“What the bloody hell does that mean?” Nessa asked. It was way too early in the morning for her riddles. “Typical good-mannered conversation” Al’ik said with a smirk, “I believe it means you are to help someone change, how would I know? Its your fate, not mine. I’m a healer, not a fortune teller.” “Then how did you see my fate?” Nessa asked. “I’m not sure, that’s why I debated as to tell you or not. It seemed quite serious to me, so I decided I would pass it on. It is now for you to decode what it is supposed to mean.” Al’ik replied, “Now eat this and you are good enough to be on your way.” Nessa nodded, sat down and took the food she was given. She hated riddles and was never good at them so she had no idea what, “show an outwards sign of an inwards change” meant. Shaking her head in frustration she looked up and saw Al’ik sitting across from her smiling. “What?” she asked. “Oh nothing, just seeing you mull that over is quite amusing for me” Al’ik chuckled. Nessa once again notic
“Who are you and why would you want to help us?” Lizz asked eyeing her suspiciously. “My name is Nessa. I’ve been asking myself the same question” Nessa said with a smirk. That comment confused Lizz and Charr a little. “Do you know Rex?” Lizz asked. “Yes I do” Nessa replied nodding. When she said that she noticed Lizz frown a little. Was this girl his lover? She thought to herself, she reacted to her intrusion like Nessa would defending him if he was hers, another question that needed answering. She then realised that she was regarding Rex as hers, silly thoughts about him again she thought. “What or who has him unable to fight his way out? I know he is more than capable of taking on those 3 plus us and still probably win.” “How you know how Rex fight?” Charr asked stepping closer to her. Lizz pondered for a second on that also, most curious. “I have seen a little of what he can do firsthand is all” Nessa asked with a shrug, this seemed to be getting a little tense, she wasn’t sur
“How did you….” Nessa trailed off. Rex and Nessa knew what had happened to Pilk and were astonished she was here and in good shape. “Survive after you snapped my neck?” Pilk finished Nessa’s sentence with an evil grin, “Trade secret, may even tell you before I repay the favour back to you.” “Once more, leave us the boy and that girl and you two can leave” said one of the men, talking to Lizz and Charr. “You want him, must go past me” said Charr tapping his axe on his shoulder with a grin. Lizz added in shortly after, “And me too.” Rex looked at his friends and gave them a smile and respectful head nod at their statements, he couldn’t be happier that his friends were willing to fight with him until the end. “Well let’s get this over with!” snapped Pilk, “you want to die for him, fine. We have a schedule to keep.” Fighting was fine for Charr, he had an axe, Lizz had magic and Nessa had a curved blade, Rex was a little embarrassed because without Fafnir he did not have a weapon. He
“Surely she wasn’t serious?” asked Nessa looking at Pilk and then the dagger, “People will say anything to get out of dying.” “I get the feeling she didn’t try and get out of it” Rex said shrugging his shoulders. “Well, what’s the verdict then Prince?” Nessa asked Rex putting her hands on her hips. “I’m not sure, what’s everyone’s thoughts?” Replied Rex looking at the group. “All I know is that we need to move before the people that they were meeting realise something is off and come looking for them”, replied Nessa to the group. When she said this the rest of the group nodded in agreement and looked at Rex. “So, should we move the bodies or leave them here?” Rex asked pointing to the corpses, “If she is my cousin, we should at least burn the bodies. I remember Markus saying that it helps release the soul to move on, is important for royalty.” “How do we know she is telling the truth?” Lizz asked, “They did just capture you and did something to stop you communicating with Fafnir
“What the f**k is going on Nessa!?” Rex exclaimed the moment he was up and had his backpack on. Looking around Lizz and Charr were already ready and looking at him. “I will explain soon, let’s get the hell out of here first!” Nessa replied. Looking at the forest burning around them Rex agreed leaving as soon as possible was a great plan. Moving towards the only patch of unburnt brush he could see, Rex yelled at the others and pointed, “Through here!” As the others came towards him, Rex herded them through the trees and back into the forest. “Where are we going?” Lizz cried out. “Once we are away from the fire, we can figure out where we are and get our bearings.” Rex replied, puffing heavily, it seemed the strength training with Charr was helping but it had lessened his cardio ability he once possessed. Something else I need to work on, he thought. “I think we are far away enough to try and get our position. What can we see?” he let out through laboured breaths. “I see light” Char
“I have nothing to say to you” Rex replied in a harsh tone. “Oh, I think you’ll change your tune soon enough” Shaitan sneered hitting Rex in the forehead with the pommel of his sword, rendering him unconscious. With a swift command Shaitan’s soldiers grabbed Rex, bound him tightly and had him carried close behind Shaitan as he walked back up the hill toward his castle. Once Rex’s eyes came back into focus his eyes took in a sharp light from the window at his feet. Looking at his surroundings he was able to see he was lying in a nice bed. Another thing he noticed was the large lump that he was still sporting on his forehead, giving him quite a nice headache. “That will disappear in a day or two, do not worry. Had to make it look legit” Shaitan said from the chair in the corner of the room sporting the same smile he wore during their first meeting. Jumping at the sudden noise from behind him Rex said with a startle, “Holy shit, didn’t see you there. What do you…hang on, make what loo
“Urgh” was the only response Rex was able to emit from his mouth, the pain cascading from his head to his toes was immense. Looking up towards where the voice came from, he spied its source, the moment the blur disappeared he recognised that Teka was standing over him with a smile from ear to ear. “Looks like that was fun, I’m surprised you only fell that far, lucky you were quiet…not” she giggled. “Can I help you?” Rex groaned sitting up and checking his surroundings, hearing Teka’s remark made him think he had alerted the guards. “I think we could help each other noisy one” Teka said, still smiling. “What are you talking about? How could you possibly help me?” Rex huffed as he sat up slowly, wincing from the pain. “Well I grew up here, I’ve been in every inch of this place, long before you arrived, I know what guards are in what area and when, I also know you will be trying to get to your friends.” Teka said with a mischievous grin. “It seems you are right, you would know more
Four hooded figures arrived on horses to the ruins Rex had been held captive in before his friends rescued him. The man leading the group stopped before a small fire, slid off his horse and looked down. “They were here, this fire and these tracks shows they made camp, at least a few days ago. Look around, I need to know where she is and where my guest is. Look around!” The hooded figure said as he leant over the fireplace, touching the coals and scanning the edges of the fire with his eyes. Immediately the other three companions nodded in unison, slid off theirs horses and fanned out in a search pattern. “I will find you” the man snarled looking at the tracks. Rex’s blurred vision had just finished clearing up and he noticed his companions, who were also tied up with him, started to awaken with groans and sighs as well. ‘At least they are ok, I wonder what happened to Teka.’ He said to himself with sadness. Last thing he could remember was attacking the guards that were about to ruin