The one eyed monster was almost upon Cezar now and Cezar began to run the other way, trying to put some distance between them.
‘Hurry!’ he shouted to Sereta who seemed to be taking her time with preparing her spell. Cezar turned to look back at the Monster when he felt himself being lifted up from the ground. The monster had picked him up! Then he heard Sereta magic words and he was dropped to the ground again.
Cezar ran as far as he could form the Monster who stood still as if it was confused.
Sereta cast a second spell and the monster turned and returned the way it came.
‘Phew! That was close.’ Cezar said letting out a sigh of relief; glad he was not squashed to smithereens in the monster’s fist.
Kantang's army saw what had happened to their monster; they turned and fled.
'The spell will wear off soon,’ Sereta said. ‘We must evacuate this part of the city before the spell wears off and the one-eyed monster returns,' she urged Cezar. The sentries began clearing the people to safety but before all the people could be safely moved another monster the same as the first appeared.
It rushed instinctively towards Cezar.
Cezar ducked quickly out of its way. He saw the same yellow stone in the chest of this monster as he had noticed in the previous monster and suspected that both were somehow being controlled by this yellow stone and that there was bound to be more monsters if he didn’t destroy the yellow stone.
‘Stop,’ Cezar commanded ‘I do not want to harm you but I will if I have to.’
The Creature ignored Cezar, and came at him again.
Cezar waited until the monster was very close, then he jumped towards the one eyed monster, climbing on its back and using his red sword as leverage. The monster roared violently every time the sword pierced its body. It shook itself to get rid of Cezar, swinging around wildly; but it was unsuccessful.
Perched on the back of the one eyed monster, Cezar tried unsuccessfully to reach the yellow stone.
Carefully he aimed at the point on the chest of the one eyed monster just above the yellow stone and threw his sword. The creature cried out in agony as Cezar’s sword struck him in the chest.. Cezar swung quickly off the back of the one eyed monster and latched onto his sword pulling it downwards with all his might.
The sword ripped at the stone pulling it as it came down. The yellow stone was jarred off the body of the creature falling unto the ground.
The one eyed monster now free of the stone turned and ran quickly away. Cezar and Sereta ran to where the yellow stone had fallen but to their utter amazement, the stone turned into a yellow slimy worm and varnished.
Shouts of victory arose from the sentries and all the people who had seen the monster delivered from the spell of the yellow stone clapped loudly. Cezar hoped this was enough to stop any more monsters from appearing.
Then Amidst the celebrations a loud blast like that of a cannon ball went off and within moments waves of water pushed into the city from every direction possible. The celebration stopped and people ran in all directions.
‘What’s happening?’ Cezar asked Sereta.
‘Kantang has broken all the walls which protect the city from the sea with his magic. We have to evacuate the whole of Talori to another level.
The sea gushed all around Cezar and now reached his waist. Cezar watched as the citizens of Talori began changing their human form into mermaids and mermen.
We will have to fight in our true form Sereta said; 'quick take this.' She handed Cezar two tiny, cream shaped seashells. Cezar glared at the seashells not sure what to do them.
‘Place one behind each of your ears,’ Sereta shouted to him; 'you need gills or you will not survive the sea.'
Cezar realised what Sereta was saying. He was the only human amongst the sea people and they were used to the sea, they could not drown. But he needed gills to swim this deep. Thoughts of drowning filled his mind and he felt a sudden panic of having a second drowning experience.
‘Wake up!’ Sereta shouted. ‘Put the shells behind each ear or you will drown.’
Cezar immediately did as Sereta asked; he did not want to drown. He felt his body tighten. As the tiny seashells stuck on to the skin behind his ears and hurt really badly. Then the pain transferred to his chest and he felt as if the air in his lungs was being sucked out. He remembered he had felt this way before and realised that it was the feeling of drowning. Moments later, the air rushed back into his lungs and he felt fine.
Suddenly, the ground beneath his feet was swept away as the sea flooded the city.
