What Lurks Behind The Trees

Deal

Serlon's gaze fixed on Raymond, he looked him up and down, before sitting up straight. He pondered for a minute, looking at each man in the eye. "That must be the real reason for this conflict huh?" he said.

"What do you mean by that?" Raymond asked.

Serlon's finger rose to point at Raymond accusingly "You...you only want my help so you can retrieve your throne,"

"That is correct, but with that reason comes many others," Raymond said. "The kingdom has suffered terribly since the false king took over, relations between Osledel and Aigronyth have only gotten worse, think of the advantage this could give you,"

"That is true, but your gain is more than mine, I am content with my way of life, you have to give me more to convince me to help you,"

Raymond inhaled deeply and flared his nostrils in annoyance "When I take back my crown, I will give you free access to the colossal sea, the best trading route, merchants visit Osledel from all over the world, if you join me, you will have access to all of that,"

Serlon narrowed his blue eyes in thought "Very well..."

They all sighed in relief.

"I will let half my men join you, but only if I lead them," Serlon said.

"That's a deal then?" Julian asked, his grey eyes determined, he could finally fulfil his intent, he could smell the victory from now.

Serlon walked to Julian and took his hand "Yes."

--------------------------------------

Dyron, Darren, Sam, Lazarus and Venkalth walked through the training grounds of the western peaks. Venkalth strolled proudly, explaining the training to the other men.

"We forge all sorts of weapons here, thanks to Lazarus, one of the best, if not the best magician here," Venkalth said.

Lazarus's yellow eyes brightened at the compliment "Not every magician can learn to use every weapon, so we have divided them into groups, each group specialises in using a type of weapon or magic," Lazarus explained.

Dyron, Sam and Darren were impressed, everything was so organized and structured.

They walked passed a group of magicians who held a weapon similar to a whip. These whips were different however, they glowed bright yellow, like the sun on a hot summer day. The magicians whipped them around, the yellow glow extending several feet over the whip and hitting the wooden target that slashed in two.

"The rods of python, Evindal and Eroan are particularly skilled with these." Lazarus said, pointing at the group that trained with the same weapons that Evindal and Eroan used.

"We have all sorts of bow and arrow combinations, swords, spears, staffs, we have magicians that can summon animals and creatures like Venkalth and I do with our dragons," Lazarus waved his hands in the general direction of these groups.

"In other words, we are prepared." Venkalth said.

"How can you be so sure?" Sam's eyebrows rose.

"Since the battle of the clones, that's what we call it now," Venkalth chuckled "My people have been training harder than ever, we have learned our lesson, and with the help of Cedric, we should be good,"

"I don't think so," Darren said, gaining everyone's attention, "Edmund has more than a few tricks up his sleeve,"

"His dragon is probably the hardest obstacle," Venkalth said.

"No, there is more."

--------------------------------------------------------

"Rogerus, we have one last thing we need to prepare," Edmund said as he walked through the halls with Rogerus following closely behind him.

"Yes, your majesty, the final transformations are yet to take place, we need your approval to start."

They walked down more stairs, guards saluting and bowing as they passed. The walls were becoming darker and damper, the air was becoming thicker. The walked down the last flight of stairs until they reached the dungeons on the eastern wing of the castle.

Edmund's feet tapped on the stone floor, he reached the dungeon gates and tapped the metal. In the darkness, hundreds of silhouettes shifted.

"Good morning!" Edmund singsonged. "Rise and shine! Let me see your beautiful faces!"

"Shall I light a fire, my king?" Rogerus asked.

"No, my dear Isabella will come, she won't disobey her father," Edmund smirked.

That's when they saw a hand reach out from the darkness and a body crawled out. The girl's hair mopped the floor as she crawled forward, her hands struggled to pull her forward, he nails scraped along the stone floor.

Edmund knelt down behind the gates "Oh, Isabella! Did you miss your father?"

The girl, Isabella lifted her head to look at her father, her eyes were framed with dark bags, her eyes were bloodshot, her skin was grey with dirt.

"Fa...ther...you are no father... to me." her voice was barely there.

"Now now, don't say that or I'll feel sad," Edmund mocked, stroking her face lovingly. "Where are your friends Isabella? I finally have some use for you," he smirked.

In Isabella's eyes, she saw a monster, she saw a man who trapped her under the world, she saw a man who was anything but a father.

Rogerus lit the lanterns. Edmund looked behind his daughter to see the hundreds of cursed women. He had put the cursed men and women in separate dungeons to avoid unnecessary pregnancy and childbirth. Though the men had escaped, he still had plenty of women to use, his daughter being one of them and soon his wife Della would join.

-------------------------------------------

WHAT?! Im sorry guys you thought only men wandered into the forest, well guess what, there are cursed women!

Vote, comment and share!