Chapter 5

His grumbling stomach woke him up. He opened his eyes lazily and looked around. He thought the whole previous day was just a product of his imagination, but now he was certain that it really happened. Pale morning light fell through the window, allowing him to finally see the room clearly.

Two things caught his attention.

The first was that the thing he was lying on was covered in some weird, repeating symbols: a small, yellow circle surrounded by red things coming out of it in all directions and a green, twisting line connecting all the symbols. Maybe these were some runes the witch had put there? Yes, that must have been it. Sleep runes. That's why he fell asleep. There was no other explanation.

The second thing bothering him was currently on his left and breathing deeply. It was the witch herself.

He had always been wondering why did the female humans keep their hair long. It was impractical and surely a pain to manage. But when he looked at the White Sorceress' hair, he immediately understood.

The morning light caught in red wisps, causing them to look as though they were the fire itself. Koragg didn't know much about what humans deemed beautiful, but her hair surely belonged in the 'beautiful' category. He wondered how would it feel like to touch it. He extended his fingers as far as he could and hesitantly touched a stray lock. He was disappointed when he didn't feel anything special. Maybe it was because of the glove he was wearing. Was there a way to remove it?

He remembered his conversation with Solaris last night. He suggested that taking off his armor would make him more comfortable. It was hard to even think of, but maybe he was right.

The witch turned in her sleep and mumbled something. He immediately took his hand away from her. She was still murmuring and he strained to hear her words.

"No... Leanbow... don't go..."

He froze.

Leanbow.

He knew that name. But from where? Was someone in the Underworld called Leanbow? No. There was something important he was forgetting. It felt like there was a barrier in his mind, preventing him from connecting this name to a face. Soon his head started to ache.

This reminded him of something that happened while he was asleep. A pain even worse than the one in his leg. A woman's voice... casting a spell? Yes, definetly a spell, but an odd sounding one, with some kind of rythm. He was sure there was a word for it, but trying to remember it was similar to the mention of mysterious Leanbow – a barrier stopped him from thinking too much about it. It was like this with many things that surrounded him, the simplest example being the thing he was lying on. He knew the purpose it served, but what was it actually called? This obliviousness was scaring him a little.

The thing that really terrified him was the presence of his master he had felt. Usually it comforted him, but in that moment he had just been wishing just wishing for it to go away. He could still hear the words in his mind coaxing him to give up, to let everything go and simply die. For a moment he'd really wanted to do just that, anything to stop the agony. But then a woman's voice had reverberated in his head. 'Now it's up to you.' She had given him a choice. No one did that before. He was always just taking orders either from Morticon or Imperious. It had felt good to be able to decide for himself.

And he'd decided not to give up. He wanted to continue fighting – in the name of honor. The Master didn't matter to him anymore, not when he made himself so clear about wanting to destroy Koragg.

Sleeping on the floor wasn't her greatest idea, Clare decided. Her whole back was horribly stiff. Slowly she hoisted herself up, cursing at her stupidity. Everything went black for a second and she blindly reached out for something to support her. Her hand met the wall and she sighed in relief. The blackness has finally subsided.

She saw Udonna sleeping with her head on Koragg's bed. 'I should probably wake her up,' Clare mused. She walked up to her mentor and gently shook her shoulder.

"Psst! Wake up, Udonna! You shouldn't sleep he-"

Clare gasped when Udonna suddenly snapped her head up. She looked around the room as if searching for something and finally noticed her apprentice.

"Oh, Clare, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. What time is it?"

"I don't know, I've just woken up myself. Probably it's somewhere around 6 o'clock," she answered. "Uhh, how did it go last night? I don't remember a thing."

Udonna rubbed her eyes tiredly. "I'm not entirely sure. There was this moment when I thought all was lost, but then all of sudden the connection between The Master and Koragg broke. I have no idea what caused this to happen."

A loud rumble coming from Koragg's direction caught their attention.

