Katherine of Carpenchia: Episode 9 (Season Finale!)

Katherine's limbs felt cold and shaky. Inhaling deeply, she futilely attempted to calm herself.

"Those scumbags," whispered Elsie. "We'll show them what for, won't we, my Queen?"

Katherine nodded slowly, trying desperately to focus on the fact that people needed her. Her people, who were her responsibility. She prayed that would give her strength. Nerves almost shaking, she raised her mother's old rapier and shouted, "Onward!"

The blue-coated Carpenchian soldiers behind her erupted into a frenzy of yells and shrieks and charged up the ridge behind her.

Elsie only got a quick look at Lady Marella's baffled face before she was shoved into the ground.

Her head smacked the ground, and black spots spread throughout her vision. Gasping against the cold hands wrapping around her throat, she flailed her limbs as she tried to get up.

"ELSIE!" shrieked Caihanna.

She gave the assassin a sound kick in the ribs.

The woman's foot kicked Caihanna's legs out from under her. Shrieking, Caihanna fell onto her back and rolled slightly down the hill.

Suddenly, the assassin was kicked in the head by a pink-shod foot. She gasped and recoiled, and Elsie wriggled out of her grasp and stood up gasping.

"Huh," said Celine, adjusting her curls. "That was easier than it looks."

Meanwhile, Katherine stood, a ball of soul-consuming rage, facing Lady Marella. "You traitor," she hissed. "You will pay for the crimes you committed against myself, my mother, my country!"

"Oh, darling," said Lady Marella, her voice smooth and sweet as honey. "I was only looking out for Carpenchia. Did you honestly think the country could survive with you at the helm? Under Avaldor's protection, your precious lands would be safe."

Katherine's eyes flashed, and she tightened her sweaty hands around her sword. "You never had my country's best interests at heart," she hissed. "Stop pretending; you're wasting my valuable time. I will  make you pay for what you did."

"Awwww," said Lady Marella. "Are you going fight me? Well, if you're set on it, we'd better get it over with and make sure this doesn't take too long - I wouldn't want the girl queen to stay up past her bedtime."

Katherine shrieked and lunged forward. Their swords clashed.

Lady Marella deftly handled her sword, easily backing Katherine down the ridge. "Did you honestly think you could defeat me? Silly, silly girl. Quit while you still can, and I'll let you live."

Katherine was about to reply, but her foot landed on an acorn.

Shrieking, she fell to the ground. Her sword flew out of her grasp.

Lady Marella smiled as she leaned over her. "Tut-tut," she said. "Silly, silly girl, always disrespecting her-"

Katherine kicked her foot upward.

An unearthly scream sounded from Lady Marella's mouth, and she toppled backwards over the ridge, landing on her back with her neck skewed at a horribly unnatural angle.

Katherine sat up slowly. Her head felt like it had been used as a batting-ball, and her arms could barely support her. She looked at her mother's sword lying several feet away.

It hit her. Several feet away. Not here, not in her hand when she had defeated Lady Marella. It had been no help in the end - only a sign of the leader she attempted to be, not of the leader she was. A great ruler with prowess in battle and total control over her court - that was what she'd been striving to be, what she had perceived her mother as. But perhaps she'd been going about this the wrong way the whole time. Perhaps it was not being the same leader as her mother that was important - but being an effective leader. Walking beside her mother's footsteps, but still making her own. 

Elsie, Caihanna, and Celine came running up. Their skin was dirty, and Elsie had a few bloody spots and bruises around her throat. But they were all right. Katherine breathed the biggest sigh of relief she ever had. Her friends were all right.

Around them, the Avaldorian army fled.

Katherine looked at her mother's sword, then stood up shakily and walked over to pick it up. She handed it to Celine. "Lady Marella is gone," she said. "This, my mother's sword, will be hung up by her portrait in the Queen's Hall. I will forge my own."

Celine took the sword reverently and gave her friend a worried look. "Katherine, are you all right?"

"Yes," replied Katherine, her voice getting stronger and stronger as she went on. "For I am not my mother. Nor am I any of the queens who came before her. I am simply me, which I will try to be to the best of my ability - Katherine of Carpenchia."

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IT'S OVER I CAN'T BELIEVE IT OMG.

What did you guys think??

ALSO - an interview with the cast will be up soon. Are there any specific questions you would like to be asked?

Namarië,
Ellie
{on the other side of reality}