Zenora, The Dragon's Fury
28. Search

Hayden’s point of view:

“Fuck!” I yelled.

I saw a glimpse of an egg being caught by an obsidian dragon! I put a shield on that green haired bitch, but Emily just pushed me aside with her magic! Where the hell did she get such power? And where the hell did that dragon and egg came from?

“Do you still have the mages in custody?” I asked one of my Dark Mages.

I know my brother escaped his cell, assumedly with all the others, and I doubt that they left the castle as Emily told them. I hope that my Dark Mages still have the mages of this castle in their grasp, otherwise I won’t have any leverage at all left, to become King.

“Ye- yes my lord, although they are t- trying to get in now!” The reply came in a stutter.

“You are Dark Mages, for crying out loud! Kill them!” I yelled back.

Shit! Fuck! This didn’t go to plan, the way I wanted to! I have to do something!

Brock’s point of view:

We took the children to a safe place, the same as where Anna, Natalya, Ruth and the other non-fighters were as well. The servant’s house that stood next to the castle was a perfect place for that. We saw some unconscious or dead black warriors on our way there, as Dennis and the others took them out.

I was hoping he had rescued the mages already too, but that was unfortunately not the case.

“Where is Emily?” Natalya asked me.

I couldn’t answer her, I honestly didn’t know how she was doing. We had all heard the massive roar outside, giving away that Emily’s other friend, the dragon, was here.

Arch had told me about the dragon, and if it wasn't for his roar I wouldn't have believed him, if he told me about him earlier.

But we haven’t heard from him again, or seen him outside when we got to the servant’s house. So, we don’t have a clue as to how things are going on with her now. And I hate it!

My brother had made the situation difficult for me to stay with her. She looked awful, exhausted and in extreme pain. I know something was wrong, the moment I saw her. The need to help her, soothe her and hold her, was immense, but I couldn’t. If I did, then I would bring all the other captives in danger.

Emily is a strong woman; she has to deal with this on her own for now. Not something that I want, but there was no other choice.

“She was in labour when I reached her, Cirilya is with her.” I replied to Natalya.

“And you left her there!?” Anna replied now. That girl needs to learn when to shut her mouth!

I growled, but before I could become angry with her, Arch explained everything in a few words. We needed to go, to get to the mages and my other son.

As we stepped outside, to get to the castle again, Tyler clung to me, asking me If he could come with us.

“Son, I need you here, to keep guard of all of these people. Can you do that for me?” I asked him.

I knew he wanted to come, to help rescue his brother, but I can’t keep him safe and rescue the others at the same time. Besides that, it is in the middle of the night now, so he needs his sleep too.

Luckily he nodded, I sighed with relief, not wanting to discuss this further with him. Soon, Arch, Ursai and me were on our way again, trying to replace Dennis and the other fighters.

We didn’t know where they were, and as the castle is really big, we needed a clever way to replace Kaden and the other mages.

Ursai’s sense of smell wasn’t enough to replace them. And the few servants that we came across didn’t know where my brother kept the mages either. We sent the servants to the servant’s house, to keep them away from any danger, as we continued to search.

“We haven’t found the King yet either.” Arch suddenly said.

“Yes, I know, he wasn’t being kept in his chamber. As Emily was there, without anyone else.” I replied.

War room, dining room, bed rooms, no where were they found.

We did come across a few of Hayden's warriors, which we gladly took care off. Ursai finally got to unleash his wrath upon some of them. Swiping his claws towards them, slicing through their skin with ease. Growling furiously and revealing his teeth, showing none of the cute character that he had, just a few minutes ago.

But quickly after they were dead, his eyes and behaviour returned to the soft bear he was before.

I looked at him with amazement. I suddenly know why Emily took him as her pet, the memories of him being tamed by her, flashed by in my mind.

She didn't have a pet at that moment, but when she saw the strong and big bear, protecting his cubs, she knew she wanted him. He suited all that she wanted, a strong and ferocious pet, yet soft and caring when not in battle.

Then as we continued our search, we found two dead black warriors, laying on the ground at the base of small stairs.

The stairs lead upwards into one of the towers of the castle. Then at a space between this staircase and the next, laid two more black warriors and one Royal guard. Shit, Dennis and his group were attacked by surprise! Quickly we ran upstairs faster, Ursai walking behind us, nearly not fitting between the walls of the stairs.

Then when we were up in the highest tower, a door stood at the top. But how was it possible to keep all our mages there? There can’t be a large enough room up here, so how is it possible?

We opened the door, and on the small floor laid a dead Dark mage. His skin was grey and had some blisters here and there from using dark magic. His eyes were as dark as the night, his neck twisted in an abnormal way.

But this sight was not the strangest thing in this small room.

It was the black smoking rune that was drawn on the floor behind the dead Dark Mage.

There was a triangle, with two circles around it and in between strange scribbles and markings. On the side of the room stood black candles, lit with small blue flames, giving the whole room an odd dark feeling. It was as if the flames were pulling away happiness and switching it with bad feelings like revenge, sorrow, doubt and hate.

There was already hate in me, hate for my brother and the hurt he has caused me already. So, it didn’t do much for me, but I could tell that Ursai was affected, as he was growling and swiping his head to the sides. Even Arch was acting strange, standing still, gazing at the wall across from us, clearly deep in thought.

“Ursai, go down. Help Tyler with defence.” I said to him, not sure if he could understand me, but nonetheless, he nodded his head, turned around and went downstairs.

Arch snapped out of his thought as well, and I asked him if he was alright.

“Yes, yes.” He said while still a bit in trance of his own mind.

“We have to go through the portal I guess.” He said after a moment, while pointing to the runes on the floor.

While looking at the floor too, I remembered going through portals before, but they weren’t looking as dark as this one. I’m not sure if I’m going to like it, but we have no choice. We have to get our mages and my son back.

Arch and I stepped on it at the same time, holding each other tight at the shoulders. The smoke started to swirl around us, engulfing our bodies, pulling us downwards through the floor. I felt sick and wanted to throw up, but I held in my breath and when we arrived on the other side of the portal a familiar voice spoke.

“So, you have finally found us.” My asshole of a brother said.

“Hayden is the name, not asshole, brother.” He spoke again, replying to my thoughts.