by A McKay
"Remember, if you cause any trouble, I will have him step on you."
"Yeah, I know of the big rock boys love of squishing things." the imps walked by the guards.
The scaly guard laughed with a hissing sound, the imps laughing with them sounding more like chipmunks.
They were next in line and approached the guards trying to pass them without notice, but failed as the guards stopped them and stared at each one. The gate slammed down, and a group of the stone guard appeared in front of the wall. Slade wasn’t surprised at the hostile actions. It didn’t look like humans were among the many creatures.
"How dare you come here, agent, you will die." Slade wasn’t expecting that from them staring at him
“Why does everybody say that?” Slade said aloud. He saw more guards appear ready to make him non-existent, "Wait, wait, before you do that, look at us, does it look like we work for that agency? Frankly I used to be an agent but I left them."
"How did you? There is no way someone could leave and live."
"Trust me he did," Zach said with more of a tired look on his face then a scared look.
"You an agent too?" the man said in a hiss. Now archers were on the wall aiming their weapons at them.
"Me, hell no, I was stupid enough and became his blood brother when we were younger."
"And her"
Gabrielle didn't seem to be worried at all; she didn’t seem worried about anything. "Me, well I was just caught in the middle of the fight between him and his ex-employer."
Slade remembered that the vampires could smell the scent of the guardian in them, but clearly, these men didn’t have that high of smell. He was sure to stupid to recognize the markings on them from the necklaces. "We are guardians," Slade said trying to clear the matter.
"Fake no real guardian” The stone man spoke up finally.
"Stop this non-sense" the wizard that was floating in the orb said. "The prophecy says two will come to re-unite us all.”
"What prophecy and who is all," Zach took a breath and looked deeply at the wizard. “You have a chance to make this all a lot easier for us; it would be sort of nice to have something easy for once.” He started to beg more than plead.
"One will rule with an iron first and be worthy of a crown, the other being a marksman, and….” The wizard was cut off before he said anymore
"Well, shit, that screws us then, I can't shoot, and not enough gold on earth can fit his melon.” Zach said pointing to Slade’s giant baldhead. Zach sighed, "But I suppose I can shoot you, and I can punch Slade with an iron craw to prove that he’s tough.”
"True, so how do we prove this, so we can enter?” Slade said hoping no one actually took Zach serious.
An archer threw a longbow and an arrow at Zach.
"You, shoot my guard on that tower." The guard that blocked their entrance said, Zach looked up and saw another big stone person on the tower by the gate.
"Not that one, that one.” He pointed to the other side of the tower, where a man was waving a flag at least they thought it was a flag. He was barely visible being that far away.
Slade was about to say something but was stopped by Zach stepping in front of him. “Don't worry, I got this." Zach looked at the target and then picked up the bow and pulled it back. Something changed in his eyes, something weird was happening to him, his bow seemed different somehow as he could pull it back further than Slade thought the bow could go. He let go of the string the arrow flew, arching and going in the general direction of his target.
"No way," Slade said
"O, yes,” Zach said as arrow hit the stone man making the man fall off the tower to the ground. He slowly stood up, waved his flag again, and started to walk back to the gate as if nothing happened.
The guards turned to Slade not giving any impression that they were amazed by that shot as he was. "Your turn agent, you must not past out from this."
The stone guard started to hit Slade, first in the stomach then the chest and then two smacks to his face. Slade didn’t budge from the punches, he could feel them, and he could feel things cracking. This wasn’t the first time someone hit him to make their point, but when the stone person hand smacked him in the face, he grew pissed. The stone guard went back with his arm and brought it forward, Slade repositioning his body and grabbing the guards arm. He used the guard’s momentum, rolled him over, and put an arm bar hold with several regular pressure point holds on the guard’s arm.
"I win." Slade didn’t know if the stone guards had pressure points for the guard was still fighting the hold, but unable to break the giants hold.
“Dude, don’t fight the hold, he wins,” Zach said, he clearly remembered the hold from Slade’s demonstration on him.
The old wizard shook his head yet, "the guardians of the past could throw a knife any distance to hit any target." Before he could finish his sentence, Slade grabbed a sword that the guards had due to the present time of being unarmed. He threw the blade that went through the wizard’s beard trimming it and sticking in the stonewall with little white whiskers attached to it. The wizard rubbed his beard, and then nodded his head. Then he bowed down, "You have returned."
“You sure look familiar wizard.”
“We all do don’t we?” He winked to Slade and vanished.
Slade didn’t know what happened.
"I was aiming for his hat.” Slade whispered to Zach. Zach patted him on his back. Slade laughed, of course, he could throw a knife and Zach could shoot, but that didn’t prove they were guardians. That just proved they hit target because of their growing up and doing that as kids.
The gates opened and people bowing to another man as he came across the land, or at least he looked like a man. He had on black tights closely followed by a black tunic adorned with some orange and gold stitching. It was tied off with a black sash that was short enough to not become a hassle in a fight. Over all that, he had on a chest plate. It was black in the center but silver on the bottom around the torso and top. He had thrown on some black gloves and to top it off he had a black cloak that was big enough to cover his entire body. His face was hard, and if Slade wasn't mistaken his eyes were orange. He wore a battle-axe on his back, and by the look of his size that was bigger than Slade and demeanor, he wasn’t afraid to use it.
