“Much better” Rex exclaimed once he had eaten his fill, sliding back on the chair to allow his stomach room. “That was disgusting to see, even by my standards” Lacey scowled, seeing Rex devour more food than one person should be able to. “I was hungry!” Rex protested, throwing his hands up in frustration. “A man must be fed to remain strong” Minet said, coming to sit opposite Rex, winking as she did. “What do you want?” Lacey scowled. “I was informed, by an anonymous source of course, that an expedition is to take place, very soon” she replied, casually, leaning onto the table propping her head in her hands, elbows on the table, staring at Rex. “First I’m hearing of this!” Lacey snapped. “That doesn’t surprise me gorgeous” Minet replied, smiling at Lacey, “So what or whom does the great prince Rex seek I wonder?’ she asked, turning her gaze back to Rex. “I’m sure that’s his business, not yours” Lacey interjected, Rex could tell she was getting irritated quickly with Minet’s pre
“What was all that about?” Lizz asked, brushing off a few stray pieces of crystal from her clothes. “It seems madame Al’ik does not wish to be found and has safeguarded against most methods of finding her,” Rowina said, picking her glasses up from the ground, seeing the broken rim and cracked lens. “Your glasses!” Lizz cried, clapping her hand over her mouth. “It’s fine, they have taken much more punishment over the years than this” Rowina said, and with a snap of her fingers the glasses were repaired, “So Rex, you said you saw where on the map the crystal stopped before exploding?” “I did, I would show you but…” Rex started to say, glancing down at the shredded map on the heavily damaged table. “Please child, do you really think that is the only map I possess?” Rowina chuckled, raising an eyebrow, “We are inside one of the most up to date collections of everything Dracoterrum has to offer and has offered before” she said, walking over to another table near the door they entered t
The moment they both said the same name, at the same time, both Rex and Markus began to laugh, once it had subsided, Rex was first to ask, “So why did you think of her?” “Well, believe it or not, she would be a perfect travelling companion” Markus said with a smile. “Why do you say that? The only thing I can think of is she can fight, I’ve witnessed that myself” Rex added in with a chuckle, reminiscing the time Lacey and Minet had fought. “Yes, there is that, Lacey and Minet have been equal in combat for many years, she can be quite well-spoken, she is also quite intelligent” Markus said. “I don’t know about intelligent, I know she is pushy and tries hard to get what she wants, I also did hear she grew up around nobility so knowing her way around people does not surprise me.” “Knowing what you want, and knowing the way to make that happen is a good trait to have, especially when you are searching for something and asking someone who may not want to give it away without getting som
“Well I hadn’t planned on…and she is gone” Rex trailed off hopelessly, he had not planned on staying long at this mysterious dinner Eric was tasked in bringing him to, but now with Minet changing into something to attend with him, it seemed that may change. ‘I wonder if I sneak off’ Rex began to think, looking at the door. “Don’t you dare.” The moment her voice shot out angrily across the room, Rex dismissed the idea of sneaking off without Minet, turning back to her, Rex’s jaw dropped, she had changed into a golden dress that came down to mid-thigh, revealing her long legs and a little bust, it would have been a tremendous image if she were not standing with her hands on her hips, glaring at Rex. “Don’t do what?” Rex asked, putting his hands up defensively. “You and I both know what thought just popped into your head, I said I would accompany and you would think of ditching me!” Minet snapped, stomping over to Rex’s side. “I was not!” Rex retorted quickly. “Say what you want, b
“Since you sent someone to invite me personally, I wouldn’t dare deny such hospitality” Rex replied, putting on a smile and making his way towards the head of the large table where lord Barbun was sitting. “You honour me” Barbun replied, standing from his seat and bowing to Rex, the whole room following suit, once he had straightened his back, he leant his arm out, pointing to a spot next to him, “get a chair brought over for the prince and his date…ah miss Minet, it pleases me to see you have come with his majesty, you can bear witness to greatness” he added in, leering at Minet and allowing his hand to float around the room. “I have already witnessed greatness, in the palace with prince Rex and his father, this doesn’t even compare to such a sight” Minet retorted, casually glancing around the room, feigning disinterest. “Well…none can compare to the greatness of the royal family…I myself have witnessed the prince perform magic that impressed grandmaster Percus, you are right…for o
Once Rex and Minet had landed softly on the floor of the treasury, “That felt strange, was it the same for you?” he leaned over and whispered to Minet, who shuddered slightly, nodding. “It takes some getting used to, but it is also a defensive mechanism, if you are not allowed down here, it sends you outside, quite violently I might add” Barbun called out, seeing Rex and Minet a little shaken up, glaring at Minet while saying his warning. “Luckily for me, I will not have any need to be in there after tonight then” Minet replied softly, smiling weakly. Coming to stand next to Barbun, Rex saw there was a line-up of large chests all with lids open, ready for inspection, full to the top with gold coins, “How are you going to transport that many chests?” he asked, counting more than would fit in a wagon. “Let me take care of the logistics my prince” Barbun smiled, waving his hand casually, I have had three separate counters all come to the same final count, exactly two million dactrem,
