Stormborn

Chapter 8: The Friendly Foe

"Hand over the gem boy!" Queen Olivia ordered.

Thomas took a faithful step backwards while while tightly clutching the bag at his waist, "You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands."

The Queen chuckled, "That offer is very tempting," her expression changed to a more serious one, "And I'm known widely for giving in to temptations. Especially ones that get me what I want."

Thomas gulped for a short moment and then thought to himself, 'I have the advantage here... I mean, I am the one with the gem. I hold it's power... I can use it.'

"If you want the gem, then you'll have to take it from me yourself. Kill me, yourself," Thomas said, looking deep into the Queen's grey eyes.

"Hmm, a very interesting proposal," the Queen said as she got up off her throne.
She took a step down and smirked at Thomas, putting a smile on his face.

Thomas was ready to move to battle but he  was stuck, blood rushing out of his mouth.

He looked down on himself seeing a sword sticking out through the centre of his chest, covered with his blood.

"As much as I loved your proposal," the Queen said as she gracefully walked down the steps to Thomas' falling body, "I'd rather not get my hands dirty for now."

She ripped the bag from off his side and pulled out the Keystone Gem from the inside.

She smiled at it as the gem's color changed from a bright green to a corrupted purple in her palms.

Thomas moved his hand forward trying to grasp the Queen's foot, but it only made the blood come rushing out of his body quicker and it kept moving at that pace, until it was all gone.

~•~

Kai sat under a large tree, taking shelter from the rising sun as he drew a bundle of snores.

His fox ears twitched at the top of his head, for he heard rustling coming from the bushes nearby.

Awaking from his slumber, he held tightly onto his two blades as the sound came closer.

He got up from his location and sniffed the air, leaning back on the tree so that he could take a peek over the other side.

On the other side of tree were three men. Each of them seemed fit enough to strangle the largest boar to death without breaking a sweat, and that worried Kai.

They laughed as they walked closer to the tree with old bottles in their hands, each containing either rum or wine.

The fact that they seemed drunk gave Kai a sense of relief, knowing all too well that drunk men can't fight, but that sense of relief that Kai once felt, disappeared in an instant once he saw that they carried not swords, but guns, one of few objects that Kai has never seen before, but only heard stories of, terrifying stories of what they're capable of.

All the muscles in Kai's body became tense as he decided to step back in order to fit in with the tree better, but his plan backfired once his foot struck a twig, breaking it in two.

Being notified by the sound, the three men looked in the direction of the tree. The tallest of them, set his bottle of rum on the ground as he took his gun out of it's case and neared the tree as quietly as he could.

He arrived at the trees side and turned as quickly as he could, but no one was there.

He nodded to his comrades, signalling that it was safe, but then he looked up upwards, wiping sweat from his forehead, seeing Kai laying on a tree branch trying to blend in.