Two Months Later


"Are you awake, Avi?" Solomon groaned, still on the rack.

Avi was on the floor wearing torn woven trousers with a rope belt.

She didn't answer.

The constant beatings she got and the lack of food and clean water was finally defeating her.

"Avi!" Solomon cried out. "Please, you've got to hold on."

"I...I can't" Avi moaned. "Solomon...I'm dying."

"No! No! You can't!"

"I can't go on...I can't go on."

"Oh, Avi!" sobbed Solomon. "What have I done to you!"

"Don't go blaming yourself," said Avi. "Unless you were the one who inflicted this pain upon me, you have nothing to feel regret about."

The door creaked open. Guy and his Templars entered the dungeon. He ordered them to pick Avi up and sit her on the table.

"Our patience is growing thin, old man," said Guy walking circles around Avi. "We tried being reasonable with you, but you just kept forcing us to take extreme measures. And the poor Summoner has suffered because of it. Do you think it pleases me, harming this beautiful creature and her perfect body."

He slid his hand down her spine. Avi whimpered and quivered, feeling his calloused fingers on her sore and bruised skin. Her back was covered with lashes from the countless whippings and burnings she received. She was poked with hot irons, beaten, starved, and raped over the past couple of months. She could take no more. Her tears ran dry and she could feel nothing. Her spirit was broken. She was an empty shell.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" shouted Solomon.

"What is there to touch?" said Guy. "She's barely alive. She is no good to us anymore."

"So you mean to kill her?" said Solomon.

"No," said Guy. He held up his hand. It was glowing in an eerie blue aura that whipped and crackled like fire. "If she is to die, she will not do so as the Summoner of Dragons."

"The Cleansing!" cried Solomon. "No, even you wouldn't be so cruel as to do this!"

"Oh, wouldn't I, Solomon?"

He held the flaming aura over Avi's mouth. Something was slithering out of it. Her mana, the magical energy needed to perform magic. Avi coughed, feeling it getting drained out of her body.

"Please, don't!"

"I won't," said Guy. "I will stop, all you have to do is read the maps."

"You have no idea what Hector will unleash if he finds those creatures!"

"Does it look like I care?" said Guy.

Avi began to choke and her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

"Stop, please, I beg of you!"

"Tell us where the maps are and she can keep her power, Solomon!"

"Please!"

"Say please one more time and I will rape her again and again until she dies and I will make you watch!"

"Don't..." Avi coughed. "Don't...tell...them...ackk...ackkk!"

"STOP!" cried Solomon. "I'LL TELL YOU! I WILL READ THE BLOODY MAPS! JUST DON'T HARM HER ANYMORE! PLEASE!"

SPILL IT!" shouted Guy, releasing Avi of the cleansing spell.

"Just send me the stones, and I will read them!"

"You're in luck," said Guy. "Shadow Company has a print out of the damn things right now. Give her food and water."

"Yes, My Lord," said the Templars.

And so, Solomon read the information on the scrolls, examined the ancient text, and studied every photo they tossed at him. He marked the locations of the Ancient Beasts on a map of Termnnia and was given a roasted chicken leg, mashed potatoes swimming in gravy, corn, and a cup of cold water as a reward.

But as he ate his feast, he used his cutting knife to stab a Templar in the neck and take his keys. Solomon grabbed the Templar's gun and ran back to the chamber where Avi was. He shot two Shadow Company guards who watched her and released her from her bonds.

An alarm began to wail inside the stronghold. Solomon and Avi were filled with adrenaline and ran to the top of the stronghold where they jumped into the sea. The Templars of the Church then rallied the people of White Tree to aid them in the search for Solomon and Avi. The villagers lit their torches, armed themselves with pitchforks, axes, pickaxes, shovels, scythes, anything they could use as a weapon and chased them into the Goldark Forest.

Shadow Company K-9 units led the hunting party. Their hound's barking echoed in the night and their flashlights danced across the darkness.

Avi and Solomon were not too far away from them. The villagers and the soldiers were getting closer and closer.

Avi fell.

"Get up, Avi!" said Solomon, helping her up. "We have to keep going!"

Avi whimpered and clung to Solomon. She fell again, bringing him down with her. The dog's barking was getting louder.

