Bounty Hunter Bash The Two Out Of Wedlock Arc

 Final Part

Bounty Hunter Bash

And

Princess Druw

Bounty Hunter Bash had been working for a year and a half now, and she had captured more and more people who seemed to be untouchable, which led her to over hear a song by a man in the middle of the street about her. This made her feel slightly embarrassed but the tune did get stuck in her head until she found herself whistling it. The song was;

Bounty Hunter Bash!

She earns her cash,

By Bashing those evil scum,

And never leaves a gold crumb,

She goes through town to town

Doesn't matter she'll take you down!

Bounty Hunter Bash!

She makes evil dash,

By making you know,

By her bow and arrow,

That you are not all powerful

Then remind you you are mortal

Bounty Hunter Bash!

She makes a good slash,

But knows how not to kill

She will never leave her bill

She will make those evil castles crash

For she is the powerful Bounty Hunter Bash!

This is what she would hear being repeated by others in the town of Clockwatch, which she had settled in. She knew that she had to move on to another town but she liked it here but as she looked at the board and then climbed the stairs for the more difficult jobs, she had not been allowed to go up here until she had taken in Rumplestien. She looked at the board and then turned to the bar tender.

“Hey Jiyen.” she said. “Could you get me a pint!”

“Of Mid-Terra apple juice?” she replied with her hollow sounding voice as she flicked her curly brunette hair out of her eye.

“You know me so well.” she laughed as Jiyen got her drink. Bounty Hunter Bash looked at the board again for her next job. She had become board of some of the jobs so she now wanted to challenge herself to see if she was ready to go further up the BH Ladder. She looked up at the attic aria, where the experts were.

Then looked back at the board until she spotted the portrait of Princess Drew and unlike half a year ago her bounty had been raised from two hundred emerald to five hundred emerald. She looked around, deducing who would be the first to deduce the truth. Then the question that would naturally follow would be who would be the first to jump?

“Jiyen, could you please take that poster down, after all we both know that Princess Druw exists no longer.” she asked in a tone between kindness and coldness.

“Well that's not what the poster says.” she replied warningly.

“Right, I keep forgetting that you feel that all families should be together, but I she does go back to her family she would be immediately be married off to a far off land in a vain attempt of protecting her. Not to mention that this family will not be fooled by the truth.” she commented as she took a sip as she could feel the self-consciousness and dread. So she necked it down and before anyone could have the chance to pounce, she left.

She took her money and packed her things. She then walked out of her tavern and down the road that led out of the town. She then tucked her long fringe out of her eyes, knowing that she would have to cut it again. Probably before she set foot in the next town.

She then could see that the sky was getting darker so she collected fire wood and lit a fire. She then pulled out a pre-skinned rabbit that she had bought the day prior and then took out a pot and she then took out her knife and sliced one half of the rabbit into chunks and placed it on a stick and let it hover above the flames and ait it off the stick when it was ready.

You know, as a Princess you miss these kind of things! She thought remembering the feasts that she used to have when she was living there. Where she would eat like a pig, but back then she had never appreciated the food that she had nor did she truly feel any gratitude for the roil cooks. She let herself smile as she looked at the flames. When she had finished her meal she threw her stick into the fire.

She then felt a surge through her body, then the fire started to then started to increase in size and then, she could feel her heart increase along with the size of the fire. It did not stop until the fire almost touched the top of the trees of the forest! She could feel that the fire was getting hotter and hotter and then it rose above the trees. She let out a scream and then the surge ended and then the flames fell like red and orange water. Leaving her huffing and puffing. She could feel herself shaking. Then she forced herself to calm down.

The first surge was the day after she had collected Rumplestien. This was when she knew the truth of what her parents did not want her to know. She then looked down at her stomach where her X curse mark was, this was the seed and the first surge was in fact the final nail in the coffin. That was when she was able to deduce that she was not a child born in wedlock. When she had made this deduction she was able to finally understand her parents actions, but that, to her mind did not excuse them.

