by Mark Boutros
Was he insane? ‘The council is just him and Lord Ragnus.’
‘I’ll be fine.’ He seemed sure there was good in Arazod.
‘I know he’s up to something.’
‘Hey. What is it you said?’ He let go of her hands. ‘If I can fix the future for hundreds then I don’t matter.’
‘You’ve changed your view.’
‘I’ve been chased by Lionbears, Fools and rock people. I’ve been covered in sludge, dragon poop, and thought I was going to die seven hundred times. What has it taught me? That there’s a lot to be scared of and the world is weird. But, I’ve also learned that the world outside of Flowforn has been ignored for too long and we need to be part of it.’
‘Are you sure?’ she asked. ‘You can go home, find out who you are, who your parents are.’
‘What’s one more night? I’ll voice my concerns and then leave knowing I’ve set things on the right path and helped you.’
‘Alright…’ she said, full of doubt.
31
Karl grinned, energised. He, Arazod and Lord Ragnus walked through the courtyard.
Karl took it all in for the final time. The sun felt that little bit warmer, as though it wanted to give him a hug before he left. ‘That was incredible. I never knew those meetings were so open.’
‘We’ll consider all of your ideas,’ Arazod said.
‘Particularly the one about me no longer using Lionbear food for my moisturiser,’ Lord Ragnus scoffed.
They stopped by one of the open, outdoor cages. ‘What do you think of these?’ Arazod asked.
‘While a bit ominous it’s very inventive. I’m sure problems will come up, but I guess you deal with them as you encounter them.’
Arazod smiled.
Lord Ragnus clenched his rock fists and punched Karl in the chest. Karl flopped onto the cage floor. His heart pumped like it was going to explode.
A Fool rushed in and chained Karl’s ankles to the bars. The Fool left and Arazod locked the cage door.
Karl tried to shout something brave at Lord Ragnus, but there was no air in his body. Pain squeezed his bones whenever he tried to form a word.
Arazod watched Karl struggle. ‘I should’ve been more…’ He gasped. ‘Specific. When I said you could stay in Flowforn, I meant rot in it.’ He wheezed. ‘Now excuse us while we go and see what’s so important about Cell Two B.’
Arazod and Lord Ragnus left.
Karl tried to stand. He needed to stop them finding the portal, but the crippling pain in his chest overpowered him. He collapsed and pressed his face to the floor, groaning, hoping for some relief.
32
Sabrinia rushed towards Cell Two B. Her hands shook and her breathing quickened. Surely he wouldn't leave without saying goodbye.
‘My Princess!’ Arazod called out, with Lord Ragnus and the band of Fools by his side.
She steadied herself and smiled through the worry. ‘Hello, darling.’
Arazod strutted up to her. ‘I wanted to ask you. What’s your favourite game?’
‘Game?’
‘Yes. Your favourite game. Perhaps something you played with friends while growing up. What is it?’
Sabrinia shrugged. ‘I’ve never really been the sort of person to play games.’
Arazod’s eyes darkened and filled with sadness. His beak twitched and that sadness became anger. He stepped in close and moved his beak towards Sabrinia’s ear. She clenched her fists to stop her hands trembling.
‘So, what are you up to down here?’
Lord Ragnus smiled.
‘I… umm… I was just…’ She couldn’t think of anything.
‘Fools…’ Arazod swallowed. ‘Get her.’
Sabrinia turned and ran, but was tackled by three Fools. She tried to shake them off but Lord Ragnus reached down and grabbed her. He slung her over his shoulder.
She pounded his back but it was solid and hurt her fists.
'I'll shatter your face!' she yelled at Arazod, who stared at her. 'Ill rip your beak off and stab you in the eye with it.'
Lord Ragnus walked her through the entrance to the courtyard and slammed her onto her back. 'While I admire your creativity, you're not in a position to do anything.'
He dragged her over the pebbles and threw her into the cage next to Karl's, where he lay in a crumpled heap.
Sabrinia found her breath. ‘You tell that feathery little moron I’m going to shred his one good wing!’ Sabrinia shouted.
Lord Ragnus walked away.
Karl turned to her, his eyes full of sympathy.