Cezar expected to be swept away too but to his sweet surprise both his feet were now one huge scaled fish tail and his fingers had become webbed.
He looked around for Sereta and found her swimming beside him.
‘Use your tail,’ she said.
He did his best to copy what Sereta did but it was awkward having a fish tail instead of two legs and he failed woefully. Being a merman would take more getting used to.
Sereta grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him towards her.
He wanted to ask where they were heading but feared that water might enter into his lungs and he would drown.
'It’s alright to speak,' she said 'your gills will take care of the water.'
'Ooh!' he said, water rushed into his mouth as he spoke. Cezar tried to cough but to his surprise, the water rushed back out through the gills that had grown behind his ears. He loved the feeling of water flowing in through his mouth and out via his gills and he smiled.
‘Come on then,’ Sereta said; ‘we have a battle to win.’
Chapter14 Kantang
Under the water, the mermaid and mermen had grown huge blue green armours, which covered their human bodies and tail. The same coloured horned headdress covered their head and each had a shiny long spear.
‘Talori Soldiers,' Sereta said.
Cezar was shoved into the middle and the fighting began.
Sereta kept close to Cezar even as she fought off Kantang’s army who had also transformed into seamen. Cezar did not have to do much because within moments the soldiers of Talori drove their enemies back and shouts of victory sounded.
Cezar and Sereta made their way to the point where the walls had been broken and found the citizens already busy rebuilding them. The Water slowly drained out of the city and magically the mermaids and mermen began changing back into the human forms.
Cezar and Sereta changed back too.
‘I was just getting into the swing of things,’ Cezar laughed to Sereta.
‘That’s good to know,’ she replied ‘because from now on; you will always have gills.’
Cezar instinctively touched behind his ears. He felt a very tiny piercing behind his ears. ‘Nice!’ he replied. As long as there wasn’t sea shells stuck behind his ears he would be fine when he eventually returned to Ocracidia.
Cezar and Sereta began helping to rebuild the wall.
Then all of a sudden, a dreadful silence spread and when Cezar looked he eyes met with a tall dark, male figure with eyes red as fire and a flowing cloak.
Kantang,’ Sereta whispered fearfully to him
The citizens of Talori ran helter-skelter except for the Talori Soldiers who stood poised, ready to fight.
Sereta stood beside Cezar; her stance told him, she too was ready to battle the evil Kantang
Pure evil shone through Kantang's eyes as he glared at the Talori soldiers but Cezar was not afraid.
'Run while you can,' he laughed at the scrambling citizens. Cezar could bear his taunts no more, instead of running as Kantang suggested, Cezar took a number of calculated steps forward, and said.
'We are not going anywhere. Why don't you go back to your land? The people of Talori do not want you here, this is their land, and they deserve to live here in peace.'
A wicked laughter ran through the air. The evil in Kantang voice crawled at Cezar’s skin.
Kantang took one-step towards Cezar, and the ground shook like there was an earthquak
e. Cezar knew Kantang was using magic to create these tremors and he wondered if his mother’s amulet would have enough magic to match Kantang’s.
'You dare challenge me,' Kantang asked; a look of utter shock and surprise on his face.
Cezar moved closer. 'Yes; I challenge you,' he replied. 'I challenge you to leave this city or be defeated.'
'Defeated!' cried Kantang. ‘And how do you plan to defeat me? I have all this on my side.' He stretched his hand out and Cezar saw a horde of Evil monsters standing behind Kantang.
Kantang laughed wickedly, just as he threw a massive ball of fire magically towards Cezar.
Cezar ducked and the ball of fire missed him but it landed on a building bringing it down with a crashing sound.
Sereta rushed forward casting a spell on Kantang but with a wave of his hand, Kantang blew her away and she crashed into a nearby wall under the force of his magic.
Cezar winced. He hoped Sereta was alright. He was now more determined to defeat Kantang and stop the terror he was inflicting on the Talori people. But how was he to match Kantang’s wicked magic and his thousand soldiers?
