Once the hours had passed, Rex had forgotten how much reading he had done, learning the basics of the battle games, a chosen few from the surrounding nations would take on the role of competing in a set of games that would test their strength, cunning, strength and resolve, these activities would be proposed to the nation leaders, by another leader, and if agreed upon, would become the events the participants would compete in, the winner would then become the champion of the battle games for that year, bringing them fame and most times fortune. “Fame and fortune, a bit redundant for me, isn’t it? More people know me here than I could ever imagine, and being a prince, what need would I have in riches?” Rex thought to himself out loud, confused by his participation in the games, he could think of quite a few other talented warriors that could have easily taken his place. The other book he had finished reading was titled, “Guide to magic requiring emotional input.” He thought it was an
Seeing how well decorated his small new competition room was when he walked in surprised Rex, “You did all this for me?” “Well even though you are outside, does not mean you should not be able to relax between events, from what I have seen, you’ll need it” Kealy said, clearly pleased with herself. Even though the hut was quite small, Kealy was able to fit in a nice comfortable looking bed, a small desk with a few books stacked neatly on it and a small wardrobe in the corner of the room, “You’ve done well fitting all of this into here.” “Due to the size restraints put on everyone, I did the best I could fitting in all of the essentials you would need for the week, speaking of essential, I do believe you’ll need some sleep, first event starts early tomorrow” Kealy said pointing towards the bed. “Sounds like a plan” Rex said with a nod, once he had calmed himself and began to relax a little, he started to feel the familiar sensation of fatigue setting in, stifling a yawn while moving
“Oh shit” Rex said, slowly turning around to who had snuck up and spoken to them. “I see you brought others in your troublemaking too” Ley said, crossing his arms over his chest, motioning to Teka and Clicks. “THEY brought me into this” Rex protested, standing up, Teka and Clicks doing the same. “Hey! Don’t be a snitch! You agreed, not like we dragged you here kicking and screaming” Teka exclaimed in a shrill voice, scowling at Rex. “So next question is how did you know about this location? It was kept secret to prevent this type of action from happening” Ley asked, eyeing all three suspiciously. “Clicks told me about it, he and his kin built it” Teka said, lowering her head. “Ok. Another question, formicary ants are hive-mind, why is this one helping you?” Ley asked, looking Clicks up and down. “I don’t know, I found him hurt over by the river, he got knocked on the head I think, might be the reason” Teka said, looking at Clicks, showing Ley a recent injury that was still heali
Jumping to his feet at the loud voice emanating across the huts, Rex was lucky enough to already have his outfit on the end of the bed ready for him to change into, swapping his clothes out quickly, he pushed the door open, standing out the front, ready to go in mere minutes, looking to his left, he noticed he was the first out, Lacey stepping out shortly after, in a tight-fitting leather outfit, ‘Damn she makes that look good’ he thought, taking in how the outfit fit snuggly to her body. “Daydreaming already? You haven’t won yet” Lacey called out with a smile, catching Rex looking over in her direction. “I wasn’t daydreaming, I was getting myself into the swing mentally.” “Mhm, sure, whatever.” A loud crash interrupted their conversation, both stopping to look at what the commotion was. “I knew having a brain-dead troll here would ruin it!” came a voice irritated voice shortly after the noise. “Well the way I see it, we have two brain-dead trolls, but only one is being complaine
“It is a singular event, it must have only one winner, who cares if they try and team up? Eventually one will betray the others to get an upper hand” Muleek said, frowning at Grugil while shaking his head. “I think it’s bullshit they get a chance to fight as a team in the first event!” Grugil said, slamming his fist down on the bench, which subsequently drew the attention of everyone in the carriage. “Little angry man need quiet, give head throb” Ruguh said, rubbing his temples while scowling at Grugil, Yogulk started to smile and drool while still chewing on the branch treat Shaitan had given it. Once Grugil had quietened down, Rex, Lacey and Lizz relaxed a little and started up once more, “So any ideas what it could involve?” “If it involves an orc, it is most likely a battle, but to what purpose?” Lizz asked, staring out into the distance, deep in thought. “From the stories I’ve been told by father, orcs respect strength, much like the Bohl, so it must be a fight to prove you’r
Struggling to his feet and dusting himself off, Rex took the few seconds he had at the present while the orc was stunned to take in what his opponent was, he had not had enough time to process the transition from the area surrounded by bright lights and then the sudden darkness to center himself. Taking a deep breath in through his nose and exhaling out through his mouth to calm himself, he took a good look at his opponent, not having seen an orc before he was not really sure what he was looking at in terms of strengths and weaknesses, all he could see was the beast had black matted hair on its scalp, a broad forehead that was seeping green blood from the blow it suffered from colliding with his sword that almost hid its small red eyes, and a large jaw that held gigantic teeth that looked to be at least two inches long, a very short neck before the body started into a very muscular upper torso and short thin legs, overall, a strange beast. ‘Be wary young one, this is an orc feral, th
“WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU?” Ley roared, slapping Rex’s wrist, sending the sword clanking to the ground a few feet away. “What is your problem?” Rex asked, now getting quite angry at Ley’s rash behavior. “Your dishonorable actions inside the arena is the problem” Ley snapped back, pointing towards the arena, he was now close enough Rex could see the vein in his neck bulging. “What the f**k are you talking about?” Rex yelled back, he was flabbergasted, he got the necklace, even though the orc had bitten him. “Look at yourself” Ley said, taking a step back, he had noticed something off about Rex’s lack of knowledge about his actions, either that or he was being ignorant. Frowning and shaking his head, Rex looked down and was shocked, he was covered right up his neck in green blood, especially his right hand, curiously the one that he used to hold his sword, “This can't be right, yeah, I injured the orc, but there should not have been this much blood” he said shakily, his mind was now
“You are so unattractive when you carry on like a child” Minet said in an exaggerated tone waving her hand in the air. “You son of a..” Lacey began to yell. “Unless you both decide to continue your previous fight I interrupted, I am going to need some peace and quiet, I have a lot of things on my mind right now” Rex said in a loud voice, interrupting Lacey’s rant. “I have no issues with that” Minet said with a sly smile and a shrug, Rex opened his mouth to reply, and seeing the look on Lacey’s face, he decided against it, giving Minet a smile before turning and heading to his room, he was keen on washing away all the drama from the day. Once Rex was out of earshot, Lacey turned to Minet, “Why are you with him?” she seethed through gritted teeth. “Oh that’s simple, the emperor asked me to accompany him to his room, get him cleaned up and ready for the feast tonight, I would suggest the same to you, but knowing what you wear on a daily basis, if you showed up in the mess you are now
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