Chapter 3 #2
Thames reared back in anger. “You dare kneel so arrogantly before me,” he seethed.
“Let this be a warning to all those who are thinking the same. Those unloyal to the crown will be dealt with by the Monster of Mysthaven, but those traitors who attempt to infiltrate my ranks… Well, there is a special punishment for that level of disloyalty.”
“I have no regrets. You are a usurper. You’ve poisoned people, and call it loyalty,” the Guardian shouted, rising and drawing his blade. “Prince Kade is the true king!”
He speaks the truth. Listen.
Thames snapped his fingers, and a wooden contraption materialized, summoned by his power. Four Guardians moved from the shadows toward the man, who looked wholly unafraid.
I tilted my head, scrutinizing him. How could he not fear what was about to happen?
Because he knows the truth. As do you. Fight. Back.
“There is nothing to fight,” I said, attempting to silence the treacherous shadows.
The man fought feverishly, but when more loyal Guardians joined the fray, he was easily overpowered. They grasped him by his hands and feet, tying him to the device until the traitor hung suspended by ropes and chains.
“Not so brave now, are we?” Thames sneered. “Kade, show him what happens to those who dare to trick me.”
“Kade, you are our rightful king,” the man pleaded. “You are better than him.”
His words stirred that thing inside of me again. One day, whatever plagued me would come to an end, and I wouldn’t have to fight my magic.
The darkness took over, unrelenting in its need for death and destruction. The shadow sword formed in my hand.
No, run, fight.
Thames passed by me, waving his hand at the traitor. “Make it memorable,” he whispered in my ear before he turned, walking up the stairs back toward the palace. He crossed his arms, watching from a perch higher than everyone else. Removed from the violence yet observing the pandemonium he created.
I shook my head to get the noise out that was swimming in my brain as I approached the man. In his fight against the contraption, others took their chance to cut him with their own blades. Blood dripped from his wounds, wetting the ground before me.
I raised my shadow sword and slowly, deliberately, dragged the tip of the blade down the center of the man’s chest, snagging a loose thread, and his tunic slowly fell to the ground on a whisper of a breeze.
“He can’t control you if you fight him. Whatever has happened, you are stronger. I saw you, I’ve seen you save people.”
I snarled. “That was before I saw the truth.”
“No!” the man entreated.
A delirious laughter escaped my lips, one I didn’t recognize as I dragged the sword back up the man. I pierced his skin at the top of his sternum, twisting the blade, only to drag it down once more. Back and forth.
The cuts should’ve been cleaner. My shadow sword felt dull, barely cutting the skin beneath it.
“Obey!” I yelled to my shadows.
To anyone else, they would believe I was screaming at the man, but I knew better.
The man’s breathing slowed. He raised his head, his entire body trembling. “You can defeat him. I believe in you. More will fight.”
I snarled and my shadows flared as if in agreement with the traitor in front of me.
I stabbed my sword through the man’s stomach.
The blunt way my shadows molded couldn’t withstand the force I threw behind my weight.
Blood gurgled in his mouth, dripping from the edges of his lips. “We would’ve fought by your side.”
I raised my arm, refusing to answer his words, and waved my shadows away, drawing my steel blade instead. With one slice, I gutted the man, as he finally gave in to the pain and screamed my name. His chest opened, body sagging, his intestines falling out as the blood pooled beneath him.
To make it memorable, to make absolutely certain no one else disobeyed our king, I swung at his head, letting it fall, rolling across the stones before it hit my boot.
Grabbing the dead man’s head by his hair, I walked the souvenir up to Thames, holding it proudly above my head for everyone to see.
“Well done,” Thames praised before he bellowed to the crowd once more. “With blood may you reign.”
“With blood may you reign,” they echoed back in unison.
Thames waved his hand in the air, signaling to the crowd that the events for the day had ceased. Upon his dismissal, they dispersed.
Blood ran down my arm, soaking every inch of my body. Before I could take a step to the side to dispose of the head, Thames grabbed me by my arm.
“Do you think I don’t notice your hesitation at my commands?” he hissed.
I frowned. “I don’t hesitate, my king.”
“You do.” He gripped harder and his touch burned.
“You will be fully mine soon enough. Your shadows may fight me now, but they won’t be able to for much longer.
It won’t be long before the darkness completely takes over.
” He chuckled as he released me from his grasp, wiping the blood on his hand across my face. “It’s just a matter of time.”