Sicarius (9 page)

Chapter XII 

Days pass by, and the king of Fraudule is very impatient as to why none of the lion Sicarius have returned. The king is sure so many lion Sicarius could not lose and take this long. He is hesitant on sending more to see if everything is going as planned. This is because the king has no lion Sicarius at hand. As the king ponders, Ambrose alone sneaks up to the castle. 

Ambrose climbs up the wall and gets inside the castle during the darkest part of night. Ambrose slays guards who protect the main gate quickly and stealthy. He even kills the man who accidentally let him out of capture. Ambrose has become as he once was and feels no remorse after he kills this man. When all guards that surround the front gate are killed, Ambrose breaks the gates’ chains, and the front door drops down. 

Fraudule soldiers all run to the gate and to the operation of the front gate. Before they reach Ambrose, he shoots an arrow that is on fire into the air, and Incontinence soldiers storm the castle. The men that are after Ambrose stop to look at the thousands of soldiers heading their way, led by Captain Gideon. 

Ambrose knows he must get his equipment fast before they put the armory of the Sicarius under high protection. Ambrose only had one arrow, so he tosses the bow. Ambrose never liked to use bows. 

He makes fast kills of the soldiers that show up. He alone, with his abilities, stalls the Fraudule soldiers while the Incontinence men approach. He does this long enough so they cannot stop the invasion as they enter the gate. 

When the Incontinence soldiers show up at the front gate, Ambrose uses the men’s clashing swords as cover. There are many men in a small part of the castle walls. Because of the distraction Ambrose has made, he can sneak past everyone without killing more. Ambrose knows this, but his being back to his old self, he unexpectedly kills a few from the shadows the corners provide, just for fun. 

When Ambrose’s desire for killing is no more, he runs to where the forbidden area—where the Sicarius train—is located. He opens the door and runs in to find no one. He finds this strange but still heads toward the door that holds his armor. Once he places his hand on the doorknob, multiple Sicarius leap at him from out of hiding. 

It is a trap as Ambrose guessed; they heard him coming before he entered and went to the shadows to hide. Ambrose knows he is no match for so many Sicarius, even if they are all low-ranked. Ambrose has no plan of escape. 

He turns the knob and pushes the door open. He slams the door shut behind him, and now he is stuck in the armory. The Sicarius are seconds from pushing the door open. Ambrose holds the door shut with all his might as the Sicarius push. He sees a sword next to the door. Ambrose uses this to jam the door closed. Ambrose knows it will not hold for long. 

With the time he has made, he finds his glove and puts it on. He looks for the black sword and cannot find it. He thinks the king must have been studying it when the invasion happened. Giving up on looking for the sword, he strips off the armor he has on, similar to Michael’s armor. It was given to him from the Incontinence army. It is made for their special forces. 

After he strips this off, he places the armor he once had on. It is the head lion Sicarius armor. This armor is the best of all Sicarius armor. It is light but covers more of the body. Ambrose rips off the emblem of head lion Sicarius and tosses it on the ground. 

The door finally gives and burst open; Ambrose is ready. He takes a sword to fight his way through them all. Ambrose knows that with his armor on and his glove, he still does not have a chance. He would have put more armor on, but he did not have the time. More armor would at least give him a better chance to win. 

Just as Ambrose starts to fight with multiple Sicarius, thinking his end will be soon, Captain Gideon and the soldiers of Incontinence come in to help. The covered courtyard will be the most difficult part of the castle to overcome. Ambrose warned the men about this room. They had seen Ambrose enter this room when they all stormed the front gate. 

Many of the Incontinence men prepared themselves for a long exclusionary battle and entered the room once the front gate was nearly cleared. One of the requests Ambrose asked King Cynric was to have the men stay close to him until he entered the king’s room, only because of this courtroom and what the men in it are capable of. 

Ambrose seizes this moment and sneaks away to run to the king’s throne room. These are not ordinary soldiers, so he will not try to kill any as he flees. If he is to try, he will not make a fast kill. Ambrose forgets about the king’s secret path that leads to his room. He leaves the courtyard and goes around. While he makes his way to this room, he kills any who try to stop him. None are a match for Ambrose. 

