Chapter 16: Last stand
The Allied and Axis soldiers, together with the Eternal Knight managed to finish the last mercenaries off, winning this battle. “Glad that's over. These buggers seem to be harder-shelled than the ones we're used to.” William breathed heavily, reloading his Sten.
“Yes and our friends are safe for now.” Hans added relieved that they had won.
“Speaking of them, where are they?” Matteo wondered as he looked around, not seeing them anywhere.”
“I guess they took cover somewhere else, let’s look around.” Escher suggested, the others agreed.
“Dinky! Where are you?” Fletcher called out, hoping she would reply.
“Katja! Are you alright?” Duffy called out for the young girl.
“Blau Streifen! Are you there?” Matteo shouted, praying for any kind of response from him.
Unfortunately, there was none, which made them all worried what had happened to them.
“You...you don't think they were the target? Like putting those boys up to keep us busy while they...they...?” Duffy figured out, fearing for the worst.
“I’m afraid so. But with my tracking spell, we can find them.” Fray was confident, yet also hoped it wasn’t too late.
To everyone’s surprise, a Kübelwagen came into view in the distance, the Brits aimed their weapons at it as the car came to a stop and the town, four Gestapo agents stepped out. “Drop your weapons, you are surrounded!” One of the agents yelled, pointing his Luger at them.
Konrad stepped forward. “Wait, this is a misunderstanding. We both got separated from our allies, working together to survive out there.” He tried to explain.
The leader of the secret police looked cold at the private. “If that what you just said is true, I might refrain from reporting you as deserter. We are looking for Upton, have you seen him?” He asked the Axis soldiers.
“No sir, but we believe he has kidnapped the children we were ordered to keep safe.” Escher replied, getting a strange reaction from the agent of the secret police, his eyes twitching for a few seconds.
“That imbecile! Never trust a goddamn island ape! Stick to the plan, I said, keep quiet, deny any accusation! He could have blamed the Cornishman, the Ethiope King or who knows who else. But no, he had to get greedy! Right. I want a squad with jeeps sent after him immediately to silence him. He must on no accounts fall into British hands. He knows far too much to be considered safe.” The black dressed man sounded angry, if there was one thing the others could agree with the Gestapo, it was that Upton wouldn’t get out alive of this situation, no matter what.
As the agents were about to move out, one of them tripped over something in the sand. “Ouch! What the?” He wounded as he looked over what he tripped, hearing a strange, yet terrifying moan.
Three men rose from the sand, their skins very pale, having whitened pupils, one of them was wearing a black suit and hat, the others had local clothes, their heads covered in blood. Fletcher and his friends immediately recognized the black clothed man as Upton.
“Stay back!” The Gestapo agent yelled in panic, firing his Luger at the man. Upton shrugged it off as he slowly stumbled towards the terrified German, swinged his hand at the agent’s throat, blood sprayed from a wound as he fell dead into the sand, the undead henchman sprinted towards the other Gestapo members, who fired their weapons in an attempt to stop them, in vain.
The mercenaries quickly killed them the same way as Upton did, then they all stared at the unicorn and soldiers who had their weapons trained on them. The Germans, stallion and Italian knew from the tombs how to deal with the undead, the Brits from their encounter with Ricky Hanson. A bullet to the head should do it.
The men and stallion opened fire as the undead charged at them, Gorrister, managed to get a hold on Hill, trying to feast upon him, the captain quickly drew his revolver, shooting Upton in the head at blank range, executing him as blood sprayed from it and he let go, falling backwards to the ground, the former hired men got also defeated from the combined firepower.
“Okay, that’s over. Now-“ Matteo got cut off as several moans greeted their ears, seeing several more of the mercenaries raising out of the sand, ten to twenty at least.
In the moment the soldiers aimed their weapons at the undead, a loud and rapid firing sound echoed in their ears, seeing how the mercenaries got perforated by bullets, struggling to stand with bullet holes all over their bodies before falling into the sand.
Turning around, everybody saw how Hans had manned the MG42, the barrel was smoking. “1.500 rounds per minute is something fine, isn’t it?” He asked proudly.
“Yeah, it really earns its name, the buzz saw.” Escher replied as Hill looked over Upton’s body with an expression of sympathy.
“I admit I never quite liked him, that he wasn’t a good man, but even he hasn’t deserved something like this.” As William had said this, Gorrister’s body, as well as the bodies of the mercenaries disintegrated before them in a green flame.
“It’s all Quince’s work. We have to find, the children before it’s too late. Follow me!” Fray used his tracking spell, locating them not far from here in the north, the others wasted no time, worried about them.
After a few minutes, they saw a cave in the distance, and a man, lying in his own blood. They stared in shock upon seeing who it was. “Willi!” Konrad explained, rushing towards him, kneeling down.
