Chapter 24
Revelation
Kalos was angry. He was beyond angry. He had spent the early morning hours berating his minions and even became physically violent with them. He went as far as stabbing Semp in the shoulder just to calm down. He couldn’t believe that they had all failed again. They had more men this time, more horses, and more weapons. Yet they returned defeated. The Torrids circled around him as they weren’t sure if he’d try to attack them, but instead he just plopped down in his wet throne. Kalos began to bang the back of his head on the chair.
“Master, what would you have us to do now?” Vysera hissed kneeling before Kalos.
“I’d have you to leave me. Now!” The Torrids snarled at him and walked out of his room. Kalos was trying to calm down as he took deep breaths, but the wretched smell of mildew kept filling his nose causing him to cough violently. He took a deep breath and put his head back to rest. He was finally able to close his eyes when one of his sickly soldiers barged through the throne room entrance.
“Emperor, there is someone here who’d like to see you.”
“Send them away” Kalos said, almost in a whisper.
“But sir, I think you’d want to see this.” Kalos waved him in.
“Get in there!” The soldier pushed a person into the room. They were wearing a brown hooded gown that covered the face; it was the uniform from the Empire. This person was tall, full and voluptuous, and only dark strands of hair fell from the hood. Kalos looked confused.
“Remove your hood.” Kalos demanded. The visitor lifted her head and pulled back her hood. It was Phyliscia. The minions, who had been slumped over, stood at attention. They found her to be very attractive. Kalos thought she was gorgeous too, but that was of no concern to him. She was dripping with rain as she stood in the middle of the dark room. She looked around at all the snakes that were slithering toward her. She moved around to get away from them.
“Who are you?” Kalos asked, staring through his mask.
“I am Phyliscia. Do I not look familiar to you?” she sassed. He looked her over. Phyliscia hadn’t been to Ferocities since they escaped 17 years earlier and this was the first time she’d ever been in the throne room. She wasn’t impressed.
“I can’t say that you do” Kalos answered. He was very suspicious of her. “Well what do you want?”
“I have some information that you might like. I know that we have something of great value to you.” She began to pace back and forth seductively as all the soldiers and snakes watched her every move. “And I know you’ll probably never get it.”
“Is that so?” Kalos asked menacingly as he sat up in his chair. Noire snapped and hissed at her. Phyliscia put her hands up so that she could explain herself.
“You see, the strength of Grandelyn is this.” She pulled out a plump firm fafura. Kalos looked at it and saw that it was the same fruit that he had taken from the tree before. He realized that she was a Grandelyn citizen. She tossed the fruit to him. “This fruit right here does amazing things; if you eat it you get amazing energy and strength, among other things” she confessed. Kalos looked her over again. He liked her look. Her icy blue eyes and dark hair was intriguing to him. She seemed dark hearted and he liked that. He caressed the fruit and studied it.
“So why are you here?” Kalos asked suspiciously.
“Because I want to help you.”
“Mmm… a traitor. I like. Go on.” Kalos chuckled.
“You can’t betray someone you were never loyal to.” She said coldly.
“Why do you want to betray your Queen?” Kalos teased.
“Because, like you, I hate their Queen too.”
“Their Queen? Isn’t she your Queen too?”
“No! I’ll never bow down to her. She isn’t all that special.” Phyliscia scoffed. Kalos began to chuckle.
“It sounds like someone’s a little jealous of the Queen.” He teased again. Phyliscia became angry and turned to walk out into the lonely hallway. But Kalos stopped her.
“Wait. I could use someone like you. How exactly can you help me?”
“I want to join your army. By the looks of things, it seems you could really use the help.”
Kalos took off his mask. He tried to stand but was very weak. His legs wobbled in weakness. Noire had twirled around his head and slept as Kalos scooted his way to Phyliscia. Kalos face was slightly covered by his wet hair and sweat. He stood directly in front of her. The foul stench coming from Kalos’ slippery body made Phyliscia gag.
“You say that the strength of Grandelyn is this crazy looking fruit here?”
“Yes, sir. You wouldn’t believe what it can do for you.”
Grandelyn Page 25