“I don’t even know where Eric is going to be bringing the mead, so we are going to just walk around aimlessly until we find him?” Rex said after a short time of Minet leading him through the palace grounds. “Hardly” Minet replied softly with a head shake and smile, “you should be smart enough to realize the northern gate is the closest to the merchant section of town, if I was to bring something here, I would take the shortest route possible.” “F**k me, I can’t believe I didn’t think of that, today has been a long draining day for me” Rex replied, slapping his forehead, he had already been through the gate earlier, headed toward the merchant district. “Well how about we start with the mead, a bath and see where the night leads” Minet chuckled, giggling louder seeing Rex’s face had begun to turn scarlet. Luckily for Rex, who could not think of anything to say at that moment, they arrived close enough to the gate to hear a familiar voice, “I have been requested to bring this to the p
Once the cask had been opened, and the first round poured, everyone picked a seat, Rector was about to take a sip out of his cup. “My lord! Please let one of us drink first, you never know” Minet gasped suddenly when she saw Rector, causing everyone to look at her and then to the cups in their hands, except Rex, who simply smiled. “Trust me child, I can guarantee if there were any unseemly additives to this beverage, Rex and myself would be the last to be affected, it now makes the story behind the appropriation of this liquor an even more tempting story, if you would enlighten us Rex?” Rector said with a smile, swishing the mead around his cup and then taking a short sip, closing his eyes to seemingly savour the taste. “Well, it came from Barbun, I don’t think he would be silly enough to do anything to the drink” Rex chuckled, joining Rector in taking a swig of his drink. “By the sound of how he spoke to you, I think he likes you” Minet added in with a smile, sipping her drink slo
As the enemy soldiers charged, they quickly spread out evenly across each squad commanded by Rector’s defence, ‘They are testing our weak spots” Rex heard Rector say to Markus, who nodded in agreement as the small number of soldiers were killed quickly by Rex’s and Ley’s squads, Markus’s and Gwayne’s a few moments later, the barrage of fireballs from the walls reached the enemies’ position almost simultaneously, hitting the barrier created by their warlocks, most being stopped, the more powerful fireballs made it through and scorched the soldiers they hit, dying a few seconds after impact. “Are you going to try a counterattack?” Markus asked quietly, leaning over to Rector. “Not directly, no” he replied, stroking his beard, the enemy had not made a move since their test of his defensive line and it worried him, “Something is going to happen, I can feel it.” “What are you thinking?” Markus said, “I think they are scheming since their test proved our defences are solid.” “No defence
Everyone got dressed in silence, they were all thinking about what was coming their way with the battle. After a half-hour, everyone was suited up and ready to go, they all headed out of the room, down the stairs and out through the gate, stopping outside. Saying their goodbyes to Marcia, she hugged everyone before calling out and departing on Ulna. “Time to go and see your troops I guess” Lacey shrugged with a sigh, the closer it got to the battle, the more she started to worry. “That would be wise, seeing as they are formed up and waiting for you by the gate,” Ley said with a smile. As they all made their way to the southern gate, the entire group was silent, they were all apprehensive about how close to battle they all were, Ley seemed to notice this, “I think if anyone will survive this, it will be you all, I sense something different, something strong has formed between you, use that and you will be a force to be reckoned with, that rumoured scorpion pet of yours would be of
The sun was an hour from even touching the horizon, Rex was laying in the middle of Minet, Marcia and Lacey, all sleeping soundly, Rex snoring quietly, “Rex, wake up please, but do not wake the others, I must show you something.’ Even while inside of his dream, he knew the voice belonged to Rector, his father, it was loud enough to wake him, but not too loud to startle him, as his eyes blinked and focused, he saw Rector sitting in a chair watching and smiling, looking at the women, they were all dressed, which he did not remember them doing. ‘I would not intrude on a view that is not for me, I made sure clothes found them before I came in’ Rector said with a wink. Carefully moving Marcia’s hand off his chest, he slowly sat up, standing at the same speed, stepping over the women carefully, not wanting to wake them, ‘Is everything ok?’ Rex asked. ‘Let us go, then we can speak more freely’ Rector said, holding his hand out to Rex, who took it. Once his vision cleared Rex was in a dar
