Gone Rogue (20 page)

"Stop," one of the guards that weren’t made out of stones said to the imps that were in front of them in the line.  The imps stopped, and looked up.  The guard seemed more lizard like with scales and a tail.  "Where are you going?" the guard asked.

"We have an appointment with the queen representing our leader."

"Does she know of this?"

"Yes," the imp said, one of the stone guard handed the tablet over to the scaly man, which reminded Slade of the nightclub.

"Remember, if you cause any trouble, I will have him step on you."

"Yeah, I know of the big rock boys love of squishing things." the imps walked by the guards.

The scaly guard laughed with a hissing sound, the imps laughing with them sounding more like chipmunks.

They were next in line and approached the guards trying to pass them without notice, but failed as the guards stopped them and stared at each one.  The gate slammed down, and a group of the stone guard appeared in front of the wall.  Slade wasn’t surprised at the hostile actions.  It didn’t look like humans were among the many creatures.

"How dare you come here, agent, you will die."  Slade wasn’t expecting that from them staring at him

“Why does everybody say that?”  Slade said aloud.  He saw more guards appear ready to make him non-existent, "Wait, wait, before you do that, look at us, does it look like we work for that agency?  Frankly I used to be an agent but I left them."

"How did you?  There is no way someone could leave and live."

"Trust me he did," Zach said with more of a tired look on his face then a scared look.

"You an agent too?" the man said in a hiss.  Now archers were on the wall aiming their weapons at them.

"Me, hell no, I was stupid enough and became his blood brother when we were younger." 

"And her"

Gabrielle didn't seem to be worried at all; she didn’t seem worried about anything.  "Me, well I was just caught in the middle of the fight between him and his ex-employer."

Slade remembered that the vampires could smell the scent of the guardian in them, but clearly, these men didn’t have that high of smell.  He was sure to stupid to recognize the markings on them from the necklaces.  "We are guardians," Slade said trying to clear the matter.

"Fake no real guardian” The stone man spoke up finally.

"Stop this non-sense" the wizard that was floating in the orb said.  "The prophecy says two will come to re-unite us all.”

"What prophecy and who is all," Zach took a breath and looked deeply at the wizard.  “You have a chance to make this all a lot easier for us; it would be sort of nice to have something easy for once.”  He started to beg more than plead.

"One will rule with an iron first and be worthy of a crown, the other being a marksman, and….”  The wizard was cut off before he said anymore

"Well, shit, that screws us then, I can't shoot, and not enough gold on earth can fit his melon.”  Zach said pointing to Slade’s giant baldhead.  Zach sighed, "But I suppose I can shoot you, and I can punch Slade with an iron craw to prove that he’s tough.”

"True, so how do we prove this, so we can enter?”  Slade said hoping no one actually took Zach serious.

An archer threw a longbow and an arrow at Zach. 

"You, shoot my guard on that tower."  The guard that blocked their entrance said, Zach looked up and saw another big stone person on the tower by the gate.

"Not that one, that one.”  He pointed to the other side of the tower, where a man was waving a flag at least they thought it was a flag.  He was barely visible being that far away. 

Slade was about to say something but was stopped by Zach stepping in front of him.  “Don't worry, I got this."  Zach looked at the target and then picked up the bow and pulled it back.  Something changed in his eyes, something weird was happening to him, his bow seemed different somehow as he could pull it back further than Slade thought the bow could go.  He let go of the string the arrow flew, arching and going in the general direction of his target.

"No way," Slade said

"O, yes,” Zach said as arrow hit the stone man making the man fall off the tower to the ground.  He slowly stood up, waved his flag again, and started to walk back to the gate as if nothing happened.

The guards turned to Slade not giving any impression that they were amazed by that shot as he was.  "Your turn agent, you must not past out from this."

      
             
The stone guard started to hit Slade, first in the stomach then the chest and then two smacks to his face.  Slade didn’t budge from the punches, he could feel them, and he could feel things cracking.  This wasn’t the first time someone hit him to make their point, but when the stone person hand smacked him in the face, he grew pissed.  The stone guard went back with his arm and brought it forward, Slade repositioning his body and grabbing the guards arm.  He used the guard’s momentum, rolled him over, and put an arm bar hold with several regular pressure point holds on the guard’s arm.

       "I win."  Slade didn’t know if the stone guards had pressure points for the guard was still fighting the hold, but unable to break the giants hold.

“Dude, don’t fight the hold, he wins,” Zach said, he clearly remembered the hold from Slade’s demonstration on him.

The old wizard shook his head yet, "the guardians of the past could throw a knife any distance to hit any target."  Before he could finish his sentence, Slade grabbed a sword that the guards had due to the present time of being unarmed.  He threw the blade that went through the wizard’s beard trimming it and sticking in the stonewall with little white whiskers attached to it.  The wizard rubbed his beard, and then nodded his head.  Then he bowed down, "You have returned."

“You sure look familiar wizard.”

“We all do don’t we?”  He winked to Slade and vanished.

Slade didn’t know what happened.

"I was aiming for his hat.”  Slade whispered to Zach.  Zach patted him on his back.  Slade laughed, of course, he could throw a knife and Zach could shoot, but that didn’t prove they were guardians.  That just proved they hit target because of their growing up and doing that as kids.

The gates opened and people bowing to another man as he came across the land, or at least he looked like a man.  He had on black tights closely followed by a black tunic adorned with some orange and gold stitching.  It was tied off with a black sash that was short enough to not become a hassle in a fight.  Over all that, he had on a chest plate.  It was black in the center but silver on the bottom around the torso and top.  He had thrown on some black gloves and to top it off he had a black cloak that was big enough to cover his entire body.  His face was hard, and if Slade wasn't mistaken his eyes were orange.  He wore a battle-axe on his back, and by the look of his size that was bigger than Slade and demeanor, he wasn’t afraid to use it. 