When he approaches the room, there are men that were told to guard the entrance. Ambrose makes quick work of the soldiers. Before Ambrose opens the doors, he looks back and notices that the king of Fraudule’s kingdom is done for. Ambrose faces the doors and opens them, grasping his sword tightly, ready for his retribution. 

When he enters the room, the king is nowhere to be seen. The king already found a way to escape. Ambrose is full of disappointment. He can only find what the king has left behind—a mess of panic. Ambrose then thinks,
He is not fast enough to get away so swiftly, being his size. There must be something I am overlooking.
 

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Ambrose sees a passageway that had not been shut completely. Ambrose remembers that there was a secret passage the king used to enter the courtyard where the Sicarius train. Being overwhelmed with a readiness for vengeance, he forgot this and many other secrets to the castle. 

He figures the king must have used the path to escape. “Luckily, the king was in such a hurry, he forgot to close the door behind him. If he never forgot this, the king would have gotten away,” Ambrose said to himself. The Sicarius only used this way to enter the king’s room, never knowing of the other path and where it leads. The Sicarius are forbidden to enter this way. Ambrose figures this path, which he knows nothing of, is an escape way, just in case something like this happens. 

Ambrose opens the door completely. He then swiftly enters the passageway with the air pressure closing the door tightly behind him. The door is disguised to be the wall; there will be no help as no one will be able to figure out there is a door there. 

Ambrose finally comes to the split. He runs down the mysterious way. As Ambrose runs down this path, he starts to hear running water. Finally, he sees a waterfall overlapping his exit. Depending on how you see it, this water hides your entrance or exit. Ambrose jumps through it. 

Chapter XIII 

Ambrose lands, and he sees a long sword coming for his head. With no delay, he rolls, dodging the blow of the sword. Ambrose stands up straight to see it was the king who tried to strike him down. Ambrose and the king are in a stare-down in an opened area in the middle of the woods, outside of the castle. The waterfall Ambrose jumped through makes a stream. The way this area is laid out, most would say it is close to heaven. 

Ambrose notices the black sword is not pulled. He realizes the king has the sword in a sheath just out of curiosity. The king does not know what the black sword can do. “It is over. Give up.” Ambrose thinks he has the upper hand. 

“Ha-ha! This is the perfect hideout.” The king opens his arms to embrace the fight. “I could stay here for days or just walk away. No one will ever find me. With that said, my grandfather was the one who started this kingdom of Fraudule, the technique of the fighting style the Sicarius use, and this has been passed down. Each Sicarius only knows one of the many fighting styles of the true fighting style.” Oswald rips off his robe that covers his body to revel his whole self. He is covered with the meteor metal and is protruding with muscle. Ambrose is very surprised; everyone thought the king was big and heavy, looking as if he was fat and slow. “It has been tradition not to show the king’s skill and body but to make everyone think he is disgusting and fat.” Oswald points his sword in Ambrose’s direction. “Just as your young friend said, I am a fat pig. Because of this, I told all of Sicarius not to show their defensive weapon to others, a well-based technique against your enemies.” Oswald runs at Ambrose, swinging with his long sword. 

Ambrose maneuvers around the swing easily, but the king uses his other hand to grab ahold of Ambrose. Ambrose knows he has both of his hands to strike the king with a sword, but the king uses his unseen speed to kick Ambrose before he could connect. 

Ambrose realizes, as he travels several yards, he is no match for the king with what he just showed. Ambrose knows the king is too fast, strong, and is covered with a metal that is nearly invincible. Ambrose figures that in order to win, he must have the black sword the king sheathed. 

Ambrose knows even if the king blocks the black sword, Ambrose will be able to deliver a killing blow, cutting through anything. Ambrose thinks to himself as he stands to his feet,
The king does not know the potential of the sword. This must be why he does not hold it.
Ambrose runs at the king while the king does not move, letting Ambrose strike him with confidence that he will not do any damage. 