The baker was barely alive, with eight of his fingers missing. “Quince…” He managed to say in a weak voice.
“You’re okay, you gonna be okay!” The private tried to comfort his friend, despite knowing there was no chance of survival for him.
“He wants...The Green...Knight...” Willi added weakly, his eyes slowly closing.
“No! No! Stay with me!” Konrad yelled but the baker’s body became limp, succumbing to his injuries. Escher held his head, then let his arm hang loose. “Damn…damn….” He mumbled in sadness, then exclaimed in anger, “Quince will pay for this!”
“While I didn’t know him much, I’m with you, Konrad.” Hill assured, also angered by this loss.
“Oh, he will pay, definitely!” Conti added.
“We’re with you.” Cutting and Duffy added.
“No. We’re found the children, and we will end it, we can’t afford more loses. Hans, you, Peter and Duffy bury Willi and go back to the town, organizing our ride.” Konrad said to them, now calmer yet oriented.
“But…” Hans was about to protest.
“No buts, that’s an order!” Konrad yelled.
“Yes, sir!”
Konrad, Matteo and William followed Fletcher to a small hill near the cave, nothing but a strange mist around it, also hinting they were close. “Fletcher!!! I have your whelps! Come out and die at the hooves of the immortal one!” They heard a raspy voice, seeing Quince coming out of the mist, despite his terrifying appearance, the men showed no sign of fear.
“No, Quince. We've talked about this. We're ageless. Not immortal. And unless you let them go, right now...You will know the difference.” Fray replied calm, yet threatening.
“Look at me...LOOK AT ME! You did this! You did this to me! Now I'll make you suffer for every moment of it!” The Prowler yelled in rage.
“You should thank me, Quince...It's an improvement.” Fletcher replied calm.
“And you will pay for what you did to Willi!” The German exclaimed, his eyes burning with anger.
“I see you've found yourself some pets, Fletch.” Quince wasn’t impressed by this.
The Eternal Knight turned to the private. “Konrad, I told you, he's too strong for you!”
“I'm sorry, Fletcher. But I'm not letting this monster get away with what he did, even if it kills me.” For Escher it was now personal.
Ah, I thought I recognized the uniform. You knew my last toy, didn't you...heh...You know why I practice on soldiers? They're a better challenge. Civilians break down instantly, that's no fun, I like someone who starts off all tough and fearless and then fold, beautifully, as they slowly realize how much curd they're in! Though that what’s his face Timmy Two-Fingers I caught didn't last long, how many years did he have on the force?” The unicorn taunted.
“...He was a young man...in his early twenties.” Fray replied.
“Really? I would have put it closer to ten when he started screaming for his mother. No joke, he really did, it was spectacular! No wonder they're building machines to do the fighting, they sure aren't getting far with their men!” Quince carried on.
“Where are they?!” William demanded before they heard a strange moan in the mist, seeing the silhouettes of the children, strangely stumbled out of the mist.
Fletcher and the others became shocked as the kids got fully visible.
They all had deathly pale skin, whitened pupils, blackening around their eyes and mouths, slight sores near the neck, enlarged veins, and several small blue orbs emitting from their heads. The Eternal Knight had heard about this once but never saw it before.
Puppet soldiers, forcibly locked into mindlessly violent, zombie-like trances through the gases a certain spell released.
“Here they are, safe and sound. Oh, did I say safe and sound? Sorry. What I meant to say was, under my thrall and ready to rip you to pieces. And you know what else. After I let them go, they're going to remember that. Think of all the lovely little nightmares they'll have, watching helplessly as I made them tear you open and feast on your twitching flesh!” The Prowler shouted with joy.
The Green Knight switched to his spear. “This will end today.”
Quince drew his knives in response. “At last...something we agree on.” Hecharged at Fray, the children broke out into an animalistic sprint towards the 3 soldiers, Katja flailed her arms as she ran towards Hill.
He, Escher and Conti quickly putted the safety of their weapons on, they didn’t want to kill them or accidently hurt them.Dinky attacked Konrad, Blau Streifen Conti, his sister went for the Brit, violently swatting at them, the men could evade the attacks with effort, Fletcher managed to block every attack of Quince, responding with counterattacks, which his enemy also blocked with ease, like a classic sword fight.
The young girl managed to get a hold in William, trying to feast upon him, he punched her in the solar plexus, causing her to let go, enabling him to throw her to the ground, which should instantly knock out a soldier, the German and Italian did the same move, hoping to take them out without hurting them too much.
To their horror, the kids stood up just by planting their feet/ hooves on the ground and then bending forward, hinting it wouldn’t be easy to take them out with non-lethal weapons.
The prowler blocked Fletcher next attack by locking blades with his spear, dragging it upwards again, but this time, Fray ducked as his opponent tried to head-butt him, effectively avoiding it, leaving Quince open for an attack.
