Caracara's Hunt

They were some men Arawn didn"t recognize. They went down the stairs and bowed to Corwal. "Your royal highness, your presence is expected in the arena."

"The execution is today?" Corwal asked with some surprise.

"Yes, your royal highness," the servant said with his head still lowered. "We were asked to lead you to your chambers."

Corwal rolled his eyes at the man"s words, then glanced at Arawn. "See you in a few hours then. Seems like more time has pa.s.sed than I thought."

As he went out with one of the servants, the other came closer to the onyx cell and lifted a lantern to shine it into Arawn"s face. He closed his eyes in annoyance and hid his head. Why bring the bright light so close to him? Did the man want to blind him or something?

"You"re awake!" the man shouted out in joy, and before Arawn could question him, he dashed up the stairs. His excitement was so great that he even forgot to close the door behind himself.

It was a temptation, but Arawn just lowered his head and closed his eyes again. Iron bars and onyx cages had never been what had kept him prisoner. If he wanted to leave, there was nothing in the world that could stop him.

After some time, a squadron of combat mages filed into the small dungeon. Their leader held the keys to Arawn"s cell and told him to stay back if he didn"t want to get hurt. That phrase was so stupid, he couldn"t help but laugh lightly.

He was seated as far from the onyx bars as it was possible, and the mages could do nothing to him, so what were they even talking about? Did they not know who they were meeting?

Upon unlocking the door, three men entered inside. There was no fear or sense of danger on their faces. They tried to coalesce ether at their fingertips, but it seemed more like a trained response when dealing with criminals than something they would do against him. After all, they were in an onyx cell.

"Don"t move," the leader said and pulled out a sword to hold it against Arawn"s neck.

While he did so, another man crouched down and put heavy onyx chains on Arawn"s legs. With a frown, Arawn watched his ministrations. If they expected him to walk with that, they had another think coming.

Once the man was done, the leader pulled back his sword, and the crowd left the miniature cell. "Come out. Slowly," the leader ordered with a dark look.

Arawn looked at him, then slowly stood up. He wasn"t in a good mood, and the man was acting just so… superior. It p.i.s.sed him off for no reason. There had been many more worse people he had ignored, but at that moment, he could not stand being his usual meek self.

Without a word, he bent down and cut through the thick chains with a couple ether blades. Then, he formed the condensed ether into a knife and unlocked the binds on his legs and hands. When the combat mages thought to interrupt, he lit up the whole dungeon with ether.

"I"ll come with you," he said while straightening up. "But don"t you think for a moment it"s because I"m afraid of you. A thousand years would not be enough for you to match me."

His declaration was met with a dozen stunned gazes. The combat mages stared at him like they were seeing a ghost, or a monster.

Arawn left the cell, and the men scattered to give way. Despite their training, they could do nothing to him if he decided to slaughter them. In an onyx dungeon where everyone was limited, he was the ultimate G.o.d. No matter how strong people were outside, once they entered his domain, they became no different from defenseless civilians.

Standing on top of the stairs, Arawn looked back with a frown. "Are you going to lead me or am I supposed to wander around until I find where I"m supposed to be?"

The leader, who looked sh.e.l.l-shocked, regained his senses at that moment and ran up the stairs. His long moustache trembled in anger, but he didn"t dare to say anything. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he turned away from Arawn and began ordering his troop.

The men left the dungeon with reluctance and surrounded Arawn. They kept throwing wary glances at him, checking constantly if he was calling onto ether.

"The archmage wishes to see you," the captain said once they took up formation. "We"re going to bring you to him."

That was according to Arawn"s wishes, so he nodded and went where they led him. It didn"t matter much to him whether it was the king, the archmage, or anyone else. As long as he learned more about their purpose for bringing him up the way they did, it didn"t matter who explained it.

Once they were about to leave the archmage"s simple study, the captain grabbed a grey cloak from a hanger and threw it at Arawn. "Cover yourself. No one can recognize you."

Arawn pulled it upon himself with a wry smile. Who exactly would recognize him? The sun and the clouds? There was no one in the capital who knew him and wasn"t on the king"s side or in a dungeon.

The guards led him through many unfrequented corridors until they left the castle. Searing heat welcomed them outside. It was such a drastic change in temperature from the cold cell, Arawn shivered as the warmth seeped into him.

"Hurry, we can"t be late," the captain urged them and almost jogged down the hill.

Arawn wasn"t too happy about having to run after doing nothing but sitting for who knew how long, but he wasn"t given an option. The combat mages slowed their pace to match his, but the captain kept on hurrying him to make sure they got to their agreed meeting place on time.

It mattered little to Arawn, but he fought to continue moving at a relatively fast speed. The sooner he learned the truth, the sooner he could make sense of his past.

The farther they went, the more people they encountered. There was a large crowd in the city which made it almost impossible to pa.s.s through. Arawn"s guards had to use the handles of their swords to hit people and ether to frighten them to make any headway.

The time it took them to go down the hill was enough to only take a couple steps near the center square where an arena had been prepared. Arawn had expected that murder would attract more people, but this left him dumbfounded. Had the whole city risen up to attend the event? Just how bloodthirsty were the people of Ayersbert?

In a while, they reached another squadron of guards who helped them make better time. Still, it took them way longer than anyone could have planned for to get to the n.o.ble"s stand. There was a door at the bottom of the earthen construction, and the archmage himself met them there.

Upon noticing him, Arawn froze for a second. The man looked not a day older since they had last met. He stood dressed in a white robe that matched his hair.

Right behind him was another man, but he had aged. His hair had began to gray, and more wrinkles had formed around his eyes. "Demon boy," he greeted him with a mocking smile.

All the guards fell on their knees to bow to their liege, leaving only Arawn standing. There was not a world in which he would bow, let alone kneel, to such a callous and s.a.d.i.s.tic person as the king.

"Archmage, your majesty," he greeted in turn, deliberately putting them in the wrong order.

The king"s eyes flashed with a dark glare at the slight, but the smile remained on his face. "You"ll regret this, demon boy." With those words, he turned around and left to do whatever he had been busy with before.

It was quite surprising that he had even taken the time to go down in the first place. Why had he bothered? To say a few insults?

"Come," the archmage said while turning around to also enter the earthen structure.

Arawn looked around himself. The city was loud and boisterous, but the torch lit interior of the earthen stand was dark and foreboding. Once he entered, something would happen that would not let him leave as the same person. He was sure of that.

What choice did he have though? If he refused to play their game, Rain, Val, and Betty would lose their lives. It was his choice that would decide their fate.

Yet did it matter in the end if they would be executed anyway? Wasn"t he just going into a trap for no reason at all?

"But there is a reason. You want to know if the archmage would betray you as well."

Despite all that Corwal had tried to teach him, Arawn knew he was invincible. It was a fact. Once he lost control, no one could stop him. It was true that he would be unable to act on his wishes, but that didn"t mean he would die.

And everyone said he also had a beast form?

With a shake of his head, Arawn stepped into the darkness after the archmage. He would find out the truth, and after he did so, he would save his friends. Once they were in the arena, there would be no killing them before he could reach them.

No matter what elaborate plan the king used, Arawn was no longer the same kid from before. He was not afraid to use his power and defend what he believed in. If they tried to stop him, he would simply blast through all the walls put between him and his friends.