- - - - - - - - - - - -
Emperor Ublaz lay, dying, pain tingling through his body. He could hardly focus his thoughts; they kept swimming all over the place, crowding in his brain. But one thought rang clear in his mind: he was dying.
Everything he had fought for was drifting...drifting...dying.
Like him.
His head lolled to one side, and his vision began to blur. Saliva dripped from his lips, and, suddenly, his mind began to drift.
Back to the first moment when he had seen Sampetra, when he had first met Lask Frildur and the monitors...
- Flashback -
It was a long, hot day out in the many reaches of the sea. The waters rippled, and seabirds wheeled overhead, crying and calling to each other. Waves broke against the side of the ship, rocking it gently.
Captain Ublaz stood at the bow, watching the island grow larger on the horizon. He was a barbaric sight: dressed in long red and green robes, he carried a long curved scimitar in a sash. He smiled thinly as he watched the small gathering on the shore. Large lizards, lots of them.
"Shall we kill them, Cap'n?"
It was Sagitar Sawfang. Ublaz had sensed her coming up behind him, and he didn't look at her as he replied, "No, I think they will be useful to me. Tell ten others to accompany you and I down to the shore to consult them."
Sagitar nodded reluctantly, though Ublaz knew she would carry out his orders. She had no other choice. She would be slain immediately if she did otherwise.
Soon, as the hot midday sun beat overhead, the corsairs beached the craft on the sandy shore. Sagitar and ten others stood behind the captain, and he motioned to them, nimbly climbing down the ladder on the side of the ship and dropping to the shore.
"Who are you?" one of the lizards asked, its long red tongue flicking in and out as it spoke.
Ublaz smiled in a friendly manner, noting that this lizard was taller than the others, head and shoulders. He knew this was the leader. "We are merely friendly beasts, traveling through the waves, and happened to stumble upon your island."
The monitor hissed softly, an amused expression on his face. "We are not ztupid. I am Lazk Frildur, leader of thiz island. I have zeen your kind pazzing by. Big zhipz, many zlaves to row for them. Zome have even ztopped here to rezt."
"Really? And are there any here now?"
Lask Frildur laughed, a loud frenzied hissing noise. The monitors around him laughed as well, and Ublaz turned his head from their breath.
"They never leave," the monitor said finally. "We eat them!"
Ublaz smiled, but really he was disgusted. "I see. Well, Lask Frildur...would you be interested at all in talking with me aboard my vessel?"
The lizard sneered. "Why would I wazte my time to do that?"
Ublaz waved his paw, and suddenly the ship was bristling with rats, ferrets and weasels, their bows trained on the monitors.
It took Lask a couple of seconds to register what was going on, and then he spat in disgust, swivelling his head back to Ublaz. "Fine, I will go aboard your zhip. But only for a zmall time."
Ublaz's smile widened. "Thank you, my friend. That is all I ask."
- - - - - - - - - -
Ublaz told his archers to keep their bows trained on the monitors while he and Frildur were in the ship. The captain led the monitor to his cabin: a large room, with many chests filled with treasure and plunder from the high seas. A table and chairs was set in the middle of the room, and that was where Lask Frildur sat with Ublaz.
The clever pine marten took two glasses and a bottle of wine and poured some for them both, pushing a goblet towards Frildur. The lizard sniffed it and shook his head, obviously not approving it. Ublaz took a sip of the wine.
"Don't worry, I drink only the finest of wines. Taste it, you will like it."
Lask finally dipped his tongue experimentally into the goblet, tasted the wine, then began to lap it, glancing around the room as he did. Ublaz took another sip, waited until the lizard had finished his goblet, then suddenly fixed a stare on the monitor.
"Lask, look into my eyes."
"What-"
Ublaz reached out, grabbed the lizard's huge head, and pointed it towards him. "Look into my eyes...now!"
The monitor, as soon as he fixed his eyes on the captain's, suddenly stopped moving. He became fixated, his large eyes clouding over slowly as the hypnotic power of Ublaz Madeyes took over him.
"Listen to me, Frildur. I am Ublaz, terror of the high seas, ruler of S.S Bloodhawk. None has ever defeated me in a swordfight. I have come to this island of Sampetra to become strong. I want to raise an army, create a palace...I want it all. I want to be a king...an Emperor!"
Lask Frildur nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving those of the captain. "I will talk to my lizards, Zire. I will make zure they help you. We will make thiz palaze you have zearched for...I will azzure you of thiz!"
Ublaz nodded, knowing he had the monitor under the full power of his stare. He reached out, grabbed the bottle and poured a little into his goblet.
"More wine, my faithful Lask Frildur?"
- End of flashback -
Those days were long gone now. The days he had first made his kingdom.
Ublaz closed his eyes, his head throbbing and his limbs twitching. It had all been for nothing. The Tears of All Oceans had been stolen from him. He had never retrieved them. He had failed, his kingdom and his monitors had been brought down.
And he was dying.
Dying because of the creature he had thought he had full power over.
He had thought he had full power over everything with his stare. Then, through a haze, he remembered something...the mouse...the one who was responsible for his death!
He had looked into the mouse's eyes with his power...he had seen the mouse on his ship! Yes, the ship. And he had looked into his eyes...the mouse had stared back. Unfazed.
He had failed to use his power.
And he failed now, he had failed in everything, because of his mistake. He would never live to place the crown on his head with the Tears of All Oceans in it again.
He suddenly felt a spasm in his legs, and he hit his head off the round, turning the world in a blur. It turned from coloured lights to hazy grey...then nothing.
Nothing.
Emperor Ublaz, Emperor of Sampetra, who had been able to control with the power of his stare...was dead.