by Ian Haywood
He and the other Generals had wholeheartedly sworn their allegiance to Alana when all this time she had done the same to the very people who had taken Naomi from them.
Lucius immediately shouted to one of the guards to gather the other Generals as quickly as possible and bring them to the cells where he had something important to tell them and until that moment, what everyone had witnessed in the cell is to remain a secret.
The other guard stamped the remaining flames out of the robe and even though the cell was filled with smoke, nobody was to leave unless it was on Lucius’s say-so.
Alana was naturally embarrassed at standing there half naked in a small room filled with men, but right now the attention that Lucius was giving was far from lustful.
The tattoo that she had tried so hard to hide from her men had now been discovered and it was obvious that Lucius was not going to help her continue keeping it a secret.
The sword that Alana always carried with her was knocked from her when Lucius ripped her robe off and it was now lying a few inches from Lucius’s feet and he was making sure that she didn’t get the chance to pick it up.
“I can see you looking for your sword, Alana,” Lucius said sternly, “but I can tell you right now that if you dare to grab it, I won’t hesitate for a second in using my sword to stop you from doing so!”
Alana replied defensively.
“I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that it is me who is your leader, Lucius!”
Lucius kicked the sword across the floor towards the one remaining guard, who promptly picked it up.
“Not anymore!” Lucius answered. “My loyalty to you went the moment I saw that tattoo on your wrist! You were shouting outside about how the Disciples of Draig had double-crossed us when you were secretly one of them all along!”
Alana moved forward a little and Lucius immediately drew his sword, ready to strike out if she came any closer.
“I can explain, Lucius!” she told him.
But Lucius was not having any of it.
“Save your breath, Alana! Once again someone I trusted has turned out to be nothing more than a liar! And even worse, I’m in the room with both of them! There’s nothing more I would like to do than to strike you both down in this room and relish watching your last dying moments! Zephal won’t put up much of a fight, but when the other Generals discover what you really are, then it will not be long before you face your punishment!”
Alana tried to speak, but Lucius interrupted her.
“Save it for your defence, Alana!” Lucius shouted, “I was willing to fight for you against our enemies and now I discover that you were one of them yourselves! You got really friendly with Mortus just before you sent me to find Gereziac’s daughter and I can see why now! How long was it going to be before your secret came out? You were willing to trade with the most evil man who ever walked the Sumarian Valleys and use your own men to carry out whatever you and Mortus were planning.”
Alana pleaded with Lucius.
“But I was forced into it, Lucius! I swear to you!”
Lucius laughed at what he heard.
“Don’t insult my intelligence, Alana! I have known you long enough to know that there is not one person throughout these lands that could ever make you do anything against your will – and if it had been me or any of the men who had done what you have, you would not hesitate in executing us on the spot! It is nothing more than treachery!”
Zephal started to show a slight sign of regaining consciousness and in doing so, gave out a little moan.
Lucius ignored him and started walking threateningly towards Alana, which she did not like in the least.
“Lucius, I may be in a state of vulnerability right now,” Alana said, “but I can assure you that if I ever get the opportunity, I will take every pleasure in killing you in the worst way possible!”
Lucius just looked Alana straight in the eyes and warned her.
“Try me, bitch!”
Alana turned her attention to the guard.
“I cannot continue to remain here in this cell half-naked – go and fetch me something to cover myself up with!”
This left the guard in a very awkward position.
His leader had now given him a direct order and even though Alana was not in the greatest of situations, he still feared what she could be capable of doing to him.
But he also knew that if he carried out what Alana had ordered, then Lucius was most certainly going to punish him for doing so.
He longed for the other guard to return with the other Generals so that more backup was available to him if things started to turn nasty between Alana and Lucius.
Alana was not amused at the guard’s hesitation and let him know in no uncertain terms.
“So, there is subordination in every rank now! I gave you an order and as long as I am your leader, then I expect it to be done!”
Lucius stepped in and addressed the guard.
“You remain at your post! We not only have an enemy soldier in this cell, but a traitor too! It is your duty to stay at your post! As Head General, I am taking over all of Alana’s duties and all orders forthwith will come directly from me, do I make myself clear?”
The guard nodded, trying his best not to make any kind of eye contact with Alana.
Lucius smirked at a disconcerted Alana and within moments, the corridor outside was echoing with the loud sound of approaching footsteps.
The guard was relieved to hear them and stepped out of the cell ready to greet his comrade and the other Generals.
Lucius turned to Alana and mocked.
“Soon it will be your time to die!”