“Did you end up killing it? Surely not even you could kill something THAT big” Lacey added in. “Hang on…so you like for real saw and fought a tentaculum? A fabled flesh-eating tentacled monster from the books of legend?” Marcia asked, still visibly skeptical. “No word of a lie,” Minet said, “Rex and Raz stayed behind to let us escape, next we saw them, Rex was covered in shit and Raz’s head was split open.” “Well yes, I didn’t end up killing it, but we injured it enough it must have thought us too painful to continue fighting, it ended up losing 3 tentacles and 1 eye, Raz was hurt after it ejected some black shit that shot us into the trees, Raz hit some rocks, I patched him up best I could and carried him to the shack,” Rex said, recounting the events, leaving out some in-depth gruesome parts he wished he could forget, “So why was that muscle-bound axe man chasing you into the shack?” “Wow this is so much drama in a short time, how you even got anything done, I’ll never know,” Mar
“Well, my place is the closest to everywhere we need to be tomorrow and is away from prying eyes, and I have half a bottle of yarak spirits, we can share that, you can tell me all about your trip in a shortened version and we can have some fun, get a little sleep and then head out to our posts in the morning,” Marcia said with a smile. “I’m sold,” Marcia said, clapping her hands together. “I just had a thought” Lacey started to say. “Yes or no?” Minet interjected. “Yes, sounds good” Lacey nodded, walking with the women, “We weren’t told who we are serving with tomorrow.” “I don’t know about you, but I’m sticking with Rex” Minet shrugged. “That was what I was hoping to do, what do you think? Where is Rex?” Lacey asked, looking around for him. “Odd he would sneak out on us, this was supposed to be our night together” Minet scowled, putting her hands on her hips. “Sorry, I’m here, was just trying out a bit of magic I was shown earlier, good to know it still works, it gave me an id
Rex, Minet, and Lacey followed Rector into the palace, turning away from the throne room and traveling down a hallway Rex had never been before, “I don’t remember seeing this here” he stated, looking back, then back toward a large wooden door at the end. “That is because I do not allow this area to be accessed unless necessary, the war room has not been used since the Blood War, it saddens me to even have to use it again,” Rector sighed, walking toward the door, it opening as he approached. As they all entered the room, there was already a handful of older men present in the room who were pointing to places on a table that was in the center of the room, it showed the walls of the city and the fields beyond, many black figures stood in the southern fields showing the invading troops and their positioning, the old men were all yelling at each other for what plan they thought would be best, Marcia, Ley, and Markus were all at one end, Marcia was scowling at the men yelling, Ley was smil
“So whoever has brought this army has one hell of a grudge against Dracones, or father” Rex guessed, seeing how much dust over such a large area was being kicked up, “What was the scout's estimate?” “In excess of 30 thousand strong” Marcia replied, “That’s three times as many as Ean’s last army.” “Holy shit, how many defend Hale?” Rex asked. “About 10 thousand,” Marcia said, doing some quick math in her head, “Would be 18 thousand if we could rely on general Chris’s forces, but word is, he is currently under assault as well, it is almost like this attack has been co-ordinated from both sides of the realm at the same time.” “Three to one odds, battles have been won with a lot worse before” Rex replied. “Yes, but human battles did not have magic and monsters in their ranks either,” Raz said with a grin. “Holy shit!” Looking over to Lizz, who had cursed, which was rare for her, she was now pointing out toward the field outside of Dracone’s southern gate, to where a massive force, a
“So, you’re saying we can be released from the deal to suicide, to serve under you instead?” one of the soldiers asked. “Correct” Rex replied, “Instead of your life being a waste, why not use it for something better?” “We cannot accept that” the soldier replied, saddened, “When we swore our oath to serve, we were branded, if we break our deal, the brand kills us, so either way, we are doomed.” “Who would make you do such a thing?” Lacey asked, she was not the only one who was shocked, the entire group was as well. “Our new leader ensured our allegiance with spells” the soldier replied, lining up his sword, ready to pierce the heart, the rest of the group following suit, “We thank you for the offer, you are not like they say you are,” he took one last deep breath to ready himself, closed his eyes and slid the sword into his chest with a groan, after a few gasps he fell lifeless to the ground, followed shortly after by the remainder of the soldiers. “I did not think they would have
The sound of screams and metal hitting metal echoed out soon after the soldiers reached Rex and his companion’s position as they cut through their first wave. Lacey and Minet had teamed up on Rex’s right side and were diving, dashing, stabbing and blocking each other’s weak spots, many dead and dying fae laying around them. Raz and Lizz were on the left front, Lizz was throwing fireballs at their enemies furiously, scorching two, sometimes three at a time, Raz was standing fast between her and the front line, cutting down any that made it through to ensure Lizz could focus on what she was doing. “Looks like we underestimated a group of children,” Douve said with a sigh and smile, “Looks like it is up to us to settle this.” “Seems like it” Rex replied with a shrug, he was a little curious, everyone knew the royal family had power stemming from dragons, yet Douve did not seem phased. Bowing to Rex, Douve took a ready stance, so out of courtesy, Rex nodded his head, not a second afte