2nd Time Around
Chapter 4
(AN: I'm basing this off the first movie…not the book!)
Atreyu knew where he was. He was at the Old City where he first killed Gmork. He was thrown into a cave that had shackles hanging from the wall. Elder grabbed him around the neck and chained him to the wall.
"You'll never get away with this Elder!" he yelled. Elder looked at him. "First, my name is Tir," he said. "Tir," seethed Atreyu. He tried to attack, but the chains pulled him back to the wall.
"It's no use trying to escape," said Gmork as he stalked over. Atreyu looked the creature straight in the face. "When I get out of here, you're the first one I'm going to kill," said Atreyu.
"Tir, keep watch over him. We don't want him escaping or for him to have any uninvited guests trying to rescue him," said Gmork.
Tir nodded his head yes. Then to Atreyu's surprise, he started to shed. The skin peeled off, his hair fell out, replaced with long blond hair which was tied back in a high ponytail. This was his true look. Tir was 6ft even, a lot taller than Atreyu.
He had eyes that were as red as blood. He chin was tight. Atreyu looked at him. "Why?" he asked. Tir smiled. "Why did I pretend to be the Elder?" he asked. "Yes," said Atreyu. "Well, it's a long story," said Tir.
"Looks as though I might as well tell ya, seeing as how you're not going anywhere," said Tir. He gripped Atreyu's chin in his hand.
"Getting rid of the real Elder was easy. All I did was draw him out of his tent telling him that you were in trouble. He came out, I killed him, then tossed his body into the nearby river," said Tir. "It was night, so no one saw me," he said.
"Then I took on his identity. I can shape shift into other people, then I had to sit and wait. Gmork was supposed to kill you, but I was the backup plan in case he failed, which he did. Now we will kill you together," said Tir.
He let go of Atreyu. "Don't worry. You'll be dead within the next couple of hours," said Tir as he stalked away. "By the way, the reason I'm working with Gmork is because I want to see Fantasia come to it's end. I have the same reasons for killing you as Gmork. You stopped that from happening last time, but this time, you're unfortunate," said Tir.
Atreyu started to struggle against the chains that bound him, but all that did was cut his wrists. Some blood started to pour out of the new wounds. "I better stop before I bleed to death," said Atreyu.
He sat down with his arms hovering above his head. "Looks like I'm done for," he said.
Meanwhile, in another part of Fantasia, Artax had been galloping at full speed following Gmork's tracks. Soon, they came to a huge cliff. Gmork had clearly jumped it, but could Artax?
He reared up pacing back and forth near the edge of the cliff. "Be careful or you'll fall," said a voice from above. Artax pricked his ears forward as a pink fluffy luckdragon landed close to Artax.
"As soon as I saw you, I knew you needed assistance," he said. "Wait a minute," said Falkor. He looked at Artax. the horse was sweating and his eyes wide with fear. "You're Atreyu's horse. Artax, right?" he asked. The white horse nodded his long crested neck.
"Where is Atreyu? Did you get loose from him?" asked Falkor. Artax shook his head. He pawed the ground. Falkor looked at the bog wolf tracks in the dirt.
"He was taken by a wolf?" asked Falkor. Artax again nodded his head. "Alright, I will assist you in finding him," said Falkor, who took flight. His paws gently took Artax and together they flew over the ground until they came to a dirty abandoned city. There was no other place they could have been.
Falkor landed Artax in the ocean. The horse swam to shore and shook his body. "Listen Artax," said Falkor. "I'm too big to walk into the city, so you're going to have to do that," said Falkor. Artax looked at the ground and sure enough, the wolf tracks led into the city.
Artax nodded his head then trotted into the city. Thankfully, this horse had no shoes on so his feet didn't click clock on the cement. "Good luck," said Falkor as he just stood in the sand.