The man sniffed, "Come with me humans my sister the queen awaits."
"Dude, this man scares me," Zach whispered. Zach couldn’t even make a wise crack at this barbarian looking man. Slade understood the fear for he had fear of the man also.
"Yeah, I am no expert but aren't males supposed to rule a kingdom."
"Silence," rolled from him like thunder.
As they started to walk through the gate, the guards that were made out of stone were getting out of this man’s way with haste as they bowed to him. This proved they weren’t bowing to them but instead they were bowing to this mammoth sized guy. The guardians followed him, with no other escort. The guy really was over confident and if there weren’t guards in easy access, Slade would show the man his equally sized fist.
Towers surrounded the corners and gates made from a mixture of stone, mud, wood and some other type of material that looked dangerous. Buildings inside the walls were of wood, except for the one they were heading to. A stone rectangle building that he was sure was the main hall.
"Zach whatever happens; know we are in this together." Zach was too busy looking around to answer what Slade just said.
The doors open to the main hall that was guarded by two more stone guards, and all three were shown inside. The mammoth guy that didn't say much was on their side. A Stone guard came out with several what had to be maidens from the back corner of the room. "The Queen." Everyone went to their knees besides the two moronic men that stood there just staring at the scene unfolding in front of them.
"You idiot's show respect to the Queen, or my axe will find your necks."
“I dare you,” Slade snarled back.
A growl escaped the man that made
them quickly go on their knees and copied the guard’s position knowing he wasn’t as human as they thought he was. Something from his growl brought back a fear that was hidden deep within. They could hear footsteps but knowing they were not allowed to look up until the queen permitted it. They both watched movies where somebody looked up too soon and had their head removed from their body
"Rise,” The voice familiar, as Slade took a gulp and looked up.
"Slade, is that?” Zach said, as Slade took another gulp, trying not to freak out at that point.
"O, Boy!"
The mammoth man drew his axe out ready to attack. "Queen," Gabrielle said, "I knew it, I knew it was going to be you that is so awesome. So what is it like ruling a Kingdom, do you get free clothes,” if Slade didn’t know better he would of said she was acting. Something was too dramatized, but it might have just been her personality. Two guards who moved to stand in front of her silenced her.
"Take her to her chambers; she can sleep with the nymphs."
"Aye.” They both said and escorted her out.
"Bye guys hope to catch you later, and by that I don't mean just your heads." The way she said it had Slade thinking the innocent girl enjoyed seeing torture and death.
No one spoke while she was being escorted out, Zach breaking the silence with a whisper, “Slade how…” he was cut off by the Queens raised voice.
"Speak out loud, or gone with your heads," the queen said, the big guard readjusting his grip of his battle-axe. “Gargan, take them to the cells, I will deal with this later."
“You will not take,” Slade stopped mid sentence as two guards grabbed him and Gargan turned and growled at him like a beast. A growl he recognized as Phoenix’s.
“O, you’re a dragon also; yeah prison will do just fine.” Zach’s voice retreated, as Slade stared at him wanting to clearly find a way to get out of their before their heads were cut off.
They started to walk with Gargan, "Make sure you search them thoroughly brother." The queen said now before they disappeared from the Queens sight towards the hallway that lead to the dungeons.
“O great her brother as well,” Zach said to Slade which had the dragon stop in his tracks. Zach quickly reframed his sentence, “She is a wonderful Queen isn’t she Slade, I’ve always said that.”
“Silence or I will cut your tongue out and make you eat it.” Gargan said not even looking back at them.
***
The door slammed shut against the bricks and raw iron bars. The cell wasn’t anything bigger than a prison cell in the modern world. Shackles hung from the wall, windows provided light inside the cell. Zach went to the open window ready for an escape and crawled back in.
“Okay we aren’t jumping.” Slade now followed suite and looked out the window.
“Holy crap, I didn’t think we climbed that far up.” The window was at least a hundred feet from the ground. The floor was covered in grit and dirt and Slade was sure the bottom was made of some hard material that he couldn’t break.
Slade walked over to a wall and tried to pick at the grout lines but nothing came off. It was as hard the stones that built the walls. Slade slumped down by the wall landing hard on his butt. Zach stared back at him not saying a thing.
“I can break out of the jails, prisons, but this is a dungeon.” Zach finally spoke up after a couple moments of silence.
“No not a dungeon that would have dead bodies lying there and have chains to lock us up too. No, this is a classic tower prison, like the fairy tales.”
“Shit and you have no hair to throw down.” Zach smiled at the suggestion
“Nope, and unless we want to die we will not escape, not until the queen says we can.”
“This isn’t going to plan Slade, not our destiny.”
“Destiny, what destiny,”
“You know our fathers meant to find a way here, but they couldn’t now it is up to us.”
“Well, we found it, now we are prisoners.”
“Yes, and we should be comfortable with it, we have been in prisons before.”
“Not like these.”
