“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
Once Shaitan saw the slender person arrive in front of Rex he turned to his second in command and asked, “Who the hell is that? I thought I said I wanted someone from the mountain clan, clearly that is not one of them!!” “I do not know who that is or why they have taken his place, but I know for certain that he was there, I met him this morning, a bird-brained brute who liked to smash things, exactly what you asked for” stammered the man, starting to sweat under furious Shaitan’s gaze. Shaitan was just about to continue chastising his second in command for his incompetence when the crowd let out a loud roar, turning his attention back to the arena, even Shaitan and his men widened their eyes and gasped at the sight. Just after seeing the figure walk out gracefully into the arena, Rex asked for a sword and shield combination, he had hoped with some defence and attack he may be able to stand a chance against his unknown combatant, he knew with the way this person entered the arena so c
Once they had arrived at the west gate, they readied themselves for a fight to escape, but to their surprise all the guards that were supposed to be at the gate were not present, allowing for Rex and his companions to leave without issue. Shortly after passing through the gate they could see Lizz, Charr and Nessa all standing next to 5 horses with worried looks on their faces. “They should be here by now, I bet that snake lied to us!” Nessa growled angrily casting her eyes back to the city, she was secretly worried something had happened to Rex and tried hiding it behind anger. “Worried about me are you?” Rex said with a broad smile once he had reached his friends. Once the three saw Rex arrive unhurt, they were all relieved, even Nessa much to Rex’s surprise, “Only because I want to kill you, I don’t want them to beat me to it” Nessa growled turning away trying to hide her smile. “Well, we should leave before we continue this happy joy moment” said Lacey with an exaggerated fake h
“This would be so much faster if you were not slowing down this bloody horse!” Lacey called over her shoulder to Rex with a scowl, she could see the dust cloud getting closer with each passing hour. “Let me off and you will move faster, I’ll be fine” chuckled Rex. “No chance idiot prince! My father will never forgive me if I do that and then I’ll have to find what remains of your corpse!” Lacey yelled back rolling her eyes, what a stupid time for humour she thought, she knew Shaitan’s forces were closing the gap quite quickly and it was still another day and a half ride to the border and safety from those pursuing them. “Your father!?” Rex exclaimed in slight surprise, “Who is that?” he asked. “He is right behind us idiot!” she said through gritted teeth,” This is a stupid time for 100 questions!” This woman seems to have a quick temper and easily agitated Rex thought, if this was the daughter of Markus, she definitely did not have his temperament or patience he thought. “You nee
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