Savage - Prinxiety [Sequel To "Monster"] [COMPLETED]

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Roman winced as he continued to carry the dark prince through the corridors of the castle, his shoulders aching from his wounds. He was breathing heavily and his head was throbbing, but getting Virgil to Thorn was more important. He was in much worse shape than himself. 

In his arms, Virgil winced and moaned. He halted and looked down in concern immediately. "What is it?" he asked. 

"I can sense dark magic, just like how you can sense fire magic other than your own," he murmured, his eyes glazed over as he looked up at him. "I can feel very powerful dark magic coming from lower in the mountain, but a smaller cluster of magic up ahead. They must be soldiers or something..."

The prince nodded in understanding, hope flickering in his chest. The last time he'd seen Thorn and Luis, they were fighting off the guards that had been chasing them. If Virgil was saying he sensed the dark magic nearby, the couple was probably near as well. He picked up his pace.

He rounded a couple corners and found himself face to face with one of the guards. The skull's empty eye sockets bore into him and paralyzed him momentarily as he took the monster in. The black and purple energy pulsing form it must be what Virgil sensed; he was squirming with discomfort. Roman could see bits of what appeared to be decomposed flesh still clinging to the bones of the skeleton, making his stomach toss uncomfortably. 

It let out an eerie growl and raised its weapon toward them. The prince was prepared to defend Virgil by any means necessary when a bast of water came from underneath it, causing its bones to clatter harmlessly to the ground.

"Luis!" he gasped, running toward the younger prince with relief.

He ran to meet him, ready to hug him, but thinking better of it once he saw Virgil in his arms. "Oh my god, is that really him?" he breathed, touching his brother's arm. The dark prince shifted toward him and looked at him with a crooked smile, nodding. Tears welled up in Luis' eyes as a shaky grin crossed his lips. "I can't believe you're alive."

"That's the problem, he's not in good shape, where's Thorn?" Roman said. "He won't stay alive much longer without her healing magic."

As he spoke, Thorn came around the corner, locked in combat with one of the skeletons. She summoned brambles to tear the bones from each other as she huffed and wiped the sweat from her brow. "That was the last one of this wave," she said toward her fiance. Her eyes widened upon landing on the princes. "Oh shit."

She hurried forward as Roman laid Virgil down on the cobblestone floor. "He's barely alive," he said. "He really needs you right now."

"Got it," she said. Her voice was incredibly serious as she rubbed her hands together and closed her eyes. The familiar light of her healing magic began to come from her palms as she hovered them over the dark prince's form. Her expression scrunched up as she sensed different injuries. "Geez, what on earth happened to him?"

He shook his head as bile rose up in his throat uncomfortably. "You really don't want to know."

The princess sighed and then took a deep breath. Virgil's skin began to glow slightly with the same light coming from her palms. Open wounds closed, bruises disappeared, and slowly he began to breathe more steadily. When she was done, his eyes fluttered open and they shimmered with life.

"Wow..." he breathed, sitting up carefully. He gave her a very grateful smile. "I haven't felt like this in over a year. I actually feel... healthy."

"No problem, Virge. You're going to get yourself proper nutrition and rest and everything once we get home, but that should do for the time being, given how pressed we are for time," Thorn said. "But it's not a problem, anything for my future brother-in-law."

At this, the dark prince's brown eyes grew wide. He looked between her and his brother as Luis blushed furiously. "Oh my gosh, how much did I miss?" he said, smiling a little as he moved to hug the younger prince. "I'm so happy for you, brother."

They embraced tightly, making Roman smile with relief. "You're next," the princess said as she sidled up beside him. She put her hands over his shoulders and immediately he felt the pain vanishing. He sighed as the tense muscles of his body began to relax and any wounds he'd received began to disappear. "You're going to have a couple of killer scars from those daggers."

"I know right?" he said with a laugh, glad to be able to find humor in the situation. "But as great as this reunion is, we've seriously gotta move. That crazy guy was working on summoning Dorchadas again, and Virgil accidentally activated it."

This seemed to snap the dark prince back into reality as he pulled away from his brother. "Right," he said, looking toward him with determination. "I can sense something dark and powerful beneath us, so I'm betting that whatever Tsyla Tac was using to summon him is down there. We've got to go find it and shut it down before Dorchadas gets through or it'll mean a new war against dark magic."

They all nodded and looked toward Roman to lead, but the prince nodded to Virgil instead. "You've got to lead from here, my love," he said with a small, charming smile. 

His lips quirked up just a little bit before he nodded and took the lead. They began running through the corridors, stopping every so often to allow Virgil to feel for the dark magic pulses. He would change their course whenever it got more intense or fade. Eventually, they found themselves in front of a large black door, behind which was a winding staircase that went down. The dark prince nodded with certainty.

"It's down there, I can feel it," he said. "We've got to hurry."

They began running down the stairs, their footfalls echoing on the stone. Roman could feel his loosened muscles tensing again as he prepared himself for whatever was at the bottom of the stairs he was descending.