Showdown at the OK Corral...Finale

By 2:30 we were on our third circuit of the fair grounds. Between us, we identified at least twenty possible goons in waiting, often hanging around in pairs. Since it was a Sunday, and they were apparently trying to blend in the general population of tourists, the chosen style of dress was pure goon casual--polo shirts, khaki colored pants and loafers--while they ‘concealed’ their weapons within the ubiquitous rip-away type fanny packs so common with law enforcement types.

There were also several Casters in the crowd, although neither Ravyn or I recognized any of them either from the ORC’s or from previous encounters with Drake’s henchmen, so it was impossible to tell if they were here on Drake’s behalf or just enjoying the festival itself. Until one or more of them showed themselves as a threat, we decided to leave those folks out of the equation.

As the sun moved closer to it’s 3 o’clock position, we parted company as we left a small jewelry shop and took different routes to head towards the jousting field. Sauntering through the still vibrant crowds as they streamed away from a just completed jousting match, I noticed a few of the goon contingents subtly shifting into positions around the emptying area.

A single dark figure stood near the wood fence separating the main thoroughfare from the field where the jousters had so recently been demonstrating their skills. His back was to me, as leaned with his arms crossed on the top bar of the fence, his left foot propped up on a bale of hay, completely at leisure, seemingly lost in thought.

Seeing Drake again actually sent a shiver through my Spirit. This was the first time we had come face to face since we had battled in the Everglades. His pale skin contrasted all the more with his black shirt and pants. His dark hair was slicked back into a small pony tail, the first time I can remember seeing him with longer hair.

As interesting as it was to see Drake again, however, something drew my eyes even more than he did, something that emanated a sense of Power unlike anything I had only ever felt with Witchbane Blades. Leaning up against the fence next to him was a tall, thick cane that was topped with a dragon’s head. The shaft of the cane was made of some strange, light absorbing material that was not quite wood and not quite stone, but something unbelievably ancient nonetheless. The dragon’s head at the top of the cane was made of ethereal silver metal that reflected light. The eyes of the dragon were rubies that shone with a fire all their own. Just below the dragon’s head the mounting brace could easily have doubled as a...hilt....as I looked at it, I could just sense that the shaft was actually a sheath for a blade of some sort.

Determined not to show any hesitation that might be construed as fear, I sauntered up to the fence next to him, leaning my own considerable weight on it.

We sat there for several moments watching the stablehands take care of the horses at the far end of the field, neither of us willing to break the uneasy silence.

“You understand, Bones, that I will have what is rightfully mine, don’t you?”

“Why are they so important to you, Drake?”

“That’s none of your business. The only thing you need to know is that they belong to me and that I will stop at nothing to get them back.”

“Funny, they were fairly easy to acquire, are you telling me that Daniel truly had you over the barrel over these things?”

“Bernstein was a close associate of mine, Bones. We worked together for a number of years. I never saw the hidden strength he had developed until it was too late. Your reckless and needless assault on my organization ruined a number of plans. Surely you didn’t drag me to this pageant of fools to trade banter with me. What do you want for the cannisters?”

“I’m not entirely sure that I will give them up to you yet, Drake. First of all, I’m not giving you a God-damned thing until I know what it is. Second, I have very little faith that you will actually live up to any agreement we make in regards to these items. If I give them to you, what will keep you to your word? Finally, as you can probably tell, I’ve changed a lot since our last meeting, but one thing hasn’t changed, and that is my burning desire to destroy you.”

“If you wish to slay me so badly, why are you waiting? You and I are both here, just the two of us. If you think you are ready, you will not get another chance so easily.”

“Well, I’d rather not risk hurting any innocents, and besides, as long as I have your precious containers, I know you’ll come to me whenever I desire.”

He looked over at me for the first time. His soulless eyes burrowing deep into my own. “Bones, don’t be such a fool. This is your last chance to agree to turn over to me what is mine, or I will unleash a terrible war upon you and all that you hold dear that will leave everything and everyone you have ever loved in smoking ruins. So I ask you one last time, what do you want for these containers?”

A shadow fell over us as his words finished. I didn’t think much of it at first, until I felt a strange tingling deep inside, like a part of me recognized something was coming...

“RUSTY!!! WATCH OUT!!!”

With Ravyn’s shout, and the excited screams of dozens of nearby folks, I swung around just in time to see that shadow coalesce into a tall dragon like form that towered over us, it’s black scales solidifying into a glistening black metal as I looked on stunned. Drake was no longer next to me, but had somehow slipped behind the 30’ long, 15’ tall creature.

It’s head was nearly as large as I was, its mouth was agape, it’s ivory colored fangs dripping a liquid that left smoking holes in everything that it dripped on.

Time slowed in those fleeting few moments...I was fumbling to draw Herlinda and Diego from their sheaths...I saw Ravyn throwing a bolt of fire that easily outdid anything else I had ever seen her throw right at the back of the beast’s head, but even that fire seemed to move in slow motion...As the fire was lancing out towards the creature, a stream of it’s thick acid was heading towards me...People all around were screaming in fear and panic while two dozen goons were moving in towards us, many towards Ravyn, now revealed...A piercing cry from above told me that Betsy was entering the fray...

In the instant before the stream of acid reached me, I instinctively grabbed Shadow and wrapped myself in its cocoon, transporting myself to a position right behind the smiling Drake.

Both blades came free just as I emerged from the Shadow, Diego practically dancing in my fingers for a chance to get at the man responsible for his centuries of imprisonment...

The blast of intense fire struck the dragon in the head, sending the beast reeling forward and roaring in pain as it crashed writhing and twitching into the now smoking remains of the fence...