As the Eternal Knight raised his spear for a strike, a moan came from behind, the filly lunged at him, knocking him down, trying to bite his throat.
He hated it to hurt her, so he just lifted her back with his magic, throwing her off him, just in time to avoid a finishing strike by Quince, rolling out of the way, just getting grazed in the left shoulder.
As Dinky stood up again, Blau Streifen charged at William, knocking him to the ground, his sister charged at the Italian, knocking him also down with twisted superhuman physiology.
They realized that the kids would eventually overpower them, the soldiers agreed with nods to take out Quince first.
Matteo managed to throw the colt off him, reaching for his knife as Quince was about to attack Fray again, charging at him.
The former prowler quickly turned around, blocking the attack with his knives, then blasted the soldier back with his magic. In the moment Hill got Katja of himself, getting up, Matteo crashed into him, causing both to get knocked out.
Escher recovered, seeing that the siblings now attacked Fletcher, he managed with effort to get them off with his magic, barely evading another strike by Quince.
The former prowler was lost in his anger, fighting the archer, that he couldn’t see it coming as Konrad rushed from behind, stabbing him into the back, then turned him around, locking blades with him, using all his strength to drag them upwards, managing that Quince lost his grip of his knives.
As the German was about to stab him into the chest, the stallion used his magic to throw him to the ground, stabbing the private into the chest with his own knife, Escher blacked temporarily out.
Konrad woke up,seeing horrified that Quince and Fletcher had now a hoof fight, the Green Knight held his ground but Quince punched him down, hitting him into the face repeatedly, the children stumbled aimlessly around, stopping to walk to bend forward like they had to throw up, holding their heads for a few moment, making him wonder if this was a sign of resistance or awareness of their state.
Looking at the knife in his chest, Konrad gripped it firmly and began to pull it out. The knife slowly came out of his chest, blood gushing from his wound as he angrily groaned in pain, his vision flashing red. He pulled harder, straining his last bit of strength with both hands until it finally came out.
He twisted the knife in his hand, looking at Quince, muttering “Quince!”, as he threw it in the moment Quince looked up. The knife landed in Quince’s left eye, he stumbled as blood gushed out of his face.
Despite the hits Fray had taken, he quickly recovered, grabbing his spear, striking Quince with it, throwing him back with every hit.
His final strike was aimed at the prowler’s chest, penetrating his heart, Quince screamed in pain, struggling not to collapse.
It was in vain, falling into the sand in his own blood as Fletcher forcefully pulled the spear out. Fray breathed heavily before looking at the wounded soldier. “Konrad! Konrad!” He rushed over, casting a healing spell and bandaging him. “That should help.” He helped him up.
William and Matteo woke up, coughing as they got up. “Are you alright?” Matteo asked worried as he saw the bandages on his friend.
“I will make it, don’t worry."
The children still stumbled around but made no attempt to attack as the 4 soldiers walked over Quince, despite his injuries, he was still alive, his eyes still glowing green. “Is it over...Is the nightmare finally over...” His voice was weak but filed with regret.
With sympathy, Fletcher replied, “Yes...yes it is...You can rest easy now...” And made the killing blow to the head, blood splattered and a loud crack could be heard as Quince finally died.
As the glow in his eyes ceased, the children started to stagger, Fray used his magic to catch them, lying them down gently, checking their pulses. “They’re unconscious but otherwise fine.” He said relieved as they twitched a bit but were reverting to their normal state.
“Captain, are you alright?” Cutting asked worried as he arrived with Duffy and Hans, seeing the scene. “We got scared as you didn’t come back.”
“We’re fine, lieutenant. Fletcher, it may sound wrong what I’m going to say, but I think we all did Quince a favor.” William said to him, hoping it wouldn’t upset him.
“It’s okay, I blamed myself for what happened to him, so I’m glad that he’s released from his suffering. Let’s get the kids out of the sun and take Quince’s body, nobody should be allowed to discover his abilities.” Fletcher replied.
“Agreed.”
While unconscious, the minds of Dinky, Blau and Katja’s minds were still working tirelessly.
Dinky and her human friend woke up in field grey uniforms in amountain area, wearing a pair of crutches on their backs.
The sound of a young voice laughing greeted their ears, seeing the young colt wearing the same uniform running towards them. “That was fun!” He exclaimed in joy.
“I know you enjoy it, but could you please a bit more careful?” Dinky pleaded.
“Where’s the fun in that?” He asked before an explosion occurred near them, caused by a tank. “Excuse me a minute.” Blau said before charging at the tank, yelling, “Who’s next?”
“And there he goes again.” His sister commented before another explosion occurred. “And he’s dead.” Katja reached for a Syringe with an adrenaline injection out of her pocket and stabbed her brother, reviving him. “You blew yourself up again, didn’t you?” She scolded him.