The man sniffed, "Come with me humans my sister the queen awaits."

"Dude, this man scares me," Zach whispered.  Zach couldn’t even make a wise crack at this barbarian looking man.  Slade understood the fear for he had fear of the man also.

"Yeah, I am no expert but aren't males supposed to rule a kingdom."

"Silence," rolled from him like thunder.

As they started to walk through the gate, the guards that were made out of stone were getting out of this man’s way with haste as they bowed to him.  This proved they weren’t bowing to them but instead they were bowing to this mammoth sized guy.  The guardians followed him, with no other escort.  The guy really was over confident and if there weren’t guards in easy access, Slade would show the man his equally sized fist.

Towers surrounded the corners and gates made from a mixture of stone, mud, wood and some other type of material that looked dangerous.  Buildings inside the walls were of wood, except for the one they were heading to.  A stone rectangle building that he was sure was the main hall.

"Zach whatever happens; know we are in this together."  Zach was too busy looking around to answer what Slade just said. 

The doors open to the main hall that was guarded by two more stone guards, and all three were shown inside.  The mammoth guy that didn't say much was on their side.  A Stone guard came out with several what had to be maidens from the back corner of the room.  "The Queen."  Everyone went to their knees besides the two moronic men that stood there just staring at the scene unfolding in front of them.

"You idiot's show respect to the Queen, or my axe will find your necks."

“I dare you,” Slade snarled back.

A growl escaped the man that made them quickly go on their knees and copied the guard’s position knowing he wasn’t as human as they thought he was.  Something from his growl brought back a fear that was hidden deep within.  They could hear footsteps but knowing they were not allowed to look up until the queen permitted it.  They both watched movies where somebody looked up too soon and had their head removed from their
body

"Rise,” The voice familiar, as Slade took a gulp and looked up.

"Slade, is that?”  Zach said, as Slade took another gulp, trying not to freak out at that point.

"O, Boy!"

       The mammoth man drew his axe out ready to attack.  "Queen," Gabrielle said, "I knew it, I knew it was going to be you that is so awesome.  So what is it like ruling a Kingdom, do you get free clothes,” if Slade didn’t know better he would of said she was acting.  Something was too dramatized, but it might have just been her personality.  Two guards who moved to stand in front of her silenced her.

"Take her to her chambers; she can sleep with the nymphs."

"Aye.”  They both said and escorted her out. 

"Bye guys hope to catch you later, and by that I don't mean just your heads."  The way she said it had Slade thinking the innocent girl enjoyed seeing torture and death.

No one spoke while she was being escorted out, Zach breaking the silence with a whisper, “Slade how…” he was cut off by the Queens raised voice.

"Speak out loud, or gone with your heads," the queen said, the big guard readjusting his grip of his battle-axe.  “Gargan, take them to the cells, I will deal with this later." 

“You will not take,” Slade stopped mid sentence as two guards grabbed him and Gargan turned and growled at him like a beast.  A growl he recognized as Phoenix’s.

“O, you’re a dragon also; yeah prison will do just fine.”  Zach’s voice retreated, as Slade stared at him wanting to clearly find a way to get out of their before their heads were cut off.

They started to walk with Gargan, "Make sure you search them thoroughly brother."  The queen said now before they disappeared from the Queens sight towards the hallway that lead to the dungeons. 

“O great her brother as well,” Zach said to Slade which had the dragon stop in his tracks.  Zach quickly reframed his sentence, “She is a wonderful Queen isn’t she Slade, I’ve always said that.” 

“Silence or I will cut your tongue out and make you eat it.”  Gargan said not even looking back at them.

***

The door slammed shut against the bricks and raw iron bars.  The cell wasn’t anything bigger than a prison cell in the modern world.  Shackles hung from the wall, windows provided light inside the cell.  Zach went to the open window ready for an escape and crawled back in.

“Okay we aren’t jumping.”  Slade now followed suite and looked out the window.

“Holy crap, I didn’t think we climbed that far up.”  The window was at least a hundred feet from the ground.  The floor was covered in grit and dirt and Slade was sure the bottom was made of some hard material that he couldn’t break.

Slade walked over to a wall and tried to pick at the grout lines but nothing came off.  It was as hard the stones that built the walls.  Slade slumped down by the wall landing hard on his butt.  Zach stared back at him not saying a thing.

“I can break out of the jails, prisons, but this is a dungeon.”  Zach finally spoke up after a couple moments of silence.

“No not a dungeon that would have dead bodies lying there and have chains to lock us up too.  No, this is a classic tower prison, like the fairy tales.”

“Shit and you have no hair to throw down.”  Zach smiled at the suggestion

“Nope, and unless we want to die we will not escape, not until the queen says we can.” 

“This isn’t going to plan Slade, not our destiny.”

“Destiny, what destiny,”

“You know our fathers meant to find a way here, but they couldn’t now it is up to us.”

“Well, we found it, now we are prisoners.”

“Yes, and we should be comfortable with it, we have been in prisons before.”

“Not like these.”

“You are giving the cell too much credit,” Zach was always to be more positive when they were captured.  Slade usually never was beat due to his size but when it did happen, something deep inside of him dimmed.  Something about being put in a cell drained him of hope.

“Zach, this is made in stone, not a regular jail cell like back in hick town.”

“They are the same,” Slade now stared at Zach wondering what he saw.  “We have fortified walls, a wooden door that has probably a bar holding it shut.”