Chapter 2
I woke up in the room, and immediately shot up. "Morgukai!" I frantically looked around the room, and went to get out of bed to walk to the door, but something restricted my movement. I looked down, and saw a thick chain attached around my ankle.
"It's only a precaution my dear. We can't have you running to save yours truly." I heard a light chuckle from the corner of the room. "After all..I must thank you for bringing him to me." I stepped back against the wall as he stood to approach me, and slightly whimpered. "It's quite a sight to see you like this Ignival. The scar of your previous failures all make you look...vibrant" He grabbed a piece of my blood red hair and twirled it in his fingers. I flinched back even more, and he grabbed my throat and lifted me off the ground.
"Your little 'hero' will soon be put to the ultimate test, pet. We'll see just how well mind over body will play, and you'll get front row tickets to it all my dear." He smiled devilishly and threw me to the ground, leaving the room laughing loudly until it echoed the halls. I pulled frantically at the chain around my ankle, I couldn't use magic. Lautian made sure that the spell block spell never released in my room. I started to hear small chatter coming from the streets, and I crawled to the window to see the commotion.
"Have you heard the news yet...Lord Lautian is opening the fight pits later today. Apparently Lady Ignival brought back someone he didn't like the looks of." The wash maids down below chattered while washing the different garments of clothes. Again, I started pulling at the chain once more. I couldn't let him hurt Morgukia, he'd done nothing wrong but save me. After hours of trying to free the chain, I collapsed against the wall in defeat. Tears once again filled my eyes at the thought of what would happen to him. Why the fight pits? I raced through all the possibilities of what it could mean. Then it hit me..
"He's going to brainwash him!" I cried out. I kept trying to free myself of my chains but nothing would budge, I tried in vain over and over again. Nothing. The Morgukai I know would perish…
"Your not allowed here keep moving!" A guard shouted outside my door. I moved as close as the chain would let me, "Is this not the bathroom? Could either of you point me in it's direction?" the voice was old, and human.
"Beat it gramps. Or we'll beat you!" One of the other guard's demanded. The third voice let out a sigh and sounds of a struggle could be heard, but they ended as soon as they started. "Guards. They don't make them like they used to."
The door started to open and I ran back behind my bed and hid.
When I peaked out I saw a middle aged man, maybe in his 40's, carrying three swords on his back clad in a bronze colored armor. What intrigued me was that his right arm wasn't covered in any armor and held the same brand as Morgukai, a sword with the sun in the background.
"It's ok, I'm an old friend of Morgukai. I came to help when he called, but I need your help." his voice sounded gruff, but it was calm and soothing in a way. I crawled out from behind the bed and a smile grew across his scared face. "Why hello there. Let's get you out of this room huh?"
He walked over to the chain and inspected it for a moment, "Who are you? Why are you helping me?" I asked, he looked at me and pointed to a tattoo on his arm. It was a dragon head with various weapons going through it's skull; a bow, an axe, a staff, a war hammer, and a longsword. "Looks normal right? It's a magic tattoo we all got, allows us to communicate long distances. He contacted me and told me everything, and don't worry he vouched for you. And if that stubborn half demon vouches for someone, I can't argue with him."
I stared at it for a moment, the staff must be Morgukia's. "Who are you?" I repeated. He grabbed the chain with his armoured hand, the gauntlet looked demonic in origin and was spiked and shaped like he had talons. An eye opened on it that looked similar to a dragon's eye and looked at both of us, then quickly closed. I felt the chain heat up around my ankle as the glove began to slowly melt the middle of the chain and simultaneously break the spell.
"My name is Mythrik Loke." With a small tug the chain broke in half and I was finally freed. He helped me up and handed me a satchel filled with my equipment, "Suit up, we need to get into the fight pits before it gets too out of hand." I took out my armor and weapons and started to undress, "Oh uhh I'll just um….wait outside." He awkwardly stuttered and quickly walked out of the room.
