Divided by Hostilities (Chapter 22)

[jiminee]

Ooh, there are some pretty text colours this chapter... (well, mostly to distinguish those parts from other italicized parts... you'll see what I mean.) Also, sorry in advance >.<
 

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21

They had arrived at the beast’s chamber.

Standing at the opening of the cave that fed into the large, final chamber, Zisteau had never felt sicker. It felt like a punch in the gut to look down and see those green eyes.

Because he recognised them.
The eyes were locked on him and he knew it recognised him too, and already memories were flooding back, memories before he was king of Abattia, memories he didn’t know he had.
Memories of hands, familiar-smelling hands holding him, carrying him…
“Zisteau?” a small voice said behind him, but it barely registered. Zisteau was still staring and remembering. A sudden anger beyond anything he’d ever felt before was surging up in him as he stared.
“Zisteau – oh shit.” Pyro and Arkas had evidently seen it, then. How could you miss it? The creature was huge, with four powerful rocky limbs and a body that seemed to be sculpted from heat. Flames blazed off it like the surface of the sun.
“Zisteau? What do we do?” Arkas asked.
Memories of running, fear, the hands jolting him as they fled…
The creature had cruelty in every atom of its body, despite the humanity that was so awfully present in its eyes.
An exchange…
“NO!” Zisteau ripped his one eye away from the creature’s two, forcing himself to look back at Pyro and Arkas. The anger surged. “We have to kill it. I have to kill that fucking creature.”
The two recoiled a little at his harsh words.
“Is everything ok?” Arkas asked.
The creature was what guided him. Every step he took was being controlled by those green eyes.
“No,” he said shortly.
Take it back. Take back what is yours.
He spun back to the creature, still watching him, still waiting. Why not kill me now? Zisteau thought. And then the creature spoke, its voice resounding deep in his mind. “Zisteau. I did not believe you were still living.”
“You monster,” Zisteau let out from his gritted teeth. “What did you take from me?” He searched his mind for memories, knowing there was something. The creature had taken something from him years ago.
“You mean to say you’ve forgotten?” Something of a chuckle accompanied this. “I’m surprised, Zisteau. You did not even remember when Aureylian came?”
“What does she have to do with it?” Zisteau demanded.
Another chuckle. “You should come down here to speak to me. It’s more polite. Should I send up a dragon to fetch you and your… companions?”
There seemed to be no choice allowed here, for almost instantly a dragon had swooped out from some unseen crevice and scooped up Zisteau in its claws. He heard the beating of wings and a quick rushing down to the floor of the cavern, where the dragon set him free. Pyro and Arkas were soon deposited by two other dragons and all three looked up. Now they were below the creature’s towering head, Zisteau felt overpowered. The creature looked down, eyes once again trained on Zisteau.
“I see you’ve brought backup. Scrawny though. What are those kids doing accompanying the King of Abattia?”
“Save Zisteau! Save the heir!”
“They wanted to come. I’m not here to challenge you. I’m here to fetch Aureylian.”
“I thought you’d trust her,” the creature said with an awful, mocking tone. “Since you are so intimately connected.”
“What do you mean?!” Zisteau said, his voice rising. He gripped the handle of his sword.
Power gifted and taken. Flow from one being to another. Green eyes.
“Where is she?” Zisteau said, trying to calm himself. He would not let the creature distract him from his task. “And where are the two men, Pause and Beef?”
“I was wondering if you would ask about them,” the creature replied. “They are all contained in a hidden cell. Aureylian was just telling the others all about the power I gave her and what she used it for. Now she is sleeping.”
“Spare the baby and we will give you anything!”
Zisteau gasped, a memory sparking an understanding. He reached up to touch his right eye, bereft of sight. “Give me – .” Wait. No. “Show me where you’ve imprisoned them.”
“Or else?” The creature said, cruelly. “You have no power against me.”
“I have an entire city of men who would defend me to the death,” Zisteau said.
“No they would not, Zisteau. I have seen those men. They hate you.”
Zisteau stepped back uncertainly. The creature was bluffing, surely. He knew it had never been to his land. It had never seen his citizens. “You don’t know that! You are lying.”
“I think you know that I am not lying,” the creature said. This triggered  Zisteau’s anger, coming up again in a wave, surging forward. He drew his sword and charged towards the creature.
“Stop!” The voice echoed and a fist came down, forming a hot wall in front of Zisteau. He stopped. “I will let you see Aureylian.”

