper.

She didn't only beg them to stop because of Manuel, or herself, but also for themselves, because they just forced Alexia to act.

A groan. All her weight was resting on her right foot, while she got in position for a wide and deadly strike. Her hand trembled as her determination wavered, knowing she would kill someone she considered a friend.

Alexia, gripped the wooden hold of the knife tightly and screamed loudly to force herself to do what she knew had to be done.

She was already mid-swing when Beth turned her head enough to see her friend's grey eyes one last time, before the knife slit her throat. Confusion and fear were radiating off of her, while the redhead was experiencing her last few moments - and seeing the sorrow on Alexia's face as well.

Blood sprayed out of Beth's carotid artery, but Alexia and Cassandra already had to plan their next moves. The former commander unsheathed her dying friend's sword just in time as Cassandra already engaged her head on.

Unfazed by Beth choking on her own blood or the others screams, Cassandra focused exclusively on Alexia, with unrelenting fury in her eyes.

The strength of Cassandra's hits forced Alexia back and on the defensive. Not only wasn't she emotionally ready to face someone of this calibre, but she also realized, that months without proper training and practice didn't pass by without a trace.

The sword in her hand, although surely perfectly balanced and finely crafted, felt unnatural to her. Her moves were sluggish and exclusively reactive to her former subordinate's flurry of attacks.

A wide strike forced Alexia to use both hands to direct the blade to the side, before it would have pushed her over into the tables behind her. She jumped to the side, standing between the new commander and her friends and gained at least a bit of distance and time to catch her breath.

"You know what? I am actually glad you showed up," Cassandra hissed.

Alexia, usually one to always dish out a nimble-witted reply remained silent to not further enrage Cassandra. She was already terrifying enough.

"Every morning when I looked in the mirror, I was thinking of you. And got reminded about my failure... losing to you, pah!", the seasoned veteran pointed at her hideous scar and smirked. "But not anymore. Next time when I see my face, I will be reminded of how I tore you apart, limb by limb!"

Alexia didn't doubt Cassandra's determination for a second, or that she was indeed capable of living up to her words.

She took a deep breath and got back into a proper stance for possibly her last battle. But she wouldn't go down without a fight.

"Just shut up and bring it on, already!" Alexia eventually said.

Cassandra's healthy eye twitched, but besides that she looked completely calm and focused. Her grin widened as she saw Alexia shivering anxiously while she approached her former commander.

"As you wish!"

Her first thrust missed Alexia just by few inches and the follow-up got even closer. Not only was she slower, but much, much weaker than her rival. Every block fatigued her sword arm even more and made her fully commit Cassandra's flurry of attacks.

That was already daunting enough, but what discouraged her the most was that she couldn't even focus into landing some blows herself or find any opening on the fully armoured opponent.

Her foe's exposed head would have been her only chance, but all Alexia did was desperately parry and hope the next strike wouldn't be as fierce as the previous one. This wouldn't go on for long, but a part of her mind noticed that much more was going on than just her struggle for survival.

"Stop! I order you to stop! Please!" Margaret kept on shouting, but her words of authority fell flat.

At this moment she was nothing more than just a waitress, even when she for once wanted to be the princess she tried to leave behind. People were fighting and dying right before her eyes and she was unable to do anything against it.

Ricky and Agatha emerged from the kitchen. Of course, did they notice the agitation outside and were greeted by the sight of two experienced fighters duking it out within their shared home and the sight of another royal guard laying in a growing puddle of blood.

While Ricky freed his devastated brother on the ground, Agatha was looking after Manuel who stood still petrified in his place and who's gaze followed Cassandra with every step during her fight.

"What should we do now?!" Agatha asked.

Neither Manuel nor Margaret replied and mindlessly looked at the battle unfolding before their eyes. And Alexia slowly but steadily losing ground.

Another blow, another block. Tables and chairs were also cut into pieces whenever Alexia managed to dodge one of Cassandra's heavy strikes.

Still, even amidst this rampaging duel, the commotion outside the inn started to overshadow the two fighting soldiers.

Loud voices, masses of people gathering and shouting at the troop of armoured soldiers.

The leading officer demanded them to step back, but it didn't sound like the crowd obliged.

"This is the last warning! By the order of your highking we command you to stay back!"

Single shots were fired before another loud order was given.

"Open fire!"

A volley of muskets unloaded just outside the inn and the rowdy crowd descended into chaos. And the human citizens and militia responded with firearms of their own.

The staff of the "sailor's mug" ducked and moved into cover as stray shots were ricocheting into the tavern.

All but the two fighting rivals who didn't even flinch at the shots penetrating the furniture around them. And Manuel.

He still observed Alexia's struggle, unmoving like a statue, but this time his shaking hands were reaching out to something under the counter.

The battle inside and outside the tavern raged on, but while the fight outside just had begun, the duel inside looked like coming to an end soon.

"Too slow..." Cassandra hissed.

Alexia's last few parries were lacking the strength to keep Cassandra at a distance or regain momentum. This one was definitely too late though. Her sword was pushed aside and out of her hand as the older, more experienced commander thrusted the blade into her.

"Nooo!" Margaret gasped but almost cheered, when she saw Cassandra's sword being tugged between her girlfriend's arm and side and forced out of Cassandra's hand.

The sword fell to the ground and only left an insignificant cut on Lexi's arm, but deep enough to lower her chances in the upcoming fistfight.

Equally fired on by this minor victory and out of desperation she rushed forward and assaulted Cassandra's exposed face for a decisive blow. Just like in the gardens.

This time her fist didn't connect.

Before she could get her guard back up, she felt the cold barrel of Cassandra's handpistol pushing into her mid.

Alexia didn't really register the gunshot and stared into Cassandra's devilish grin until the smoke coming from the hot barrel filled her vision. What she clearly heard though was Margaret and the others scream her name.

The smell of burning cloth and the taste of blood in her mouth was invading her senses ... as well as the slowly building pain originating from her left side.

"LEXI!"

Margaret pushed Manuel nonchalantly out of the way and ran past Agatha and the twins, who all stared in shock of what just happened.

Alexia fell on her knees, the red stain on her shirt steadily growing and soaking through the fabric. She rested a hand on the wound and her fingers were covered in blood within seconds.

"Lexi, stay calm Lexi!" Margaret muttered and hugged Alexia from behind and tried to press the wound shut with her bare hands.