The Scars of the Damned

Chapter 2: There He Was

The halls were empty, but filled with fear. Even the people of the castle grew afraid of Zerick. All of them were afraid, all but one, but it was his bravery that got him where he was. He was being dragged by the men who he use to call his friends and sentence by the man he use to call his brother. He was stripped of his armor, weapons, and clothes. Humiliated and spectated by the civilians of the castle, he was dragged to his death, but he never gave in to the cruelty.

He then heard the voice of his wife, "Calton! Calton! Is that you?! Calton..." and the crying of his baby daughter. He looked at them beside him, and the snow white hair the mother and child shared reminded him of hope, hope that would stay with him until his dying day.

Five minutes of being dragged went by, and there he was, head on chopping block, hands tried behind his back, and the executioner ancy to the take the life of his next victim. His wife and child watched him with tears dipping down from their green eyes, but this was not Calton's dying day. 

The axe of the executioner was coming to an impact with Calton's nape, but Calton quickly picked his head up and flipped over the axe planted in the wood, and used that to cut the ropes restraining him. From there, he was free. He disarmed the executioner and swung the axe into the executioner's abdomen.

"He went this way," Calton heard from down the hall.

He told wife to continue running with his child, kissed her, and promised her that he would return. He turned back to fight the pursuing guards, and locked eyes with the leader of the group.

It was Kichly. He giggled and said, "I can't believe it. I had my best men on you. Well, second best. So, the rumors are true, huh?"

"What rumors," Calton asked.

Kichly answered, "The peaceful brother of the King is actually the most skilled warrior of his majesty's army.  I'd bet you killed many in your days. Haven't you?"

Calton responded, "You're a sick bastard, Kichly. No wonder Zerick took a liking to you." He threw the axe to Kichly as a distraction in order to get an opening, but the other guards quickly closed that opening. All ten of them attacked him at once, but Calton stayed head strong in the fight. He fought and killed off all of them but Kichly with just his bear hands.

"Now listen to me," Calton angrily grunted, "Pass this on to that king of yours. He will fall!" Calton headbutt Kichly unconscious, and ran back to his wife.

His wife had a carriage ready for escape, but she did not want to leave Calton behind. Luckily, Calton came back with only a few scratches. "I told you I'd come back," he said. They were just about ready to put that castle behind them, and they left unable to stop the carriage. Then, out of nowhere, a beam of light comes from behind them, and grabs Calton's wife, dragging her into the darkness it came from. Calton wanted so badly to turn, but his wife wanted differently.

"Keep going," she screamed out, scared for her life.

Calton did so, violently cursing Zerick, and continued until he and his child were far enough away. Calton came to find out that his daughter was also crying the entire time. He picked her up, wrapped her in his arms, and said with tears falling from his eyes, "It's okay, my baby. We're gonna be okay. Mommy's gonna be okay. I promise." He said this in attempts to calm both the child and himself, but it did not work. It only led to more tears and Calton sitting with his daughter in his arms in the back of the carriage.

Attempting one more time, this time only attempting to calm the child, "It's okay, Scarlett. Daddy's here... I'm sorry..."