The Skeleton Queen

Clash

William Bennett has no choice as the Skeleton Queen attacks him with all her fury. He strums his mandolin to dodge her diagonal chops. He sidesteps a flying knee that grazes his cheek. He winces as he keeps playing.

"Stop! I don't want to-"

Crush

His eyes shoot wide open as he couldn't hear her steps. His mandolin falls to pieces from her grip. Her sandals clatter to the floor beside him.

"Bard, if Bumva cared about you, wouldn't she come here?" she threatens. The bard realizes she was right, but her tone was off to his ears.

She goes for a spear hand strike to the solar plexus, but her hand is trapped from going any further. Steam from her hand makes her back off. The moonlight reveals silver thin wires that he plays at a rapid pace.

"Neither of us will die tonight! I lov-"

"SILENCE!" she screams. She charges and swings a left roundhouse kick that he ducks and slides under. He uses his wires as a shield to block a low heel kick, but the force pushes him onto his back. He scrambles up while playing but could no longer hear her. Not even a breath.

He then hears faint steps coming from behind that then disappeared. He goes to block, but she moves past him.....without a cut on his body.

He knows she could have killed him right then and there. But why not?

"That's just to show the gap between us," she chillingly answers the question on his mind.

He knows she's not telling the truth. "I don't want to hurt someone who's already in pain!"

A shove to his chest pushes him against a wall. Before he could grunt, he feels the air of her next strike. He didn't have to move his head as the jab left a hole next to him.

"Don't you want to return back to your loved ones? I wonder what Bumva might say when you come back as my servant? Your magic used as a weapon against her." 

"You don't mean that, Melody. You're just trying to goad me."

Her jaw drops. She then laughs at him before getting close to his face. Their noses almost touch each other. "Why would you care about a monster like me?"

She gives him a turning kick to the left side of his ribs that he blocks with his strings. Some blood comes out as she dug a sharp toenail into him.

"Because you killed the monsters responsible. You are not an evil person nor a failure!"

That last word sets off every emotion in her mind and heart. Her hands clench while her cob white hair spreads like a peacock. She takes a solid step that he heard before vanishing. She appears behind him to deliver a side kick through his head, but he rolls out of the way. A stomp near his right hand doesn't frighten him.

"You don't have to fall in love with me. I just want to give you peace."

"So why don't you kill me? I killed Drago! Your amigo mejor!"

Although he didn't know the words, the context gave it away. He shakes his head. "You punished yourself for far too long. I can never understand your pain, but you don't have to keep holding onto it."

She pounces on him and pins his hands behind his head. With a steaming hand, she throws the wires out of his reach. "HOW DARE YOU?" 

"You are not a failure. You couldn't have predicted what could have happened that day. Your people don't hate you," he looks in her direction.