Aureylian woke up, sitting up from the ledge she’d been sleeping on. Although it was rock, she had slept well – she’d made it a little more comfortable by creating a thin layer of air between her and the rock. She looked over to where Beef had been sleeping. As soon as she saw that it was unoccupied, she smiled. She knew.
On the other side of the room, Pause and Beef slept. There was no space between them at all. Watching for a second, she moved over and gently shook each man.
“Wake up.”
Beef blinked sleepily, rolling over and stretching his arms out.
“Oh.” He reddened slightly, sitting up. “Er…”
Aureylian smiled. “Have a good sleep?”
“Yes, surprisingly. I thought I’d never get to sleep on the rocks.” He poked Pause’s side a couple of times. “Wake up!”
Pause groaned.
“Why do we have to wake up now?” Beef asked.
“Something’s coming, I can feel it.” Seconds later, there was a scrabbling at the rock barricade and the sound of voices. Beef hit Pause firmly with a fist. Pause finally sat up, rubbing his eyes.
“What’s happening?”
Beef stood up. “Dunno. There are people outside though.”
The scrabbling became louder and Pause stood up as a rock fell away from the pile, letting a little more light into the dim cave. Aureylian stepped forward to say something, but moved back again when she saw that the rocks were being pulled away not by human hands, but the paws of a dragon.
“Step back,” she instructed. Beef and Pause did so. More rocks fell away and the dragon’s head bowed down into the entrance of the cave. Aureylian’s heart pounded.
“Oh my god.”
A human voice! Aureylian looked on in surprise and relief as three men stepped into the cave. The dragon moved back but she saw it stay, watching. Zisteau, Arkas and Pyro stood just in the entrance, looking around.
“Pause!” Pyro said, taking long strides to the back of the cave and hugging Pause. “Thank god you’re alive. I can’t believe you’re here.” He let go, stepping back. “Your skin…”
Pause nodded. “It – it’s pretty burnt.”
Arkas stepped forward. “Pause. Great to see you’re okay.” He hugged Pause quickly, then stood back. “And… Beef? I don’t think we’ve met.”
“What’s he doing here?” Pause said suddenly, his voice going harsh as he pointed to Zisteau. Pyro looked down.
“Uh, yeah. We sort of came with him, because we had to. He wanted to rescue Aureylian.”
Zisteau spoke up. “Aureylian, we need to get out of here. That creature’s going to try to… we need to get out.”
“How?” Pause asked, clenching his fists by his sides. “This place is completely guarded by dragons, plus that creature sees everything through Aureylian.”
“What?” Zisteau said, his voice becoming cold. Some sort of fear seemed to come over him briefly, but soon passed.
“We should try to reason with it,” Aureylian said softly.
“WHAT?!” Zisteau said again. “There’s no reasoning with that… thing. It’s pure evil, and the only way we can get out is to kill it.”
“Kill it? That thing’s fucking made of fire,” Pause said. “We can’t kill it.” He turned to Beef, who had been quiet for a while. “Beef, what do you think we should do?”
“I don’t know,” Beef said. “But should we trust king Zisteau?”
Zisteau heard and looked over to them. He walked slowly over to them. “I – I know you don’t trust me but we seriously need to kill that creature.”
“With all due respect - ” Beef began, but was interrupted by Pause.
“Your majesty, you literally put both of us in prison for no reason. You set Beef’s shop on fire! Why should Beef or I have any reason to trust you? What have you ever done for us?”
Zisteau’s eyes flicked down momentarily, and when he looked up he’d regained some of the kingly control that was essential to making his subjects fear him. “Beef is not my citizen so I cannot control him, but PauseUnpause you are my subject and you must obey my orders, and I command you to come with me at once and help us slay the creature.”
Pause stepped back against the wall nervously. He and Beef were unarmed, and all Aureylian had were the limited powers the creature had granted her. Arkas and Pyro seemed to be, frustratingly, allied with the king now. Three versus three. Pause wondered if he could throw a strong enough punch when the skin of his arms was dead and numb. Before he could decide what to do, however, a crash at the entrance made all six of them turn around. The dragon had pushed a huge paw through the rocks, its claws extending into the cave and curling around Zisteau. Pause let out a small scream but stopped it with a hand over his mouth. The dragon pulled Zisteau out of the cave.
“What do we do?” Beef said, panicked. Pyro and Arkas drew their swords and held them ready, but seconds later the great red paw came back inside the cave to grab both of them with one motion. Again, they were dragged out of the cave.
“Pyro! Arkas!” Pause rushed to the entrance and began scrambling over the pile of rocks, but a hand on his arm stopped him.
“Pause, it’s okay,” Aureylian said, trying to keep any anxiety out of her voice. “I imagine that their time in here is up and the creature just wants to speak to them.”
Pause nodded. Beef began to say something from the back of the cave, but Pause barely heard it as the dragon’s paw came down yet again and its claws closed on him like a cage. He struggled wildly as he was lifted, his limbs crushed against the immovable power of the dragon’s claws.  He watched as he was lifted high above the entrance of the cave, with Beef and Aureylian standing at it watching, then set down on a high ledge beside Arkas. He could see where they were now; the cave was in a cliffside behind the great creature’s chamber. The dragon stood outside the cave, its claw reaching inside. There was a large entrance across from the ledge that windowed the hot mass of the creature’s back. Pause sat down, weak, and looked at Arkas.
“Where are Zisteau and Pyro? What’s happening?”
Arkas looked frightened. “After Zisteau, Pyro and I were put up here by that dragon, another dragon came through that entrance over there and grabbed them off the ledge. It flew them back out that entrance.”
“I guess they’re transporting us back to the creature’s chamber, then,” Pause said. “Aureylian said… it said the creature wants to talk with them.”
As he said this he saw the dragon fly up from below them. Beef and Aureylian struggled in its claws. It was flying towards the entrance across from them as another dragon flew back through the entrance, flew over to the ledge and grabbed him and Arkas. As he was uncomfortably squashed between the dragon’s claws yet again, Pause thought, so I was right. The dragons are transporting us back into the creature’s chamber. He watched through the claws as he felt the dragon glide smoothly out the entrance and around the great creature’s mass, then landing to release Arkas and him beside Zisteau, Pyro, Aureylian and Beef, who were all standing, quite shaken, in front of the great creature.
“I’m glad you are all well.” The creature’s voice echoed through Pause’s head, strangely and unnervingly. The creature stared down at the six figures in front of it.
“What a reunion, is this not? Aureylian, it is so good to see you again after all your adventures.” Aureylian shivered and looked down.
“And Zisteau. Well, it has been even longer since I saw you last. Surely there was something you wish to confront me about? Something you believe I took from you?”
Pause stared at Zisteau as he quickly moved a hand to his sword hilt. The creature’s voice boomed again.
“Now, where to start?”