To Lucius’s surprise, Alana suddenly lunged at him without warning and he just managed to draw his sword to keep her at bay and as he held the point of it towards Alana’s throat, he gave her one final warning.
“If you ever try a trick like that one more time, Alana, I will force this blade into your throat and revel in the sight of you bleeding to death at my feet!”
During their altercation, the guard had momentarily disappeared from view and Lucius became concerned when he still hadn’t returned.
Alana had also noticed this too and with both of them standing in stalemate, neither wanted to move in fear that the other may take the opportunity to strike out.
But soon the mystery of the absent guard became abundantly clear.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere a large muscular figure appeared in the doorway holding something in his hand.
The severed head of the absent guard.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Lucius had expected whoever had walked down the corridor to be the guard that he had ordered to bring the other Generals to the cell immediately, but the horror on his face when he discovered that he was now standing face to face with one of Gereziac’s soldiers was blatantly clear for all to see.
And the figure in the doorway showed that he was taking no prisoners by holding the severed head of the guard who had only disappeared from view a few moments ago.
If that wasn’t something to be extremely worried, he and Alana had clearly heard quite a large number of footsteps echoing outside and if they were not the sound of the other Generals approaching, then the soldier standing in front of them had not arrived alone.
Lucius still had the sword in his hand and he prepared himself for imminent battle.
Alana moved behind him, but she knew deep down that Lucius was not going to be any kind of protection to her if anyone did decide to single her out for attack.
Lucius stared at the soldier in the doorway with his sword aloft and he had to move his head to the side incredibly quickly to dodge the guard’s severed head which had been thrown directly towards him from the laughing soldier.
“If that’s the quality of security that you have in this place, then we certainly have nothing to fear!” the soldier mocked.
But Lucius had an answer.
“As you can see, your best soldier Zephal is lying on
the floor at the side of me and judging by his present state, we have nothing to fear from him either!”
The soldier was shocked to see Zephal motionless on the floor and he drew his sword, which heightened the tension in the small cell.
“What have you done to him?” he asked Lucius.
“Nothing he didn’t deserve!” came the reply.
The soldier then turned his attention towards Alana.
“And is this the great Alana that I have heard so much about? I can see that you are half-dressed – did I interrupt anything?”
Alana could see the soldier looking at her lustfully and she moved in closer to Lucius in an attempt to hide herself from view, but Lucius pushed her away as he felt her touch him.
The soldier laughed.
“It seems that your soldier doesn’t want to protect his leader! Maybe you should have more dignity and cover yourself up.”
And with that, the soldier picked up what was left of Alana’s burnt robe and tossed it towards her.
She immediately put it on and was surprised to find that incredibly it hadn’t been damaged as much as she had thought and there was still enough material remaining on it to cover up her modesty.
As she finished, the soldier continued.
“I sense that I may have wandered into a lover’s tiff? Or is it a bit more serious than that – is there some kind of revolution breaking out from within the ranks? Maybe I should leave right now and you can continue to fight amongst each other until there is nobody left for us to fight against? You always were a bit of a hot head, Lucius! I can see that the fight within you is still as strong as ever. It’s such a shame that you swapped this uniform for – well, what could only be described as a dirty piece of cloth. I look like a soldier while you look like a down on his luck farmer!”
Lucius took exception to what he had heard and lunged at the soldier with his sword, but he was immediately blocked by the blade of his opponent.
“I still possess enough fighting skills to make sure that you eat your words!” Lucius replied.
And the two stood in stalemate, their swords touching and neither of them took their eyes off each other for one second.
Alana took this as an opportunity to attempt to flee the room and she successfully managed to squeeze her way out of the doorway and into the corridor without being stopped.
But there was absolutely no chance of her progressing any further due to the fact that there were more than a dozen soldiers blocking her path all dressed in the same uniform as the soldier who was presently holding his own against Lucius in the cell behind her.
Alana thought that she would never see any of her enemies within the walls of her secret hideout unless of course they were prisoners, but it was now blatantly clear that she was completely wrong in thinking that her hideout was impenetrable due to the fact that so many had seemed to have made their way past her defences without being spotted.
The odds were quickly turning against Alana and it was now becoming clear that her mission may be deemed for failure and the upper hand that she had not so long ago was fading fast.
Mortus had double-crossed her.
Naomi had been taken from her.
Even her Head General had turned against her.
And if that wasn’t enough for Alana to be concerned about, a voice suddenly came from behind the enemy soldiers blocking her only way of escape.