"Oh, Master, it's no use!" sobbed Avi. "Just leave me!"

"No, Avi, it is you who must keep going," said Solomon. "I will lead them away!"

"No," said Avi. "They'll kill you!"

"I must pay for betraying Yuri," said Solomon. "I vowed to stay strong and I failed."

"Only because of me!"

"No," said Solomon. "Avi, go! You must save yourself. I have started a chain of events that could doom Termnnia. If anything happens to Yuri, you could be the world's only hope to stop the darkness from returning."

"Solomon."

"Please, just go," said Solomon. "Let me repent for my sin, by saving you. Please, Avi, please."

She hugged him.

"Go!" he urged her.

Avi nodded and dashed into the forest and flung himself at the crowd. The Shadow Company dogs were released of their chains and took off into the night after Avi.

Solomon was hit in the stomach with a rifle butt, knocking him to his knees. Fira walked up to him, sucking on a cherry-flavored lollipop.

"Just had to be the big hero, huh?" she sneered at him. She drew her sword from her back and commanded the two soldiers to bow him down. "Yuri is to have a wedding so I heard. Let's see he gets his gift."

Meanwhile Avi dashed across the darkness of the forest. Snow was falling all around her and stung her exposed flesh with their cold bite. She crossed her arms over her chest to keep her breasts from flapping while she ran. The dogs could smell her and hear her. They had a look of blood lust in their eyes. She dashed around trees, hopped over logs, climbed up rock slopes and slipped and fell in the cold mud.

The animals behind her continued with their relentless pursuit. Avi had reached the foot of the lonely Turandur, the Mountain of the Coast Lords. She attempted to climb the slopes but the dogs caught up to her. They jumped up on their hind legs, trying to grab her ankles. Avi whimpered and sobbed as she tried to climb up the mountain.

FWAP! FWAP!

Went the bullets on the rocks. Someone was shooting at her.

"Come on now, Dove," jeered Fira. "Just get down from there and I'll make it quick. Otherwise, I'll let the dogs tear you limb from limb." She reached for her radio. "Saffron Unit, this is Fira. I've got the Summoner of Dragons corned at the foot of Turandur. How copy, over?"

"Roger, Fira, Solid Copy. On our way."

Avi knew backup was coming quickly. She made one last attempt and felt a sharp pain on her ankle once the hound grabbed a hold of her and shook its head violently. Avi screamed and tried to climb higher but was dragged back to the ground.

"Send a body bag," said Fira. "Or two, this is going to be very messy."

"Copy, Fira. Saffron Out."

Avi felt the dogs swarm her. One of them grabbed her by the hair and started tearing at it. Avi yelped and braced herself for the worst when something huge grabbed the dog gnawing at her ankle.

Ser Gerhalos roared into the dog's face as he held it up and then he ripped its head off. The other dogs charged at him, climbing on top of his large body to bite his neck, but he held them back with ease, smashing them against the rocks and ripping their limbs off. When they were gone he spotted Fira and charged for her.

"Oh shit." Were her last words before he rammed her head off with his arm. He held Fira's head up high with his hand and gave a thunderous roar that sent most of the mob running away. They did not see him, but his roar was so threatening coming from the dark that it installed a great fear into them. Even Shadow Company did not have the balls to find out what made that roar and scurried back to White Tree with the villagers.

"Ser Gerhalos," Avi croaked.

"Come on," said her knight-champion. He tore off her tattered, bloody, trousers and wrapped his torn cloth-of-gold cape around her.

"You're alive," she whispered weakly.

"I have a service to uphold," he said cradling her against his breastplate. "Just hold on. I am going to take you to Kaledras."

"The Elves?" Avi whispered.

"Yes, they will know what to do."

"Master Solomon," she gasped. "We must go save him."

"He is dead," said Ser Gerhalos. "They killed him. I am sorry, My Lady."

"Yuri...he'll make them pay dearly for this."

Ser Gerhalos gulped. "He's dead, too, my lady."

Avi could take no more sorrow and blacked out. Ser Gerhalos licked her lovingly on the face and dashed into the darkness.