'Let’s make this between you and me,' Cezar said to Kantang.
'But it is already between us both,' laughed Kantang.
'Agreed!' Cezar said. In that case, I challenge you to fight; one on one, just the two of us.'
'You do?' asked Kantang in mock horror. 'You expect me to be scared of a little boy? He screamed. 'Well, sorry to disappoint you... I'm not and never will, even if you now have gills and can breathe through water.’
Cezar wondered how he knew about that and thought that Kantang’s magic probably gave him the knowledge.
Kantang glared at Cezar as if expecting him to turn and run away. When Cezar stood his ground, Kantang showed his surprise.
‘Very well, I accept; and to show you how generous I can be, I will let you choose what weapon we shall use in combat.’
Cezar was secretly pleased; he knew how to handle a sword very well. ‘A sword Fight,’ he replied.
‘Swords it is then;’ replied Kantang 'but there’s one more little thing.'
‘What’s that?’ asked Cezar.
‘The loser will be forever trapped in the deathly prison …and the winner gets Talori.’
‘No!’ shouted Sereta. ‘Don’t agree to it. You can never be free of the deathly prison. No one can!’
Cezar shook his head, he was not scared of the deathly prison but he knew it was not his place to offer Talori to anyone.
'I'm afraid I cannot offer you Talori,' he replied; but I agree, that the loser should be imprisoned forever.
Kantang’s eyebrows furrowed into a frown then they widened into a most mysterious and evil smile.
'I accept,' he said with a voice that rang out over a great distance.
Cezar knew that Kantang would never keep his promise and realised that Kantang wanted him out of the way so he could get Talori. If Cezar lost the sword fight, Kantang would have him imprisoned forever and would still go after Talori.
Cezar knew he had to win.
He got out his sword and a small buckler magically appeared in his other hand. He smiled, his amulet never ceased to amaze him. Now he wondered if it could save him from the dungeons of the deathly prison.
Cezar knew he was no match for Kantang but he was going to do his best to save Talori from this evil monster.
Moments later, Kantang made the first move; and ran towards Cezar. Kantang pushed Cezar with his shield as he struck out at him.
Cezar had his sword and buckler poised protecting his face. Using his buckler, he deflected Kantang's sword keeping well out of Kantang’s range.
He had the advantage of being smaller and quicker but Kantang had evil magic on his side.
Both spared for moments without succeeding to get at the other; then Kantang took a sudden aggressive stance and said ‘enough of these games.’
Cezar realised that Kantang was going to rush an attack on him.
He placed his buckler in his throat area and extended his sword towards Kantang but being so much smaller than Kantang, Cezar’s thrust landed on Kantang's exposed leg, slicing it to the core.
Kantang screamed out in pain; anger filling his body and his eyes darkening with hate. Kantang threw his sword and shield to one side, he began speaking spells as he walked towards Cezar closing him in.
Cezar felt evil surround him and he backed away from Kantang. He knew Kantang was now using magic to fight him and he willed his amulet to do something. To his surprise, Cezar’s amulet shone a bright light, which formed a balloon shield all around him.
Kantang’s spells manifested as small, grey, pea like objects, which stuck firmly to the balloon shield. Without warning, the grey objects turned and flew back towards Kantang sticking firmly to all the parts of his body.
‘No!’ Kantang screamed as he tried desperately to get the objects off him. Seconds later, only Kantang’s head was visible amongst the grey, pea like objects.
The grey objects bore quickly into the ground like a massive drilling machine, dragging Kantang screaming and kicking with them.
The ground closed up after Kantang and slowly Kantang’s screams died down.
Cezar put away his shield and buckler and Sereta walked towards him
‘What happened?’ Cezar asked.
‘Kantang sent spells to take you to the deathly prison but your amulet protected you and the spells turned on Kantang instead dragging him down to the prison where he will remain for eternity.’
‘Yes!’ Cezar said pumping his fist into the air.
‘Thanks to you, Talori is free;’ Sereta said smiling widely.
