Come Love A Stranger

Fifty two

The hackeries attacked Alador then, being mindful not to be slashed by his sword. They were more in number and Alador knew that the chance of him winning was slim but every time he glanced at where Mariah lay lifeless and the thought that he was never going to see her again, he was being filled with this unnamable strength and he would charge again. So many times they had disarmed him from his sword but he always managed to retrieve it again before they could throw a fatal strike at him.
Noticing he was at losing end, he cursed a heavy wind and being smoky, the hackeries were finding it difficult to stand their ground and Alador used the opportunity to attack them again but unknown to him, one made its way to his back and there it delivered its deadly attack.
“Ah,” Alador grunted in pain and lost focus and fell heavily on the ground, and all the spectators gasped in shock. With Alador’s fall, the wind stopped and the hackeries got their balance again. Alador was grunting in pain and looking at his side, he saw Mariah, he had fallen beside her. He saw her lifeless face and with a smile on her face like she was telling him that it was okay, that everything would be okay but he refused to have it. How can anything be okay if he can’t have her, if he can’t be with her?
A blow on his face caused him to fly away from her and he landed on one of the pillars that were holding the palace.
“You made a mistake thinking you can defeat us, young prince. We have been existing long before you were born and with each century, our strength grows more. And you are merely a thousand years, what makes you think you can defeat us that has been living for millenniums?” With that, their leader rushed to him and impaled him with his claws. “Since you love the human so much, why don’t you go with her?” it’s deep echoing voice asked? “She died by my claws, why don’t you surrender as well?”
Alador held onto its hand, pain was slowly covering every part of his body but when he heard the hackery’s words, he glanced at Mariah were she lay, can he fail her again? Should he surrender? But even if the hackery claims his soul, they cannot be together because they would be souls and flowing around, no point of contact. Does he want that? What about her dream she told him once, where they were living together happily and with their children? He had promised to make that dream come true for her, is he going to fail it?
It only took a second for him to make his decision and he turned to the leader and looked it straight in its hollow of eyes, “you have what is mine,” he murmured, “and-and you must give it back,” and with that, he grabbed tightly on its hand and started sending ice up its body.
The hackery looked at its freezing hand in shocked and then at Alador, “what are you doing?”
“It does not matter how long you have lived, what matters is who you are fighting. I am not born with all powers of the elements for nothing and when I say that I am your king, I am your KING!” Alador said freezing up the hackery who has then understood the situation of thing and for the second time since its existence, it felt fear.
Alador froze it up to his neck and let it go, it was alive but it was immobile and therefore vulnerable to any attack that comes its way. The others came to attack Alador to free their leader but using a heavy wind, he blew them off course and with lightning, it cornered them at a place, making the lightning strike around them, rounding them in a circle and with a stomp of his feet, the ground became frozen and the ice traveled in a straight line till it came to the circle and unlike their leader, he froze them up to statues.
Now grabbing his sword that was lying on the ground, he turned and flew back to the leader and on approaching him, he saw a red gem appearing on its forehead and he was momentarily shocked until he remembered. “Legend has it that if ever the leader of the hackeries is had at a mercy of a god, a red gem would appear and should the gem be broken, all souls that has been trapped would be freed.” Alador said and with that, he raised his sword, ready to break the gem.
“Wait,” the hackery said just as Alador was about to strike, “if you break the gem, you would not only free her soul, you would free the soul of every evil, both humans and gods that we have trapped and that would bring chaos and destruction. Legend did not say this because it has never happened before and why legend knew of the red gem is because few millenniums ago, a god, the first true god had us at his mercy but he did not break the gem and he is the one that wrote the legend. And I am telling you now, true god, if you break the gem, you would be dealing with monsters that raided the earth at its first creation till now. But as my master and my king, I can make an exception for you, I would give you her soul in return that you spare us to serve you as our king and to continue with our purpose in creation.”
Alador stopped in his action, he could tell with common sense that the hackery does not lie because living as long as they have, they would have trapped many souls and such chaos or destruction is not the kind of thing he wants to be dealing with now. He wants to finally live a peaceful life and be happy and so taking the hackery by its words, he put down his sword.
The hackery bowed his head in respect and soon, the red gem started glowing and within short moments, Mariah stirred on where she lay. Happiness surge through Alador seeing that and he immediately rushed to her and cradled her head on his laps, “Mariah,” he whispered and waited, softly caressing her face with his bloodied hand, “Mariah,” he called again and he watched as colors returned to her once lifeless face and he heard her heart reviving as it first came in slow beating before beating normally. Her eyelids fluttered opened then and she looked at him, first in confusion and then in shock.
“Alador,” she whispered.
“Yes,” Alador chuckled softly with tears trailing down his cheeks, “I’m here, I’m here.”
Mariah raised her hand to touch his face but then scrunch her face in pain, making Alador worried immediately.
“You still need to treat her wound, I only returned her soul, not heal her,” the hackery said and Alador touched her back then to see that her blood that once stopped flowing had started again and luckily for him, right before he could panic, his mother appeared with the healers.
Azura was shocked at the scene she saw, there were ice statues rounded up in circle in the center of her home and then one more statue that wasn’t completely a statue was looking at her and it was then she realized that it was the hackeries. How was Alador able to freeze the hackeries? But she knew that would be story for another day. She quickly rushed to Mariah who she was shocked to find alive despite that deadly wound on her back.
“Master,” the hackery called when the healers took Mariah inside and Alador wanted to follow them, “you have to free us now.”
Alador didn’t hesitate and did just that and when the hackeries were all free, they all bowed to him and proclaimed him their king. Even the gods that were watching everything that was happening all bowed as well to Alador. “You may rise,” he said to them but before he released the hackeries to go, he said to them, “there is an evil god you need to trap first.”
“Yes my king, we are on our way to do that already,” they replied and just like smokes, as they had appeared, they vanished and Alador smiled before rushing inside to check on Mariah. A big battle that had been plaguing him for centuries has finally been won.