I came out to see him carrying the two guards holding me prisoner over his shoulders. He tossed them in my room and locked the door, "Ok let's go, we'll have to take some alleys to avoid the guards but if we hurry we'll make it." With that he took off down the hall and I followed him hot on his heels. We managed to make it to the entrance of the fight pits; crowds of people were flooding into the arena to see their new main attraction. The signs varied from "Devil-man debu" and "Demon slaughter one night only".
"Put your cloak up we can blend in with the crowd and get in, but more than likely we're gonna have to improvise. Oh, and this is probably gonna go sideways real fast."
Getting in was easy. The guards were drunk and so was most of the crowd, we managed to push in front of everyone to the front of the pit. Morgukia was there, badly beaten and chained down so he couldn't move. But, he looked calm; as if he was meditating. He looked up at me and smiled, "We'll have to wait for an opening. The Executioner is watching closely, I think he's expecting us."
The King stood from his seat from atop the pit and looked to the crowd, "Are you ready?! Ready to see this demon's blood splatter the walls of the pit?!" he announced. The roar of the crowd only made the beating in my ears louder, no one ever survives the pit. One way or another everyone that has ever set foot in it has fallen to the king's champion, a man eating cyclops known as "Face-eater" since that's all he talks about. Morgukia stood up and looked to the king, "I refuse to shed blood in such a dishonorable way. Kill me, and get it over with." his voice boomed, you could feel the power of magic off every word. The king howled in laughter, "Oh you will die monk. And you will die fighting for my entertainment, or he will."
The roof opened up and another tiefling was slowly lowered above the fight pit. At first glance I thought it was Skamos, but this one looked much older. His grey hair and horribly scarred face made it difficult to see his features, but what stood out was his horns. They matched Morgukai's, and as I looked closer they shared some of the same features. The king grabbed him and forced him to his knees next to his seat, the look in his eyes held the same determination. "Hey little brother, it's been a few years." he chuckled before the king swiftly kicked him down into the pit.
He coughed up dust and stood up; he limped over to Morgukai who held a shocked look for a moment, "Dax? You got...old." His older brother chuckled, "Yeah, been all over the place too. We'll catch up after we bust outta here alright?"
"Tonight's main event! Face-eater will tear these two to pieces! Open the cage!" at the far side of the pit a gate slowly started to open and the chains keeping Morgukai down fell off. Both of them looked at each other; they were unarmed and beaten badly. I couldn't help but chew on my nails in anticipation. A thunderous roar shook the whole building as the giant cyclops rushed out of his cage ravenous with bloodlust. The brothers bolted out of the way of his charge, and rushed him. Face eater swung his club left and right but couldn't manage to hit either; they moved in sync using each other to dodge and jump over his attacks. Out of frustration the monster slammed the ground with his club and sent them flying into the walls of the pit, Dax was struggling to breathe and stand while the beast charged him with his club. As he raised it to deal a killing blow a chain wrapped around his neck and pulled him stumbling backwards; Morgukai had taken one of his chains and was using it to combat the beast.
It struggled against him in tug of war but the surprising strength of the monk kept it focused on him, while Dax stood up and pulled some splintered wood out of the wall and plunged it deep into its leg, "Yeah that's what I'm talking about!" Mythrik shouted, his voice startled me and took me out of my trance. I quickly scanned the guards at the entrance of the fight pit cages, they were drunk of course and could barely stand. I tugged at Mythrik and pointed, he nodded and we slowly pushed through the sea of people. They didn't even notice us as we pushed through the door and quickly made our way down to the entrance, as we grew closer to the gate the pit in my stomach turned into a fiery rage.
The two guards playing cards by the gate were definitely not ready for the daggers I threw into their chests. I searched for the lever to open the gate, but before I was able to pull it Mythrik stopped me and pointed to the pit. Morgukai, was riding the cyclops into the walls around the pit while his brother attacked it with the splintered piece of wood. "We wait until they kill the beast and then we'll bust them out, here hold this." Mythrik handed me a whistle that looked and felt like it was made from some kind of bone shaped like a dragon. "Worst case scenario use that. Got it?" I quickly nodded, and continued to watch the fight unveil.
