Other Fan Fiction ❯ Black Roses ❯ A Lover's Kiss ( Chapter 16 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

“Evange?”
The boy snapped back into reality, realizing that he had to give Gladiator some sort of response.
“You want to help me? Only now? Did you get bored of sitting around and doing nothing?”
To the side of the father and son, Mathiues leaned towards Leah, speaking in a low voice.
“He really should show more respect to Gladiator! After all, Gladiator is Albion’s hero!”
The girl shrugged neutrally.
Gladiator might’ve saved Albion, but he must’ve done something bad at one time to make Evange hate him so much... Still, it’d be nice to have a real hero help me save Kuyo.
Gladiator came towards Evange, holding his arms in a gesture of peace. He looked older, the lines of his face seemingly deeper. Perhaps it was because he dreaded having to see whether Evange, his only child, would betray Albion or not.
“Evange, please. You must let me do this.”
Evange narrowed his eyes, a sudden realization coming to him, “You’re doing this for you, not me...” The boy hurried on before Gladiator could speak, “Which is fine with me. I don’t suddenly need my dear Father actually caring about me.”
With a sneer, Evange turned away, leaving the other three to watch him walk off. Gladiator stifled his sigh of relief, glad that Evange had accepted his help. It didn’t make much difference about why the boy was letting his father help, to Gladiator, at least.
Think what you will, boy. It doesn’t matter, yet.
“Excuse me, Gladiator, but I’m Mathiues. And an apprentice at the Guild!” He grinned, “It’s an honor to be traveling with you!”
“Oh, same to you...”
The hero gave Mathiues a nod before heading after his son. Mathiues frowned a bit at being brushed off so easily, but began to follow Gladiator. He paused as he looked back for the fourth member of the group. The girl had been looking into the trees since Evange had walked off, brooding on something.
Evange and Gladiator obviously aren’t on good terms with one another... But why? What could’ve happened to make them this way? Surely a father couldn’t hate his child, right? A parent wouldn’t abandon their child if they loved that child.
“Leah?”
Mathiues had interrupted her train of thought, and Leah wasn’t eager to resume that line of thought, anyways.
“Oh, right, sorry!”

~~~

The Masters Three had trained will users under their control. And these will users could summon many, many forms of creatures. Some of these creatures were capable of capturing full-grown dragons when in a group. And the Masters Three required dragons.
However, dragons were beyond rare. They were elusive and few. The fact that the will users had managed to even find any was beyond comprehension.
But they had, and were able to capture two full grown dragons, along with a juvenile one. And it had been almost too easy when one had un unlimited amount of summoned creatures at one’s disposal.
Kuyo was still too young to be full grown, and an easy target. Assassins had been the ones to take Kuyo down, sneaking upon him in his sleep to capture him. Their blades had been covered with poison designed to bring about a heavy sleep.
Now, Kuyo was chained down and behind a barrier, finally able to think and see clearly.
Cautiously, Kuyo lifted his head, trying to see his surroundings better.
“So, the young one awakens.”
The deep voice startled Kuyo, making him try to dig his long claws into the stone floor. Laughter was the answer to the screeching protests of the hard floor.
“The chains are weak, break them and take a look at where you are.”
Kuyo obediently arched his back, hissing as he felt one of his spines topple and slap against his scales. He sank down for a moment, almost unable to will himself to try again, before once more arching his back. The chains were truly weak and broke almost immediately. Kuyo sucked in large breaths, the air hissing past his teeth.
“They hurt you badly, did they?”
There was almost a snicker in the words, causing Kuyo to look around for the source of the voice. His eyes widened in disbelief as he saw another dragon across the high vaulted room. The dragon was a blend of burnt oranges and deep reds, and it was unmistakably female to Kuyo.
“Are you too young to speak?”
Again, the snicker, Kuyo frowned in annoyance.