“Ha-ha-ha!” Oswald drops his own sword and grasps the sword Ambrose strikes with. Oswald lifts Ambrose off the ground with the sword he strikes with. While off the ground, Oswald delivers a blow with his fist to Ambrose’s face. This is hard enough to make him let go of his sword and fall yards away from the king. The king drops the sword Ambrose once held, to pick his back up. 

“Damn it.” Ambrose grins while looking at the king, standing to his feet once more knowing the king is toying with him. 

The king looks off in the distance and sees the smoke being produced from what was once his kingdom. “You make me sick in what you have done to my kingdom. I will have to start it all over.” 

“You know I never would have gotten out if you just had more guards to watch when you captured me.” Ambrose charges again. “Your arrogance will be your demise.” 

The adrenaline Ambrose has will hide the injuries that he is suffering throughout this fight. Oswald relaxes while Ambrose charges. He knows Ambrose has no weapon to do any damage. Oswald becomes surprised that Ambrose did not strike or take the opportunity that he provided for him. The king looks to his waist and notices that the only damage done was that Ambrose extracted the black sword. 

Ambrose jumped back out of reach. He smiles to show the king he has feelings. Showing feelings and being part of the Sicarius is a huge insult to the king. Ambrose has figured this out the last time he was in a confrontation with the king, when he was locked up. 

“Go ahead. Take it. The spirit of that sword will make no difference.” Oswald shrugs his shoulders. “I studied the sword, and there is nothing to it.” Oswald steps back farther and farther from the fight, not taking his eyes off Ambrose. “This fight is over once I put this helmet and neck cover on. This will make me invincible. With this said, how are you to kill me with just your glove and that sword?” Oswald stops backing up, kneels down, and shifts a rock. After Oswald moves the rock, there is a hole. He reaches in this small pit and pulls out a basinet with chain mail to cover the neck. 

Ambrose drops his guard, and his arms begin to look heavy. “No Sicarius has those for defense.” Ambrose starts to feel he will not win this fight. He knows fatigue is creeping up on him, and the blows that he will connect will mean nothing if he does not end this fight soon. 

Oswald drops his long sword and places the helmet on. “These two are too valuable to give Sicarius and keep in the castle. I have always kept them here. This is why all Sicarius are forbidden to come this way.” He picks his sword back up. 

Ambrose ponders for a brief moment. He then figures a way to win. Ambrose runs at the king once more to strike him multiple times. The king takes his time to swing his sword. The king believes he is immortal. Oswald comes down with his swing, trying to split Ambrose from the top of his head. 

With the strike from Oswald, Ambrose catches the sword with his fingertips. The power behind the blow forces Ambrose to fall to his knees. He lets out a grunt and tries to stop the blade from connecting with his head. Oswald’s sword is slowly moving closer to his head. Ambrose is in no position to swing. He drops his right shoulder, releases the sword from his grasp, and rolls away. 

As he stands, he looks at his glove and sees it will not be able to take another blow for it is bent. Ambrose has trouble but eventually takes it off and throws it at the king with full force. “Here, you can have it back!” Ambrose realizes random strikes have made the king off guard to his true plan. 

Oswald hits the glove with his sword as if he were playing baseball. He lowers his sword to look at Ambrose and shake his head. “There is no way for you to win. Just let me kill you, and let’s be done with this.” 

“It is not the spirit of the black sword that makes this sword so special!” Ambrose charges Oswald. 

“It does not matter. With one more swing of my sword, you will die, and I will escape.” The king prepares himself to swing. 

While Oswald twists his hips, the speed he uses allows Ambrose to attack with the black sword several times, chipping Oswald’s armor away. Ambrose backs off before Oswald comes through with his swing. Ambrose sees that the king still thinks he is invincible and does not care what Ambrose is doing. 

One miss is nothing. Any other swing will do, so why hurry,
t
he king thinks. The king notices Ambrose’s stamina has gone down and his hits make no sound when he connects with his suit. Oswald believes this fight is over. 

It is going as Ambrose has planned. Oswald thinks nothing can harm him, and the random strikes Ambrose has made makes it easy for him to hit one spot of Oswald’s armor several times without Oswald thinking much of it. He will strike the armor like an ax to wood; he will chip away enough space. This space will leave a gaping slit just the right size to thrust a sword into. 