She then heard a branch snap. She looked at the fire, then she heard another but then she realised that those snaps were not from the fire. She looked around as she heard another and trained her ears the locate where the snaps were coming from.

“Well, well, well! Where were you hidden little princess?” she heard a high pitched voice coming form a shadow moving between the trunks of the trees. She shot up, despite her tiredness and armed her bow. She forced herself to calm herself down and as the shadow came closer and as her vision blurred.

“W-who are you?” she managed to say. That was when she saw the glowing blue eyes as the man came closer. He had high cheekbones like her and long raven coloured hair like her too. As he gracefully dropped his hood she was shaken of how much alike she looked like this man even their milk coloured flesh was the exact same tone too!

She blinked away her tiredness and could feel some heat near her. He looked at her with a confident smile on his face that reminded her of a twisted version of her own, but that hardly mattered, what mattered was where his eyes were looking. As her eyes dropped she could see that her arrow was on fire!

She thought that the fire had came from the fire but the flame did not travel down the arrow, no, it stayed where it was and it was red too. This told her that this was not normal, in-fact she could feel a slight surge that told her exactly what was causing the flame and then, it turned white and suddenly she released and the arrow just about hit him but he looked at the arrow and then the fire turned red and consumed the rest of the arrow!

“Testing out your magic?” he sang. As he came closer his eyes looked at her like he was looking at a cute puppy. “How about I show you what a real master can do!”

He raised his hand showed her the palm and then Bash felt pain as his hand raised higher and higher and when his hand was pointing to the full moon she was on the floor in agony. That was when the fire rose high again and then the fire directed itself like a wave to him and with his free hand he turned the fire to ice and then the ice broke and fell like it was made of sand.

Then she took this moment to fire an arrow but he looked at it again and moved past him and then curved around his back and then it came at her. But before it hit her she felt her surge and it turned to coal and then ash. She was all too aware of how much pain that she was in but she was able to get to her feet.

She let out a deep breath and allowed the surge in her to overwhelm her and then the pain broke and then she ran up to him and took out her arrow. She then pointed the arrow upwards but he caught her by the throat and then hit her in the gut but when the fist collided into her gut he turned his fist into metal. Soon blood came from her mouth and she started coughing on the mud.

Then she felt his foot beat her gut like painful rain. She then caught sight of something in the corner of her eye and whatever it was rose above her. Soon she knew what it was; a blade! Her eyes widened in horror but then confusion for the blade was behind him. She hoped that it was not his magic but no, there was a hand attached to the hilt. Then it swung at the man and hit!

She looked up at her hero but her heart slightly sank, it was Sir Folied her families knight!

“How dare thee Prince Chashathrophogh! You attack a maiden!” he shouted.

“Well the little princess is hardly defenceless my deer old knight!” he pointed out.

“Regardless! Your parents taught you better than that!”

“You mean before they tried to kill me you mean?” he accused. Sir Folied now did something that Bash had never seen him do before, he remained silent.

“Sir Folied?”

“My lady, I wish for you to remain out of this ugly affair!” he said. Bash dropped her head and gave out a long huff.

“Sorry Sir Folied, I can not do that. And do not call me my lady, call me Bash!” she snapped. “I am a bounty hunter after all.”

“Sorry my l- Bash.” he replied. She heard Chashathrophogh let out a chuckle.

Bash took up her bow and loaded her arrow as Sir Folied raised his blade. Sir Folied ran at him as Bash stayed and waited for her opportunity to fire. While Sir Folied dragged his blade down and was about to strike him again but he was able to stop it as he took out his dagger. This was the opportunity that she was waiting for and she let her bow fly and it was again carried her red flame that then turned white and then back to red. Then it hit his shoulder clearly impressing Sir Folied at the same time!

