Rise of The Fallen

–kora–

 "Come now, don't be shy, come on out here! Do so unarmed and I promise my men won't shoot!"

What a load of shit. He may tell his men not to shoot, but that doesn't mean he won't. I can already tell what kind of man Seth is, I've dealt with them before. Just like the counselor who sentenced me to exile he's going to want something from me and if I refuse then he'll simply dispose of me.

Nothing but sick psychotic bastards.

"Kora what is happening? What is the other human saying?" Kion whispered while sitting beside me clutching his knife. He seemed ready to fight but I know Kion probably has no experience with humans or our guns, if they see him…they'll kill him.

I cursed under my breath seeing just how dire our predicament was. I've put Kion in danger just by having him around. If Elazar was here he'd try to fight off the entire group and get himself killed to try and protect me. "They want me. They are here to kill me."

"What? Why?!" Kion exclaimed, jumping to his feet as if he were ready to attack. I quickly grabbed his arm and placed a finger over my lips to shush him and he reluctantly moved closer, quieting down.

"I really don't want to have to come in there and drag you out sweetheart, but I will! I can't guarantee your safety if you choose to do this the hard way!" Seth called out once more.

Ignoring him I made Kion look me in the eyes. "I'm going to cause a distraction. I need you to stay here and stay hidden, once the coast is clear, find Elazar and tell him what happened!"

"But-" 

"Please kion if we are gonna get out of this I need you to do as I say! Trust me." I pleaded with the younger boy.

He seemed hesitant and conflicted but nodded in understanding. "Do not let them see you, do everything you can to stay out of their line of sight, their weapons are dangerous both up close and from a great distance. You won't be able to dodge It like a spear or arrow." He swallowed hard, seeming even more nervous.

I couldn't blame him for being scared, I'm scared too. Scared Kion or Elazar might get hurt or even die.

Seth spoke up again. "I'll give you ten seconds to come out with your hands up! If you don't, then we're coming in! 1…2…3…4…5…6!..."

"I'm coming out! Don't shoot!" I called back as I fastened my cloak and hood and stepped out of the entrance.

Seth's sick smile only grew bigger as he un-crossed his arms letting one fall to the side and the other hook onto his belt where his pistol lay.

"Smart choice miss-?"

"Kora" I responded with a hard glare.

"Ah yes miss Kora wrathia, that's the one! I apologize for such an unpleasant greeting but after finding poor Ben and Jace's remains –especially Jace's with a bullet in his head.-- we had to take certain precautions…"

"Yeah well when one person decides to pull a gun on another it's kinda a no-brainer that one's gonna get shot."

"Fair enough, jace always was a little too trigger happy for my taste so I'll let it slice this time."

"So what now? I assume you want me alive for a reason otherwise you wouldn't still be standing here talking to me so what do you want? I doubt whatever Bounty that's on my head requested that you keep me alive." 

"Clever girl…Indeed when we get bounties they often result in us eliminating the target in order to collect the reward but sometimes the rewards just aren't as favorable or useful as the targets themselves…" Seth smirked and I could hear one or two of his men hiding in the bushes chuckle. "You see I have bigger ambitions, those fools up on krosa know nothing about this place. They have no idea what this world could become. They are too cowardly to try and colonize this planet and use it for its resources. So we've decided to do it ourselves with enough firepower and men we could clear out the natives and dangerous wildlife then create a new empire! An empire without God's or governments. An empire where I could be king. Maybe I'll even make you my queen." He shrugged.

Psychotic bastards. I grit my teeth. As thunder cracked in the sky above us Seth walked towards me and stopped with just a mere few inches between us. He smiled at me while I glared back at him spitefully. 

"I usually prefer women with lighter hair and a more…submissive personality but I might make an exception for your pretty face- join us and I'll give you a place within my palace." he grabbed my chin and I did my damned best to resist the temptation of biting his fingers off.

 "I'll give you the best life you could possibly have here in this hellhole. No more sleeping under rocks or scrambling through the mud looking for food. You'll be well fed and have a nice warm bed to sleep in…"

My eyes moved past Seth to look at all the men standing far behind him. I could see a total of 7? Were there more in hiding? Two with rifles the rest were armed with pistols or knives. I couldn't fight them all off on my own.

Returning my eyes to Seth he waited for my answer. "Fine. I'll go with you."

"Excellent choice darling." Seth turned away gesturing to two of his men. They both came over holstering their guns to tie my arms behind my back and to escort me as Seth walked away. I glared at Seth as he glanced back at me with a smug smile. "Sorry, just an extra precaution…Alright boys lets go! I want to be back at camp within 3 days!"

As we walked away I glanced back at the cave and could see Kion watching helplessly from the entrance. I silently pleaded for him to stay hidden before Facing forward. I continued walking with one guard on either side of me as Seth led the group. 

We didn't get very far before the skies opened up blasting us with rain from above. With the downpour came the cold and lack of visibility. The bandits all cursed and muttered complaints as we traversed. Luckily for me this was just what I needed.

