by Eric Vall
They were both covered in dust and dirt, but there were no visible wounds on their bodies. It was evident to me they had defeated the skeletons without anything going wrong or anyone getting hurt.
“A power overdose?” Laika lifted an eyebrow in my direction before she glanced at the closed door. “That sounds rather painful, how is he even alive?”
“I’d say sheer luck,” I admitted to them. “I wanted to kill him when we found him. Even Nike was out for blood and ready to chop his head off.”
“Nike is an honorable man,” Alyona spoke softly as she clasped her hands behind her back, “he upholds the laws of Rahma. He is immovable when it comes to loyalty and integrity.”
“Yeah, I noticed.” I rubbed the back of my neck as I glanced at Laika. “We’re not going to go easy on Aleksey. All we need is for him to be able to speak. If he’s almost beaten to death, I’ll just heal him enough so he won’t die.”
“That’s more than he deserves,” Laika muttered back as she crossed her arms over her chest. “He betrayed not only our goodwill, but all of humanity. He should be torn apart by monsters and his corpse left to the elements.”
“Took the words right out of my mouth,” I laughed darkly as I nodded toward the door. “Feel free to rip into him. No one is going to miss him. From what Nike’s said about his crimes, no one is going to be able to call us out on it if we do kill him after everything’s said and done.”
“I do have to thank him for those skeleton creatures he sent after us,” Laika growled as she walked toward the door and entered the room.
For the few moments the door was open, more blood curdling screams could be heard, and I wondered just how messy the interrogation was getting. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had gotten that far without physically harming him. The Blue Tree Guild’s interrogators had managed to destroy one prisoner’s mind through the use of magic already.
“Aleksey has to face me for what he has done,” Alyona added as her gemstone eyes sparkled with well controlled rage. “He’s committed high treason before two Nobles of the Sword and his princess. There is nothing he can say to excuse his actions.”
“Alyona, you aren’t going in there.” I stopped the divine princess from following after Laika. “We need you to stay outside, you won’t be involved with this.”
For a moment, I thought my princess was going to argue with me about my decision. Her eyes sparked with fire, and it was like an explosion had gone off inside of her, but the emotion disappeared quickly. Instead, she smiled brightly at me as she dropped into a shallow curtsey.
“If the Lord of Hatra el Shamash bids this princess to stay outside, she shall.” Alyona closed her eyes for a moment and took a step back from me. “It was your people and your city, after all, who were harmed during this situation.”
“Alyona, wait!” I grabbed her wrist and tugged her toward me. “It’s not like whatever you’re thinking, I didn’t explain myself properly. I just don’t want you to get hurt. We still don’t know who he’s working for or if he’s doing this by his own will. Either way, he committed treason not only against Hatra, but against Rahma. You’re the princess of this kingdom and a perfect target.”
“I know,” Alyona replied softly as she rested her head on my chest, “I just hate not being able to do anything.”
“You’ve done more than enough already.” I pressed a kiss to her head as I wrapped my arms around her. “You made sure the aqueducts were enchanted against everything, even while you were under attack by those skeleton mummy things coming out of the desert.”
“I was only doing my duty.” Alyona took a step back from me and smiled softly. “Protecting my people no matter what is what I must do, and I will do it for as long as I live.”
“For that to happen, you have to stay safe.” I ran my hand through my hair and smiled down at her. “So, go back to the underground library, curl up with your research, and wait for me there. I promise I’ll tell you what we find out myself.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” Alyona nodded as she turned and walked down the corridor.
I kept my eyes on her until she was far out of sight. I hadn’t been lying when I said she needed to be protected because she was a prime target, but after thinking it over, I didn’t want her to be present for this. My gut told me we were going to find out some pretty nasty things, and I didn’t want her to hear them from Aleksey’s poisonous mouth.
You made the right choice, Miraya’s voice echoed inside of my mind. He is a poison that would only serve to torment her mind.
“What?” I replied as I closed my eyes. “Do you know something about Aleksey you haven’t told me?”