Drake had sensed my move and was whirling even as I was trying to plunge both blades into his back, in one practiced motion, he parried both blades with that cane he had been carrying, sending me staggering past as he drew the blade portion in his second movement, leaving him holding the wicked looking, razor thin blade in one hand, the solid black sheath in another...

As I regained my balance and swung around to face my arch nemesis, I had one quick glance of Ravyn raising a ring of fire around her as a half dozen burly goons tried to close in on her. They leaped back with cries of pain...

Drake took that opportunity to feint with the blade and lash out with the sheath in an attempt to knock Herlinda from my left hand. The crushing blow would have shattered the bones of a normal person, but it only pushed that hand down momentarily. It was almost enough for him to slip his blade into my chest. He was as lightning fast as I remembered, but this time, Diego was faster, as he crashed the blade away with a ringing parry...

We circled after that exchange, giving me a ringside seat to witness a blazing phoenix crash down on the head of the dragon as it tried to rise, Betsy’s talons, beak and blazing feathers creating a flurry of attacks that the still dazed dragon was unable to stop...

Drake launched another flurry of blows with his blade and sheath, each of which was just barely parried or dodged as I struggled to counter his greater skill, reach and speed...

We continued to circle, with him pushing the fight onto me. My glances of Ravyn, the dragon and and the phoenix, the goons, and the growing crowd of wildly cheering Faire-goers were getting fewer and fewer as I spent more and more energy trying to defend myself by the determined blows of Drake...

I did manage to see Ravyn get saved by ‘Bob’ as he crashed into a particularly large goon who had come up from behind her as she faced down two others. His dive into the poor bastards’ gut was strong enough to lift him off of his feet and throw him past the row of spectators that had formed around that fray...

Drake seemed to get both faster and stronger as the fight went on. He was smiling the entire time, though he remained blissfully silent as he obviously enjoyed watching me struggle to fend of his blows. Luckily, I wasn’t going to tire either.

Diego hated to be forced into defense. He tried to guide my hand into lashing out at Drake, but Drake was too fast, batting aside the thrusts with ease with his longer, more agile blade.

Drake smiled as we exchanged another series of blows. “Ah yes, I remember these blades. They served their purpose, but I have a better weapon now.”

I barely turned his latest thrust, but used my momentum to spin and land what felt like a glancing blow with Herlinda’s hilt on Drake’s head...he stumbled, off balance for the first time in my memory...I continued my spin, bringing Diego down for a killing thrust, only to be deflected by a wild bat with the sheath as Drake tumbled into a better defensive position.

I was shocked to see blood trickling down Drake’s high cheek bone. It was my turn to smile. “You’re getting cocky Drake, these blades remember you as well, they are sworn to take but one more soul with them...yours!”

Seeking to press an advantage, I waded in on the attack. Another flurry of blows, this time with Drake backing down, circling to his left...

A flash of flame signalled the end of the struggle between legendary creatures as Betsy rose in triumphant flame crowing her victory, though not without cost as large portions of her feather plume and one taloned foot were missing, victims of the acid of the dragon...

Drake brushed the trickle of blood from his cheek with the back of his sheath hand, glanced at the blood smear and smiled up at me. “I’m impressed Bones, it has been many decades since I’ve seen my own blood. You have grown in ways I could not have imagined even a year ago. But you still have much to learn.”

With that he began a swirling, darting series of attacks that pushed me back. I was whacked several times by the sheath before I could see the pattern of his attack, but just as I shifted to adjust to that pattern, the blade became harder to see until his flurry of attacks ended with his blade thrusting into my gut, sinking a third of the way up my gut...

Lancing, shooting, wracking pain laced through my very being, pain like I hadn’t felt since the merge with the remnants of Ma Grendel. For the briefest of moments, the whispers deep inside me shrieked in glee and in release before I felt a sucking sensation through the wound and into the blade.

I looked up to see Ravyn’s flames dying down as she had driven back the last of Drake’s goon squad, her face bloodied and bruised, her eyes flashing anger and then concern as she saw what was happening to me.

“Rusty!!!”

I stood there for the briefest of moments, unable to free myself from the blade as the darkness inside seemed to stream down the blade and into Drake. Drake’s smile grew colder, more evil, as he appeared to drink in my very essence...

Herlinda stirred in my hand, driving me to strike down at the base of Drake’s blade with her own blade. The force of the blow as the longer, slimmer blade was trapped by my own body and the armor that I wore caused both blades to shatter, creating a blast of released energies that threw both Drake and I backwards ten feet each onto our backs...

The crowd gasped, then roared at the sheer spectacle of the battle. Somehow, they must have felt that the legendary beasts, the blasts of flame and acid, the epic battle of magickal blades and undead beings was a grand show put on for their benefit, a spectacle that surpassed any other show at the Faire.

Weakened by the loss of Spirit from that damnable blade of Drake’s and the loss of Herlinda, I struggled to sit back up. When I finally did, I saw Drake rise, dust himself off, and start to come toawrds me again, his tattered and blood drenched sword arm dangling uselessly at his side...

I managed to stagger back to my feet, Diego still in my other hand. The arm and hand that had held Herlinda also hung limp at my side. I could sense more than feel the gaping wound in my gut where the blade had exploded...

Ravyn was half running, half limping as she was forcing her way through the larger crowd around us...

Drake stopped three paces away, looked contempuously at the now useless sheath in his good arm, discarded it, then looked up at me, grinning strangely. “We are more alike than you will ever know, Rusty. We shall meet again soon to continue this discussion, but first I must test these new talents you have bequeathed to me...” His cackling laughter faded as he drew the Shadow about himself and disappeared...

“Holy fucking shit...” was all I managed to say as Ravyn stumbled over to me, her face mirroring my concern.

Ravyn reached into a pouch at her belt and pulled out a small ruby. “Let’s get out of here.” She crushed the stone and we disappeared in a flash of fire.