Chapter 7: The Escape
"So what if your father's middle initial is K!" cried K at his mysterious cell mate.
"His full name is Claude K. Winchester," said the man like a death sentence.
K's mouth moved to speak but no words came out.
"He is the king of this kingdom and he's been alive for over three thousand years. He lives forever because he is the bearer of the Sovereign rune. It is one of the twenty-seven true runes. It is also an evil rune and will do anything to stay in power. That…is why I'm down here," finished the soft voice.
Now that K thought about it, this prisoner sounded a lot like him. Oh god it couldn't be, "Michael?"
"Yes…"
Bodies heated with desire, hands moved over each other, both men were enraptured in lust. The air smelled musky and as K promised it was very warm. Hiro was feeling like a teenager on a first date. His heart was beating hard against his chest and his palms felt sweaty. He was a bit nervous but K didn't seem to notice.
The first thing Hiro grabbed for was his blonde hair. He ran the miles of golden hair through his fingers, feeling its tremendous softness. But he was denied further touching as K sat up on his lap, crushing his erection under his ass.
Hiro let a moan escape at the feeling.
"Mmm, you're enjoying this aren't you Hiro. Do you think he'll hate you after this?" K laughed evilly and swept his hand over Hiro's face. "Open your mind," he said.
It was like tsunami of emotions and thoughts poured into Hiro's mind suddenly. "What did you just do?" Hiro demanded looking at K with worried eyes.
"I unlocked your mind, so he can feel this." K said and opened Hiro's vest and then his shirt, exposing Hiro's chest. It heaved as what he just said registered in Hiro's mind. "So pretty," K murmured and pinned Hiro's arms down as he crushed his lips to the guitarists'.
K suddenly felt weak in the knees, he was talking to Michael when a vast amount of fear just filled him. It was not his fear, it was Hiro's! "But why do you sound like a man?! Am I your father? I don't understand all this rune shit!" K clamoured as he held onto the bars to keep him steady.
An arm came from the cell next to him, Michael held out his hand for K to take. Hesitantly, K looked over the dirty hand but he too reached through the bars and grasped the hand. The grip was needy, yet strong and K felt a lost for words.
"K!"
"HIRO!" K cried out when he heard Hiro's call. He could suddenly feel Hiro's mind again, but why? There was so much fear and anger.
"Quickly we need to get out of here. Your lover is about to be taken against his will. Just use the air, compress it and think of blades…saw blades. I can't cast magic because I don't bear my Blue Gate rune, it was taken from me. Concentrate," Michael instructed.
Feeling like he was James Bond about to get his pecker zapped off with that laser, K almost panicked. His crush was about to be raped and his cellmate turns out to be Michael—who is a grown man! Could anything be more insane then this?!
"Do it, there are no guards around!" hollered Michael, "I need to take back what is rightfully mine!"
Okay concentrate Claude, he told himself think of air as razor blades.
Spinning.
Loud.
Fast!
Just then a zinging sound came closer and K ducked, as a bright green blade flew over his head and banged off the wall, sending a chuck of stone to the floor.
"That's it, I heard the sound. Remember you can control wind or air. You have incredible power; now destroy these bars with the blades!" Michael boasted, still holding his "other" fathers hand.
K held onto Michael firmly and he thought of Hiro who was in trouble, he thought of Shuichi and Yuki, he thought of how evil this dungeon was and the incredible injustice done to Michael. He felt angered and he summoned not only one blade but three huge blades of compressed air. They sliced through the bars like a hot knife to ice. Then he cut off the shackles. K let go of Michael's hand and climbed through the bars. He was free!
K could feel heat and a tremendous fiery rage! Hiro was furious and scared all at once.
"I'm coming Hiro!"
"The king, he is not you!"
K darted off but paused, "Michael! I can't leave you behind!" K said exasperated and ran back to face…his son. There behind bars was Michael all grown up into a man. How much it seemed to K that he was staring into a mirror. Michael's hair was not as long as his but his eyes were just as blue and he had his mother's nose. But his face was sullen and he was very dirty, for all the time he'd spent in this dungeon. The sight saddened K so much he felt his eyes well with tears.
"How…can this be?" K whispered as a tear rolled down his cheek.
Silently a hand reached past the bars and a thumb wiped away the fugitive tear. Michael seemed to have a look of surprise on his face as well. "You look just like…my father. But I'm the king's son, not yours. There is some great evil among us but now is not the time to dwell on it," Michael spoke softly.
"But…but…huh?"
"I'll explain everything to you later, but right now go save him Claude," the older version of Michael urged.
As K nodded and took off towards the stairs he again summoned the blades of air. They tore through Michael's cell bars and K felt utterly hesitant about leaving this grown up Michael. But he had to go help Hiro and so K dashed up the stairs.