She glared at him. ‘You idiot. You should’ve just gone last night.’
‘I thought—’
‘You thought… that’s the problem right there.’ He should've just gone.
‘You’re the one who agreed to marry that cretin,’ he replied.
‘I’m trying to do what’s right for everyone!’ It was exhausting.
‘Look at me,' Karl mocked her voice. 'I’m Sabrinia, I put everyone before myself, which is why I’m marrying a crazy pigeon.’ He reverted to his own voice. ‘Which is actually worse for everyone!’ He coughed and pressed a hand to his chest.
Rage burned in Sabrinia but she didn't want to speak to him.
‘Okay, that was a bit much. Sorry…’ Karl said.
Sabrinia put her head in her hands.
Karl shuffled up to the cage bars. ‘I was actually starting to like him. He even told me about his dad snapping his wing.’
She shook her head at Karl. ‘And you believed him? He killed his father, and all the Man-Hawks, because he was born with a defective wing. He couldn’t handle feeling inferior so made sure he was the only Man-Hawk, and therefore the most powerful. You idiot!’
‘Okay. I feel a bit stupid now... But I think if you had that kind of information you should have offered it up before sending me to save him.’
She took slow breaths.
‘Sabrinia?’ Karl said.
Arazod approached Sabrinia’s cage. He tapped his axe against it and looked at the ground. There was less bravado about him. ‘I don’t care if a mountain looks too cold… your hair smells too hair-like… or it’s the anniversary of when a feather brushed your feet.’ He swallowed. ‘In three sunsets you will be my wife…’ He wheezed. ‘And as soon as our souls are bound and it is written in history, I will execute you, so your soul can stand by me and watch me destroy everything you love until the day I die.’
33
Karl, sweating, sat against the cage bars. Every breath was like a knife twisting in his chest.
He hadn't seen Sabrinia so angry since they were seven when he threw her toys into a well thinking the water would transform them into giants. They just sank and disappeared forever.
Karl scratched a red pebble against the two-headed turtle rock, trying to create shell lines. His hands ached and he hoped it would distract him from the pain but had no such luck. ‘Look.’ He offered the rock to Sabrinia, but she wouldn’t face him. She was probably thinking about the marriage she never wanted; about how she would die and be stuck following Arazod. ‘I’m sorry, Sabrinia. I’m sorry the responsibility falls on you.’
She huffed and turned to him. ‘You’re right, Karl. I was stupid. All I did was keep everyone alive but miserable, and what difference has it made?’ She shook her head. ‘What was I supposed to do? Every option was awful.’
Karl placed the turtle rock by the bars to Sabrinia’s cage.
She half smiled and sat by the bars next to him.
‘If there’s anything I’ve learned, Sabrinia, it’s that nobody knows what to do with anything. We’re all just getting by, hoping any mistakes we make aren’t fatal.’
Sabrinia blinked, clearly confused and uninspired.
Karl took a breath. ‘What I mean is, Flowforn was about to be burned down and everyone slaughtered, but you stopped that happening. Yes, people are miserable, but at the time, in that moment, you did what you needed to do to save them.’ He offered
his non dung-stained hand through the bars. ‘I’m sorry for what I said before. To me you’re a hero.’
She held his hand and squeezed it. ‘Thanks… I don’t feel like one.’
Lord Ragnus approached. ‘How sweet,’ he scoffed.
A Fool opened Karl’s cage, locked a chain around his neck and handed Lord Ragnus the other end of it.
Karl released Sabrinia’s hand.
‘Leave him,’ she said.
‘I don’t think I want to.’ Lord Ragnus stared at Karl, as though deciding how he was going to hurt him.
The Fool unlocked the chain that secured Karl’s ankle to the bars. It seemed he now belonged to Lord Ragnus as some kind of pet.
Karl turned to Sabrinia. ‘If this is my end, thank you for being the good part of my life.’
Lord Ragnus yanked the chain, pulling Karl by his neck.
‘Can I ask you a question?’ Karl said.
‘You can. But you should be very careful what you ask.’
Karl nodded. ‘Have you had an argument with your smile?’
Lord Ragnus whipped the chain sideways, cracking Karl’s head off the bars.