“Yeah, I kinda did. Guess I really…blew up his day.” Blau Streifen joked.
The sound of an airshiphorn got their attention, looking up into the sky, the airship stopped above them, and 2 ponies jumped towards the ground, the first one was Fletcher, also having medical equipment, the other one a female Pegasus they had never seen before, armed with a SMG with attached bayonet.
“White Wolf, please…”
“No risk, no fun!” The mare replied to Fray before charging forwards, getting killed in an explosion.
The unicorn sighed. “Here we go again.” He revived her with his syringe. “You know, you would make my job a lot easier if you would be more careful.”
“Who are you, my father?” Wolf asked in return.
The kids suppressed giggles, then noticed how everything started to fade, feeling something warm around them.
With aching heads, they awoke, seeing that Fletcher and the others were sitting around a fire in the shadow. “Ah, you’re awake. How are you feeling?” Fletcher asked with a weak smile.
“My head aches but otherwise, I’m fine.” Dinky got up, then froze, her pupils went small as she noticed something in the fire. “Is that….a body in the fire?” She asked terrified.
With an unpleasant expression, the stallion replied, “Quince's. It’s the only we can be sure no-one ever makes another one like him,” also throwing a letter into the fire.
Upon hearing his name, Dinky hugged Fletcher tightly, crying, Katja hugged Escher, Blau Streifen Matteo. “I’m so sorry! I never wanted to...to…” The little unicorn buried her head into his chest, he rubbed her back.
“Shh, calm down, it’s alright, you had no control over your actions, I don’t blame you or your friends.” He spoke in a calming voice.
“Hey, look!” Duffy pointed to the fire. They saw a unicorn slowly rising out of the fire, looking like a sprit. It was Quince before this horrible experiment happened to him. He looked at them, being…calm. He waved at them with a peaceful expression before walking away, fading.
“I guess he finally found his peace.” Konrad suspected, feeling kinda relieved for him.
“Yes, his suffering finally ended.” Even Fletcher was relieved about it.
“How long were we out?” Blau Streifen asked him.
“A few minutes, five at least.”
“We had a strange dream.” Katja explained what they had been dreamed while they had been unconscious.
“That would be White Wolf. And yes, she can be that reckless...sometimes...but nothing's killed her yet. She must be doing something right. I wouldn't take what you saw all too seriously.” The stallion replied, founding it strange how their minds could get up with such a dream like that.
“Where’s Willi?” Dinky asked as she didn’t saw him with the others.
With a sigh, the Eternal Knight said with pity, “Quince...got to him first. There was nothing we could do.”
It took the kids a few minutes to process this, then sniffed as they all placed a hoof/hand on Willi’s improvised grave. “You were a good friend. At least you’re in a better place now.” They mourned him.
“It won’t be easy telling Tim. He saw Willi as a father and big brother.” Escher added with sadness. “But it’s a consolation that you are alright.”
“Yes, thanks to you, your friends, and Fletcher.” Blau wiped a tear out of his eye.
“Before I forget, I managed to get in contact with Rommel. He greatly appreciated your bravery in keeping the children safe and fighting Quince. As such, he thinks you earned an award.” Hans reached for a small box next to him.
“Same message from Churchill.” The lieutenant also reached for a box next to him.
In the box Hans opened was a small black cross, also outfitted with a black and white red ribbon like the normal iron cross but was bigger and had an oval jump ring at the top of the small round eyelet.
In the box Peter hold was a bronze cross earing a crown surmounted by a lion, and the inscription FOR VALOUR. Fletcher recognized both awards, the first was the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, the other one the Victoria Cross, both the highest awards in the German and British military respectively, awarded for military valour.
“I appreciate it but I can’t accept this, I’m no member of your armies.” He was a bit embarrassed about it, looking to the ground.
“They thought as a way to remember the good times and to be honest we all think you’re earned them.” Hans replied.
“I guess you have a point and if they insist, I take the awards.” Fray replied in defeat.
The children hugged the soldiers one last time. “Goodbye, thank you for everything.” They spoke in union.
“Goodbye, children. We enjoyed your company.” Matteo replied as they gently broke the hug, the kids gathered around Fletcher, the soldiers saluted him, Escher struggled due the pain but succeeded still.
“Farwell, it was a pleasure and honor to fight with you.” The unicorn said as he caused the spell, causing the humans to cover their eyes as it grew brighter, until it faded, the Eternal Knight was gone with the kids.
William looked at the sky, the sun was setting. “Well, that’s the end of that.”
“Yeah, but they’re finally home here they belong, reunited with their families.” Matteo added.
“Do you think our American friend would believe this if we would tell him?” Konrad asked his British friend.
“Not until he would meet them himself. Still, something tells me we will meet them again.” William looked at the sunset, enjoying it.