Darius remained frozen, crippled with grief as the truth began to eat away at his very soul until a familiar roar was heard, Silva descended from the sky!
The mighty dragon soared towards the settlement, and before the sisters could retreat, Darius committed his last barbaric act: he shut the gate, bolted the lock, and left them out to die.
“I’m sorry sisters, I hope your death is quick.” He turned and ran to his chambers.
The sisters banged and pushed up against the gate in futile attempts, frantically trying to escape their impending doom, their faces bored expressions of fear and rage as the man they had served all their lives had betrayed them.
Silva roared again and had begun flying towards them at the entrance, his roars sent shivers of dread down the spines of the sisters.
“Darius! Please, I beg of you, let us in!” roared Winter.
Summer screamed with fear as Silva approached. “Darius! Darius! Darius! Please, I beg!” Their pleads fell upon death ears and they turned to face their deaths.
Silva landed a few feet away from the sisters; the floor vibrated as the beastly dragon’s feet hit the ground, it seemed as though the ground trembled, and it too feared Silva. The dragon gazed upon his next victims, despite Silva’s blackened scales around his face, the sisters could still make out the fresh blood around his mouth which was now more like a warpaint, a telling testament to the amount of men the dragon had recently slaughtered, the sisters fell to their knees and pleaded for their lives, Silva laughed spitefully.
“Please, great dragon, spare us! We served Darius but we will submit before you!”
Winter joined in; she too made a desperate bid for their lives. “The battle is won; Darius and his men have been slaughtered. We are no threat to you.”
Silva gazed upon the sisters and smirked, he enjoyed the fear he bought upon his victims. “Tell me sisters, I noticed your armour, your shields and spears, did you serve the warlord named Darius?”
“Yes.” trembled Spring.
“I see.” Silva leaned in and approached spring, he glared at her, as he spoke the smell of fire and scorched flesh saturated her senses and made her eyes water. She was trembling with fear.
“Look at me, you puny runt,” roared Silva. Spring slowly raised her head to gaze upon the dragon, but all she could see were sharp fangs and teeth as the dragon looked down upon her. “I’ve heard horrible things about the warlord you served! Did he sell children to brothels?” asked Silva.
“Yes,” replied Spring.
“Did he allow the rape of women and the murder of innocent men who could not pay his tax rates.”
“Ye . . . yes.”
“I see. Did he allow his people to starve and live in famine and bring countless victims to his jails to torture for fun?”
“Yes . . . I’m sorry . . . Please, I’m sorry.”
“Let me guess, you also murdered people and beheaded children in the name of your warlord . . . you were . . . following orders.”
“Yes . . . but—”
And before Spring could finish, she spoke no more. Silva’s gaping jaws crushed her as he ate her alive whilst her three sisters watched in horror on bended knees. The sound of crushing bones was heard bite after bite until Spring disappeared into the mouth of the beast.
Silva turned to the remaining three servants. “She tasted disgusting, I’m sure you three will taste the same!”
“Please,” pleaded Autumn. “Have mercy.”
“Mercy,” laughed Silva. “Mercy . . . a weak trait for weak races. You shall suffer just like the women and children your warlord brutally tortured and murdered!” Silva stood tall upon his hind legs, his chest was puffed out and looked broad and straight, and as the sisters gazed up at Silva’s Magnificence, his silver scales began to sparkle, it would be the last things the sisters saw. “Now burn!”
Silva scorched the sisters with a blast of black dragon fire as the sisters shrieked. The fire cooked the flesh until only their skeletons remained, the bones were black like Silva’s fire and as the skeletons remained in a kneeling position, their bones looked more like statues made from coal.
The wind blew and the skeletons disintegrated into black dust as the wind carried them off. Silva had burnt them into nothingness, nobody would know they ever existed, and as the dragon laid down to rest and await Vanya’s arrival, he joked playfully. “It’s a shame they taste so bad, I’m still hungry!”
Darius ran as fast as his fat little legs could carry him towards his chambers, the once busy market place was eerily quiet, food stands were empty, rats were scurrying along the floor foraging for whatever scraps they could find, scraps that were probably more than the peasants were ever able to gather.