“I... I can speak. I’m not so young.”
The female dragon yawned widely, showing off her impressive set of black and red teeth. Each tooth longer than a man’s forearm.
“You can speak, but you’re still young. You’ve lived nowhere near as long as I, and you never will, now.”
Kuyo’s stomach tightened, dreading how sure the voice sounded.
“If it’s any consolation, I’ll be dead alongside you, as well as the oldie.”
The female nodded her head towards a massive heap of silver planted in the midst of the room, nearly reaching to the high ceiling. Kuyo peered at it for a moment before seeing the silver for what it truly was.
He’s even larger than her!
The heap was the other dragon, laid out on his side. His scales shown silver in the meager light and more than a few were scattered around him, old and cracked.
“He’s been lying there ever since they brought me in. Hasn’t moved or said a single word to me.”
“Is he dead?”
The female snorted, “Have you never learned to smell? Of course he isn’t dead, his body hasn’t begun to rot yet, has it?”
Kuyo lowered his face in embarrassment, the female only snorted again, her tail sliding across the floor impatiently.
“You’ll have to start speaking, now. I’ve been in this place for too long without any civilized company. Your name?”
“My name? Kuyo. And yours?”
Kuyo had added a slight imperious tone to his voice, hoping to sound less childish. But it only made him seem more so, the female laughing to herself.
“Syl. It seems we three now share the same fate.”
Syl went silent, her head raising angrily, Kuyo lifted his own head, wondering what the female had sensed. Rough human voices echoed into the room after a time, Syl snorted through her nose as two white clad men entered the room.
“Is the silver one still alive?”
One of the men jerked a thumb at the lying giant.
“He hasn’t moved in days, not really sure if he is. It’d be near impossible to secure another dragon in less than a week. And we’ll definitely need one for the ritual. I’ll check on him.”
One of the men walked through the barrier surrounding the silver dragon, walking to the exposed belly and tapping it with one hand. The man let out a gurgled scream as a wide claw, bigger than the man himself, ripped through his midriff. The silver dragon craned his neck so that he could snap up the two halves of the man, gulping them down his great throat.
The other man frowned, “Guess it’s alive, then. Just a few more days before we can be rid of you beasts.” He started walking away, “The lunar eclipse is near, luckily.”
Once the man had left, Syl turned her head to the silver dragon, but before she could speak a thunderous voice filled the room.
“I am Uuls. And don’t speak before I finish!”
Syl glared at Uuls, but held her tongue. Kuyo was overcome by the voice that seemed to vibrate the floor beneath his feet.
“I will tell you what we must do. The death of us will only bring about an era even worse for dragons. A revival of the humans’ Old Kingdom will wipe us out, if it works. That is why we mustn’t die. Do you understand?”
Syl snorted a positive, Kuyo nodding, and Uuls went on, his voice rasping now.
“They will soon take us to our death. First, we’ll be poisoned, of course. Kuyo,” Kuyo straightened, surprised the elder had bothered to actually talk to him. “You must pretend to be sickly for the next few days. Do not move or eat unless I tell you to. They will give you less poison and when our death day comes, you will escape. You will ruin their ritual by living.”
“What?! What about us? Am I to die by a human’s hands?!”
Syl angrily snorted, stomping her feet as she glared at Uuls. The old dragon didn’t look at her.
“As long as the ritual is broken, and that young one lives, everything is fine. We must accept our fate. We have no other choice.”
“Kuyo could save us! Kill the humans and-”
Uuls roared at Syl, baring his teeth, smoke wafting from his nose and mouth.
“You think they would not kill him if he tried?! What would be the point of him being free if he only dies in vain? No! Kuyo, you must escape without thought about us. You must live!”
With that, Uuls turned his head away. Syl angrily scraped her claws on the floor before turning her back to both the other dragons, while Kuyo laid down. He’d follow Uuls’ instructions as long as possible.
But how can I just leave them to die?