Part XIII


Ser Gerhalos had ridden for days into the deepest parts of Thara. Past the Great White Mountains and into the fields of the kingdom of Katina. The Magician's Realm. Home of the Citadel and former heart of the elvish empire before the days of Norman the Conqueror and the awakening of Men.

Avi still lay asleep in his arms, wrapped in his cloth-of-gold cape like a baby in swaddling clothes.

When it would get dark, he made camp and spoon-fed her soup with the meat of rabbits and venison he recently hunted. After she ate her fill she would go right back to sleep with only a weak 'thank you' escaping her dry, bloodied lips.

"I will make them pay for what they have done to you, Avi." Ser Gerhalos would always say at the end of the day.

He petted her hair, once long and flowing down to her back like a golden river now horribly sheared off to her ears. He held her close and moaned with sorrow.

"I am sorry this happened to you. I failed as your champion. Mayhaps, you will find a more suitable warrior amongst the Elves."

He licked her face again. Then, with all his might. He removed the metal anti-magic collar around her neck.

"Chaining her up like a common dog!" he growled, throwing the collar into the woods. "I will kill them all!"

After he had picked up camp and got back atop his warhorse, which he had won from a murdering mercenary when he and Avi were apart and rode into an open field dotted with rocks an occasional pine, castle ruins, and outlined by the bluish-white majesty of the Great White Mountains far behind him.

He looked around the field looking for the landmark he had heard so much about during his travels.

The famous Black Stones of Katina Fields. Those were said to be the gateway in Kaledras, the ancient elven city hidden deep in the forests.

Avi stirred in his arms. Her weariness was wearing off, thank the Goddesses, but she would still be too weak to summon her dragons should they run into danger. Ser Gerhahos lost his sword in the falls and most of his gear.

"Black Stones!" he growled. "Where are those cursed Black Stones!"

A rumble in the sky answered his calls. It did not sound like anything natural. His heart gave a heave when he realized that the rumble in the sky was mechanical. He turned to where the rumbling came from and saw an aerial vehicle held up by propellers thundering towards him. Then, from the forest, emerged a convoy of jeeps and armored vehicles.

"Shadow Company!" shouted Ser Gerhalos. "Damn, they have found me!"

He kicked his horse into a run. But the beast could not outrun the aerial ship hovering above him, and the jeeps were getting closer and closer. They were so close that he could see the soldiers and their weapons.

"Heathanous mercenaries!" Ser Gerhalos growled. "They are not supposed to be in these lands!"

A door in the airship opened. A sniper, clad in a tactical leather suit black as night with a black mask with one green optic sat on the railing and took out his rifle.

"YAH!" Ser Gerhalos, snapping the reins to get his warhorse to gallop faster.

The sniper fired. He missed. He fired again. The bullet struck Ser Gerhalos's shoulder armor.

Commander Knox rode inside an APC which stood at the top of a hill overlooking the operation to recapture Avi and kill Ser Gerhalos.

"Citadel this is Night Owl," said the helicopter pilot. "I've got visual on the cat man and the Summoner of Dragons."

"Citadel, Predator-Actual," said a drone pilot. "We've got a good view of Katina Fields from here. Ser Gerhalos and the Summoner have been tagged by the drone. They're not going to escape from us this time."

"Good," Commander Knox said taking a sip of coffee from his white mug. "Kill the cat man and get the bitch so we can go home. I'm tired of being in the fairytale lands."

"You said it, Commander."

Ser Gerhalos roared below. "YOU WILL NOT HAVE HER!"

Bullets whooshed by him, barely missing him. Shadow Company was shooting everything they had at him. He looked down at Avi.

"Avi!" said Ser Gerhalos. "Wake up! You have to summon your dragons now!"

Avi merely croaked in his arms.

"Avi please!" Ser Gerhalos pleaded. "I can't let them take you again! Wake up!"

The bullets hit his horse. The beast neighed one last time and flipped over knocking Ser Gerhalos and Avi to the ground.

"NO!" he shouted, crawling towards her to pick her up. "Leave her alone!"

More bullets cracked his armor. His large pauldron shattered at last. The soldiers jumped out of their vehicles and fired their weapons. The bullets could not pierce Ser Gerhalos's armor.