Darius noticed a plump meat trader emerging from one of the food stalls, the man was middle aged with a receding hairline, he had a patchy beard and was short. The man’s pockets were filled with coin and his large satchel was stuffed with meats.
“You there,” roared Darius. “Where d’ya think you’re going?”
Darius would be shocked by the trader’s response, the meat trader no longer feared him.
“You're still alive! I’m surprised the War Hogs didn’t kill ya!” spoke the meat trader. The trader was clothed in a thick cream well-aged robe which was stained with blood, no doubt from his daily duties. “I’m gathering up my last coin and supplies, gonna take the family far away from here. I heard a dragon’s roar, fucking terrifying it was, the War Hogs will be here soon no doubt. You’ve lost Darius.”
“You're gonna share some of that with me, you dog!”
“Fuck off! Your days are numbered Darius, and well deserved! I hope you burn for eternity for your sins!” The meat trader ran off into the distance leaving Darius alone infuriated, never had the people risen against him, he truly had fallen from grace.
Frantically Darius continued his run of life and death through the stinking back alleys and side turnings of which the brothels prospered. Darius looked upon the run-down hovels of the sex workers and slave children that occupied the seedy establishments that he past, people were still inside gazing at him with smiles of relief.
The warlord paused and looked around at all the whores and children that stood by the side watching him, they were smiling spitefully, seemingly enjoying the site of his downfall, the downfall of a man that had bestowed great misery onto them.
Darius paused for breath. “What the fuck are you all looking at.”
A small group of peasant children who were no more than ten years of age emerged from an alleyway, they were dressed in filthy robes and tunics and shit stained breeches, their faces were rough and dirty and they were armed with small handfuls of rocks and stones.
“Now!” screamed one of the kids.
They all began pelting the warlord with their peasant arsenal of rough rocks, stones and rubble, one small rock hit Darius clean on the temple, he roared in fury. “Ya little fucks! Enjoy this while it lasts!”
Before Darius could say another word, he was drenched by a warm shower of what he thought was water, the smell of excrement soon followed, he had been drenched in shit and piss, to his horror, sex workers had begun throwing their used buckets of urine and faeces at him!
“Fuck off ya bastard!” roared one of the whores from the brothel. She was middle-aged and hard faced, her hair was thick, matted, and dirty and she looked as though she had never bathed.
“Your reign is over!” another woman yelled spitefully. “Yoshihiro comes to liberate us!” The younger woman cradled her new-born baby in her arms; she was skinny and sickly looking, and the baby was crying out in hunger.
Darius clutched at his wound on his temple and looked around one last time at the sickening living conditions his people had lived in due to his rule. “Fuck you all, ya fucking animals.” He turned and continued to run whilst avoiding more buckets of human waste and airborne rocks and stones.
Darius ran through the once prosperous Slaver’s Square, there were
no auctions to be heard, no haggling over prices and no banter between rival slave dealers, instead the Square was empty with only the caged slaves in sight. They slaves roared with anger at the sight of the warlord, they had become feral upon seeing him, they pushed, kicked and barged into their cages trying desperately to free themselves so they could get their hands on the man responsible for their lives in chains.
“when I get outta this cage, I’m gonna kill ya!” Roared a brute of a man from his cage. The chains around him were rusted, he had blisters and cuts around his hands and feet from the iron chains, and he looked as though he had been beaten repeatedly with scars present on his face on torso.
“The War Hogs are coming; your death will follow you fucking monster! Yoshihiro will gut you alive!” roared a female slave from an aged and rusted cage. The woman was slim and covered in an old dirty black robe, there were holes all over it and her face was bruised from a recent beating.
Darius turned and glanced at an elderly slave who sat in his cage, pinned down by an iron ball and chain, he was comfortably in his late fifties, grey haired and thin framed, the man’s teeth were missing, and he had scars over his back, no doubt from lashings. The slave rose but did not speak, instead he stared at Darius and cried tears of joy, he smiled too, as he could sense the reign of Darius was coming to an end and he would soon be free, his smile sent a shiver down Darius’s spine and stood testament to the fact that sometimes saying nothing is louder than shouting a thousand words.
