‘If she is sending me a message at this hour, it must be important’ Rex thought, deciding to put his other plans for the rest of the day to go and see Marcia, as he turned and started off in the direction needed to reach her estate, his mind started to race, ‘I hope the skylark isn’t causing any issues and is doing ok.’ Rounding the corner and once more being stopped by the giant gate, Rex was about to call out when it began to open, “You are expected my prince” said one of the guards, bowing as Rex nodded his head and entered. Knowing exactly where to try first, Rex pushed the front door open and skipped up the stairs quickly, slipping in through Marcia’s bedroom door which was currently ajar. “You took your time” Marcia huffed seeing Rex cross her room and stopping just outside on the large balcony. “I came as soon as I got your message” Rex scowled slightly, brushing his hair from his face, he always enjoyed seeing Marcia, especially when she wasn't wearing armor, her fit slende
Seeing Kealy’s cheeky smile as she closed the door made Rex smile, “Odd thing to have more than one woman, doesn’t sound right.” Laying back onto his bed, Rex breathed in deep and exhaled slowly, closing his eyes at the same time, and before long drifted off to sleep. “YOU CAN NOT LOVE WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE!!” “But father, I do not believe what you say is true…” The sudden loud roar of the argument brought Rex straight into a state of alertness, “What the…oh shit it’s another dream memory thing again’ he realized, seeing the familiar faintest shimmer on the edges of his vision, the same as the last time he witnessed another of Fafnir’s memories. Taking in his environment, Rex was in a small room surrounded by white marble with low glowing hanging torches, a large wooden door and a small fireplace was in the far end of the room giving off a small amount of warmth and light, walking over to the window and peeking over the ledge to see where he was, he once again saw the familiar sleek
“Well, I will certainly do my best” Rex said, feeling the sudden urge to hug Raz. Instead of replying, Raz simply winked, brushing his face with his sleeve and after clearing his throat said, “I’m going to check the supplies while you say your goodbyes, you know, to make sure it’s all ready to get the f**k outta here.” “His brother’s loss has affected him quite a lot” Markus said to rex once Raz had left the group. “The loss of a twin would affect us all, especially ones connected in a way those two were” Rector said in a low tone, arriving suddenly behind the group. “I do understand what he is dealing with, losing my connection with Fafnir has affected me tremendously, I will do what I can to avenge Kal’s loss” Rex said with a nod. “The journey for vengeance often leads down a dark path that cannot, quite often than not, be undone” Rector replied, placing his hand on Rex’s shoulder as he spoke, “The world will eventually balance itself, it always does in the end.” “Sometimes it
“What happened back there? You took your time, extra goodbye kisses from your giant friend?” Minet teased once Rex and Raz fell into stride with the group of women. “Don’t be jealous” Raz retorted quickly, beating Rex to the mark with the comeback, the comment making Lacey and Lizz snort back a laugh. “Not jealous at all, this trip will take ages, plenty of time to get heaps of that in” Minet replied with a wink. “What did father say to you?” Lacey said loudly, trying her best to change the topic, Rex could see she was getting irritated already by Minet’s brazen flirting. “He said to make sure you don’t kill each other before anybody else tries” Rex answered with a smile. “No need to worry, I won’t let anyone kill her before I do” Minet replied with a grin, using her thumb to point at Lacey. “You’re dreaming” Lacey replied with a snarl, “I will keep on top of my temper if she shuts up.” “No chance, we have weeks of traveling and will not be silent for that long, use your brain b
“What do you mean by the blood-thirsty prince?” Rex asked slightly irritated by the man’s use of the words. “We all saw you in the arena with the orc, and then the final battle, trust me my lord, we did not know it was the prince’s entourage” the man said, waving with his hand and once he did, five other men and one woman came out from the tree line, all dropping onto one knee and stared at the ground when they did. “So now you’ve f**ked up and attacked the prince, you’re sorry for being bandits robbing people!” Lacey asked the man loudly. “My lady we only rob wealthy arrogant merchants, we were once slaves who were taken from our home to serve them and were treated lower than vermin by their hand, we used the last of so we take from them and hand out to villagers, I thought by the argument we heard it was like all the other spoilt children sired by merchants we have met before, we deeply apologize” the man said. Rex could not help but smile at the shocked looks on Lacey’s and Mine
“Has she spoken yet?” “No my lord, she has not.” “A sneaky little girl has a stronger will than you?” “The Umbra girl is tougher than she looks.” “The sneak is from the Umbra family? Move you useless fool, I know what will make her talk.” “Oh my f**king god! What is that stench?” Lacey cursed as they traveled down a path that led down a hilled area. “That oh loud one is the Foetidum Swamps,” Raz said with a smile, stopping at the top of the hill. “It bloody stinks,” Rex said wrinkling his nose. ‘Smells…death…care…’ crackled a voice in Rex’s head. ‘Fafnir? I couldn’t hear you properly’ Rex replied, staring down at the talisman. “It isn’t working properly, is it?” Lacey asked seeing Rex holding the talisman and staring at it. “It probably won’t work properly again” Rex huffed, letting the talisman go, it dropping onto his chest, the moment it contacted him a loud crack sound echoed out, “AAAAHHH!” Rex cried, clutching his chest, the pain became so intense he lost his balance a
Once Rex and Minet arrived back at the campsite, Lacey looked up, “You missed a spot” pointing to her hairline. “Huh?” Minet gasped, lifting her hand to her hairline trying to feel for anything that may be there. “Her vision will be worse than mine, and I cannot see anything, I love a good fight just as much as anyone, but you two are really pissing me off, pull your heads in and focus on what we came here to do” Raz growled, frowning slightly. “Sorry Raz” Lacey and Minet said in unison, both lowering their gazes to the ground. “We still have a little time until the meat is done, let us at least each share a story while waiting, funny, serious, anything it doesn’t matter,” Raz said, propping himself up against a large log he had moved close to the fireplace. “Are we leaving once we have eaten?” Rex asked, sitting next to Raz, being joined shortly after by Lizz, Lacey, and Minet. “Well no, I can see a little better than you lot, which makes it dangerous, so we will wait for dawn t
“I’m surrounded by a pack of bloody wimps!” Raz said shaking his head, wincing slightly as he moved his leg. “Tentacle is back! Shit, look out!” Minet said jumping to her feet and pointing next to Raz, who immediately leaped off to the side, scrambling away backward on his butt, stopping when he could not see anything. “Funny f**ker huh?” Raz said with a scowl and a loud deep exhale. “Will you look at that, we all seem to be wimps” Minet said laughing, the other women joining in. “Rex, you ok?” Lacey asked after watching Rex sit silently, barely cracking a smile with Raz’s reaction to Minet’s joke, and after a few minutes more of watching him stare blankly into the darkness, she leaned forwards and placed her hand on his shoulder, “Rex!” “Huh? What’s wrong?” Rex asked with a slight jolt, darting his eyes around the camp as if searching for danger. “I just asked you the same thing, you were gone for a bit there” Lacey pulled her hand away when Rex jumped. “I’m all good, yeah I sa
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