The Ball, part two

Couples in the middle of their dancing were interrupted by a figure walking through the room. At first they glared but their expressions quickly turned into curiosity as they saw who the figure was.

Liam’s face was heating up as his body cooled down. The pain and dizziness was slowly draining out of him.

“Feeling better?” asked Karth.

“Yeah. Thanks.” Liam responded, he was feeling better but his head still felt a bit woozy.

Karth glanced down at his sleeve, Liam was holding a tight grip of it. It made him turn red by the ears. Then his mask was removed!

He looked shocked. Once Liam noticed too he let go of his grip. The whole room gasped.

“It’s you!” Colinus shouted, “Are you back for revenge?! Then come at me, let Liam be!”

There were whispers all around them. If you listened closely, you could hear them:

“Isn’t that the Khethover clan leader?”

“How dare he show up here?!”

“He hasn’t been seen for years. Why is he here now?”

Liam flinched at the last whisper he heard. Karth hadn’t been seen for years? Did that mean he wasn’t as bad anymore? His thinking also went a different way; what if he has a grand plan? What if the time gone was meant for something bigger?

Karth stepped forward to stand in front of Liam. “You’re quite off,” he mocked. “I’m not here for revenge, but to take back what’s mine,” he glanced behind him.

“Why would I believe you? And what here could possibly be yours?” Colinus fumed.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, ” Karth smirked.

“You-”

The doors slammed open at that moment. Colinus believed it to be Karthremith’s reinforcements, and turned with rage. Karth turned his gaze towards the slamming sound uninterested. Liam peeked from behind the man to see what the ruckus was all about. The guest’s began screaming and running the other way.

Behind the door frames wasn’t the familiar hallway, but a red darkness enveloping the door. Its centre was like a black hole.

A foot stepped out, with it came an entire body. From its fingertips blood dripped. It was a man. He had golden hair, it reached down to his hips. He was tall and slender, his eyes bore two colours; one was golden like his hair, one was red like the depths of hell.

He pointed his arms out, as if he was welcoming a hug but he most definitely wasn’t. Behind him a growling sound erupted from the hole. Other creatures began streaming out, they climbed the walls like insects. They were pale, eyes bloodshot and teeth sharp. They looked like vampires.

“Hello there,” the man said menacingly.

Colinus mumbled, “Strigoi…”

The man picked it up and looked at him, “Precisely! Well done, one point for you.”

The panicked people ran out another entrance like fish following a stream. Someone would from time to time fall and practically be trampled, the guards in the back were trying to push through as they went against the stream.

“Ahem!” the man moved his hands in a theatrical way as he introduced himself, “I am Acheron. And I will be the next King!”

Karth gave a sudden jerk of his head upon hearing the name. Liam was confused. Acheron wasn’t a character in the novel, yet there were people who knew him.

“I won’t allow you!” Colinus spat.

Acheron laughed. “I’m strong. Stronger than you can imagine. Who are you to stop me?”

“I’m the future King!”

“Ha! Then I should rid this Kingdom of your incompetence.”

It was true that Acheron possessed a greater power. The ones with higher magic could sense it; however, it didn’t completely stem from the person himself.

Karth grabbed Liam, “We’re leaving,”

“What? No, wait! We can’t leave him,” Liam begged, glancing at Colinus.

The room was beginning to empty, sooner or later it would be very easy to find prey as there would be only a few left. Karth grunted but let go. He whispered an incantation and a blue seal emerged from his hand. Liam was already running towards Colinus, the seal hit him in the back but he thought he had stumbled on a piece of roof.

Parts of the walls were falling, wherever a creature walked the area turned dark and sometimes it would break. Bits and pieces of the roof had begun to drop. A glimpse of Gwen running out made Liam calm down a bit as he pulled Colinus back. He used all his strength until he finally felt the man’s legs begin to follow.

The prince was watching the ballroom fall apart. He may not have been a fan of the events hosted there, but it was still a big part of his childhood. What in the world was he supposed to tell his parents now?

The King and Queen were on “vacation” or business as the King’s right-hand called it because the King himself wouldn’t stop referring to it as a vacation. Once they returned they would be expecting their kingdom in the same state as they left, not in shambles or under some Strigoi’s control. The couple were also hoping to come home to their son being engaged, but their hopes on that front were low.

Liam was so busy trying to drag a body that he didn’t notice one of Acheron’s creatures launching for him. Its hand swung at the back of his head but was repelled by a blue shimmer. He managed to duck, not that it did anything.

They reunited with Gwen and ran out into the forest. There was a maniacal laughter echoing after them.

Hours passed. It was dark outside, they were still walking, nowhere to go.

“Could we return to my camp now?” Karth asked from behind Liam.

“No.” Colinus snapped.

“Um, Karth,” Liam smiled awkwardly, “You can stop asking that, I don’t think we’re welcome in your camp.”

The last hour had consisted of Karth wanting to drag Liam back to his camp. At first, it was something Liam considered doing. He’d been treated nicely there after all, and now that it wasn’t a secret what clan they were, he didn’t have to be hidden away.

But the issue had been a stubborn prince. Of course he was against being hosted by the enemy, so he continued to refuse. He was also against both Gwen and Liam going with his enemy (Karth never mentioned Gwen, but Colinus had assumed he would take them both).

They walked along a muddy path in the forest. There wasn’t much speaking except for Karth’s occasional request and Colinus’ refusals.

Gwen broke the silence, “What do we do now?”

“Let’s find an inn first, the night is getting colder.” Colinus responded.

“And then?” she asked.

“I’ll return. And I’ll defeat him,” he clenched his fist.

“Ha!” Karth sounded amused. “You felt it too, didn’t you? His powers are borrowed, you’ll have to cut them off. Or you could always sprint to your death. Either works for me-”

Liam gave him a push and a look.

“Shut up! I know, I’ll cut them off.”

“Do you even know how to?” snickered Karth.

Colinus snapped. He turned around to grab the Khethovian’s collar but Liam blocked the way. He was concerned.

“Don’t fight. It won’t help us.” he said, then he turned around, “Karth?”

“Yes?”

“Do you know how to defeat Acheron?”

“...” said Karth. Then he said, “Yes,” because Liam used his puppy-eyes on him and it worked.

The three from Luria’s kingdom waited for an answer but all they got was silence. They stopped for a moment to look at Karth.

“Could you tell us?” Gwen grunted. Unbelievable, she thought. Why was he even here with them if he wasn’t going to even try and help?

“Acheron isn’t pure Strigoi.” Karth began.

“What?!” the three voiced in unison.

Karth tried to step on a frog but it jumped away, “He’s half. The second half is human. His power’s are borrowed by an old Vampire from the mountains. It should be easy enough to make him sleep and consider all of this done.”

Liam raised an eyebrow, “Do you mean… kill him?” he said worriedly.

Karth noticed, “No, just sleep. Eternal sleep, or long enough to get rid of the bond-”

“How do you know this?” Gwen interrupted.

“She’s right. Could it be you’re on their side? Collaborating with the enemy, Enemy?”

“Hey! Take it easy.”

“No, he should answer!”

Their voices began intertwining. They spoke at the same time and no one understood the other. Liam backed out of the constant bickering. He took a deep breath and raised his voice.

“Quiet!” Everyone turned to him. “Let’s just listen to what he has to say. We don’t have much of an option anyway, now do we?” he said, pointing at Karth while looking at Colinus.

“Fine,” a defeated Colinus muttered. He kicked away a rock.

Karth began explaining, “There’s a flower.”