Zenora, The Dragon's Fury

“How will I know, that you will honour your deal?” Hayden asked me.

“Because the love I have for my loved ones, is greater than any decision I make about my life. You might never understand it, but the moments I have already shared with my family, will get me through spending even ten lifetimes with you. If I know that they are all safe, not a single one of them is hurt in any way, then you will have me. But I will rule the Kingdom as well!” I replied.

“You keep thinking that I’m the one that is bad, even though Brock has done bad things in his life also. Maybe you will think of me with less hatred over time. I’ll agree with your terms.”

He turned around to walk over to his guards, send a few of them on their way, to get Cirilya.

My cramps worsened; I was soon about to push my baby girl into this world. Too young, too early, I’m not sure if she is going to make it.

Brock’s point of view:

We heard some yelling upstairs and when the guards got down, we got surprised with how many they were. Not just the three guards that came to visit us, but at least six more came with them as well! Did we assume wrong? Thinking that there were only three?

The bald one was looking confused, looking at the women fully dressed again. Beardy was confused too, he knew we scrambled up to get better fighting angles. But he wasn’t saying a word, maybe scared of repercussions that may come if his boss new he screwed up.

Beardy turned around, trying to find the two he was missing, us.

“Shit! They have come out! Attack them!” He yelled, which was our cue to engage as well.

This was not how we planned to do this. We were only expecting three, not nine! And in this tight space, I don’t know if we can take them all on. I’m still partially unfamiliar with my own skillset, and we only got enough food to keep us from starving, so we aren’t in top condition.

Dennis took the lead from us two, and on the other side I saw Archeops guiding the fight from there. Our men are trained well, as we could hold ourselves pretty good. One of the Royal guards got his leg broken and pushed back, but then the others got massively infuriated and fought with even more vigour than before.

Soon, six of black warriors were knocked unconscious or got serious injuries. And from our side, a lot have taken bad injuries as well.

“Cirilya, get them back in shape!” Archeops yelled, what the hell does he mean by that?

But Cirilya understood what he was talking about, as she immediately ran over to them. I kept fighting one of the remaining black warriors, while keeping an eye out for what Cirilya was doing. Her body was starting to emanate a green glow and when she whispered some words in a strange language, the green glow travelled to her hands and into the wound where she put her hands upon.

The man with the wound started to scream, as his broken leg was contorted back into its original shape. But, it wouldn’t take long, as the bone and the torn skin around it, soon were healed.

The man stood up and immediately helped fighting again. The black warriors looked fazed, just as I did, didn’t they know of this power either? Was she something rare or special?

“That’s why she needs her.” One of the black warriors whispered.

“Stop fighting!” I commanded, and everyone stopped. Because of this little interruption, two of the three black warriors were held back by our men. “Who needs her?” I yelled at the last remaining black warrior, the one who just whispered.

“I am not going to tell you! All I need is for Cirilya to come with me!” He replied.

“Are you out of your mind? We have six of your friends down already, and we can heal our fighters. How long do you think you can last? Tell me, who needs her?!” I grabbed him by the throat and pushed him back against the bars of one of the cells. My eyes started to glow again, as I could feel a pleasant burn caress the iris of my eyes.

The warrior looked frightened to see my eyes turn into a different colour. “Your wife!” He managed to sputter out.

I dropped him instantly, what could have been wrong with her? Why would she need someone to heal her?

Dennis knocked the warrior unconscious and soon, the others were killed or knocked out as well.

But I just stood there locking my eyes onto the wall at the back of the cell. A sudden familiar feeling rose up into the back of my mind, a feeling I couldn’t shake, a feeling that wasn’t new to me. This is how I must felt like when Emily was gone for three whole weeks. I was worried, worried that something was wrong. I need to be with her, now!

I turned around and without saying a word I went for the exit. I heard Archeops and Dennis order the men and women around, but I didn’t care, I had to see her! I ran through the unknown hallways, not knowing the way, but Emily was pulling me with an unknown feeling I have for her. Cutting corners once, twice and even a third time my body knew where to go!

In the distance I could hear screams, so awful to hear, yet such a music to my ears. Not because of the pain that I long to hear, but because of that voice. Her voice! Some things were starting to come through, as her screams are familiar to me. She has been screaming like this before! But why would I let her go through pain like this? These screams weren’t going to push me into saving her, these screams were meant to happen. But why?

“No! This is too soon!” I suddenly heard Cirilya say behind me.

I hadn’t even noticed that she was behind me, just like Archeops and two Royal guards. Dennis wasn’t with us, just as the others. They must have gone to the children and the mages. But at this moment I didn’t really care where they were, I needed to go and see her!

We turned around the last corner, into the long hallway, at which at the end the screaming came from. I ran as fast as I could, knocking out the two guards that stood in front of the door. They dropped down quickly as if they were pebbles being flicked away by a simple move of my fingers. The door was locked, so I took a step backwards and kicked the door in!

There she was, sitting in a tub with water. She looked happy to see me, yet she looked exhausted. She had bags under her eyes, her face was red from screaming and tears ran over her beautiful cheeks. I walked over to her, wanting to sooth her, but I was stopped by my brother.

“Stop right there!” He yelled, and I looked confused at him. Does he really think that he can stop me?

“If you come close to her, I will signal my Dark Mages to hurt your children!” He continued.

I knew Dennis was on his way there, but were they succeeding into fighting against them? Are they at the point of rescuing the children? I had to make a decision, should I fight him?

“Brock please don’t! You aren’t sure, and I need to know that they are safe!” Emily said to me, crying.

“But you need me! I’m not leaving you!” I took a step forward but she shook her head, for me to stop.

“Archeops, please take him with you, gather the bare necessities and leave the castle.” She said to Archeops.

He put his hand on my shoulder, but I shook it off. I didn’t want to leave her! What if my brother decides to hurt her? I took another step forward, but Archeops pulled me back this time. He told me to trust her, and leave the castle.

“I will save you love. I will return!” I yelled to her, while being dragged backwards.

I saw Cirilya walk up to her, immediately touching her belly. Was there something wrong with the baby?

Now I remember! Those screams from her, from before, were because she is in labour! Those screams are because of the contractions she is having! The screams were meant to happen because our daughter was about to be born.

Suddenly, I saw images of Emily, holding two boys in her arms, breastfeeding them at the same time. Then I saw myself searching for them, opening the bathroom door, seeing them playing in the tub with mountains of soap bubbles, laughing and cheering. Then images of me, training the boys outside on the training fields. More and more images and memories came to surface about my boys.

My sons, I remember them! My strong beautiful boys!

“Emily is right, we need to make sure that they are safe! Arch, we have to rescue Kaden and Tyler!” I said to Archeops, once we were outside the room.