“You are giving the cell too much credit,” Zach was always to be more positive when they were captured. Slade usually never was beat due to his size but when it did happen, something deep inside of him dimmed. Something about being put in a cell drained him of hope.
“Zach, this is made in stone, not a regular jail cell like back in hick town.”
“They are the same,” Slade now stared at Zach wondering what he saw. “We have fortified walls, a wooden door that has probably a bar holding it shut.”
“Yes, a wooden door, and probably guards outside of that.”
“You break the door, I will get the guards.”
“And how will I do that, they made this cell very short, I can’t run through it.”
“No, well then we are screwed.”
“You said it.” Slade went an opposite side of the room away from Zach. He wanted to find an escape, an escape that could at least free Zach.
Again another silence took fourth until the night fell this time. Slade stared out the window as Zach stared blankly at the wall in front of him.
“Slade,” Zach broke his concentration on the wall, his face tired as if he was thinking of something.
“Yeah”
“Do you remember being locked up in a cage, back when we were soldiers?”
“Yeah, I still have nightmares of that night,” It hit Slade like a ton of bricks. “Shit, you just had a flashback didn’t you? I thought you were just staring at the wall.”
“Yeah, they haunt me bad; they made me kill that mother and infant, but remember how we escaped. You did a weird mental thing, and you saw an escape. You knew exactly what and when to do things, and we escaped before you had to kill somebody that was innocent.”
“It has to be hard for you.”
“Yeah, that is probably why I accepted to come with you, to save innocent lives, but now you need to go back to that trance.”
“I don’t know if I can, I haven’t practiced mediating that deeply for a long while.” He thought back to the tent and figured it was just the luck of the draw.
“You can do it, I know you can, you had to use it I figure when you escaped the Sanctum didn’t you?”
“Yes, but that was different, I didn’t want to kill anymore, remember the way you felt when you broke the kids neck with a gun pointed to your head.” Slade took a breath, “well I had to do it to an entire race.”
“Well no wonder they hate you,” he tried to soften his tone both of them becoming red as they remembered what they did, the horrible act. “It doesn’t matter, you made the escape, and I know you can do it again, we need to get out to save them from the Secret Sanctum. How much longer do you think they can hide this island, the Sanctum is coming, and not only one species will be killed but everything that isn’t human?”
Slade thought about his past, the present, and the future. He could see the island in death, the green destroyed by man, buildings put up everywhere. They would find a way to kill the dragons; they would find a way to destroy this land. Man was too curious to leave the devil’s triangle alone. Deep inside him, he wanted to call this home. He wanted to feel the sand heat his feet up. He needed the warm water to take the pain of years away from him. Damnit if this was going to be his home, he wasn’t going to let this prison hold him from it.
“Okay but if the guards come in; you need to wake me up anyway possibly.” Slade turned his head scanning the room, trying to remember everything.
“Don’t worry; I don’t think they will be coming anytime soon.”
“He says don’t worry, don’t worry, I can be stabbed to death and not know it until it was too late.”
“We don’t have time Slade to wait till morning, if I am thinking right, they will have new guards by then, and their weakness will be when they are rotating.”
Slade learned of a way to check the surroundings in a way that brought his ent
ire brain into the process. Something that man is unable to do, but he was trained by his father and he had complete control of his brain. The trick was it had to be the one thing that he wanted the most that was why it worked before during the prison escape. He would lose his conscious mind and be brought into in his subconscious. He wasn’t sure if it was going to work, for he wanted to escape, but from what, right now he was safe from the Sanctum. So what if they were locked in a prison, they were safe, something Slade had never experienced.
Zach positioned himself between Slade and the only entrance there was. Slade closed his eyes and started to rest his brain just as he did to meet his ancestor. He concentrated first on picturing every muscle in his body relaxing and then a light bulb on his head. It had a string under it, and he knew once that he pulled the string he would be physically useless on protecting Zach. This was to protect Zach though he reminded himself as he reached for the string. He took a breath and pulled the string.
15A set of steps appeared in the darkness. He knew that the steps would lead him into compartment s that would make him able to see the escape. All he would have to do is open the door go down a hall and open another door that had an office in it.
The office would be special though, he would see images in front of him, and he would be able to control them with his mind. He could zoom in or freeze certain images. He had a key board floating by him to type anything, which for him was the only way to remember it out of his subconscious. The office itself was remarkable also though; it always had grass and sand, the waves hitting the stones by a cliff. The fresh scent after a rainfall would ease him even more to keep him in this imaginary land. All he would have to do was walk down the steps and open the door.
He was on the top of ten steps and he started to take one-step at a time. The subconscious was not to be hurried. He kept his slow place step by step until he reached the bottom where a door appeared. He studied the door for a few minutes, his subconscious making him look at the steps again to leave. “No I need to open the door.” He looked at the door again this time grabbing the handle, but something tingled in him this time. The handle didn’t want to move, it was as if it was locked from him. He tried to turn the handle but it didn’t fudge, it started to get warm, and then burning. Slade needed to get control again so as loud as he could he yelled, “Open,” and the door gave way. His body entered the imaginary hallway his body taking up most of the entrance.