He took advantage of the fact that they did not aim for his head and started to attack, tearing them limb from limb. But he felt a familiar prick on his neck.

"Ah, ah, ah!" said the abbot of the Domino City Chapel, coming out of one of the jeeps with his dart gun. "How many times must you and I go through this?"

"No!" Ser Gerhalos got to his knees, trying to fight back the sedative coursing through his veins.

"We got them now!"

"We got 'em! We got 'em!"

"Beers are on me tonight, boys," said Commander Knox on the radio. "Don't spoil them too much."

"Oh, I won't," said the abbot. He unwrapped Avi from the cloak and flipped her to her back

"Leave her alone!" shouted Ser Gerhalos.

"Consider the wedding off Ms. Avi. Your job is done," said the abbot.

But then. A horn echoed across the fields from the forest.

Suddenly an arrow flew from the trees and struck a soldier in the chest. It pierced through his chestplate and struck his heart.

Boing-oing-oing it went as it vibrated from the impact. The soldier grunted as he fell back.

More flew out and took down the rest.

Then, Aigami came riding out of the forest on a white horse. He was followed by a cavalry of a hundred warriors wearing armor of leather with layers of silver plate and draped in navy blue sashes and capes chased and trimmed in white.

The bannermen held their colors high leading the charge into battle. The exotic horn blew again.

"Elves!" shouted Night Owl. "Fucking Elves!"

Arrows flew from the forest as a hundred more Elven warriors rode out from the trees on all sides of the fields.

Spears sang through the air and jabbed through the tactical armor of the vile mercenaries who were defiling the land of the Elves with their destructive technology. From the west, an Eldori shot out of the trees atop a red Duel Runner.

"Ser Yusei!" gasped Ser Gerhalos.

A heavenly roar erupted from the mountains. Yusei's Stardust Dragon swooped down from the clouds that covered their peaks and fired a sparkling blue energy beam at the Shadow Company helicopter.

The Elves skewered more mercenaries with their javelins, halberds, and spears. Pyromancers shot powerful balls of fire from their hands and decimated Shadow Company's vehicles.

So confused by the chaos, the abbot failed to see Ser Gerhalos regain his strength. The Leogai picked him up and bit his head off, and he did it slowly to make him suffer.

"Aw, you've gotta be shitting me," said Commander Knox, watching his men get slaughtered by the Elves in the fields below on the glass display screens. "That isn't right!"

He put the radio to his mouth and shouted. "What the hell do I pay you for? You are highly trained soldiers with the most advanced weaponry in Termnnia, and you can't fight off Woodland Elves with bows and arrows!"

"If I were you, Commander," said Lions. "I suggest we make a retreat. It's clear the Elves are going to be taking care of Avi. Let us regroup and come back for them later."

"No! She's right there!"

"Yes, right there and surrounded by hundreds of Elves, a dragon, and an Eyar. Think for once in your life, Knox!"

Commander Knox growled and snarled like an angry rhino. "All units, retreat."

"We can take them!"

"That's an order!" Knox shouted.

"All units, ceasefire and make a break for the Eltuvi Forest," said a rescue team. "Pop smoke to mark your location. Birds will be inbound. E-T-A five minutes."

"This isn't over, Summoner," said Commander Knox. "After everything comes into fruition, not even the Elves, your dragons, or the God Cards can save you."

The APC turned around and drove back into the forest alongside the fleeing men.

Yusei and Aigami rode towards Ser Gerhalos.

"Where have you been?' Aigami asked.

"I could ask you the same question," Ser Gerhalos said, picking Avi up from the ground and cradling her once more. "For someone with so much power, you failed miserably in keeping Lady Avi safe from these vermin."

"They had anti-magic technology at their disposal," said Aigami. "What was I supposed to do?"

"Even their foul technology has proven superior over the Eyar," Yusei said sadly. "This is truly a dark time."

Stardust Dragon swooped over the fields searching for more foes.

"Not just yet," said an Elf riding towards them atop a Pegasus with silver bells on its mane. He looked at Avi, asleep in the Leogai's arms.

"Ser Gerhalos," said Aigami. "This is King Erthond of the Great White Mountains. Ruler of the Woodland Elves. He has some news Lady Avi might want to hear."

