“So you’re telling me, I have to choose between Ean killing my father or myself?” Rex repeated, astonished by the choices. “That is correct, same rules apply as before, I will give you three minutes to decide, you know the consequence for no choice” Fig said, her tone going cold and devoid of emotion, which gave Rex the chills. “I would like to ask a question first” Rex said quickly, “Before my time begins.” With a short sigh, Fig rolled her eyes, “Very well, one question then your time begins upon the answer.” “Ok, what is the point of choosing between these? The other choices are normal for a leader to make, but this isn’t, at what point in my life would this actually apply to?” Smiling with her pointed teeth grin once more, “Why indeed? What makes you think it would never happen? Lands are invaded and royalty captured constantly.” “Well…f**k sake, ok” Rex replied, his chest deflating at her answer, he had not thought of that, even though being reminded about Ean’s blood war al
“Ten more minutes.” “It seems my rub down did its job” Kealy giggled, pulling the blanket off Rex, smiling as he moved into the fetal position when she did so. “I was happily asleep, not sore, was weird though” Rex said, yawning and stretching out, sitting up once he finished. “What was weird?” Kealy asked, nodding with her head towards a bath that had been brought in and filled. “I didn’t dream at all, well not that I can remember” Rex remarked, turning to face Kealy, “Unless you intend on watching me wash, I suggest you leave.” “Oh yeah, sorry” Kealy replied, her cheeks turning a little red, with a bow of her head, she threw the clothes she had prepared onto Rex’s bed, turned and walked out, closing the door behind her. While Rex cleaned himself, he mulled over the events that had happened with his time with Fig, his father dropping the news that she was in fact his grandmother, which made him curious, ‘Is Fig from my mother or father’s side? Why does she look much older than I
“So prince, what are you going to do in the meantime? You know, while waiting for tomorrow’s match?” Ley asked. “I’m going to check up on Nessa, might go and see Charr and see if Lizz is back yet, seems like I have a lot of people to check up on, might come and see how Ulna is doing, if that is ok with you?” Rex said, finishing his sentence looking at Marcia, who shrugged. “You are the prince, I couldn’t stop you from going anywhere.” “But..” “Shut up Markus! You’re always the one to remind me, this time I didn’t need it, and I don’t need your comments, he IS the prince, and if he wants to come and check on Ulna, I cannot stop him even if I wanted to” Marcia snapped, cutting Markus off. Raising his eyebrow in response to Marcia’s quickened temper, he simply smiled, “Of course, you are right, none of us could stop him.” How quickly Markus backed down even took Marcia by surprise, she opened and closed her mouth a few times signalling she was going to say something, instead she sto
“It will not take long, plus bonus fact, we are going past the location Helena described, it will not take up much of our travel time, I know before tomorrow nights finale, you have a few errands to run and still need rest” Marcia said after seeing Rex raise his eyebrow at her. “If you say so oh vengeful one” Rex chuckled, following close behind once Marcia started off down the path towards the city center. “You have no idea” Marcia said with an evil smile, giggling a little seeing the look on Rex’s face. ‘She has turned into a totally different person so quickly, from such a hardened man-hater, I can’t believe I have seen her smile a few times in a short period’ Rex mused to himself, he was taken aback how beautiful she was when she smiled, how her eyes glinted in the light when she did. “Stop daydreaming, we are close” Marcia said, rapping Rex on the arm when she saw him with a glazed expression. “Huh? I was pondering” Rex said, getting a little snappy without realizing. “A top
“Master Percus! How is Nessa doing?” Marcia said once she recognised the person speaking with Rex. “Responding to treatment quite well, her physiology should have rejected the medicine, but it seems it has taken well, now young man, please answer my earlier question” the physician named Percus said, leaning forward to look at Marcia and Rex over the top of the rim of his glasses while he spoke. “You don’t expect the prince to be able to see that kind of magic?” Marcia asked, looking between Percus and Rex. “The prince!? You are the famed prince Rex?” Percus said, his glasses almost sliding off his face. “I wouldn’t say the famed prince, but yes, I am Rex.” “My deepest apologies my lord! That of course explains how you saw my wards I placed” Percus said, bowing to Rex. “Why would you place wards on a hospital?” Rex asked, tilting his head a little in confusion. “I am not sure what a hospital is my lord” Percus replied, “Ah one second, I have heard that word before!” he exclaimed
“We will be in contact my prince!” Barbun called out to Rex as he and Marcia traveled down the hallway, coming to a stop at the last room. “So I’m rich?” Rex asked Marcia, who nudged him playfully. “Don’t let your head swell up too much, you’re a royal, I don’t know what you need it for, no one would ask you to pay for something” Marcia said, shaking her head, reaching out and turning the door handle of the room they had stopped at, pushed it open and entered. The moment Rex entered the room, a familiar voice hit him, “Two visits from royals in two days, I must be important.” “Hey Nessa, how are you feeling?” Rex asked with a smile as he came into the room, Nessa was sitting on the end of her bed, “What do you mean two royals? Who else came to see you?” “I’m ok, I’ll be allowed to leave soon” Nessa said, “The emperor came to see me yesterday, he did some weird shit to try and help me remember something, the weird thing is I don’t remember what he wanted me to remember, all I know
Turning down the last alley that led to the main gate to the palace grounds, Rex had a feeling wash over him, ‘I’m not alone.’ Acting as if he had not noticed, Rex was now halfway down the alley when a shadow dropped down in front of him, landing with a barely audible thud. “Nice night for a stroll?” “One of the men from the balcony” Rex replied, raising an eyebrow, he was able to see quite clearly and recognized the face of the man in the shadows, “Where’s your friend who wore the rags?” “He has skills it seems Jasper” said another male voice from behind him. “Indeed he does seem that way, come quietly, or don’t, we get paid either way, I would prefer not to get blood on my new shirt” the man called Jasper replied with a snarl, wiping his hand down the front of his shirt. “I choose option three thanks” Rex replied with a shrug, letting his hand drop onto the pommel of the sword he had. “There is no option three” Jasper replied, seeing Rex’s hand drop to his hip, “Must be a nice
“Of course not! You made all of this, I’m certainly not going to waste it” Rex replied eagerly, seeing the food being placed down. “Well I didn’t technically make it, but I went down and brought it up, so that’s close enough, get over here” Marcia said with a smile. Letting out a chuckle as he stood up, Rex walked over to the table and sat down across from Marcia, who was already seated waiting. “Thank you” Rex said after sitting down and taking in the grandeur of the meal, breakfast sausage, eggs, bacon, what looked like a hash brown and some fruit pieces in a bowl off to the side of his plate. “Like your father said, a good meal at the start of a day can give you the energy needed to accomplish many things, you have many things to accomplish today” Marcia said, her tone turning a little worried. “You aren’t worried about me, are you?” Rex replied, stopping shoving food into his mouth for a minute to look at the worried expression on her face. “Well no, and yes, at the same time
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