Son of Fire

Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen

"George." Josh growls, his hand clutching his sword handle.

"Whoever you are, you really should get off my ship." Skylar demands, her cutlass already out and pointed at him.

"That's cute." George chuckles as he simply moves the sword away with his finger. "You Valentinians are awfully confident. Overly confident, if you ask me."

"So, we gonna do this George?" Josh asks.

"Do what? This is just a social call." George responds. "I saw a fleet of ships on my patrol, and thought I must see who they are. I was pleasantly surprised to see you emerge from the captain's quarters."

"So, you're just going to let us sail through?" Josh questions.

"Oh no." George laughs, shaking his head. "It is rather obvious where your target is, Brother. So I will kill you, but why not chat first? It's been a while. Our conversations always seem to happen whilst we fight."

"Really? You want to talk?" Josh questions, struck with confusion.

"Why not? We are on separate sides of this war. Who knows, we might even find common ground."

"Any common ground was destroyed the moment you killed Audrey." Josh growls.

"Casualties of war, dear brother. You know as well as I do, not everyone lives during war. The Witch was one of them." George responds. "Need I remind you of the thousand of our soldiers you have killed during this war?"

"He has a point." Skylar chimes in.

"Even so, there is no common ground between us, George. Our father has destroyed this world. Ransacked people peacefully living before he burnt their lands."

"I won't disagree." George responds.

"What?" Josh was caught off guard with George's admission to say the least.

"You forget, Josh. Our father destroyed my homeland. Daleium is nothing but a wasteland now, apart from the remote area's our father had set up his settlements. But any sign of my culture, is now gone." George responds.

Josh could feel every fibre of him wanting to pull his sword on George, to slice his throat. But, he knew that he finally had a chance to understand George. It was a rare opportunity.

"When we first met in the Forgotten Plane, you were the one to say we will fight our father." Josh begins, relaxing his hand away from his sword. He gives Skylar a quick nod, and she sheaths her cutlass. "What happened?"

"What happened to Sarah, happened to me. I couldn't get out of Daleium in time.  Our King was well aware of what I needed to do, as I told him about it after that day. We had a squad of our Elite soldiers tasked on getting me out when my father attacked. But, it seemed that he knew what we would try to do. He took out our ports first, destroyed any chance I had of leaving. And I was captured in our last battle. Taken straight to our father."

"Sarah didn't join him." Josh points out.

"Sarah is stronger than me in that regard." George admits. "At first, I declined our father. But after months of seeing my worst fears, I couldn't bare it. I saw my home burn over and over, I saw you, Sarah, Jenna, Anna all die countless times. In the end... It became too much for me to bear. So I joined our father."

"You made a choice based on your fear?" Josh questions.

"Yes. Our father has perfected fear, I can assure you. He need not to torture physically. Why waste the time? When your own fear can break you." George face darkens as the memories of his time before joining their father flashes through his mind.