A voice that she had so longed to hear one day, but under completely different circumstances.
A voice that she wanted to hear pleading to her for mercy as she finally had her revenge.
And within seconds of hearing it, the person she hated most of all suddenly came into view and all that Alana wanted to do was kill him on the spot, but unfortunately she was unarmed and the odds against her were astronomical.
Alana’s heart sank as she looked directly into the face of Gereziac.
“At last I finally have the pleasure of meeting the great Alana in person! It seems that you and Lucius have been giving one of my best men the runaround!” Gereziac said as he stood in front of his men.
Alana scowled at Gereziac.
“If you mean Zephal, then we have done a lot more than that! He is in the cell behind me right now and Lucius has seen to it personally that he won’t be moving from there for a little while.”
Gereziac started walking slowly towards Alana and the whole of her body tensed as he began to get closer.
“There is always something happening between those two!” Gereziac said, “I can see that you sent your best man just as I did mine to bring Naomi back. Now, the difference between you and I is that I am going to be leaving here with Naomi, whether you like it or not, where as you will be left with nothing but the realization that death awaits you for treason!”
Alana looked directly at Gereziac.
“Then you will be extremely disappointed!”
Gereziac laughed.
“Alana, your time is over. My men have already seen off most of your army whilst travelling here and we’ve even managed to infiltrate this place and kill off all of your Generals – so it’s safe to say that I definitely hold the upper hand. You need to know when you are defeated Alana. From this moment, you and Lucius are now my prisoners and you will be taken from here to the Great Chambers where the both of you will be tried and duly punished for what you have done! I expect Naomi and Zephal to be returned to me without fail!”
Alana grinned.
“I have already told you where Zephal is. He will need a few of your men to help him leave.”
“And Naomi?” Gereziac asked.
But before Alana could answer, Lucius and the soldier suddenly burst into the corridor accompanied by the sounds of their swords hitting each other.
The two men fought with incredible strength and the conversation between Gereziac and Alana came to an abrupt halt as everyone turned their attention to the sudden battle taking place in front of them.
Gereziac shouted for his soldier to stop fighting immediately and Alana expected Lucius to continue and kill his enemy when he let his guard down.
But surprisingly he ceased as well.
He, like Alana, was just as shocked to hear Gereziac’s voice and he had to make sure that his mind was not playing tricks on him.
Gereziac was indeed there and he had quite a lot of men with him and no matter how great a fighter Lucius was, he was never going to be able to defeat that many in one go.
He looked at Alana who had a look on her face that revealed that even she knew that all hope was lost.
The soldier rejoined his comrades behind Gereziac and Lucius knew that while he was holding his own in the cell, Alana may have surrendered to Gereziac in the corridor.
Alana’s chance to get revenge on Gereziac may have gone, but Lucius’s chance to seriously hurt Zephal for what he had done to him years before was not going to be taken away from him.
This was his last chance and he was not going to waste it – whatever the outcome.
And without warning, he ran back into the cell and headed straight towards Zephal with his sword aloft, ready to strike out at his nemesis.
Luckily, Lucius’s blade only made contact with Zephal’s chest armour, causing hardly any physical damage to him at all.
Everyone chased after Lucius and in seconds the cell was packed full of soldiers, frantically trying to stop Lucius from causing any more harm to Zephal.
In the chaos, Gereziac grabbed Alana by the arm and spun her round to face him.
“Where is my daughter?” he asked her.
Alana just smiled at him and replied.
“She is gone!”
“Gone where?” he asked, concerned.
“I don’t know – the Disciples of Draig took her from me!”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Although he was incredibly outnumbered, it still took all the strength of nearly half a dozen of Gereziac’s men to finally pull Lucius off Zephal.
Alana looked on in complete
and utter amazement at how crazy Lucius had just suddenly become as she caught sight of him being forcibly carried out of the cell kicking and yelling.
But the look on his face would remain in Alana’s memory as she saw the blood lust in his eyes which turned them bright red and the anger that poured out from him was so strong that his face had contorted so much that he was hardly recognizable.
Zephal had survived Lucius’s sudden attack thanks to the intervention of Gereziac’s men and he was now flanked by a couple of soldiers who were ready to help him up when he felt ready to do so.
Of course Lucius was never going to get off very lightly after trying to take Zephal’s life and every one of Gereziac’s men who was present in the cell managed to hurt him in some way as they carried him out into the corridor.
Gereziac immediately headed towards his injured friend and as he reached him, he knelt down beside Zephal to see how bad his injuries were.