Journey

Chapter Thirty-Three~ A Curse

I stared at him in confusion and disbelief. He actually wanted us to get captured. I shook my head and watched as the creatures came closer. They stopped a few feet away. Their grey bodies were as dull as the red sands around us.

One came closer to us and said, "Who are you to think you can invade the underworld?"

Damion took no time to reply, "Ah Matthew. How kind of you to meet me here. It has been a while."

Matthew bared his teeth, "Damion." Murmurs ran through the crowd of gargoyles behind Matthew. He held up his hand. They quieted. "You are not welcome here."

"I think your master will be happy to see me and the present I have brought him. If you would please bring us to him."

"What makes you think he wants to see you?"

"Believe me he will." He gestured to me. Matthews eyes widened a fracture. He looked like he wanted to bow, but he held himself back. Did he know who I was just by looking at me?

"I will take you to him, but I cannot assure you will leave with your life."

Damion let out a hearty laugh. Matthew spared me a glance and turned around. "Bury our fallen comrades and take these two to the King."

I felt kind of bad now. I had killed at least twenty of them. I didn't know how many Damion had taken.

Two larger gargoyles stepped forward. One stalked towards Damion, the other towards me. Damion looked towards me and back to the gargoyles ahead of us. One angled towards Damion, the other towards me. "Please be gentle." He was acting serious, but I could see he was joking.

Damions gargoyle did not comply to his plea and grabbed him roughly. Taking off towards the castle. I looked towards my gargoyle with little fear. He held his hand out hesitantly, "I will be gentle, Miss."

I accepted his hand. He held onto my waist and jumped into the air. His wings spread out wide. They were battered and worn. He flew unevenly because of them.

I looked down at the ground below us. The red sand began to look more like a sea of blood as we flew higher and higher. The castle was massive. Once up close its structure fanned out as far as the eye could see.

We dropped onto the sand by the massive doors. They almost looked to be ten feet tall. They also had dragons on them carved in gold. It was the same as what was on the palace doors in Veriana, and on the converting weapons. Was it the symbol of the underworld?

Damion was dropped unceremoniously to the ground by his gargoyle. I tried hard not to laugh at him. He jumped to his feet. His hair was messy and covered his eyes. He looked at me and gave me a smile, pushing his hair back into place.

My eyes were practically popping out of my head. I've never seen a palace made with such height and length. How many people lived in here? I looked back to my gargoyle. He stood behind my right shoulder. There was no chance of escape. He stared ahead of me at the gold doors which opened slowly.

A shiver ran down my spine. The gargoyle gently pushed me forward through the erie doors. I was greeted by the sight of a man sitting on a huge throne in the middle of the room. He had a muscular body and looked youthful. He has dark hair that curled on his neck and green eyes that penetrated Damion. I assume he was the king.

Chaos broke loose almost immediately. The King sprang from his throne, wings sprouting from his back. He slammed into Damion and threw him into a wall.

Damion hit it with a grunt, he got onto his knees. The king was in front of Damion in an instant. He knocked Damion to his knees. The king pulled a massive sword from his back and brought it up to Damion's throat. I gasped and jerked away from them. Causing me to ram into the gargoyle that had brought me over here. His massive hands went to my shoulders. He tried to hold me in place, but he was shaking. I could slip away easily, but I didn't.