Page 131 of The Dark Rising
My brothers turn, protecting my back as I snarl at Christian. “Explain. Now.” I call my power to my hands, and then I feel a tingle at the base of my spine as two masses appear at my back. Christian and the others look upon my power with disgust, they will soon look upon it with terror.
“We don’t want no fucking Heir scum to be the Alpha of the Elites. You belong in the pits of Derraztfur,” he spits on the floor, mentioning the lava filled caves of the Dracozar Lands that lie past The Drylands’s mountains. “And that’s where you will go now while Patrick Kazari takes over as Alpha.” He shows me a port stone and I tilt my head, my eyes narrowing in on it. My eyes change.
“I don’t know whether you are brave or have a death wish daring to attempt to do this to me.” More growls come from behind my Elites and they all laugh.
“We dare because a new age is coming and it doesn’t include you. Patrick will take over the Elites and Vrohkaria will be ruled as it should.”
“And how should Vrohkaria be ruled?” I tilt my head, my eyes scanning the men.
“By having women on their backs,” he snickers, his eyes crazed. “We should be able to choose who will birth our strongest line. All this bullshit of consent and needing to have mating arrangements.” He rolls his eyes and my vision narrows. “Even Lord Higher Charles thinks it’s so fucking dumb, Patrick told us so in a tavern weeks ago. All we have to do is get rid of you first, and what better way then to send Heir scum to the pits? There would be no way you could make it out alive.”
“All you have to do is betray your Alpha, right?” Leo scoffs from beside me, his bow aiming at the rogures behind me. “The people of Vrohkaria won’t stand for this new age. You’re a dead man anyway, so you won’t see it fail.”
My power slashes out like a rope and wraps around Christian’s neck until a deafening crack slices through the air, causing the others to stumble back in shock. Christian falls to the floor, his head now at an odd angle. I take a step forward, trusting my brothers at my back as the other traitorous men fall on their asses.
“W-wait,” one of them cries as my power sails over them, aiming for the eyes of the two rogures behind them.
I feel their eyeballs pop as my power enters their flesh, aiming for their brain and killing them instantly. My men take care of the other rogures behind me quickly as I stare at the two men before me. Walking toward them, I bend down when I reach the first male, the tails at my shoulders moving back and forth. I smell the undoubtable stench of piss, and I look at the man to the left, Gerry, and scrunch my nose up.
“It was all Christian’s plan, he made us do it,” he says, and I sigh.
Weak fucking bastards. How did these males become Elites?
I tilt my head and look up through the branches above, seeing the night sky alive with stars and moonlight. I smirk. I know exactly what I’m going to do.
I stand and turn, moving past my brothers and call over my shoulder. “Take them to the basement.” Their chuckles are all I need to hear to know how we are going to enjoy getting information out of them.
Those rogures that were with them did not attack them, they didn’t come for the men that tried to take me to the pits of Derraztfur To be burned for eternity in its caves. The question is, how did they control those rogures?
Forty Nine
Rhea
Imoveswiftly,plungingmy blade into the stomach of a rogure, the metal easily piercing its gray, rotting flesh. It snarls, it teeth whipping around for me but soon falls on its side. I move over to the next that’s fighting with an Elite, aiding him as I slash its flank while the Elite aims for its throat. Blood gushes from its body, bathing it in red as it collapses to the ground. There are so many rogures, more than I have even seen at one time and the thought of a large pack of them like this entering a village makes bile rise at the back of my throat.
The Elite looks over me, a furrow in his dark brow and I turn quickly, looking for the next and adjusting the half mask on my face, making sure only my eyes are visible.
Darius thought he could lock me in his room again, he was so fucking mistaken. As soon as he left, I donned the Elite armor I found in his closet, a few blades, and then I undid his magic on the door just like the last time. Though it took me a little longer as he strengthened it. Once I reached outside without being seen, I moved silently around the castle walls, following a small group of Elites as they called orders. Joining them in formation, I made sure that I stayed hidden and at the back. Then I watched in awe as Darius commanded and encouraged his men. Chills coated my body at the Elites all shouting their agreement and acknowledgement to their Alpha. It was mesmerizing.
And eye opening.
It’s easy to forget just who Darius is with everything going on. He’s in control of hundreds of Elites, all trained to kill. And Darius is the deadliest one of them all.
Walking over dead rogures and Elites alike, I scan the bloodshed around me. The scent of death potent as well as the metallic taste of blood in the air. What was once a lush ground of green is now bathed in red and entrails. I haven’t seen this much carnage before, never been in a fight like this.
Why did the rogures come here? They usually go for smaller villages, not stone fortresses.
Groaning reaches me along with the sound of grunts and small whimpers as I walk past more bodies. I wipe the sweat from my brow beneath the hood I have pulled up. It’s attached to the leather covering my chest instead of putting on a cloak that could hinder me more than favor.
Looking up, I spot Darius in the distance, swinging his black blade with ease and striking down one rogure after the other, showing just how skillfully he can move and destroy those in his path. I’m still watching his every move when a weight crashes into me from the side. We go down, landing on top of something hard yet soft, and I bring my blade up to the drooling black jaws aiming for my face. I growl low as its claws sink into my side, ripping through the armor and my skin as I take aim for its bone colored eye. It shrieks in pain when it pierces it, blood already dripping down on me as it thrashes above. I waste no time pulling my blade out and stabbing at its side while my glove-covered hand pushes its jaw away. One, two, three stabs and the rogure lets out a little cry before it collapses its full weight on me. I let out anumph, barely breathing from the weight of it. Dropping my blade to the ground, I try to use my hands to shove it off of me, but it doesn’t budge.
“Fuck,” I pant, pain radiating through my side. I bend my legs, feet planted firmly on the ground before lifting my hips and pushing with my hands to eventually roll the fucking thing off of me. I breathe in lungfuls of air, gasping for breath as it feels like it’s crushed my damn ribs. Getting squished to death is not how I want to go out in life. Definitely not.
I sit up, looking for my blade and pause when I realize I’m sitting on a dead body. I scramble to my feet and turn, looking at the lifeless eyes of the male. His throat is gone, ripped out of his body and black, bubbling foam drips out of the wound. I cough, and then cough again and shake my head, reaching down to pick up my blade as nausea swirls in my belly. The dead male’s essence slowly begins to leak out of his body. The light, small orbs float up and gather on the slight breeze, to be carried away and into the night sky. When a rogure bites you and you have its poison running in your body, it takes longer for your essence to be released, sometimes if there is too much poison in your veins, your body doesn’t release your essence at all, forever stuck in the below.
No one wants their whole being, their soul and essence stuck down in the below, forever waiting with no hope for rebirth.
I sigh, seeing the essence of others begin to gently escape and I once again start to move. Only a few rogures are left, easily dealt with by the many Elites left over. I grip my side with a grimace, seeing the blood seeping out. I search the battleground, looking for a familiar male and I spot him walking out of the forest. His closest are with him, dragging two men behind them by ropes attached around their ankles.
