Power Of Twelve - A Zodiac Story

Chapter 57: Scorpio

So, we were in huge trouble. Directly in front of me, Leo and Pisces, stood a man mountain, who didn't look best pleased. His son, the guy who had helped free Leo earlier was also stood there. He didn't look very pleased either.

After all, I had promised that no harm would come to his palace and here we were, surrounded by pieces of it.

Behind the two of them, stood an army of a few thousand. That was only a little bit lucky for us, since most of their army wasn't here.

Me and Leo stood up slowly, while Pisces crawled back to the others.

As he ran, Leo muttered, "We need to teach him bravery."

"Shut up," I replied on Pisces's behalf. Looking back, I saw the others all stood, frozen to their spots, like they were pretending to be statues. 

'Hiding in plain sight' was a good saying, but these fools were taking it way too seriously.

"So, you destroyed my palace," the King said. He spoke in a deep, intimidating voice and he made it seem like he had said a statement, not a question.

"Err....I don't know how to respond to that," Leo said.

"I do. We did destroy your palace and we'd do it again," I said calmly. The King was taken aback - it probably wasn't everyday that someone backchatted you.

"Why? And I have reason to believe you killed my son, Bertha, who had become King only today."

His guards were slowly advancing. Scanning around, I knew we couldn't take on all of them. If we were full strength, then probably, but we were too weak in a state.

"Yeah, well, we killed him because...I don't know how to tell you this, sir, but - "

"Call me, 'your Grace'," the King said. "I am neither a lord or a knight."

"Okay, your Grace," Leo said, but you could clearly see he didn't like it. "Well, the former King Bertha was trying to bring about the end of the world. Ask him if you don't believe me," Leo said, pointing at the prince stood beside the King.

The King turned to his son, who nodded. "Brother had captured these people and wanted to use them to destroy the world by sacrificing them to a demon who could've destroyed our palace anyway, in one fell swoop. I helped the ginger one - "

"My hairs orange, not ginger," Leo said.

"Don't interrupt them, idiot," I said. Leo shrugged. "Don't lie about me then."

"There's not really a difference between orange and ginger - "

"Scorpio, shut up, the prince is speaking," Leo said.

"Bastard! I tried making you shut up because the prince was speaking! I should kill you right now!"

"I say we fight!"

"Let's go!" I yelled, as we started fighting...again. I'll admit, it was more joking around than seriousness, but we were still furious at each other. 

"I told you they were pretty funny," we heard the prince laugh.

"Indeed they are. But if they carry on fighting, we won't be able to reward them," said the king, speaking loudly so we heard every word.

We instantly stopped fighting, Leo on top of me (that sounds so wrong).

"Reward, you say?" Leo asked, acting all smooth.

"Yes, after all, you saved the world and stopped a tyrant becoming king. Even though, he was my son, he had to be stopped, though I would've liked him alive."