Chapter III of "A Darker Story" WARNING: GORY!

Chapter III.

Not the conclusion! Way more to come! And yes, this chapter was necessary to the story!

WARNING: GORE GORE GORE

You can't say I didn't warn you!

Chapter III

            He stuck out like a sore thumb. He was an easy target. They all knew who he was. Because of his coat, he suffered abuse from his fellow soldiers.

            But he was still expected to be just as tough and loyal as they where. And he was.

***

            “Hey Red, you're on cleaning duty!” An older soldier shouted, his buddies snickering around him.

            “Not like I don’t do it everyday,” Thorn mumbled as he dragged his feet over to the filthy table. The soldiers where about to pester Thorn when the whistle was blown and the soldiers rushed to line up. Thorn quickly shoved the food into a leather sack and threw it outside, sliding into the line just as the general started inspecting each soldier. Thorn straightened his back up, looking straight ahead, showing no emotion. After what seemed like an eternity, the general stood at the front of the solid line.

            “Loyal soldiers of the Cold Heart Kingdom under the rule of the fearsome King Malicis and his daughter Princess Rose! Some of you may have only been here for a little under a month-” at this he shot a glance at Thorn and a few others-“but I believe you all have had enough training…” he paused, as if only for dramatic effect.

            “To go into a battle.” The general finished with a look that silenced all questions or protests. “The foolish Fire Foot Kingdom is planning a surprise attack on us, but our spies have made that no longer possible. We’re going to strike first, very early in the morning when the sorry lumpmuffins will be fast asleep. As much as I hate to say it, you need your sleep.” He stared at the line with burning eyes. “Well? What are you waiting for? SLEEP!”

            The line scattered, each rushing to their cottage. Thorn slowly walked to his cottage that he shared with no one. As he slowly climbed in bed, he wondered if he would get out of this battle aloud. Despite spending his entire life in the Everdark Forest, he had still heard enough to know what the battles where like: gory, merciless, and vicious. He soon fell fast asleep, but his sleep was full of visions of a bloody battle to come.

***

            Here he stood, almost frozen to the spot, as warriors sliced each other open right before his eyes. He was never born to be a fighter, and so many where dying.

            At first it seemed guiltily satisfying to see those who had berated and teased him for so long being torn apart, but he quickly pushed away the evil feelings. What do I do? Thorn thought shakily. He was suddenly hit with his dreams from before, the ones he had forgotten. Everything flashed before his eyes.

A battle lost, an entire kingdom falling.

The Darker Kingdoms rising up, destroying everything.

A force worse than anything known to the kingdoms enslaving all the survivors of the horrible Armageddon.

And it was all the work of the Fire Foot general, an emotionless, power-hungry, blood-greedy animal.

You couldn’t kill a general. It just hadn’t been done. It was far too dangerous, as generals where protected fiercely by their soldiers.

            Thorn breathed in the scent of the blood and the carnage around him, and gathering all the strength in his body, he rushed through the various gore and bleeding bodies scattered about. He ran right past fighting soldiers, barely missing being hit in the face by someone’s slimy intestines. A foolish warrior threw himself in front of Thorn. Thorn struck out, tearing the warrior’s eye out. He howled in pain and clumsily ran off, his bloody eye socket the least brutal of the wounds. As Thorn ran, he felt something squishy pushing against the fur above his claw and realized the warrior’s eye was still stuck to his red, dripping, wet claws. “Ugh,” Thorn grunted, but paid little attention. He was on a mission to save the world.

            As he approached the general, the fighting became worse. Soldiers surrounded Thorn, determined to protect the general. Thorn spared no expense in getting rid of his attackers. He charged one, snatched his tail in his teeth, and swung him around so hard he flew off into a tree, smashing his skull, blood and brains leaking onto the tree. Thorn next clawed two soldier’s eyes out, which also lodged themselves onto his claws.

            Thorn soon realized that although his fighting was vicious, the number of soldiers was too overpowering. He reared up, jumped above the claws of two warriors threatening to tear him apart, and landed in front of the heartless general. Before anyone had any time to react, Thorn lunged at him and bit his tiny pink nose off, swallowing it as the general screamed in pain. He threw himself at Thorn, but Thorn was fighting to save the world. He couldn’t afford to lose, so he simply stepped back, watching the general take a hard fall onto a sharp stone, which would soon be covered in a deep shade of red.

            The general felt sharp claws digging deeply into his muscular back, and as he lay there, weak from blood loss, the world fading in and out, he saw eyes, coming closer. Eyes of some of his most loyal warriors, coming towards him.

            “No,” he protested weakly. “You where my favorites… your eyes are so sharp… don’t do this… traitors…” His eyes filled with blood and pain and with a sickening sound, he saw no more.

 Thorn quickly finished the almost-dead general off with a swift bite to the neck. He finally came back to reality and realized that everyone had been watching him, petrified, wondering what to do. Thorn simply sat down, trying to pick the seven various bloody eyes off his claws.

As the general’s body was being dragged away by torn, bleeding warriors, Thorn couldn’t help but laugh.

“Look! He’s got the same color coat as me now!”

End Chapter III

-Frost