No, I don’t know anything about him. There was the hint of a growl in Miraya’s voice. But I don’t have to know anything about him to know a traitor will always be cruel and speak words that will cut to the bone. He would have used her own honor against her and perhaps even tricked her into doing something dangerous. Take his words with a grain of salt, Evan. I know this kind of traitor, they will do whatever it takes to weasel their way out of their punishments and end up in a position of power and comfort.
I didn’t reply, since it was easy to figure out what Aleksey would use against Alyona. King Rodion, Alyona, and I had talked about this once. The nobles of the land wouldn’t approve of me unless I showed them it was their only choice. It was just a pity this was going to be the first instance of that. I hadn’t wanted to start this campaign with blood and violence, but if that was the way it was going to be, I was going to start it off with the bloodiest show these nobles had ever seen.
With a sigh, I turned around and entered the room to see Aleksey panting on his knees. His clothes were ripped, and blood poured from angry cuts on his flesh.
It was clear to see my family had already started his welcome party.
As I was about to go back to my prior seat, I noticed something strange on his back. It was right underneath the blood and nearly looked like a bruise, but there was something wrong about the shape. I just couldn’t pinpoint what exactly was off about it.
“Wait a minute, what’s that?” I pointed at the smudge of green on Aleksey’s back. “Is that a stain or something? It can’t be a bruise.”
“My lord?” Anton paused and glanced at me, and his ears shifted on his head as he wiped his bloody hands on his pants.
“There’s something on his back.” I walked closer to Aleksey and squinted at the green shape. “Right below his shoulder blade.”
“It’s a green tattoo in the form of a leaf.” Laika narrowed her eyes as she stepped toward Aleksey. “It’s like the charms we found by the orichalcum mine.”
“It’s not just dye, there’s power mixed in with the pigment.” Nike frowned as he joined in on the study of the leaf tattoo. “The structure of it is similar to the enchantments on the Blue Tree Guild’s gorgets. I suspect he can communicate with people through that tattoo, and there’s an enchantment so someone, possibly his immediate leader, will know where he is at all times.”
“Want to tell us why you have the symbol of the Green Glass Sect tattooed onto your back?” I frowned as I walked back to my previous seat and sat down. “I’m only going to give you one chance.”
“I won’t tell you anything.” Aleksey’s eyes were nearly red with anger, and his once handsome face was distorted by a scowl. “You’re only a lord from a destroyed city. You have no power over me.”
“You’re wrong there.” I leaned back in my chair as I smirked at his words. “I have your life in my hands, remember? So, right now, I’m the one person you don’t want to piss off any more than you already have. If I were you, I’d start talking.”
I nodded at Anton, and he started hitting the traitorous noble with rapid fire punches. Laika also walked around him and lashed out periodically. Each hit left a nasty bruise on Aleksey’s flesh, and there were even some bruises where blood had broken the surface of the skin. Aleksey was at the point of bleeding all over the room.
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“Fine!” Aleksey cried out in between the strikes. “I’ll tell you!”
“It’s about time.” I leaned forward as I waved Laika and Anton away from him. “So, what are you fuckers planning to do with my city?”
“This isn’t just about your little city,” Aleksey laughed through the blood. “We’re playing the long game here, and there’s a much bigger prize we’re betting everything on.”
“Then what’s this big prize?” I frowned as I went through the possible options in my head, but couldn’t figure out what their end goal was.
“Can’t you figure it out?” Aleksey mocked as he winced because of the pain he was in. “You’re the mighty dragon of Hatra el Shamash, wielder of the Sword of Healing.”
“Listen, I don’t really have a lot of patience right now.” I rolled my eyes and leaned back into my chair. “In fact, pretty much everyone in this room doesn’t have a single iota of patience for you. So, if you’re smart, you’ll just tell us instead of us having to beat it out of you. Word by word and hit by hit.”
“I think he’s a glutton for punishment,” Anton spoke up as he glanced over to us. “Since we don’t usually get this far, I have an idea that could make him speak.”
“Yeah?” I nodded for him to continue. “Why don’t you share it with the rest of us, maybe one of us could add on to it and make it just perfect?”
“Sounds like a plan.” Anton grinned viciously for one moment. “So, here’s what I was thinking. Instead of ripping the nails off his fingers, we’ll start by removing all of the veins from one of his fingers. Slowly, of course.”