"He's feeling your fear Hiro, every little squirm in your heart. Maybe he's screaming out your name as you scream his," the king whispered over Hiro's ear as he licked it with a hot wet tongue.
Hiro struggled but to no avail, the king's strength was powerful, he couldn't break free. The king was going to take him against his wishes. Hiro didn't wish for this, this was not K!
"You tricked me! Why do you look like K?!" Hiro demanded as the king with a sneer licked down his chest, still pinning his arms.
"Be quiet and enjoy this Hiro…and it's not K my name is Claude. I hate that K crap!" snapped the king.
Hiro felt like he was cornered, it was a horrible feeling. It made his heart bang in his chest like a sledgehammer and his cheeks flush with intensity. He had to get away! There was only one hope. Hiro closed his eyes and pictured the entire room engulfed in flames.
"Come fire, help me," Hiro thought.
Hiro opened his eyes and the whole room was a blasting inferno. Fire swept over the walls and licked at the bed they were on. Anything and everything that could burn was doing so.
But the king only laughed, "Nothing you do can hurt me Hiro. My rune makes me immune to all other forms of magic."
"Why are you doing this to me?!" Hiro yelled back. Feeling more fear at hearing the king's words.
The K look-alike stared at Hiro as his eyes turned yellow like the night on the terrace. Hiro whimpered beneath his grasp and struggled yet again. "Because I never had a true love like yours and I want it. At first I was just going to kill you but then..." the king brushed the side of his finger down Hiro's cheek, "I was enraptured by you. I never felt that kind of lust for a very long time. I could make you my prince….wouldn't that be nice. We could share every night together, making love…"
The king's words were making Hiro furious, so angry that the fire around him roared. His own eyes became red with fury and in one unstable moment, Hiro felt a tremendous amount of magical energy shove the king away. It was a gigantic fireball that tossed him across the room.
Hiro got to his feet, "You are evil and I demand you tell me what you did with my K?!"
The door flew open and there stood Hiro's K.
For a moment all three stared from one to the other. It was like seeing something from the Twilight Zone. K stood looking at a man that looked exactly like himself! The king that Michael had mentioned, this must be him.
"Where does one put his gun on that pompous outfit of yours?" K asked the king with a smart ass grin. Only the grin wasn't that of happiness but more that of sarcastic anger.
"K!" Hiro cried and ran over to him. "We have to get out of here, he's evil and strong." He quickly noticed K was bare foot and still had shackles on his ankles, but at least they were separated.
K could feel the king's hatred, so could Hiro, now that the spell that had quieted their telepathy was lifted. He was staring at his double and hesitated to kick his ass. "We have to stop him Hiro," K cried feeling the heat of the fire all around him.
"Forget it…let's just get out of here!" But as the words came from Hiro's mouth the door all a flame, slammed shut behind them.
"Sad, how very sad that you will both have to die now," said the king with maliciousness as he stood up.
Still his eyes were that of a lizard, yellow with black slits, almost like a cat. K had to shake his head and forget that he was staring at his image. The king came towards them but K called upon his wind rune. Just like he had done in the dungeon he conjured two air blades. They went straight for the king but were only deflected and dissipated.
"Useless…" went the king.
Hiro couldn't believe what K just did but it reminded him of the incident with the tree, the fire that burnt it to a crisp. "Flaming arrows!" he cried. Out of no where a series of raining arrows, all aflame, flew towards the king. But once again they were all deflected.
The king laughed, evilly and before their eyes, he began to transform. Skin was replaced with scales and a forked tongue grew forth, the beast grew huge. Moments later a three headed dragon leered at them. Its head crashed through the ceiling and its wings spread and took out the walls on either side.
Then it roared.
The sound was so deafening that K and Hiro froze in shock. They gaped at the beast before their eyes. But for K it didn't take him long to regain composure, "Think of it as one of Reji's pandas Hiro! Let's kill it!"
Hiro nodded and together they both repeated their spells, casting wind and fire at the dragon. Actually this time, it screeched. But it also unleashed a torrent of fire at them. Hiro was quicker; he jumped in front of K, face to face and threw his arms around the man. The fire did nothing to them, Hiro was immune to fire and holding onto K allowed him to share it.
But the dragon had three heads and each one had a power of its own. It was about to spew ice at them but K hit the dragon with more wind, before it had a chance. The beast screeched again. Although it was going to take a lot more than a few fire and wind spells to kill this enemy and they knew it. The dragon was not letting up.
Then the ground began to shake. Something monstrous was nearing. They could hear footfalls.
BOOM
BOOM
It was coming closer. Suddenly the wall behind the dragon was smashed open and a giant hand grabbed at the dragon. In one swift move the hand hauled the dragon out of the room. Dust, fire and rumble was what remained of the kings chambers.
