"Old man stop! Where do you think you are going?," roared a soldier and blocked the path of Damianos, gripping on to his robe, but his fearlessness intrigued Nubeous who then ordered,"Let the man speak!"
Bowing in front of the master the soldier stepped aside and released his grip.
With tears in his eyes, Damianos came forward and kneeled in front of Nubeous.
"Thank you, my master! I heard this man killed my son," said Damianos and pointed at Morpheous and continued, - "I just had one son in my family my master and this man took it all away. He ruined my family, my master. I do not dare to sin your authority, my master, but please allow me to take away his life."
Nubeous chuckled and said,
"Take away his life? He looks already dead to me old man. Go ahead, by all means, if you want to kill him again then do so. You have my authority."
Gritting his teeth, Damianos bowed again and said,
"Hail my master! may the heaven bless you for granting this wish to this grieving father!"
Nubeous just raised his hand in the direction of Morpheous and upon seeing that signal, Daminaos got up and wiped the tear from his face with one hand, while the other was still carrying the crushed concoction.
He went close to Morpheous"s body and slightly kicked him, to show his fake anger.
"You vile creature!"
The soldiers around the ground laughed and so did Nubeous. The sight was entertaining them. But standing at a distance, the three soldiers who had brought back Morpheous didn"t laugh. Not that they didn"t want to, but they didn"t dare to because he was the fiercest warrior that they had ever seen. And they knew that the only reason why they could bring him to the kingdom was that he chose not to fight back.
So they stood there in silence as the old man tried to strangle him, robbing him from the last few breaths of life which he possessed, but little did they know he had secretly fed him the Sicklewort concoction.
"Use all your strength old man!" urged Nubeous with a devilish grin on his face. Earlier he was surprised to hear about this warrior, but seeing the man who was lying in front of him, he was pretty sure that the soldiers were bluffing to hide their incompetence. They were probably hiding someplace else, unable to find the ingot, and had smeared the blame on this man.
But he pushed his plans to punish the three later as he was enjoying the dark humor in front of him.
"Hiyaaahhhhhh"
Screamed Damianos and used all his might and pounded his fist on Morpheous"s chest.
"Ah! Yes, old man. Go on. Take revenge," Nubeous kept prompting and that added salt to the wounds of Damianos. With tears in his eyes, he looked up at the sky and yelled,
"Oh! heavens have mercy. Have mercy for my son has done no sin. Have mercy for my son is my only reason to survive," and saying that he started to compress his chest with the back of his palm vigorously.
Unable to understand what was happening, Nubeous stood up.
One moment back the old man was strangling him, chocking him with his own hands and in the next, he was compressing his chest. He now wanted to spread his wings and steal Morpheous away but before he could, Nubeous"s men pounced on him.
"What are you doing old man?" asked the soldier.
"Saving the life of your saviour!" Damianos wanted to yell out but suppressing the wants of his heart he said,
"He needs to feel the pain. He needs to wake up and face death again in my hands."
"This man knows how to take revenge!" though Nubeous and sat back on his throne and ordered to his royal physician,
"Check his pulse!"
The royal physician obeyed and went to check Morpheous"s pulse. He knelt in front of his body for quite some time, trying to feel the pulse on his wrist and on his neck. Then he placed his ears on his chest trying to hear any remnant beat. But he could find none.
Turning towards Nubeous, the royal physician bowed and said,
"There is no pulse master!"
Those words stung Damianos. They stung badly!
He couldn"t feel the air in his lungs. This was something that was not possible. He was the chosen one. He couldn"t depart like that. His body turned flaccid as if it had been paralyzed. His eyes turned blank. How could the person who was the master of the souls, depart?
The pain in his heart was so severe that he couldn"t bear.
"Gaaaaahhhhh"
Shouted Damianos and pushed the soldiers away who were nabbing his arm. They were thrown away like pieces of twigs. He rushed towards the body of Morpheous and placed his index and middle finger on Morpheous"s forehead and started transferring all the remaining energy that he had in him.
This was the last resort.
He didn"t mind sacrificing his own life to save his G.o.dson.
But before he could transfer the last shred of power that he had in his body, other guards pulled him away.
"What is the man doing?" thundered Nubeous.
The soldiers were shocked to see the old man looking almost dead.
"He doesn"t look good, master!" replied the soldier as they saw Damianos"s body crumble on the floor. The royal physician rushed towards Damianos and checked his pulse.
"His heart looks weak my master. Should we move him to our healing room, my master?" asked the royal physician.
Nubeous looked at the old man"s body which was lying limp on the ground with just a tiny flicker of life remaining within, and said,
"What is the use. His son is dead. A son who was so incapable and coward that he chose to cover his incompetence with a fake death."
The three soldiers who had returned back from the mouth of death, looked at Nubeous, unable to believe that their master had no faith in their words.
Looking at his other soldiers he said,
"Whip this old man for having a coward son and whip these three who have shamelessly decided to deceive me."
Then without even waiting to hear the begging for mercy and cries of helplessness, he marched ahead. Four soldiers came ahead carrying the whips. Three of them started whipping the soldiers who had come back from Ambracia and the fourth one dragged Damianos to the center of the palace ground.
Without a conscience, he raised his whip to hit the old man who was lying helplessly on the ground. But that whip couldn"t be lashed. Not even an inch!