[The following is an unfinished oneshot I never, well, finished. Chances are, I won't ever finish it, either
ONE-SHOT NAME: The Cowardly Threat of Sickly Hollow
I hope you enjoy it anyways]
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The sun filtered through the trees of the forest, casting light on the leaves and speckling the ground. It was quiet and peaceful, the forest animals acting as guardians of the small castle that laid nestled between a cliffside and trees. Barley any outsiders found their way to Sickly Hollow - it wasn't found on many maps or discovered by many people, after all. All who visited either stayed for the tranquility of the kingdom, or they didn't make it out alive. Most of the time, it was the latter.
Dashlie heaved a sigh, leaning against the moss-covered windowsill of her room. She was but a simple Mage of the kingdom - trusted, yet kept under watch by the royal guards. King Duni was a very prestigious ruler, yet it was his delusional and eccentric personality that really left his name to be whispered rather than spoken at a normal volume. The kingdom he ruled over was always on lockdown, never letting people out and barley letting people in. Though, no one ever found Sickly Hollow. Because of the lack of visitors and events that happened throughout the weeks and months, Dashlie was often locked away in her room with nothing to do. She always looked out her window during really low times, her eyes trained on the spot right where the tree line began, as if her stare would beckon any new visitors. It rarely ever worked.
There was a sudden knock on her door, startling Dashlie from her drowsy thoughts and forcing her to turn and face the newcomer whom had unlocked the door and entered. She blinked, a little surprised to see the royal jester standing there. The Mage felt her heart rise, for she always liked the company of the few people she actually cared about in the entire kingdom. Unfortunately, King Duni forced her as well as everyone to hate one another and never get along. That was mainly the reason Dashlie's welcoming smile turned into an arrogant snarl.
"What do you want?" she asked, feeling a little bad for having to act this way. She made sure she kept her voice raised, aware that the guards outside could hear her. She didn't want them to think she was going to be nice to the jester.
"Dick said he needed you," Don said quietly with that stupid, chemically-calm gaze of his. "I'm the only one besides DDawn who has the key to your room."
Dashlie was a little caught off-guard by how fast this was starting out. Come to think of it, she didn't know exactly why Don had unlocked and entered into her room. She barely ever was allowed visitors. "Why would he need me?" Dashlie asked hesitantly, her eyes darting nervously over to the bookshelf near the corner of her room. She knew full well why Dick - or Richard, as that's his real name - wanted to see her. It wasn't for any silly romance of Romeo and Juliet, no... it was for that one plan they had been brewing within the walls of the kingdom, unbeknownst to the King or any of his royal guards.
Don simply shrugged as an answer to Dashlie's query. "I dunno. He just said for me to 'go get the brat.' I can only assume that's you," he said, giving a wry smile. Dashlie opened her mouth to defend herself from the insult, but her mind had already moved on ahead to the situation at hand. Instead of retaliating, Dashlie turned and walked over to her bookshelf to grab the things she needed.
"Tell him I'll be right down," she said, shuffling through the many spell books and containers of magical substances. When she didn't hear the door close, Dashlie turned around to see Don still standing there. "You can go now."
"Not likely," Don said, shaking his head. "You can't get anywhere around here without me. I'll go with you when you're ready to leave."
Dashlie's eyes darted over to the open door nervously. She was greatly concerned her and Don's conversation could be heard from outside her room and into the hall. The guards hadn't checked in on the room yet, so she could only assume they were out of earshot of the conversation. "Alright."
Once Dashlie had grabbed the books and items she needed, she quickly and carefully put them into a satchel and slung it over her shoulder. After all was said and done, Dashlie turned to Don and nodded. "Let's go," she said.
The duo slammed the dungeon doors behind them, wincing as the sound echoed throughout the area. The two exchanged glances as the noise traveled off into the distance, seemingly never stopping in the dark abyss. Don reached up and grabbed a torch off the wall, lighting their path up in a warm light. Dashlie drew close to her friend, shivering as the coldness of the dungeon nipped at her nose. She would never understand how Dick managed to deal with such cold temperatures.
Don and Dashlie walked down the path of the dungeon, doing their best to ignore the tortured wailing of the prisoners and creatures around them. Dashlie felt fear bite at her heart as she heard one of the screams sound inhuman. DDawn, the Royal Scientist and most trusted Arm of Duni, was not a kind soul to the innocent - especially those who tried to escape his wrath.
It was true: while Sickly Hollow seemed peaceful and zen, there was real meaning to the name. Duni was a cruel king who faked everything. Sure, he was often authentically oblivious and naive about some things, but deep down inside, he was a monster. The thought made Dashlie shiver, as if she were afraid Duni might hear her truthful thoughts. She as well as the rest of the kingdom bit their tongues and didn't speak a word. There was no need to in this "haven", for the truth could be revealed by looking deeper into the castle's walls and between the people that casted knowing glances to one another.