K and Hiro weren't sure if they should go and see what happened on the other side of the wall. But they did anyways. There under the light of the moon stood a huge giant samurai warrior. It carried a huge scythe like blade; it swung at the dragon who managed to free itself from the warriors grasp. The dragon was half the size of the giant warrior and it cast a spell that had rays of light raining down from the heavens. Instantly the warrior evaporated and was gone.
Behind them the door came crashing open. There stood Michael, Suguru and Sakano. "Get out of here now! I have bought you some time but he's coming back," demanded Michael.
"Michael…" K breathed, looking over at Suguru and Sakano. When the hell did they get here? Did he sense their magic as well? "Come with us," K urged the grown up Michael.
"Leave here and head for the caves south of here. I will meet you all there," Michael promised and went, "Hurry now; take some horses from the stable and go."
Hiro was looking from Michael to K like he was seeing double again…well almost. Michael? Oh my god there was a Michael in this world too? Why was he as old as K? But his thoughts were interrupted as K grabbed his arm and ushered him out of the castle.
"Come on guys!" Hiro told the producer and the keyboardist.
There was no time for words and all four of them ran down the stairs, K tossed a look back at his grown up son. He knew now it wasn't really "his" Michael but still, he couldn't help but feel something when he looked at him. But there was no time to dwell on that, so they did as they were told and ran to the smelliest building in the courtyard, the stables.
Once inside Hiro declared, "I don't know how to ride a horse."
"I can," boasted Sakano.
Hiro gave the producer a look, well "Yay" for small miracles.
Thankfully K had grown up around horses as a boy and he knew it would all come back. He didn't even bother saddling the chestnut quarter horse; he climbed up and held out his hand for Hiro.
"Climb up on behind me Hiro and Suguru can ride with Sakano," K said quickly.
Hiro was stricken for a moment as he recalled the king had said exactly that when he'd met him in the forest.
But this time when he climbed up behind K he went, "Yeehaw, prepare yourself for a sore ass buddy!"
This was the K Hiro knew, he chuckled and wrapped his arms around K's torso with the happiest grin on his face. As they rode off, Hiro looked around but there was no sign of any dragon. Man, the king was a dragon! This whole place was like one big fairy tale, and they were caught up in it.
Making to the road, past the village that was half destroyed, they managed to make it to the forest edge. South, Michael had told them. There was only one trail visible enough to follow by moonlight and even that was hard enough. K let the horse guide itself. Sakano and Suguru were behind them, silently following along. They minds' were also broken free from the kings spell.
"Hiro…?"
"K?"
"I'm glad you're alright," K said softly.
Hiro sighed; he was feeling sort of dumb for not realizing that the king was not K after all. And how K spent all that time in a dungeon, "K…I…I'm an idiot."
"Nah, you're never an idiot Hiro," K said with a smile, "I can still smell your pheromones you know? Plus your mind is an open book right now."
Hiro was also smiling softly, "Yea then you know what I'm feeling, just as well as I know what you're feeling, correct?"
"Mmmhmm," K murmured, "I kinda knew before all this though."
Hiro thought of the night he saw K crying and couldn't stop it fast enough.
K sighed then, "Does it surprise you that I cry Hiro?"
The guitarist went, "Of course not, I guess you give the impression that you're such a tough guy. I wasn't disgusted rather I was humbled."
"Humbled," K repeated and then he laughed and began to sing…
"Oh Lord it's hard to be humble
when you're perfect in every way,
I can't wait to look in the mirror
cause I get better looking each day
To know me is to love me
I must be a hell of a man.
Oh Lord it's hard to be humble
but I'm doing the best that I can.
I guess you could say I'm a loner,
a cowboy outlaw tough and proud.
I could have lots of friends if I want to
but then I wouldn't stand out from the crowd.
Some folks say that I'm egotistical.
Hell, I don't even know what that means.
I guess it has something to do with the way that I
fill out my skin tight blue jeans.
Oh…Lord it's hard to be humble…"
Sakano and Suguru facefaulted with K's goofy song but it was relieving to hear it. At least it took away some of the gloom from the horrors they saw at the door of the kings chambers.
Hiro couldn't remember the last time he laughed so hard. "You are such a fool, a singing fool." Only K could be silly at a time like this, Hiro thought and asked, "Man, where did you hear that song?"
"Before your time Hiro an American classic," K laughed, "Mac Davis, really funny performer." Then K stiffened a little, "Err…you might not want to hold on to tightly…I need a bath big time."
Hiro tightened his grip around K anyways; how he missed this crazy buffoon of a manager. Sure K was ripe but after all he went through, Hiro wanted to give him all the warmth he had. His fire symbol glowed.