Chapter 29
The Monster King
“You guys did what?!” The Monster King snarled at his Captain.
“The Jotnar got hostile with us, Your Highness,” the Captain replied.
He returned to the outskirts of Joro with a few guards and a disoriented woman they had decided to bring back to the city.
The woman was bound but did not resist in the cell on the way home.
She had recently given birth, and her baby did not survive.
The woman sat in the cell, rocking back and forth, mumbling incoherently.
The Monster King growled and moved toward his Captain, striking him on the side with a baton. The Captain dropped to his knees and hissed in pain.
“Do you realize what you just did? I’m gone from their collection once, and now hell has broken loose! You let that disgusting winged creature escape, and you lost Seda Arbor! She was the key to all of this! I need her! I need both of them!” the Monster King seethed.
This deal with the Jotnar to exchange bloodstone for people was wearing him down.
He needed them now more than ever if the Fae were returning.
They had been collecting the bloodstone for years, tearing apart the rocks within the Willow Grove to extract it.
Bloodstone was the only material that could stop the Fae and other magical creatures—not all, but most. He didn’t know if it would work against his number one target, but it was worth trying.
The Captain stood back up on his legs and stared stoically at the Monster King, hesitant that he might get struck again with his stick, but smart enough to show respect.
The Monster King pulled out his dark stone and held it up to the light, letting the dark sparkle reflect across the area.
The Captain shrank back when he saw it and hissed again.
He squeezed it and watched as the Captain shrank into himself in pain, his body convulsing in and out of his magicked Dragor and human forms.
A man stepped beside the Monster King and observed as the Captain convulsed.
The Monster King put the stone back into his pocket and snarled down at the Captain, “You have been demoted.” He grinned wickedly.
“If you ever want to rise again in my ranks, you will follow all of my orders.” The Dragor curled his tail around his face, lowering himself close to the floor.
The Monster King looked at the man. “Thank you for joining me today. We have a mess to clean up here, and I expect great things from you. I’m promoting you within my rank as a mark of honor. But first, I want to know everything you know about Seda.”
The man bowed respectfully and looked up, his long beard and graying hair gently blowing in the warm breeze. “I, Jason Arbor, accept your offer, and I will not fail.”
The Monster King smiled and extended his arm toward the woman in the cell, signaling Jason to give the command.
Jason turned to the demoted Dragor. “Arrange for this woman to be taken to the medical wing. Make sure they give her enough drugs to keep her from speaking about the Camp again, and ensure they throw a small celebration for her successful rehabilitation.”
The Monster King nodded in approval.
The Dragor rose to his unsteady hind legs and gave the Rozzers instructions on what to do once they passed through the dome.