"We're here," Don suddenly said, startling Dashlie out of her thoughts. She blinked and looked at the door, surprised they had gotten here so fast without running into any monsters or other obstacles. Nevertheless, she pushed the rest of her troubled thoughts out of her head and followed Don inside, thankful for the sense of security inside the other room.
Dashlie looked around as Don sat the torch onto the wall. "Where is he?" she asked, anxiously tugging at the strap of the satchel. The sooner they got this over with, the better.
"Right here," the familiar, scratchy voice of Dick spoke, and her eyes searched the shadows for the vampire's luminous, red eyes. Suddenly, he stepped into the light of the torch, the Royal Assassin's gaze dragging over the two. Dick finally turned his head to Dashlie. "Did you bring what we needed?"
Dashlie nodded and gestured to the satchel. "Right here," she said firmly.
"Good," he said, "now we can get to work."
The plan was then set in motion. Kind Duni's reign will end by tonight.
~
The light of the sun was warm as the horse ran through the forest, its rider remaining strangely silent as they rode off through the trees. Throughout their journey, Jon would always have something to say. Now, though, he was quiet.
Without a word, Jon slowed the horse to a stop. He looked behind him, a mischievous smile spread across his face as he waited for someone. Predictably, another figure broke through the underbrush - two other people riding on the back of a horse.
"This isn't fair, Jon!" Ashlie, a woman with fiery, red hair and crystal blue eyes said, getting off of the horse as it came to a stop. "Why do you get your own horse?"
Jon hopped off the back of the horse and shrugged. "What do you mean? Would you prefer if you didn't have a horse at all?" he questioned, tilting his head.
"I think she means we all should have a horse," Nick, a young man with crooked glasses and green eyes, said. He climbed off of the horse and walked over to the two. "You know, there's three of us and only two horses. It's a bit uncomfortable to be sharing a horse. Two people don't really fit on the back of one."
Jon contemplated the idea for a moment, the other two waiting in silence. It was obvious this young man - whom looked like a former jester or something of the sorts - was possibly the leader of this rag-tag team. "You know, you're right," Jon eventually said, turning around to grab his bag off of his horse. Nick and Ashlie exchanged smiles, but it was short-lived as Jon pulled out his sword. "If there aren't enough horses for all of us, we shouldn't have any horses at all! It's only fair."
Jon's cheery voice contradicted what he did next. With a calm smile still on his face, the young man stabbed his horse in the gut, making his friends yell in shock. Ignoring his horse's pained cry, Jon pulled his sword out of its chest and turned to the other horse, which had already started freaking out by the sudden death of its brother. Jon rolled his eyes and walked forward, readying his sword to kill it. Suddenly and respectively, the horse reared up and attempted to stomp down on Jon in defense.
"Ow!" Jon yelled in shock as the hooves of the horse met the toes of his feet. He jumped back, hopping on one leg. After quickly regaining his footing, the young man glared up at the horse. "You know what? Here, hold this for me-" Jon then proceeded to shove the blade of his sword deep into the horse's chest. Blood spouted out like a fountain, the animal's body falling to the floor with a loud thud. Jon let out the closest thing to a sympathetic chuckle. "Oh my stars, that's brutal. Sorry." He blinked and crossed his arms, looking down at the corpse. "Well... I guess it doesn't matter now. You know, since you're dead."
When Jon turned back around to face his friends, he smiled. Nick and Ashlie were both appalled by what happened, neither knowing what exactly to say. Jon read their shocked expressions and rolled his eyes.
"Oh, come on, don't act surprised. I do many evil things but nooo - killing horses is where it draws the line." Then, glancing at the dead horses, he mumbled, "Well, I don't blame you on that one, honestly. I could've just let them go." He then looked back at his friends and shrugged. "But then again, look who you're dealing with."
Neither of his friends took a liking to his joking and upbeat manner. Ashlie's only word she could utter as she gestured to the bloody horses was, "Why?"
Jon looked down at the horses and shrugged for the one-thousandth time. "Communism." With that, he gave a grin and turned off to walk further down the path, shouting behind him, "I hope you brought your walking shoes, my friends. It's going to be a long journey to Sicky Hollow!"
~
The plan was simple.
Dashlie would supply both her teammates with the potions they needed to fulfill their side of the plan. Then, she would make her way down to the throne room to create a diversion. The guards would be suspicious of her and, if she made her role even more threatening, would most likely cease her. Don would then pull Duni off to the side to distract him from the situation. Since Duni moved around the castle a lot and never sat still, this would be the perfect time for Dick to ready his aim. Swiftly and suddenly, Dick would fire his weapon as many times as necessary to execute the king.
Nothing could go wrong.