“Ah, like deveining a shrimp.” I nodded along with Anton’s idea. “Fingers and shrimps tend to be of roughly the same size, so the process could be similar. Except, perhaps, this would be far more dangerous than preparing some shellfish.”
“Exactly!” Anton’s tail wagged behind him. “See, it’s like you’re reading my mind, Evan.”
“We go finger by finger until all of them no longer have veins.” Ruslan nodded from where he sat across opposite me.
“I have a question.” Pytor’s gray eyes glimmered with violent mischievousness. “What do we do once we’ve deveined all of his fingers?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Laika shrugged her shoulders and poked at Aleksey. “Evan will heal him, and then we’ll start the process all over again.”
“Or, and this is just a suggestion,” I offered up with a smirk, “once we finish with his fingers, we move on to his limbs. Maybe his arms and then his legs. What do you think, too much?”
“Are you all psychotic?” Aleksey cried out as he tried to shuffle away from us. “You can’t do that to me!”
“We aren’t psychotic, but we’re very angry.” I leaned forward again in my chair with a vicious smile on my face. “So, why don’t you just tell us what this big prize is, and you’ll be able to keep all of your veins intact and in your body, what do you say?”
Aleksey shuddered, but he gave me the information I’d asked for.
“The Green Glass Sect is planning on taking over Rahma while the king is at the Breach.”
It was like the whole room inhaled sharply at once.
This most definitely wasn’t the information I wanted, and I was happy I had stopped Alyona from coming in. I had no idea how this would affect her or if she would go into shock from the knowledge. Risking the stability of her spiritual sea wasn’t worth this.
“Are you stupid?” Pyotr scoffed as he shook his head. “King Rodion is like a god. What are you going to do when he comes back from the Breach?”
“Our master will kill him, and we will rule this world.” Aleksey’s eyes took on a maniacal gleam. “That man isn’t worthy of the title of king. Instead of expanding and ruling the whole world, he’s content to protect weaklings.”
“You’re wrong on so many counts, I don’t even know where to begin.” I stood up and walked toward Aleksey. “King Rodion being at the Breach is the only reason your pathetic self is even alive to begin with. With that knowledge, you’ve somehow gotten it into your thick skull that he’s a useless king? Not to mention, he’s the most powerful man in the world, and you’re just planning on killing him.”
“Our master is growing stronger,” Aleksey continued to rant as he glared at me. “With every passing day, his strength grows.”
“This is more than a bit troublesome,” Nike sighed as he paced in the room. “I didn’t think this could have been the cause behind Aleksey’s treason. To think they’re planning on killing the king, it’s unimaginable.”
“We’ll stop them before that happens.” I glanced over at my brother in arms and threw him a confident smirk. “Rahma won’t fall to the Green Glass Sect, it’ll just remain as a dream for them.”
“You’ll never be able to defeat the Green Glass Sect,” Aleksey spat at me, and blood dribbled down his lips. “We are everywhere, hidden among you. Our people are buried so deep, you’ll never be able to uproot all of us. You’ve lost this war before it’s even begun.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” I shook my head as I rolled my eyes. “By my count, I’ve already beaten you guys at least five times. And catching you, well, that’s another win for me.”
Aleksey had betrayed us, but his betrayal had opened up so many possibilities for us. There was a potential treasure trove of information inside of that poisonous head of his, and I wasn’t going to let him die until we extracted all of it. Even if he was begging for death and half mad from pain, I would decide when he died, and when we killed him … well, I was going to toss his head at the feet of his precious master.
I didn’t care how powerful this supposed master of the Green Glass Sect was. Hatra was mine, and they’d harmed my city and my people. Rahma was going to be mine, too, and they’d plotted not only against my country, but also against my future father-in-law.
The Green Glass Sect had hit three strikes already with this dragon, and I was going to tear them out of my world, root and stem, no matter what it took.
I was going to destroy them all.
End Book 3
End Notes
Thank you for reading Dragon Emperor! I hope you really liked it. I’ll start working on the next Dragon Emperor as soon as this book has 100 reviews, so leave a review right here!
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by Eric Vall
