“Typical hero boy entrance” Minet sighed, her voice full of relief, “you didn’t have to make such a mess though.” “I was short on time so it seemed like the best option,” Rex said limping forward carrying Raz. “Holy shit!” Minet gasped seeing the large bleeding wound on Raz’s scalp. “Yeah, I’ve done my best to stop as much bleeding as I can, but I’ll need your help Lizz, I cannot create fire on command to cauterize it,” Rex said, helping place Raz down who groaned. “I’ll help Lizz with this, Lacey will need your help, her shoulder was dislocated and has been for a while and none of us have the strength needed to get it back in place,” Minet said pointing to Lizz who was still huddled in the corner pale as a ghost. “No worries, I’ll go sort that out now,” Rex said with a weak smile. “Hey, are you ok?” Minet asked quickly scanning Rex up and down for visible signs of injury. “I’ll be fine, Raz has it worse than me, most of mine are mostly healed already.” “Hmpf, yeah ok, we can t
“That IS strange, where do you suppose it all went?” Lizz said, leaning over Murgan’s now whitened corpse. “Hm, I would think under the floorboards, but it would still leave blood up here though,” Minet said walking around the body, “There is none at all.” “Let’s see if it went down here,” Rex said leaning down and prying his fingers under one of the floorboards, easily tearing it off, sending little shards of wood flying. “The ground doesn’t have any either, it's like it soaked into the dirt, which shouldn’t happen, the water in his blood would soak in, but leave the solids behind, but THAT is all gone,” Lizz said after looking. “I’m going to have to be the one to say it, but that is totally f**ked up that you know all of that Lizz, I reckon we should go, this place gives me the creeps,” Lacey said after checking through the hole Rex had made and not seeing anything but dirt and raised tree roots. “This is strange, I had what I think was a memory dream type deal again, and there
“Ugh, where am I?” Rex asked, his grogginess taking a while to wear off. “You’re in my home of course,” said the woman’s voice. “I really need to stop waking up in strange places” Rex replied, trying his best to take in his surroundings, his vision still taking a while to clear. “I wouldn’t think waking up in a stranger’s home constantly suits royalty,” said the voice with a slightly amused tone. “You seem way too calm to be an enemy, either that or my enemies have finally taken to making me feel better before trying to kill me,” Rex said in a sarcastic tone. “If we wanted you dead, you would have been dead days ago” the woman replied in a stern tone, clearly not amused by Rex’s words. “Hang on, days ago? How long have I been out?” Rex said, a little shocked by the remark, trying his best to sit up, his head pounding when he did. “You had best try and get some rest before doing that, Ipes nearly had you,” the woman’s voice said, putting a hand gently on his chest. Not having th
“If Nessa had been here she could have told us…” Rex began to say, his mind racing. “She would have done what she was told and eaten her food” Al’ik insisted, her voice becoming stern, “I am not usually in the habit of repeating myself.” “Um Rex, I think you had better do what she says, she doesn’t seem like the kind of woman you want to cross,” Lacey said, turning Rex’s head back to his plate. “Smart woman, she will make a good match for you broken one” came Azulthaël’s voice from past the light of the campfire. “Again with the ‘broken one’ shit, I have a name Gizzard” Rex retorted with a scowl. “Rex, please eat” Lizz and Minet begged. “Fine, look, I’m eating now,” Rex said in an exasperated tone, picking up a piece of the fruit and placing it into his mouth with a scowl, quickly changing tune, “Holy shit, it IS good.” “Like I have been saying, now I am going to go and prepare for our chat, you need energy, so please eat the whole thing,” Al’ik said, her tone changing back and
“So, you run the risk of killing us both, but you can still maybe pull it off without that happening?” Rex asked, worried about the whole procedure now, he thought it would be a long shot to have it removed and thought it would be painful, he had not thought of dying if it went wrong though. “Yes, there is a slim chance to undo what has been done to you, like I said, your people have twisted our magic from helping people to being harmful, I for one, am not used to having to untwine weave magic not intended to heal, so it poses a danger to anyone involved,” Azulthael said, interlocking his fingers. “After all these years, you still fear death” Al’ik chuckled quietly. “I do not fear death itself, I fear the loss of my race,” Azulthaël said with a scowl, darting his eyes over the Al’ik when she spoke. “Can you not breed with other races?” Lizz asked, opening a little book from her pocket, and taking notes. “No, our bloodline can not mix with any other races, over the years we have tr
After a few hours of talking and enjoying themselves, Rex and his companions felt the familiar feeling of weariness washing over them, “I think it’s time I get some sleep, I get the feeling it’s going to be a long day tomorrow.” “Long, and successful day,” Lacey said with a smile. Once everyone agreed on what Lacey said, they all stood and bid Rex goodnight, before making their way over to the tent and closing the door, the lantern that illuminated the inside was soon snuffed out. ‘Hmpf, I don’t know where I’m supposed to sleep’ Rex thought, ‘Maybe back in there?’ turning his head to face the cave entrance. Standing up from the campfire, Rex decided he would just sleep on the table he was on before, quietly making his way into the cave, not wanting to disturb Al’ik or Azulthaël had they fallen asleep, finding the bed he awoke on earlier, he was surprised, ‘The bed has been moved, damn, the blanket is gone too, guess I’m roughing it tonight,’ after a few seconds of not being able to
‘Wow it has been a long time since I have seen you’ Rex said, dashing around to Fafnir’s head and placing his hand on his snout with a smile. ‘Yes youngling, it has felt forever, I have lost track of time while being imprisoned in here after the necklace malfunctioned, how long has it been?’ Fafnir replied, smiling weakly back. ‘Only a few months since I was cursed’ Rex replied, ‘But it has felt like forever.’ ‘That’s good, you feel and smell different, stronger perhaps’ Fafnir replied, breathing in a deep breath through his nose, taking in Rex’s scent. ‘I’ve learned how to cope without magic in ways, I have sort of kept a few things from you though, like my speed, strength, and hearing, my night vision comes and goes, usually when I need it most, I don’t have it’ Rex said with a shrug, getting a deep chuckle from Fafnir. ‘It will take some time to heal from this ordeal, your body is already on the mend and I can feel our bond growing stronger by the minute, should not be long unt
Once Rex had his heading, he dashed back out across the dunes, once Fafnir had approved of his heading, he had chosen a certain star to follow to keep his bearings, only having a short time with the relief from the sun he did not want to become stuck once more in the heat. ‘This place is shit’ Rex cursed, seeing more sand every time he reached the peak of the next dune. ‘Kadota used to be an oasis of water and life’ Fafnir said. ‘So what happened to it?’ Rex asked, glad to have something to keep his mind from becoming annoyed with the endless running. ‘This used to be where my palace resided, once I departed from this existence to the spirit realm, my magic that kept this place teeming with life deteriorated to what you see now, once you take the seat of emperor, I will bring you to where the true centre of power was in Dracoterrum,’ Fafnir replied, Rex could sense the sadness in his words when he spoke about it. ‘That’s IF I pass the dreaming, speaking of which, how will that eve
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