"Hurry up! There are worse things in this forest than a bit of mud and rain water! Unless you idiots want to be something's dinner I suggest you keep moving! "

"Heh scared of a few animals?" I spoke up. Seth looked back at me slightly annoyed by the statement. 

"You've gotten lucky surviving this long out in these forests. You've yet to see half the horrors this planet has to offer girl. Being out in the open is the last thing you want to experience once night falls."

"I suppose so, but I've dealt with my fair share, I know enough about what lurks in the dark. The man eating plants, the giant monsters, the natives…you do realize we are in THEIR territory, right?"

Seth all but burst out laughing at that last bit. "If you think I'm scared of a couple of dumb savages you are dearly mistaken as to where I lie on the food chain sweet heart. I'll shoot them between the eyes before they come anywhere close to attack us."

Thunder cracked through the sky as the rain pelted us harder than ever turning our walk to little more than a crawl. "Fucking hell. Men! Keep an eye out for some cover. We'll have to take shelter until the storm passes!"

As we walked I noticed the border of the twisted trees a short distance away and an idea quickly came to mind. "Over there!" Seth paused to look at me as I gestured towards the twisted forest. "There's a cave in that area that would provide plenty of shelter and keep us out of the rain! I've been in there before."

He looked at me skeptical then looked towards the trees. After a moment he nodded towards his men and they brought me forward. Placing his hand on my shoulder he squeezed it tightly nearly making me wince. "No funny business." He warned.

Once he let go we made our way into the twisted forest. It was a lot harder to traverse the terrain with everything being so slippery but I had learned a trick or two when it came to navigating this area.

It didn't take long to come across one of the entrances to the underground cavern me and Elazar had gotten trapped inside of. "This is the cave?" Seth was cautious as he peered down into the dark hole. 

"Kind of, that's just a tunnel that leads in the cavern, it's a large underground cave system." I shrugged. "It's not completely  dry but it's a lot better than it is out here."

Seth eyed me momentarily and gazed back at the hole. "And how should we get down?" 

"There's more than one entrance, there's at least a dozen of them scattered around here." I motioned to the surrounding area.

He motioned two men over to check it out while we all stood by waiting. "Find the other openings, see if there's one we can get in through.

My eyes scanned my surroundings and sure enough I saw patches of vel'vhe growing on the ground. Seth seemed distracted, he was more focused on the cavern than me. Moving just a few steps off to the side I feigned slipping in the mud and fell to the ground.

The guards at my sides grabbed my arms to haul me back up and I took the chance to cut the ropes around my wrists with the bone knife on my bracelet. Once my hands were free I used my weight as momentum to throw one of them off balance.

Rolling away I grabbed the needles Elazar had given me and used it against the second guard who lunged for me. Stabbing the needle into his side he cursed and looked at the injury barely phased just annoyed before looking back at me. It took mere seconds for the poison to take effect and for him to slink to the ground, losing all bodily functions. "What the fu-fu-" he faceplated in the mud as everyone took notice of the commotion.

At this point Seth and the rest of the men turned their attention towards me. Seth and two others were standing right near the edge of one of the entrances with two men at his sides. 

Before anyone could stop me I ran forward right towards Seth. His eyes widened in realization. As I tackled him and we both fell down into the depths of the cavern.

With numerous guns and pained sounds we tumbled down into the dark depths before rolling to a stop at the end of the tunnel.

"The boss fell in!" One man shouted. "Someone get the rope!" Another said. "Don't just stand there someone go down there!"

Sitting up, lightning flashed across the sky high above us briefly lighting up my soundings just enough for me to see what I came here for. 

"Fucking wench!" Seth groaned as he got up to his feet and pulled his pistol out aiming it at me. "Was this your last ditch attempt to escape? Were you planning to take me hostage?"

"Hardly." I spat and wiped some dirt from my face. 

 "Then what. Were you just gonna take me down with you? Sorry to say but your little suicide attempt was a failure."

I chuckled and pushed myself up to my feet while facing Seth. "Nope, not a suicide attempt either. I just needed to get as many of your pawns as I could down here." I spoke calmly while wiping dirt and mud off myself with my free hand.

Seth narrowed his eyes while watching me and I saw multiple ropes get tossed down the hole behind him. "We're coming boss!" Another man shouted from up above. And I watched as his people descended into the cave. Opening the palm I had closed the entire time I smiled at the purple flowers in my hand, specifically the vel'vhe flowers I managed to grab during my 'escape'.

Seth eyed me suspiciously as I smiled at him. "What is that? Some kind of poisoned flower? Is that supposed to scare me?" Seth questioned.

"No. The flower shouldn't." 

Lightning flashed in the sky above once more as Seth's men managed to reach us, and as it illuminated the cave around us Seth's confidence wavered at the sight of hundreds of dark sleeping creatures that could be seen all around us on the walls of the cave. 

"Boss here! We got the flares!-" as soon as one of the men ignited the stick and red light filled the room And the scalworg all around us stirred awake and started screeching, in turn waking up the entire hive.

"Checkmate."