Morgukai jumped into the air and pulled himself back into the beast with enough force to slam it into the ground if a deafening thud. Dax grabbed another part of the chain and wrapped it around its neck and joined his brother in pulling it to strangle it. It tried in vain to get free and struggled against them but to no avail; after it roared and smashed the ground around it it finally ceased to move. The kings champion was dead, a feat considered impossible. The arena was dead silent, the entire crowd looked in shock as their main attraction was killed by two badly beaten Tieflings.
I looked up to the kings seat, he was seething with rage and grabbed his giant executioner's ax and jumped down into the pit, "You want something done right you gotta do it yourself I guess." He raised his ax and the crowd started back up again, slowly he stalked towards them as the two stood their ground.
"Ok time to open the gate." Mythrik grabbed the lever and tried to pull it down, but some kind of magic shocked him and threw him back into the opposite wall. After a few curses he stood up and dusted himself off, "It's warded, give me a moment to break the spell!" he went to work and I saw the fight in the pit break out.
With Morgukai's speed and Dax's surprising skill they kept the king at bay, till he threw some kind of grenade into the air and it flashed a blinding light into the arena. Instinctively Dax covered his eyes and ears but Morgukai didn't see it and was stunned. The king shoulder charged him and threw him into the wall with enough force to shatter and splinter the wall, "Get up. Please get up." I whispered to myself. Lautian raised his axe with a smile and looked down at him, "Time to finally finish what I started all those years ago." With a bloodthirsty war cry he swung his weapon down unto Morgukai.
I let out a scream, but what happened made my heart fall into my stomach. Dax ran in front of the axe and it planted about half way into his torso; the king pulled the axe out slowly and painfully then tossed him towards the gate where I was watching. Morgukia quickly crawled over to his wounded brother and cradled him, "No. No, no, no! Stay with me Dax!" he cried out. The life in his brother's eyes was quickly fading and he was coughing up too much blood, he struggled to take a necklace off that he had hidden under his armor, "My, my son. Please, give this. To…" he fell limp and exhaled, dead.
Mythrik ran over to the gate, "Morgukia, look at me." he spoke calmly, but his teary eyes were focused on the bloodied necklace in his hand. "Morgukia damnit look at me!" His eyes snapped up, the grief that plagued his expression quickly turned into rage. "Control yourself, fight that rage. I know you can do it!" Mythrik pleaded, I looked at Morgukia; my own tears fell for his loss as I looked at him questioningly. He gripped the necklace tightly and looked back at his brother's corpse, and dropped his body back down to the dirt. As he stood he looked at me, his once ruby red eyes grew pitch black and his skin turned pale.
"Not this time." His voice was dark, almost unrecognizable. He turned back to the king who was showboating his partial victory to the crowd. He turned around and laughed at Morgukia, "What? You want more?! Come one then!" But he just stood there and stared at him, for a moment. He took one step and with inhuman speed charged him; the king's guard was still down as he struck with enough force that sent a thunderous boom throughout the whole arena. He rained down hit after hit, each one creating a crash of thunder each time he connected. The king threw a punch at him but Morgukia quickly countered it and threw him into the air, as he was suspended you could see a vortex of air forming around his fist.
"We need to move!" Mythrik grabbed me and pulled me away to the side, "The whistle use it!" I put it up to my lips and blew into it as hard as I could, but no sound came out. Before I could try again the kings body broke through the gate with an explosion of air and debris that sent me and Mythrik back a few feet. My ears were ringing and I coughed up some dust and saw Mythrik and Morgukia squaring off, but the Morgukia I've come to know was gone. His horns grew and literal fire was blazing from his eyes, his skin was a sickly pale and a light blanket of darkness surrounded him. "Don't make me do this old friend. This isn't you, I know you can fight this darkness." Mythrik said, his hand resting on one of the swords on his back. Morgukai responded in some language I've never heard of before, it was almost like growling and hissing mixed with some strange words.