"So you're awake too? And quite hungry, from what I hear. I'll tell Daggeron to bring you something to eat. He's probably up anyway," Udonna said. "I would have done this myself, but I don't think I would have made it to your room."

As usual, Koragg didn't respond. Clare found it quite odd that he was so silent. Was he even awake?

Udonna interrupted her thoughts. "Let's go and have some rest, Clare. You look like you're going to fall asleep any moment."

Together they left Koragg's room.

The White Sorceress has finally gone insane. Did she just imply that Koragg was hungry? How could it be? He's never been hungry before. And the rumbling in his stomach? Nothing to worry about. Definitely not a sign of him being hungry.

'I should try to get up,' he thought. 'My body must have healed by now.'

He experimentally moved his right leg and a blinding pain shot through it. He let out a strangled moan. The world stopped for a moment when Koragg's vision darkened. His sharp intakes of air broke through the silence of the room.

"We leave you for a moment and you're already doing something stupid. You should at least listen to what Udonna has told you," Solaris' voice came out of nowhere.

Everything suddenly became clear for Koragg. Of course! It had to be their fault! They put something in these potions and now he's as weak as any human! They wanted him to think he needed their help. Dishonorable bastards! Anger filled him and he grit out:

"What have you done to me?"

Solaris had the nerve to look surprised. "Other than offering you a safe place to stay?"

Koragg grit his teeth. "Don't play your games with me! You, the witch and her servant – all of you just try to weaken me, to make a vulnerable human out of me!"

The other man frowned, getting angry himself. "First of all, Clare is not a servant. And as to your second accusation: you are an ungrateful man if you think we're doing anything to worsen your condition. Actually, Udonna and Clare were up the whole night trying to prevent The Master from stealing your magic! Stop being so goddamn haughty and finally appreciate our help!" Solaris conjured a table and set a bowl on it. "Here's your food. I don't care how you're going to eat it."

Then he turned on his feet and marched straight to the door. "Have fun, Koragg," he snapped before leaving the room.

Rock Porium wasn't very crowded around 9 a.m., so the Rangers had some time for themselves. Vida was listening to a new song one customer has shown her and Madison was arranging albums on shelves. Chip and Xander were playing a game, but Nick didn't care what it was. He still couldn't get over the fact that Koragg was in Rootcore. In his opinion the bastard deserved to die a very painful death. He'd lost count of how many times has the Wolf Knight defeated him. It was humiliating. Why did Udonna want to help him?

Apart from that, something strange happened last night. He couldn't get any sleep because of the strange magical bursts he'd felt. He was planning to make a visit to Rootcore and ask Daggeron about this. It could be important, after all.

Then there was the problem of Imperious. What was he supposed to do? Should he trust him? It was just too much to think about.

"What's on your mind, Nick?" came a question from behind him. He turned around and saw smiling Madison, her arms full of vinyl discs.

"Here, let me take this," he said and took the discs from her.

She crossed her arms and looked at him sternly. "Don't try to avoid my question. I can see something's bothering you. Just tell me."

Nick put the discs away and wondered how much could he tell her. Better make it simple. "I just don't like that we're helping Koragg. He should solve his problems on his own. I don't care what happens to him."

"I used to think the same, but... I suppose it's the right thing to do, you know? He's a human, just like we are, and no one deserves to be in so much pain," Maddie answered, her smile a bit sad.

"Whatever you say."

Madison sighed. Nick could be so stubborn at times. "Just don't give up on him yet, okay?"

He scowled. "And why do you care about him? He's our enemy! Don't you remember how many times has he tried to kill us all?"

Suddenly a hand landed on his shoulder. A voice whispered in his ear:

"I hope you're not threatening my sister, Nick."

He glared at Vida and shook off her hand. Then he turned to Madison.

"Go ahead and keep justifying him! Just don't come crying to me after he's killed somebody!"

He stormed off to the office.

"What's gotten into him, sis?"

Madison shook her head. "Don't ask."