Chapter 36 Xerxes
Xerxes
Iremembered nothing after seeing her on that bed with the female witch standing over her, pouring magic into my fated’s abdomen.
There was blood on my hands, though. Dried and old.
In flashes, it came back to me slowly; tearing into my handler as I shifted.
The soldiers who tried to hold me down, to keep me away from her, dying as I ripped their heads off with no remorse.
They’d tried to protect him. Their false king, who stood by while I slaughtered them.
Who only stepped in when I went to save my mate.
Then, there was only darkness where my memories should have been.
My mind was still covered in a deep, thick fog that made it hard to break free of. The sound of cheering cut through the ringing in my ears from the poison used to keep me compliant.
The bars of the cage emitted a soft glow, a pungent smell coming from somewhere behind me.
I could barely lift my head, the chains and collar so heavy it made moving difficult.
My vision was blurry, but I could faintly make out the stands of the arena, as well as the thousand or so soldiers from around the compound surrounding me.
I recognised the bear’s hulking frame and dark fur from the old village. I remembered fighting him there. He was locked in a cage like my own across the arena.
If I understood the words ringing through the air now, then I would have to fight him.
The fur on the back of my neck prickled, an unfamiliar sensation washing over me. The brand from the small female burned. It felt like it was sinking deeper into my flesh.
But it wasn’t painful. I expected it to hurt, the feeling to bring an ache, but neither came. Instead, I felt stronger.
It shouldn’t be possible, but the faint pull of my magic was there.
My heart raced as I tried to lift my head again. My body was still weak with whatever the false king had done to me, but I could just see above the cage across from me.
At the female in the cage.
My heart sank at the sight of her. Despite being in my shifted form, I couldn’t see her clearly. Almost like smoke clouded her. There was only the outline of her cage, but I could scent her clearly. The false king hadn’t tried to hide that.
But there was something different about her. Something tinging her scent. It was something I didn’t recognise, though my beast seemed to recoil from it.
He’s done something, I thought, pressure building in my chest, anger rising when I noticed him sitting on a throne beside her.
There was nothing hiding him from my view. No darkness surrounding him. While she sat in a cage, hidden from my sight, he sat proudly on his throne wearing a crown meant for a real king atop his head.
My claws extended at the sight of him. He appeared unharmed, though I couldn’t remember if I’d hurt him in my attack. I wished I’d sunk my claws into his throat when I had the chance, but I’d been so focused on getting my fated out that I’d barely even noticed his presence.
And now, I was in a cage, same as her. Now, I couldn’t do anything to save her.
“Let the fight begin!” The wicked demon’s voice rang out throughout the Pit, the sound carried by magic. It had the fur on my arms standing on end, but it excited the spectators, because their cheers created an ache in my ears, too loud to avoid.
Those words also had the bear moving in his cage. He didn’t have the same chains holding him down, though a collar had been placed around his neck, similar to mine—and like hers.
The cages rattled. I watched the bars of mine shift from glowing orange to nothing as they disappeared entirely.
One by one, the chains holding me down were ripped away, taken by soldiers standing behind the barrier—a barrier that would keep us from escaping and them safe from attack.
The collar clicked off and disappeared too, giving me a sudden clarity.
My handler had explained the magic to me vaguely. Said the barrier was created by charms. And those charms were in the ground.
A ground I felt beneath my hands. The rough dirt, the layers of earth, the different levels of the compound—all at my fingertips. And within these layers, I felt the presence of magic.
The brand on my chest had done more than protect me from the mind control Dante wielded.
It was giving me my magic back. Magic that should have been stripped away by the control Dante had over me.
The crowd’s roar turned into a dull hum in my ears as I focused on the bear. He, too, was stripped of the chains. Even the collar went away. His cage disappeared like mine, though he didn’t move.
There was something in his eyes that told me he wouldn’t attack first. Even my Primal recognised he wouldn’t. My Primal didn’t sense him as a real threat. Which was strange, because he had been before.
Behind the bear, my fated rose. Still, she was covered by a murky darkness. But I could make out her figure. The collar around her throat glowed softly, a hazy colour that reminded me of the moment she placed her string around my wrist and put her charm on me.
I felt the charm on me still, our small connection to one another. It was a burning reminder of why I needed to fight.
If I could not protect my fated, how could I save my people?
She needed to defeat Dante, only that would save them now. And I could ensure she did just that.
I rose to my full height, as did the bear, following my movements. He was large, but he was smaller than me by a few inches. I could see over his head into the stands where the false king had my mate.
The false king didn’t move from his throne, though a smile curved his lips. He brought his hands together, a sadistic glint entering the darkness of his gaze.
The bear finally took a lumbering step towards me before falling back onto all fours and roaring. Somehow, the power of that one sound had the soldiers falling silent. Because it was not a battle cry, not a shout of war. It meant something else to my Primal.
It was a call to action.
I matched that roar with one of my own, turning to the crowd as I did.
Some soldiers flinched away. Others jumped from their seats in anger.
There were many in the crowd too drunk on the control the false king had over them that they couldn’t react.
Others were recognising that this was not for their entertainment.
In the darkness around the Pit, I noticed the red-headed female from the dining hall. I vaguely recognised her fighting the winged male from my home world. But there was something about her that gave me and my Primal pause.
There was a strange scent in the air. Something I’d never smelled before. It vaguely reminded me of the moments before a storm, when lightning struck the sky and thunder shook the earth.
A shudder rolled down my spine, a sense of awareness prickling through me.
My attention went back to the bear shifter, who stepped towards me. My Primal made a similar move, though neither of us attacked.
I couldn’t be sure why he wouldn’t fight me. But it had the soldiers in a frenzy. They, too, didn’t understand.
And it made their false king angry.
Though the bear and I circled one another, I kept Dante in the corner of my eye, always in line with my vision. He rose from his throne, lips moving, though I couldn’t hear what he was saying. The bear shook his head hard as if he were trying to shake something from it.
I knew of Dante’s capabilities. The power to enter one’s mind. There was no magic like that left in my world, only magic of the elemental kind, power tied to the world around us. Over earth, sea, fire, and air, but not mind.
I waited for the false king to assume control over the bear, to take the other male’s mind and use him to attack me.
I had both been a threat and a means to an end. He thought he could steal my mind like he’d done to the blank-eyed soldiers. He thought he could use me against my own people. There’d been whispers of taking back my world, of using me to get the Primals to bow to him.
It would have never worked. We were few, but we could build an army, too. He would never have been prepared to go against us, not in our shifted forms.
The bear dropped to the ground with a low growl. From the corner of my eye, I watched the false king approach the barrier between the ring and his throne. There was blood dripping from his nose. His chest heaved with harsh breaths.
Though she couldn’t join him, my fated stepped up to the bars of her cage, eyes flickering between the fallen bear and Dante.
For a moment, the entire Pit fell silent as they waited for the bear to rise. To share that same blank eyed stare as the others who sat silently in the back.
The red-headed shifter moved through the shadows, unnoticed by everyone but me, and only when she disappeared did I return my attention completely to the bear.
Beneath my paws, I felt for the fissures between the rocks.
Searched for the weaknesses in the ground, in the walls.
There were many beneath the arena itself from too many years of being used as a fighting ring.
The tunnels beneath the Pit were ready to cave in.
I felt the length of them stretching far beneath the mountain.
It would take only one subtle shift in the earth to make that happen.
To send every one of these soldiers to their deaths.