Mythrik sighed, "You'll forgive me for this," he put his hands together as if he was praying, "Hvull." The brand on both of their arms began to brighten till the light was almost too blinding to look at, Morgukia knelt to the ground as was roaring in pain still speaking in the same tongue as before.
"Its working!" Mythrik shouted through the pain, but the light started to dim and he was beginning to stand again, "Nope not working!" Frantically I tried to think of something, so I ran over to Morgukia.
"Come back to us. Please!" He looked stunned, but snarled at me. It was starting to wear off and I couldn't think of anything to do. So I hugged him tightly, "I can't lose you again. You were the first person to show me any kindness. Please.." The hateful look on his face turned into pain as the brand covered us in light. "My whole life I was nothing but a tool...I know you're hurting… please..." I hugged him tighter, and held him close, close enough I could feel his heartbeat. I whispered words in elven, calm and soothing chants, until the light around us dispersed, and he fell limp in my arms. Lautian laid unconscious not far from us, and we needed to move before he came to.
"We need to get out of here." I turned back towards Mythrik, and looked at him with tired, pleading eyes. He picked him up and threw him over his shoulder and walked to the center of the pit, I could see guards mobilizing towards the entrance area and the crowds of people running towards the exits. Mythrik looked frantically at the ceiling, whispering quietly at himself, "Take cover!" He sprinted over to me and shielded me as a deafening roar shook the entire foundation of the building and the roof was ripped off, the guards were panicking and shouting "Dragon! Call the Blackguard!" I looked up and my jaw dropped, there was indeed a dragon crawling down from the ceiling. It was bigger than most of the houses in the kingdom, and it's scales were a glistening red as arrows and spears seemed to just bounce right off of it. "There he is! Come here boy!" Mythrik ran over and hugged it's snout as the beast seemed to purr at his touch. "We gotta go, hop on!" he tossed Morgukia onto the saddle that was mounted on it's back and I climbed on; I had to hold onto Mythrik tightly as the dragon forced its way up into the air. By the time I gained the courage to turn around the kingdom was far behind us.
We landed in a clearing miles away from the king's touch, "Ignival meet Tiny, Tiny meet Ignival." The dragon sniffed me and purred again, slowly I raised my hand and petted it's scales.
"How do you have a pet dragon?" I inquired, he gave a small chuckle and walked over to Morgukia who was laying on a cot passed out, "He tried to kill me when he was just a baby, but instead of putting him down I rescued him and raised him. He imprinted on me pretty quickly after that. I can actually hear his thoughts and speak to him thanks to Morgukai, he taught me how to speak Draconic some time ago." I walked over to Morgukia and sat next to him, he looked normal again but he was sweating and breathing rapidly, he had a fever and looked like he was having some kind of nightmare in his sleep.
"What was that back there? Why did he change? And what's with your brands, why did they light up like that? I asked.
He pulled up a stump and lit a small fire, "It's a long story. A while back something, happened. We had created a guild in a neighboring country that bloomed into a small town. One day in the war room a tear formed and a man appeared out of it and tried to kill Morgukia." He shifted in his seat and pulled out a long tobacco pipe, his eyes resembling the campfire in front of us. "Turns out, he was my son. He used some forbidden sorcery to travel back in time and stop some prophecy that we've never heard of before. I'm sure he's already told you it." I looked down at the unconscious monk and sighed, "He told us that if we didn't do something about it, the world would cease as we know it. But when he left and after a few months, nothing." He took a long drag of his pipe and looked at me, "Till one day, while we were in a heated battle against Marfedelom's lead general at the time, he lost control after one of our friends were...killed. He flew into an unstoppable rage and killed everything around him but the general escaped. I tried to calm him down. He pushed off the armor on his arm that held the mysterious gauntlet, it looked like the whole thing went up his entire arm all the way to his shoulder. After a few clicks and gears turning the entire thing just popped off, showing nothing but a horribly scarred stub where his shoulder was. "He shot a bolt of lightning that took it clean off, but when he did he came to his senses. I dunno if he was just scared of what everyone would do or if it was for our own safety, but he quickly vanished after that. This is the first I've seen him in almost 15 years."
