Kingdom of the Gods: Godkiller (Sequel to Mythical Madness)

Chapter 2

2: Rock the Bells

WATCHER'S POV

Shortly after Herne had taken me in, I had fallen asleep while riding on the back of his massive black steed. I woke up about...3 hours later in the middle of the woods. I was sitting under a rough blanket beside a roaring campfire. I sat up and looked around. Sitting across from me at the fire was Herne, his massive antlered form towering over me. Nearby, at a safe distance away were his huge hounds.

"Where are we?" I asked weakly.

"Somewhere safe. Have some of this," Herne said, passing me a bowl of beef stew.

I took the beef stew and started to hungrily eat, taking massive spoonfuls. As I ate though, a very important question came to my mind. "I know my mythology well, but my father never told me of you. Herne, who are you?" I asked the Huntsman.

"My name is Herne the Huntsman. Some think I am the same as the Gallic god Cernunnos, bit I am not. I was once a great hunter...the King's best, in fact. One day he and I were out hunting, and a massive stag came upon us. It caught him off guard, and it was about to gore him to death with its antlers. I threw myself in front of him, and I was stabbed instead," Herne said, his voice becoming almost...pained.

"What happened then?" I asked, eager to hear the end of the story.

"The King took me to the best magician in the land, who said that I could only survive if the antlers of the stag were fused to my head. The King tied the antlers to my head, and I was saved from the brink of death by the antlers, but at a price. I lost my skill at hunting, and I could no longer engage in the activity that I had lived and breathed. As a consequence...I hung myself," he said, looking right at me creepily with those freaky eyes of his. A chill went up my spine.

"Then...what are these hounds that you have here?" I asked, scared to death.

"Well, when I committed suicide, my spirit returned, and somehow, all the dogs and hounds who I had loved so much...all the hounds that had raced at my side in life, they came with me ino the world of the dead. As a result, I am what you see now. Even still today, I roam the land, still hunting my quarry," Herne said, looking down.

The hounds almost seemed to nod in sympathy as Herne said that. One of them even got up and walked over to us. Herne gave it a pat on its golden armor, and it then went back to the rest of the pack.

"Out there is a force called the Wild Hunt. They do the same as I do: roam the land at night, bringing down anyone and anything that stands in their way. There are two people who have been seen leading this Wild Hunt: Odin and Gwyn ap Nudd," Herne said.

"Who's Gwyn ap Nudd?" I asked.

"He's a Welsh god. He lives in the Otherworld, the place where the dead go and the realm of magic. He hunts with his magical hounds known as the Cwn Annwn. Just like I do. Anyways, enough of this talk. I assume that you wish for vengeance on those who have wronged you, am I correct?" Herne asked me.

"Definitely. What can we do about that?" I asked.

"I have...connections with may gods and spirits, being one myself. I will call many to aid us in our quest. We will not be able to summon an army, but I will raise a sizeable force of monsters and attempt to contact some of my friends. Tomorrow, I will send my elite scouts called the Bokkenrijders to watch the airports here in Cornwall. If any of the Syndicate members fly in...they will be killed," Herne said.

"What are the Bokkenrijders?" I asked him.

"They were bandits about 200 years ago. They discovered a bit of dark magic and so on, and they managed to become immortal. They also created huge goats with their magic. The goats can fly, so they ride the goats and manage to keep up with me. It may sound comical, but they are ruthless killers and pursuers. And they'll soon be back at work again!"

He gave a cold and deep laugh, and from nearby, all of his dogs let out a horrible chorus of howls.

___________________________________________________________________

JACK'S POV

"Alright, we're here. Everyone up!" I said, clapping my hands.

After the quest had been announced, we had gotten a tad bit of confusing help from the son of Proteus named Will Khim. After he had given us that "help", we had gone to sleep for the night. The next day, we had packed up our stuff and booked the nearest flight to Cornwall, England to find Watcher. Our plane had just gotten into the airport and we were on our way.

I woke everyone up, and we got off of the plane into the crowded airport. Mr. Kuukon and Kaiendos had spent some considerable money to book us some transportation to a hotel once we had gotten into the airport. As we went down to the lower street level towards the xit, we saw a large man holding a sign labeled with just one word.

Syndicate.

The man holding the sign was tall and skinny, and he was wearing a nice black and white three-piece suit. He wore a pair of dark black sunglasses that covered his eyes completely. He saw us coming and motioned to us with a gloved hand.

"I assume that you're the children sent from the Syndicate headquarters?" he asked.

"Yeah, that would be us," Piper said with a thumbs-up.

"Good. My name is Silas Atherium, and I'm here to drive you to Sir Kiase's chateau that he has so gladly prepared for your arrival here," said the driver.

"Wait...Kiase, like James Kiase? The son of Hades who owns the Chateau de Immortels? He has another chateau here?" I asked, puzzled.

"Precisely. Sir Kiase has residences all around the world," said Silas.

"So are you a mythical creature? Are you a zombi, mummy -" started Alice.

But suddenly, cutting Alice rudely off, there was a loud grunt from nearby. I whirled around to where the grunt came from. Rushing down the aisle towards us was a force of the oddest men that I had ever seen.

The men looked normal, and they were tall and lean. Their faces were covered in smooth, polished black masks with twin eyeholes that exposed glowing green eyes from underneath them. They wore various animal furs, and they all carried various medieval weapons: iron-tipped lances, steel swords and scimitars, and ashwood bows with quivers of feathers. But the oddest thing about the is that they were riding on...goats?

Each man was riding on a massive 8-foot tall red-brown goat that had glowing green eyes as well. The goats bounded and ran swiftly towards us, and the men were rushing at nearly full speed. Silas gave a curse and stepped between our group and the riders.

"The Bokkenrijders. Horrible spirits from the Netherlands. They're here for you five. I'll hold them off. You all get to the car. It's the biggest black van right outside. If I don't die, I'll catch up with you all," said Silas, tossing me a pair of keys.

"You can't take them alone, Silas! I'll stay behind and take them with you!" I yelled. Silas shook his head, and his eyes briefly flashed a grass-green color.

I sighed and took off running to the doors of the airport. The team was a little ways ahead of me, and Kevin smashed his way through the slow automatic doors with a boulder. We all ran out and looked around for the car. Max spotted it first. It was a big black van with tinted windows. We dashed towards it, and we quickly hopped in.

Kevin took his usual place in the front seat, Max in the shotgun, and Alice, Piper, and I all hopped into the back row. I tossed Kevin the keys and he started the car. The van roared and sprung to life. Kevin gunned the engine and we tore off down the street. There was a touch-screen GPS navigation system in the front of the van and it sprang on. Kevin pressed something on it and a woman's voice started talking, giving us directions.

"Starting route guidance to: Kiase Cornwall Chateau de Immortels," it said.

"She's got a good French accent," commented Piper. 

I grinned, but suddenly there was a thud from the back of the car and I saw the Bokkenrijders riding their massive goats at us....and they were flying. The goats were floating towards us in the air above the road, and the Bokkenrijders with bows were shooting arrows into the van. Flying goats, crazy people with arrows, and a mysterious guy in a suit who wasn't able to hold off the Bokkenrijders.

It was going to be a long day.