He flopped to the ground.
When Karl regained consciousness he was slumped in the corner of a room. He recognised the painting of the two-headed woman surfing on a spiked ant while blowing a horn. He was in Cell Two B, opposite the corner to freedom.
Lord Ragnus stood next to him, while Arazod poked his axe through the debris of crates, his eyes puffy. ‘What is so important about…?’ He coughed.
‘Prayer?’ Karl said.
Arazod struggled some more. ‘About—’
‘Talking through our problems?’ Karl needed to get to the corner.
‘… This room!’ Arazod finally managed.
‘I told you. It’s my storage.’
Lord Ragnus effortlessly lifted Karl to his feet. ‘Stand when you address your king.’ He pushed him into centre of the room.
‘There are no dead fish ashes.’ Arazod caught his breath. ‘I tasted all the ash. None of it is dead fish.’
Karl grimaced.
‘What is it about this room?’ Arazod demanded. ‘Are you hiding a magical relic?’
Karl shrugged.
Arazod drove his axe handle into Karl’s stomach.
The air left his lungs and he fell to one knee. ‘What’s… wrong… with you?’ He stumbled past Arazod.
Lord Ragnus whacked Karl in the side.
Karl collapsed. He lifted his head and looked at Arazod. ‘I’d rather you kept hitting me.’
‘Is it this painting?’ Arazod pressed the painting of the two-headed woman surfing on a spiked ant into Karl’s face.
‘That’s my greatest fantasy. What’s yours?’ Karl strained.
Arazod smashed the painting over Karl’s head.
Karl groaned and backed into the corner. He scratched at the stones behind his back, trying to loosen one.
‘What are you doing?’ Arazod asked.
‘Nothing.’
Lord Ragnus whacked a crate board across Karl's face.
Karl whined, clutched his face and curled up.
Arazod held his axe to Karl’s neck. ‘What’s behind there?’
Karl beat his heel against the stone floor, trying to fight the pain.
‘May as well take a look.’ Lord Ragnus dragged Karl out of the way and bashed through the stone.
‘What is it?’ Arazod asked.
‘Nothing…’
It couldn’t be.
‘Just more wall, then the back of the castle.’
Karl looked, hoping they just couldn’t see it, but tears filled his eyes and his body weakened. All of his struggling and the pain he’d gone through, it was all for nothing. The other world he had imagined and the parents he had created in his mind, who held him, conversed with him and loved him, became nothing.
‘You have one last chance, Karl.’ Arazod scraped his axe against the floor.
Karl gazed emptily at the hole in the wall. His sense of purpose abandoned him. If there wasn’t a portal, then what was he supposed to do? Who was he? What was he fighting for?
Arazod and Lord Ragnus towered over him.
‘You brought this on yourself,’ Arazod said.
‘Wait! Wait…’ Karl begged. ‘I have got something to say.’
Arazod stared at him.
‘If you’re going to turn me into a Tortured Soul, I hope you choke on me.’
Lord Ragnus booted Karl in the head.
Karl hung upside down from a tree, several feet from the grass. He tried to move his wings but another chain was wrapped around his upper body and pain shot through every muscle he tried to move.
The stunning sunshine blazed. Its bright beauty didn’t match Karl’s current situation. Part of him wished his body would give up and die. It was like it was punishing him by keeping him alive.
He recognised the entrance to the Red Mountain. Fools rolled boulders in front of it.
Lord Ragnus, as miserable as always, approached Karl.
Karl took slow breaths, trying to fight the dizziness and aches.
Lord Ragnus brought his stretched, muscular face close to Karl’s. ‘We wanted to show you what we thought of your suggestions. You see, I like my moisturiser and can sell it for quite a sum, but I don’t care much for Lionbears.’
‘Am I supposed to care about what you have to say?’ Karl spotted Arazod, who nodded to some Fools.
They dragged the Little Lionbear, chained up, to the front of the stumps. Her face was bruised and swollen. Scratch marks ran down her back.
‘No!’ Karl tried to shake free but only achieved more sharp pain.
The Little Lionbear groaned, her eyes red.
'Let her go!'
