Peril Of The Fates

LIFE ONCE MORE

Ezra finally switched the eye patch over, and Kain jerked up, his eyes a bright blue, a large floral pattern on his neck. It was larger than the stab wound, and it had a sword going through it. Through the magic that revived him, it left a permanent scar.

As soon as Kain was alive, and jerked up, his eyes opened wide, and he screamed, loudly. It was full of rage and pain, as he tried to deal with all the energy flooding his body, as the Fate curse, in almost half power struck him and hit him hard. As he screamed a large rip cut through his arm, and his blood poured out of it, and then as quickly as it was there, it scarred over, and fell back down, heaving his breath.

Ezra watched, worried. It had taken days to get his soul to his body. She had never encountered someone who was so unable to return to their body. She could only guess, but with each cheating of death, it became harder and harder for someone to return. As this was Kain's second rebirth, a third one would be near impossible.

Kain lay on the ground, his body swore and defeated. He opened and closed his hands shakily. His hands were so broken that he could barely do anything with them without tears stinging his eyes.

Ezra piped up, "I'm sorry about that, I was intending on healing you after you were revived, but it took way too much out of me to do so. I might be able to heal you in a couple of days." Kain nodded, standing up, his legs barely supporting him, as he leaned against a tree. He looked at his palms, and the deep cuts on them. He could barely remember the fight between him and Kyl, and he could barely keep his emotions under check.

Kain finally went to stand on his own, and his legs completely folded under him, sending him to the ground. Ezra went to catch him, but was too slow, as he smacked into the ground. She lifted his head up and watched the tear on the side of his face roll down, "Sorry."

She smiled, her own tears running down her face, "It's okay. I knew you were cursed. You said so yourself. It's alright." Kain nodded, as his mind drifted off to sleep. Ezra was quick to follow, she was exhausted and fell asleep next to Kain.

~~~~~

Kyl was in the middle of the sky when the energy that was flowing through his legs dropped, significantly. He held in a breath of air as he crashed into the ocean. Someone was alive. Probably Kain, he was the only one who had been killed recently enough for that to be a problem. Kain was supposed to be dead for good, why wasn't he? And now he had the curse with him, but Kyl had his eyes. Something was wrong here.

~~~~~

Ren finally paused dragging Zeak, sweat on his brow as they got closer to the castle grounds. For seven days Ren has been dragging Zeak through the wilderness after Kain had gone berserk on the boat. With Zeak in hand Ren had jumped over the railing of the boat, and saved the two of them. It had been a while since he had a meal, and Zeak hadn't woken up. The corruption has left his arm, he didn't understand.

Mathew was gone, Zeak was supposed to be alive and well again. Why wasn't he? Ren wasn't about to be the one to figure this out, he would have one of the court wizards solve this. He just had to get Zeak in there.

Ren stood up from his sitting position and wrapped his arms around Zeak's body, which was only getting thinner. Ren hoisted him up, and began to run. He was so close, and he didn't know how much longer Zeak had.

By the time Ren got Zeak to the gates, the sun was rising, and he had to force himself past the guards. They weren't expecting anything like this happening, and the end of the night shift had their senses muddeld. However, it wouldn't be long before his father knew he was back, and with a man on his shoulders, which he knew was going to push his father past his limits.

His father was going to challenge him to a duel, he knew it. His father was prideful, but for good reason. Ren knew he was a strong man, and held a 148 win streak in duels. He had to get Zeak the help he needed before his Father had time to place the duel.

Ren ran straight to the wizard's tower, and kicked in the door. The court mage, Limshire, simply smiled and said, "Come, come. What ails this man?"

Limshire was well known for knowing things he wasn't told. He was incredibly perceptive, and his magical prowess was far beyond anything else Ren had seen, "I don't know. He was corrupted by a undead, and killed. He was revived and hasn't woken up."

Limshire nodded, holding his hand above Zeak, nodding a few times, "Ah, of course. His mind is still in the trap of the undead. Should be a easy fix." He stood up and walked over to his spellbook, which was a large leathery tome that held more magic spells than Ren could guess, and Limshire slowly flipped through the pages.

"Limshire, please, this needs to be quick." The old wizard turned to look over and Ren and winked, "I know you fancy him, but that's no need to rush me. As for your father, we have ten minutes before his arrival. I'd like to do this correctly, and not be rushed."

Ren turned his head away from the wizard, his cheeks becoming enflamed as Limshire said, "Ah, here it is." Limshire walked over to Zeak, turned to look at Ren, and the old elf winked, before placing his thumb on Zeak's head, and his other thumb on Zeak's heart. Limshire closed his eyes, and in a moment, Ren felt magic erupt out of the mage. It was like a thousand candles burning as brightly as they could, before Zeak jerked up, his eyes wide, as soon as his eyes were up, they closed, and he fell back to the table.

As soon as the magic was there, it was gone. Limshire chuckled to himself as he grabbed two cups of tea off of his desk, and brought them to the two before him and said, "So, tell me what happened. Don't leave anything out."

Ren began to talk, rapidly, going over the trauma that had happened over the past two weeks, and Limshire slowly nodded along, and didn't ask any questions. By the time Ren was done, Limshire said, "Sounds like you're in a family feud now." The sounds of rustling up the stairs as Limshire smiled and said, "Best of luck to you, Prince Ren."

Ren's father burst into the small room, he was large, broad-shouldered, and a large beard covered his lower face. Limshire nodded, "King Cedric, welcome."

Ren's father looked over at him, fury written across his face as he said, "Don't you talk to me after your wards held me and my men back." He turned to Ren, pointing at him, "And you clearly need to learn respect." He paused, clenching his hand in a fist, "I'm going to duel you. Maybe then you can learn to respect a king."

Ren stood up, leaving Zeak on the table, "Fine. You want a duel? I will step down from the throne if you win."

Cedric paused, "and if you win?"

Ren took in a breath, his breath trembling, "You step down and give me the throne."

Cedric smiled, his face glimmering, "Then a duel for the throne it is. I'll see you." With that, Cedric turned around, "Oh, as for whoever that boy toy is, if you win," he stressed the if harshly, "You can do as you please with him. If I win, I'll have him executed in the morrow of the duel."

Ren felt his body lock up, "That wasn't, that wasn't our deal."

"It is now," Cedric said, stepping down the stairwell.