This was when his magic snapped and then Sir Folied struck his face. He then staggered back. Bash then hit him with another fire arrow at his shoulder and then he seemed to disappear. She then ran forward feeling on the cusp of pure exhaustion. She then looked down and spotted a gap that was the width of a tall man that seemed to disappear into the surrounding and she could see a river at the bottom. She saw Chashathrophogh being pulled by the current.

“Is he dead?”

“I should hardly think so, he has survived worse.” Sir Folied said as he joined her as her adrenalin faded as her sight tuned to black.

When she woke the first thing she saw was her mother stroking her cheek. She felt a sting of fear and looked to her bow and then relaxed slightly seeing it perfectly intact, until she saw the string was not quite right, it was not broken, there was something different about it.

“Drew...” her mother said as he embraced her. She could feel her tears on her dry cheeks.

“Shedrey, give her some space.” her husband laughed.

“Mother, I know.” she said. She gave her a look of confusion, but it was all too clear that she had some idea what she was on about. “I'm a child born out of wedlock.”

They then looked at each other in a knowing, but wary. Her mother looked back with a high not in her forehead if she was not already, it seemed to be the look before one carries before one cries. Her father gave her a nod.

“Yes, yes you are, but that does not mean that we do not love you any less.” her mother cried.

“Then what is the curse that the gods have placed up on me?” she asked.

“Same as your uncle.”

“And are you my mother?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“And are you my father?”

“Yes.”

“And, why, oh why, do I look like the infamous Prince Chashathrophogh look so much like me?” she asked.

Her mother let out a long and dreadful sigh, like she had a heavy weight was on her chest. Her face went from honey to cream like she was about to throw up.

“Because- because the reason that you never knew your grandparents is because, he killed them, after they hired an assassin to kill him. They reason; because they thought that his destiny was to murder all of the roil children born out of wedlock. Which came true and he thought that one of these men, women and children, would become his successor.”

“Mother!” she said warningly.

“Right, the reason why you look so much like him, I know, it is just I have never been able to tell this one truth for- for I wish that it was not true. You see he- he is-”

“He is your uncle!” her father snapped impatiently. Princess Druw let out a long breath as she let that fact settle.

“And is that why you wished to marry me off?” she asked hollowly.

“Yes.” her mother replied.

“And are you still insisting that I go off to be married?”

“Yes.”

“And will anything that I say or do deter you from this decision?”

“No and if it was completely up to me then I would have broken your bow the moment that Sir Folied carried you back, however, it is not entirely up to me, so I did not, even though the string was already broken. Which your father took the initiative to have it re-stringed with string of a black tailed syren and mermaid and black unicorn hair. He then cancelled any and all wedding plans that I had arranged. See, if I were to tell you exactly who you are the most like, is an equal combination of your father and your uncle, well, when he lived under these walls. I hardly wish to think what he is like now...” she explained. She then looked up at her father in deep appreciation and bowed with her head of gratitude and then looked at the string.

So that's why..

She then looked back at her mother and father with an itch in her mind from her conscience.

“Mother, Father, on the last day that I spent under these walls I acted in an ugly way, and I hurt you both with my words and my actions, for that I am sorry. I will under go any punishment to make up for what I did on that day. The only thing that I do not apologise for, is for what I did after.” she said.

“Your apology has been well received and we both know what you have become after and I must admit that I am proud to be the father of Bounty Hunter Bash.” the King laughed at the end.

“Yes, you would!” her mother replied.

“Well, I must be honest.” he replied lovingly. “And as for your punishment, you are to train day in day out after you have recuperated, for three months state! Then once that has been done then two paths will be placed before you, ether, you become Princess Druw once more and you will live and act like the princess that you are, or you become the bounty hunter Bash. Which ever you decide, know, that there is always a room here for you.”

Princess Druw smiled at that and she agreed to these terms.

Bounty Hunter Bash

The Two Out Of Wedlock Arc

End

Bounty Hunter Bash Will Continue...