While Ambrose comes back to attack Oswald, the king laughs, places both feet on the ground, and makes a sturdy stance. Without knowing, he lets Ambrose successfully chip away enough metal. Before Ambrose delivers the final blow, Oswald catches the strike and grasps the sword tightly, unknowing of Ambrose’s intentions. Once more, he picks Ambrose up off the ground, tired of Ambrose striking him, and will finally carry the final blow to Ambrose’s death. Oswald pulls back with the arm that holds his long sword. 

Before the king delivers what he expects will be the last blow, the king realizes that his fingers are bleeding from catching the sword as it penetrates through his armor. He shakes Ambrose off the sword as one would shake a dog not letting go of a toy. Ambrose falls to his knees from exhaustion, and Oswald kicks Ambrose yards away. 

Oswald studies the sword closely and finally figures out why this sword is so special. The king realizes what Ambrose has been doing. “Your plan is too late. I have the sword, and you cannot cut through anymore.” He looks at his armor and sees all the chip marks and the damage Ambrose has done. He still is unaware of the slit to his neck. 

Ambrose stands up slowly and limps to the king in pain and exhaustion. “Tell me, when I was in that cell as a child, how did you find out about my mother?” 

“Aha, this explains more—your mother. This is why you are so special. The love she showed you, none of the others had this. Well, if you must know before I kill you, I do not know much of you as a child or of your mother; but my ancestors and I knew mothers would not give up their children so easily. We always had people to watch the cells spiders were placed in. It just so happens your mother must have been a little stealthier than all. I am sure she bought the lookout with her body. After all, she was just a slave with nothing to give. I guess the lookout got tired of her, or she stopped giving herself to him, and he soon told. I am not too sure. I do not pay much attention to the ones I kill and the reasons behind.” Oswald watches Ambrose limp closer with one of his hands tightened upon hearing the truth and the other reaching for his face. “Ambrose, you cannot do anything to me. You do not have this sword, and you move as slowly as a snail.” The king lets his guard down. “I take this as your way of reaching for your death. So be it.” Oswald thrusts his sword at Ambrose without accuracy, believing this will be the last strike Ambrose will receive. 

As the king strikes Ambrose, Ambrose unexpectedly slides using the strength his mother gave him that made him so special among other Sicarius. He slides to the side where the king has not noticed there is a huge gape in his neck armor. It just so happens, where Ambrose slides to dodge the strike, the sword that he was deprived of at the beginning of their fight was dropped there. Ambrose picks up this sword and uses this moment as Oswald’s guard is down to stab him in the neck. “For Gytha and Aida!” 

“Ugh!” Oswald falls to his knees grasping his neck, trying to gasp for air and drowning in his own blood. 

Ambrose whips off the helmet of the king, and as the helmet falls, Ambrose closes his eyes and reminisces about the girls and his mother. When the helmet hits the ground and stops moving, his eyes open, and he looks at Oswald’s panicked expression. He takes the black sword from Oswald’s grasp. “And for my mother.” Ambrose uses the black sword to do the finishing blow, cutting King Oswald’s head off his neck. His head hits the ground heavy, making a loud thud. His body falls after, bleeding out like a loose hose. 

Ambrose snarls with anger at Oswald’s dead body. He removes the black sword’s holder from Oswald and places it back on himself. Ambrose bends over to take Oswald’s head. He holds his side where he has broken ribs from when the king kicked him several times. He places the sword back in its holster and walks slowly back into the waterfall-covered cave. 

Ambrose finds his way back to the king’s throne room. As Ambrose limps, he can’t help but think, even with the pain he feels now, that Michael was still the most difficult to defeat. He opens the doors to the room to see Incontinence soldiers that are placed there for reinforcements. They reach for their swords, ready to strike. A head rolls into the room, leaving them speechless. “Here, as promised. The king’s body is down the passageway. We won.” 

The soldiers go into the opening of the passageway as Ambrose walks toward the opening. Once all the soldiers are past him, Ambrose collapses from the pain his body is enduring. Slowly, he loses consciousness where he lies.