Lord Ragnus grabbed the back of Karl’s head. ‘Now you get to see me smile.’ He grinned. Even that looked miserable.
Lord Ragnus approached the Little Lionbear. He bashed her in the stomach and kicked the back of her knees. She buckled. He raised his stone fists either side of her head.
‘No! Leave her alone!’ Karl shook, desperate to break free to try to save her.
Lord Ragnus’ fists came down, followed by a whimper and a crunch.
Karl sat, chained and crying on the edge of the Wrath of Arazod. He couldn’t shake the sound of the Little Lionbear’s end. Such a playful and joyful creature… its life crushed in an instant.
Lord Ragnus yanked the chain. ‘Get up.’
A group of Fools dragged a sack along the grass and rocks. Someone struggled inside. They untied the sack, revealing Scrath, his wrists bound by ropes.
‘Come on! Let me go! I’ve barely had a chance to enjoy being myself again,’ he cried.
They handed him to Lord Ragnus, who grabbed him around the throat and tossed him in front of Karl.
Arazod pointed at Karl’s wings. ‘Give me those.’
Scrath looked at Karl, seeking an answer, but Karl could only offer a deflated shake of the head.
‘I don’t want to do it.’ Scrath puffed his chest out, raised his bound wrists and clenched his fists.
Karl wondered what power the Tree-Cyclopsi had that they hadn’t shown him. Was Scrath going to turn into a giant beast and eat Arazod and his idiots? That would be great.
Lord Ragnus backhanded Scrath with such force that he spun into the air and landed on his back.
Karl winced.
Lord Ragnus lifted Scrath by his face and held him over the cliff edge. ‘Do as his highness commands.’
‘Bu… ne…’ Scrath was a dazed mess.
‘Just do it,’ Karl said. ‘Do as he says.’ There was no point in fighting.
Scrath strained a muffled, ‘Okay,’ from his clamped face.
Lord Ragnus slammed Scrath down by Karl.
‘And don’t even think about taking the wings for yourself…’ Arazod wheezed. ‘And flying away.’ Arazod nodded to three Fools who readied their dart shooters.
Scrath struggled t
o stand. ‘This is going to hurt,’ he warned Karl.
‘How badly?’ He didn’t really care.
‘What hurts a lot?’
Everything he’d been through. ‘Realising you will never know where you’re from, or why you even exist, or who your parents are.’
Scrath touched Karl’s shoulder. ‘Probably similar.’ He moved around and placed his hands on Karl’s spine.
The wings pulled at Karl’s insides. ‘AAAAAARRRGHHHH!’ His back tensed, like something was trying to burst out of it but the rest of his body wanted to pull it back in. He pounded the ground and contorted. The wings vanished and his body flopped. Blood warmed his back and he pressed his face to the ground, sweating, breathing heavily.
‘Is that it?’ Arazod asked. ‘No ritual? No chanting? No…’ He wheezed. ‘No show?’
Karl raised his head. ‘I got… everything. Humming… A circle.’ He coughed. ‘A tree that did a weird head grabbing thing. I’ll never forget it.’ Karl smiled. The only joy left was in annoying Arazod.
‘Give me the wings, but make it epic,’ Arazod demanded.
Scrath stood up straight. He looked to the sky, stretched his arms out and vibrated, faster and faster.
‘Chant!’ Arazod demanded.
Scrath chanted a load of meaningless, fast nonsense.
‘Jump up and down!’ Arazod commanded.
Scrath jumped up and down. He touched Arazod’s back. The wings transformed his existing ones into fully working, new, leafy wings. Arazod inhaled.
‘My airways. They’re… they’re clear!’ he announced. ‘Clap!’
The Fools clapped. Lord Ragnus nodded.
‘I’m just going to get familiar with these,’ Arazod told Lord Ragnus. ‘You have your fun with that one.’ He pointed at Scrath. ‘But I’ll be back for him.’ He pointed at Karl. He snatched a sword from a Fool and flew off, swinging his axe and the sword through the air, hacking at trees.
Lord Ragnus stepped towards a retreating Scrath.
Karl grabbed Lord Ragnus’ ankle. ‘Run!’
Scrath fled into the woods, evading the Fools’ darts.