Ser Gerhalos followed Aigami, Yusei, and King Erthond into the forest with trees that arched over for miles to conceal a canyon with towering waterfalls pouring into a city forgotten by Men.

"Welcome to Kaledras," said Aigami.

"So what business did you hope to find here?" Ser Gerhalos asked, following a narrow dirt path on the face of the cliffs.

"I had hoped to raise an army," said Aigami. "But the Elves refuse to fight."

"Against who?" Ser Gerhalos asked.

"Guy de la Tierra Sainte," said Yusei, pushing his Duel Runner down the dirt path. "The Church of Yeyu was behind the capture and torture of Avi and the murder of Master Solomon. While I was back in Rasaay to oversee the coronation of High King Yuri, they challenged him in battle."

"The cowards!" said Ser Gerhalos.

"Yuri amassed an army in most of Northern Emboldor," said Aigami.

"You mean the side of Emboldor that has not turned tail and went to the Boy King of the Coasts?" growled Ser Gerhalos.

"You can say that," said Yusei. "Yuri and his allies fended off Hector and his army who march upon Guy's stronghold to recover him and the maps to the Ancient Beasts. The battle was won and the maps were secure, but Yuri...Yuri was assassinated by the Sisterhood of Denethon."

"NO!" shouted Ser Gerhalos, smashing his fist on the table. "This can't be! This cannot be!"

"Your Grace," Ser Gerhalos said looking at the Elven king. "You control the armies of all the Elves of Termnnia. Perhaps there is a way you could…"

"No!" said King Erthond. "I need my troops here to protect the realm of my people. Now that those modern mercenaries know where to find us, my city and my kingdom are in grave danger. I need every bow and every sword at my command."

"But My Lord…"

"We are not part of this alliance, Ser Gerhalos," King Erthond said as they entered the city. "Clearly the Ruler of Men has no need for our aid!"

"But father!" cried Erthond's daughter Taarie sprinting quickly toward the soldiers as they entered through the city gates. "Listen to what Master Yusei has to say."

"There's nothing more that can be said," said one of Yusei's knights, Jack Atlas-Knight of the Red Dragon Archfiend. "Your father is a stubborn one, Taarie."

"Very stubborn," said Akiza Izinkski Knight of the Black Rose.

"I've tried all I could," said Crow Hogan. "Looks like we ride to the Gray Hills alone."

"So be it," said Yusei.

"I'm going with them!" said Taarie.

"You will do no such thing," said Erthond, climbing off his Pegasus.

"I can fight!"

"NO!"

Taarie stood her ground.

"If you leave with them on the morrow, Taarie, don't you ever come back. I will say no more. You helped one outsider, I'll be damned if I watch you help another."

He snapped his fingers to call two Elves with a gurney for Avi. "These Elves will help clean her up," Erthond said to Ser Gerhalos. "They will not harm her."

"Is that?" said Crow, watching Ser Gerhalos put Avi on the gurney.

"The Summoner of Dragons in the flesh," Jack Atlas said crossing his arms. "Though I thought she'd sport a more decent hair cut."

"She had beautiful hair," Ser Gehalos assured him. "But she lost it on the count of her tormentors in the fort of Guy de la Tierra Sainte, who tried to have me killed as well. The Church sent a Templar to keep an eye on us,"

"Fira?" said Aigami. "Where is she?"

"In one of the Nine Hells!" said Ser Gerhalos. "I removed her head as she hunted Avi down with dogs like common game. I can only pray she's in the deepest pit with Zorc himself."

"Ser Knight," said Taarie. "We do not speak his name here. The Dark Master has been a mortal enemy of my people."

"Where are the others, Master Aigami?' said Ser Gerhalos. "Ser Damien, Ser Arthur, young Tordo, and Aldara?"

Aigami pursed his lips.

"What happened?"

"They're all gone," said Aigami. "Save for Aldara. She and I escaped the caves of the temple. Constantine, Trish, Santiago, and Blair vanished. Ser Damien was killed in battle. You're all she has left.

"I will do what I can to keep her safe," said Ser Gerhalos. "This time, I will not fail."