A commotion was heard from the entrance of the settlement which was met by cheers of celebration, the elves had arrived and begun breeching the gates with the War Hogs, Darius was running out of time, he made his way to his quarters to gather what he could and escape.
Darius slammed the doors of his stained glass keep behind him, he secured them with a thick cast iron bolt and collapsed to the floor in relief, whilst breathing heavily and trying to catch his breath, he had made it and now his escape was in sight.
“I’ve been waiting for you, Darius!” spoke a familiar voice. Darius rose sharply in shock, and as he turned, he froze in fear as Tatsuya sat upon his throne in the great hall!
Tatsuya sat upon Darius’s throne in a relaxed posture, one leg crossed over the other, he had been waiting patiently. He wore his all black kimono, black Jika-tabi footwear, a black hood and a matching face masked which only revealed his eyes, his eyes that were fixed onto Darius in a pent-up rage.
“Tatsuya! What are you doing here? Have you left the hogs?”
Tatsuya didn’t respond, instead he glared upon Darius with hollow eyes, he rose slowly from the black marbled throne of rats and began walking towards the warlord slowly, like a man possessed, and he removed his hood and face mask to reveal a cold gaze. Tatsuya was armed and donned a wide range of lethal weapons, a jet black steel ninjato sword was tied behind his back, silver shurikens were tucked neatly into place around his black belt as were a pair razor sharp sais. Upon rising, however, Tatsuya drew his favoured weapon: the sickle and chain known to many as the kusarigama. Tatsuya had mastered the feared weapon, the sharp black steel sickle seemed to glow in the light and at the end of the adjoining metal chain was a spiked iron ball, the ninja began swinging the chain in a slow circular motion.
Darius could feel the wind blowing from the swinging chain as Tatsuya edged close, the clanging of the metal echoed in the great hall and Darius stumbled back.
“Tatsuya, what are you doing? Please, I can pay you . . . anything you want . . . anything!”
“You think this is about money?” spoke Tatsuya coldly.
“Did that bastard Yoshihiro send you here? Sent you do his dirty work, did he?”
“No, this has nothing to do with him.”
Darius could tell by the look in Tatsuya’s eyes he was going to kill him, the warlord was no fool and knew the look of a man’s killing intent when he saw it, he spun round to run back outside but his escape was futile. Tatsuya stepped forward and swung the chain at Darius’s legs, the metal chain wrapped around the legs of the warlord tightly, the chain was held into place by the spiked ball and Darius fell to the floor.
Darius yelped, he looked down at his legs, he was completely immobilised, the thick black metal chain looked more like a snake, a black metal snake squeezing the life out of his short stubby legs as Tatsuya edged closer with the adjoining razor sharp sickle, still beaming in the sunlight.
“Wait! Wait, please Tatsuya . . . I’m leaving, you’ll never see me again.”
Tatsuya stood over the warlord and gazed down upon him in a silent rage. He grabbed the Darius by the neck, and as he did, the warlord gasped in pain as something on the inside of Tatsuya hand stabbed him in the neck. It was only a few inches deep, but it drew blood and left a painful wound. Darius looked up, clutching at his neck as blood seeped through his fingers due to the puncture wounds on his neck, and as he looked he saw the discreet sharp weapon that was used: it was a short blade on a ring, like piece of steel placed on the inside of Tatsuya’s palm. These were called kakute rings, and were commonly used the slit throats during close quarters assassinations.
Darius’s fear turned to rage, he began spitting and foaming at the mouth like a wild animal. “You fucking War Hogs, I should have killed you all.” To Darius’s shock, Tatsuya began untangling the chain around his legs, seemingly freeing him, the warlord smiled. “Yes, that’s it, give me a fighting chance at least, I knew you had some honour.”
