Things Left Undone Book 2, Chapter 13
Krono and the Death of a Hero
By CuteLucca
Thoroughly upset, Lucca, Sydney and Gord returned to Melchior. He was awed at the sheer power of the mallet, but cautioned that it probably wouldn't work at its full potential unless it was handled by a true master.
"Krono!! He's perfect!! But, won't he kill us with it right after we give it back? I mean, we did kind of steal it." Sydney stated.
"Details, details." Gord slung his scimitar and motioned for them to get in the Epoch. "Let's go pick our prehistoric friend up. If he's any trouble, then I'll separate his Neanderthal head from his Neanderthal shoulders."
Shrugging, Sydney and Lucca looked at each other and boarded their time machine.
* * * * *
Krono was there waiting for them. He leaped onto the Epoch, banging at the metal with a large club. "Thieves!! Thieves!!"
Sydney, trying to make the most of her feminine charm, slapped him upside the head. He fell to the ground, dazed. Sydney hopped out of the Epoch onto his chest. She dragged him to his feet and hit him until he regained consciousness. "Now. Are you quite done?" She smiled.
"Yes, pretty lady!!" He clasped his swelling cheek and sat on the ground. "Why for you come back?" He was getting angry again, very quickly.
Lucca and Gord, who had been watching the scene with some interest, left the Epoch and held the mallet of thunder out for Krono to see.
"My mallet!! It strong now. Why you give back to Krono?" He held the mallet and caressed it lovingly.
"Because we need you to wield it for us." Lucca explained the story to Krono, and he listened, engrossed.
"You no worry. Krono help the dirty rotten thieves kill big black alien monster." With that, he climbed into the Epoch and pounded the other seats. "Get in!! Get in!! Not much time!!" So they did.
They returned to Melchior, who told Krono to try to channel the energy of the mallet, to find out where they should go next. Finally, after the forty-sixth attempt, he jerked his head up and said "2304!!" With quite a bit of pride, he sauntered back to the Epoch.
* * * * *
They arrived in the middle of a riot. They could barely move in the crowd, and every so often, they were hit with a rotten vegetable or some other much less pleasant substance, or elbowed, stabbed, or shoved.
Finally, they yelled at a young man. "What is this all about?"
"The murdering alien is back. We swore to kill it!!" He turned away from them and hurled a banana at something ahead.
"Murdering alien? Maybe he means Karter." Gord used his size to push through the crowd, and finally they could see the object of the people's hatred.
It was Karter, but you could barely tell. He was so covered with vegetables and dead things that he was more red and green than black. The banana was impaled on a horn coming out of his neck.
Karter was howling with rage, and he apparently didn't have enough time to cast any spells, being too busy trying to block the incoming objects. People were even dropping rocks on him from a walkway suspended above the street.
Gord, Lucca, Sydney and Krono were laughing so hard at the 'all-powerful' alien that they attracted his attention. He growled and sprung at them. Gord's scimitar still went straight through him, so apparently, weaponry and spells still did little to injure the beast. Fruit, though, did a great job of injuring his pride.
Ignoring the onslaught of the crowd, Karter attacked with full force. Sydney chucked vegetables at him, slowing him down. Krono brandished the mallet of thunder, and swung it in a crashing arc, straight for Karter's head.
For the very first time, Karter looked scared. He dodged out of the way of the mallet, and it bit harmlessly into the ground. Karter and Krono faced off. By this time, the crowd was just watching, an occasional cat flying through the air and pounding Karter on the head.
Karter made a sword materialize out of thin air, and he twirled it over his head and sent it whistling through where Krono was milliseconds before. Krono countered with a swipe of his mallet, but missed.
Both opponents knew that even a touch from the other's weapon would mean certain death.
They circled, occasionally swiping, testing each other for weaknesses. Suddenly, Karter attacked, full force. Krono rolled out of the way, and sprung back onto his feet, but Karter just as quickly knocked Krono's knees out from under him. Krono fell face-first into the sand, and the mallet of thunder flew out of his reach.
It landed in Gord's hands. Wasting no time, he ran into the fight and kicked Krono out of the way of Karter's descending sword swing.
Gord was slit from left shoulder to right thigh. But before he fell, he pounded Karter with the mallet. Karter shrieked, and ran out of the crowd, leaving Gord and the mallet of thunder in a growing pool of blood.
"Nooo! Gord!!" Sydney shot out of the crowd, and cradled Gord's huge head in her lap. "You can't leave me here!! Please! Gord..." Tears welled up in her eyes.
Gord squeezed her hand. "Don't you worry, miss. I'm sure I'll be in good company." He turned to Krono. "Please take good care of her. I love her, after all." He died then, a peaceful expression on his face.
Sydney wept silently, shaking with sadness. A single tear fell, and it combined with a drop of Gord's blood on the head of the mallet.
The mallet began to glow again, and it changed from a gray rock color to a bright red of ruby, swirled with the clear white of diamond. The mallet had been strengthened by the power of blood, sweat, and tears.
Beside Sydney formed a white light. Roth had returned, with a last bit of advice. "Sydney, my dear, you have discovered your gift of power. Only your tears, combined with Gord's blood and the sweat of many generations of Ioka warriors, could forge this. Behold, the true mallet of thunder." He reached down to Gord's body, as the rioters and Sydney, Krono, and Lucca watched. He reached into Gord's heart, and drew out the spirit of the dead Gord. Roth stood beside the huge ghostly figure, and turned to Lucca. "Visit a fellow named Johnny to get help capturing Karter. And do not mourn, my dear." he said to Sydney. Gord, doing his foolish grin, disappeared with Roth.
"Well." Sydney got up, with a grin on her face. She brushed off her clothes, but nothing could remove the stain of Gord's blood. "Let's go find this Johnny, shall we? After all, we've got to finish the job Gord started."
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