There was jubilation, clapping, hugging and singing all around Cezar and he was pleased he had been able to defeat Kantang but he knew he could not have done it without his mother’s amulet.
Cezar realised that he had a most powerful magic in the red amulet his mother had given.
He felt like staying behind to celebrate with the Talori people, but he needed to get on with his quest. ‘I’ve got to be on my way,’ he said to Sereta.
'Yes' she replied’ but first we must see Queen Elena.’
Chapter 15 - On My Way
Back in the palace, seated on her throne with a beautiful smile on her face; the queen welcomed Cezar back into her presence.
‘Is there anything that you might need to help you with your quest?’ she asked.
Cezar could think of nothing he wanted more than to be on his way to saving his beloved Ocracidia.
‘You are most gracious, Queen Elena’ he replied bowing. ‘All I want is to continue on my journey, if you please.’
‘In that case,’ Queen Elena replied. ‘May I give you something in remembrance of Talori?’
‘Anything would be appreciated,’ he replied.
‘Very well; kneel before Talori and her people and stretch out your hands towards me.’
Cezar did as the queen requested.
The Queen placed her staff on his palm for a brief second. Cezar felt a tingling feeling in both his palms. When the queen lifted her staff; there, imprinted on the back of each of his palms was a golden blue tattoo of a fish with a crown on its head.
The queen smiled at him ‘that’s the emblem of our great city Talori,’ she said. ‘You have been knighted with one of our highest honours. Whenever you find yourself in dire need or danger; the spirit of Talori will come to your aid.'
‘Thank you, Queen Elena;’ Cezar replied.
‘Arise now, young warrior and May the spirit of Talori always be with you.’
Cezar stood to his feet amongst cheering and clapping from the people of the city.
His eyes looked for Sereta and within moments, she was by his side.
‘I will show you the way out of the city,’ she said; ‘and through the sea of Valour.’
‘Not the sea of Valour.’ Cezar exclaimed.
‘Yes the sea of Valour.’ Sereta laughed. ‘No one survives the se
a without first receiving Valour. Now you have the Talori seal of honour, the Sea will always be your friend. It will assist you when you need it, it will fight your enemies when they try to overcome you, and it will always be right there in you. Don't you ever forget that.’
Cezar laughed heartily. ‘I won’t forget, Promise;’ he replied.
A whistle left her lips and two light blue beautiful and gentle looking horses appeared.
‘Come along,’ she shouted out to Cezar, ‘we haven’t got all day.’
Cezar eagerly jumped on one of the horses but was immediately thrown off.
‘What's going on?’ he asked Sereta.
‘Don't think she likes you,’ she replied laughing
He tried again. This time the horse allowed Cezar to mount him but refused to move.
Sereta whistled and the horse kicked off suddenly, almost throwing Cezar off
Both rode to the edge of the city.
‘Close your eyes,’ Sereta said.
Cezar obeyed.
‘Now open your eyes,’ she said.
When Cezar opened his eyes, he found himself deep within the sea with Sereta beside him.
‘Breathe,’ she said to him smiling.
Cezar took a deep breath and the water passed through his nostrils and exited behind his both his ears. He opened his mouth and felt the water rushing in and out through his gills. Cezar blew bubbles through the water excitedly like a child and wished that Nosa was here with him.
It was many moments before Sereta asked if he was ready to continue because he was having such fun with the bubbles she did not want to stop him.
Regretfully Cezar nodded. His quest to save Ocracidia and the destroy Diagus’ evil spell was waiting and he had to go.
Out of nowhere, two dolphins settled beside them. The dolphins moved closer. They swung both Sereta and Cezar unto their backs, and began to swim up towards the surface of the water.
Cezar almost lost his balance but he held on giggling to himself and loving the experience he was having.
‘Lima and Lina,’ Sereta told him.
Cezar held on as tight as he could. The last thing he wanted was to fall back deep into the sea even though he could now breathe through water.
The Sea of Valour -The Ocracidia Series 1 Page 6