~~~

Mathiues and Leah had briefly gone into Knothole Glade to gather both supplies and information. They had learned that the mysterious ships always sailed in from the north, almost as if they were coming from the Hook Coast island.
Gladiator had frowned upon hearing the information, having never seen any of these ships by Hook Coast. The group had looked at a map that Gladiator had, old and torn, and spotted a smaller island just south of Hook Coast and north of Knothole Glade. That would be their destination.
Once that was decided, Leah had wanted to rush there, but Gladiator had overruled her. He knew some preparations would have to be made. However, he also wanted to hurry, knowing they only had a limited amount of time.
Currently, the group was camped just offshore from the ship that had brought them to Knothole Glade in the first place. A fire crackled loudly, meat nestled beside it along with the small group.
Gladiator was silent, brooding as he watched the other three talking and arguing over some trifle or other.
Evange seems almost normal, I suppose. Can it really be possible that he’ll destroy Albion? Maybe... maybe I should speak with him about everything. Has it been fair to keep him in the dark for so long?
“Fish are much healthier than red meat, you know.” Mathiues happily supplied his useless information, making Evange roll his eyes. Leah nodded in agreement before supplying her comment.
“Yea, I guess they are. But red meat is so much easier to find.”
Evange had grown quiet for the time being, occasionally voicing some snide comment or his opinion. He adored the comfortable warmth of the fire as well as his choice view of Leah, even if she was sitting a bit too close to Mathiues.
“Boy,” Gladiator hesitated to place a hand on Evange, “would you come with me?”
Mathiues paused for a moment before continuing to talk to Leah about the healthiness of various foods. Evange looked up to Gladiator, raising his eyebrows for a moment.
“If you want to fight me, might as well do it here.”
Evange rose, ready to fight his father, surprised when Gladiator shook his head.
“I only need to talk, Evange.”
The boy frowned, sending a warning glare back at Mathiues before following Gladiator away. The hero led Evange to the beach, just out of reach of the lapping waves, not conscious of the fact that Evange hated the water.
“Evange... there is something I’ve kept from you.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time you have.”
The boy was terribly disinterested in what Gladiator had to say, looking away from the ocean. Gladiator ran a hand through his thinning hair, not knowing whether to bother and try to soften what he had to say or not.
“When you were born, I wanted to know if you would have to suffer through the pain I did. I wanted to keep you safe from that kind of life.”
“Oh, you actually cared for me at one point? I’m shocked, Father!”
Evange’s voice was bitter through his mockery. Gladiator ignored the comment and continued on.
“I consulted a seeress, and she saw horrible things in your future. She foresaw you destroying Albion, Evange.” Gladiator waited for a response but continued after realizing Evange refused to respond, “I didn’t want to kill you, you were my newborn son. So, I sat and hoped that you would never fulfill your prophecy.”
“And this prophecy is also the reasoning behind Mother’s hatred for me?”
“...No. Elvira really knows nothing about it. I only told her that the seeress saw something terrible in your future.”
Mother hates me for no reason, then. At least Father only began to hate me after he found out about the prophecy. I have such lovely parents.
“Why are you telling me all this, now?”
“Because you can help save Albion, now! Do you understand? You can beat your prophecy.”
“How am I supposed to save Albion? Last I checked, Albion was doing quite well.”
“There’s some group of people who are trying to bring the Old Kingdom back. Leah’s friend must be involved in it somehow, because wherever he is, that’s where the Old Kingdom fanatics are.”
Evange raised an eyebrow, “How do you know all this to be true?”
“Never mind that. You must give me your word, now, that you’ll save Albion instead of destroying it.”
“If I don’t?”
“I’ll kill you here and now.”
Evange smirked, “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to ask later. I’m not really sure if Albion’s worth saving, yet.”
Gladiator looked at Evange’s retreating back with hopelessness.
How can I possibly make him see Albion is worth it?

~~~

While Gladiator and Evange had talked, Mathiues and Leah had kept on talking. But Mathiues was no fool, he knew his great luck at being left alone with Leah. He wouldn’t lose this chance to get closer to the girl.
A few minutes after their conversation had dwindled down, replaced by silence, Leah glanced around and noticed two members of their party missing.
“I wonder where-”
“Leah, you look so beautiful in the firelight.”
Leah stiffened, shrugging at Mathiues nervously before looking away.
“Really, Leah, you’re the most stunning girl I’ve ever met. And not just your looks, either.” The apprentice paused, bringing a hand to Leah’s shoulder, “Leah, I care so much about you.”
Oh Avo, what do I say to him?! I don’t want to hurt him, but I can’t just sit here. Maybe Gladiator and Evange will come back to save me.
“Er, Mathiues, I don’t really think...”
The girl fidgeted, trying to find words that wouldn’t hurt Mathiues.
“Don’t worry, they won’t be back for a bit. We have all the privacy we need right now.”
“Oh, er, well... I think I can hear someone coming back!”
Leah looked to the thin line of trees obscuring the beach, despair eating at her as no one came into the light. A slight breeze blew through the foliage, whipping the girl’s hair into her face. She turned back toward Mathiues to wipe the hair from her face and that was all the apprentice needed.
Gently, Mathiues took hold of Leah’s face, brushing her hair and hands away. The girl only had a moment to think before Mathiues was pressing his lips to hers. Then, the girl’s thoughts were practically nonexistent.
Just as Mathiues pulled away from Leah, a shy smile on his face, a third presence made himself known.
“What exactly made you think that would be a wise move?”
Evange, lightening coursing over his hands, stood opposite the fire.

~~~

Goodness, Mathiues just smacked Leah on the lips. :o
I’ve got a lot of the next chapter done, and know pretty much what’s going to happen. You’ve got dance music to thank (or blame) for my recent inspiration. :P
...Evange is going to kill Mathiues. :D