Darius was a fool, this was not Tatsuya’s intent, and as the cold metal chain was withdrawn Darius tried to rise, he couldn’t move his legs or his arms, in fact, his body was numb and all he could do was lay upon his back. The warlord was terrified. “Tatsuya . . . what . . . what have you done to me, I can’t feel my body . . . I can’t move.”
For the first time since this encounter Tatsuya smiled, he removed the kakute ring and threw it to the floor next to the warlord’s head, Darius turned his neck and saw a green liquid upon the two spikes of the ring, he had been poisoned.
As Tatsuya stared upon the paralysed and immobile warlord he looked more like wolf moments before a kill, his eyes had gone from hollow to rabid, his posture was firm and his face bore the look of a man that had mastered the art of killing, strangely enough this ruthless power was controlled and Tatsuya never let his emotions get the better of him, he was calm and focused on his mission, this is what made him a proficient ninja.
Tatsuya addressed the warlord in a factual and emotionless tone. “That’s a poison I created some years ago, it’s a mix of cobra venom and rare green roses that grow up in the mountains. It took me years to perfect this mix.”
Green roses are very rare throughout the lands, they are highly poisonous and grow way up high in maintenance ranges, even the handling of the green roses is dangerous as the poison secretes from the thorns and one prick is enough to paralyse and leave the body numb for hours.
“Tell me why . . . why now,” grumbled the warlord who could no longer move and stared upon the ceiling awaiting his fate, he knew he was to die now.
Tatsuya ignored the question and continued his lecture on poisons coldly. “It’s an extremely useful poison, I’ve called it snake-rose bite. It paralyses beings for hours from the neck down and leaves the body numb, unable to feel anything. Don’t worry, thankfully you won’t be alive for hours.”
“Just kill me.”
“Remember when we spoke days ago? I asked you how you came into possession of such rare poisons and medicines, I wondered how these rare concoctions were being sold in a common market.”
“Okay, okay . . . years ago, years ago I ordered a raid on a village that I heard had many wondrous potions, poisons, and healing concoctions. We took it all.”
“Yes, you did. You slaughtered the village, raped the women, and even killed the children. The village was called Stags Green.”
An awkward silence befell the two men and Darius felt a cold chill run down his numb spine. “No . . . wait . . . don’t tell me
.”
“That was my village. You men murdered my wife, they killed my child.”
“Fuck,” roared Darius. “I had no idea; I would never had ordered that if I knew—”
Tatsuya interjected, “Your men killed my son . . . he was six years old . . . your archer fired an arrow through his chest.”
“I didn’t know . . . I didn’t know.”
“One of your men snapped the neck of my wife in front of me, I still hear the sharp snap, she dropped to the floor . . . tears still ran down her face as she lay dead upon the ground.”
Darius pleased one final time in a worthless attempt to save his life. “Your book, it had all the formulas and ingredients in, there’s a secret lever on my throne. Push the rats head down at the top of the throne, it will open a hatch . . . your book is there.”
Tatsuya drew his sword and chopped off Darius' right hand, the blade sliced through his hand effortlessly, the warlord screamed but he did not feel pain, he was numb.
Tatsuya continued, “I was a mess, broken, an empty shell until Yoshihiro promised me vengeance. You also raided a neighbouring town that day, some time ago we crossed paths with one of the survivors of that town, he told us everything . . . finally, I discovered the truth; it was you!”
Again, Tatsuya struck. He severed the left hand of the warlord who now cried out in horror, paralysed, numb, and now with no hands. “Just kill me!” shouted Darius.
Tatsuya returned his sword to its sheath and jumped onto Darius, he gazed coldly into the eyes of the man that slaughtered his family.
Tatsuya was in full mount upon Darius and he drew a short, sharp blackened blade from his belt. “I took your hands so you can’t harm anyone in the afterlife.” Tatsuya began to slice off Darius’s ears one by one, the ears were severed effortlessly like strips of meat from a hog roast. Darius screamed, a blood curdling chilling scream, he could not feel pain as the numbness prevented that, but he could feel his flesh and limbs being removed.
Killing Monsters Page 28