He locked the arm back in place and looked up at me, "The brand was given to us by Pelor, the God of light. He taught us some words to use when we're in a pinch and it's a miracle that it even worked; probably only because you've seemed to make a pretty big impression on him and anchored him back down to who his really is. So thank you, for saving my brother." He nodded towards me and I couldn't help but smile a little, but when I looked down at Morgukai I felt guilt run through me. "It's my fault that he was there, I didn't know that my previous king was just being used as a pawn for Marfedelom. I couldn't save him…" I began to cry, but a hand grabbed mine and took my attention back to Morgukia. His eyes were barely open and he was having trouble saying something, "Not...your...burden." was all he could say before the fever knocked him back out.
I turned to see Mythrik standing over me, "We need to get him to the guild, we can heal him there. Keep an eye on him till morning then we'll ride out. It should only take a few hours on dragon." He rolled out a bedroll and laid down, but I stayed sitting next to him for a few hours. I almost nodded off when Morgukia woke up shivering, "C-c...cold..." that was all he could get out before he passed back out, I dragged him a bit closer to the fire but he still shivered. I searched around for a blanket but then a thought dawned on me, and I couldn't stop myself from blushing. I crawled onto the cot and curled up onto him, his heartbeat was steady at least and the shivering finally stopped. "Just because he's cold, that's it." I quietly told myself, I quickly started to fall fast asleep on top of him and for once; I had a pleasant dream.
"Uh, this wasn't what I had in mind when I said watch him." I awoke to Mythrik's voice, as I groggily looked around and saw myself sprawled out in Morgukia's arms. I frantically jumped up and straightened my clothes, "It's not what it looks like! He, he was cold and I put him by the fire but he was still cold so I slept with him!" My cheeks were on fire, "N-not like that! I just uh..um.." Mythrik and Tiny were both laughing by now. "I like this elf." I heard Tiny say in Draconic. I lightly smacked my cheeks to bring myself back, and turned and walked off to recollect my thoughts.
"I left Edinval…" I said quietly to myself and looked up at the sky. I could call for him, but he probably wouldn't hear it. But he could track a hare for miles at least, maybe he'll find his way back to me. I found a small cleared patch in the woods, and a small, crystal pond was centered in it. I walked over and sat at the edge of the water, looking deeply at myself in the reflection. My once, regal, defined looks; destroyed by years of battles and abuse. What would mother think of me now? I tapped the surface of the water, and watched the ripples flow across the surface. "Ignival…" My ears twitched at the whisper-like echo of my name. The forest around me darkened, almost completely dark. I stood up quickly and readied an arrow in my bow.
"W-who's there? Show yourself!" I turned in circles, attempting to find the mysterious voice. "Just how long did you really think you could run from me pet?" I panicked, and my heartbeat rose dramatically. I couldn't think straight nor focus. I lost almost my balance over a rock, until the figure appeared in front of me. "My dear pretty Queen. Why ever would you choose to run away from me. Were the words, 'I do', all those years ago lies?" Marfedelom was only inches from my face, and I did nothing but freeze in panic. At a second's notice, I was launched into a nearby tree, the small nubbed branches tore into my skin, and splintered some of my rib bones. My shoulder becoming dislocated from the force, and I slid down the trunk. He was once again inches from me, and grabbed my neck, forcefully lifting me into the air. "You know how much I hate liars...so why must you toy with me." nothing but choked whimpers came from me. Trails of blood streamed from the corners of my mouth, and I could only dig my nails into his hand as defense. Which did nothing.
"I only wanted the monk. And you had to make things difficult for me," he tightened his grip on my throat, "and now that you're here, he's not far away. Still horribly injured from his little trial of death. Such a pity I'll have to use my beautiful Queen as bait for death." He laughed crudely, and slammed me to the ground. I couldn't move, nor did I want to. I let him bind my hands behind me. I was to weak and bloodied to restrain. If he finds Morgukia before Mythrik gets back...it's over.