The Codex: An Angel's Guide To Seducing A Human (24 page)

"Really?" Emily asked, sipping her tea. "A dragon guarding all of the city's wealth?"

"Most of the time, anyways. Sometimes he leaves the vault to give rides to those willing to pay him decently." Nathen stared at the ceiling. "I do wonder what that feels like." He gave Emily a smug look. "Of course, I'm sure you already know. Probably the first thing you did since meeting Narius was to ask him to carry you like a princess through the air. How was it? Did you giggle and bat your eyes at him?"

I shook my head. "She puked. Then fell face-first into it."

Emily turned scarlet and covered my mouth with her hand. "Quiet, parrot."

Nathen gave Emily a stern look and wagged his finger. “You should be glad someone decided to court you. Mother and Father were quite worried that no one would ever have the courage.”

I pried at Emily's arms and shook her fingers loose. “But Emily said there was a line of humans waiting to be her mate.”

Nathen edged forward, placed the palms of his hands together and tapped his fingers. "Interesting. Go on.”

"It's true." I bobbed my head. "She also said she could seduce hundreds of men without a problem.”

He covered his mouth, suppressing a laugh. “Someone thinks highly of herself.”

Emily tried to say something, but Nathen raised his finger again. "But I am getting sidetracked. Narius, what's an angel doing travelling with my sister?”

"She's helping me search for the Grimoire."

"Grimoire?"

"It's a demonic book that I need to destroy to prevent a demon from being freed."

"I see. Well, I'm sure you will do a great job of preventing it, but..." He squinted. “Demonic books aside, I wonder why Emily decided to help you. Did you offer a mountain of gold or some holy artifact?”

I scratched the side of my head. “Well, we made promises.”

“Promises?”

"Well... the one we made yesterday was that Emily is the only one I can—"

Emily banged her hands against the table, spilling the flower smelling water from my cup. "Nothing important. I get paid. That's it."

Nathen frowned. “Is that why you are here? To search for the book?"

I nodded. "An elf carrying half of the Grimoire was headed to the city."

Nathen leaned back and tapped his finger against the side of his seat. "It's possible. That book's fragment is this season's prize in the arena."

I bobbed my head. "Emily mentioned something about that place before. What happens there exactly?"

“Something? She never explained to you about our capital’s greatest tourist attraction?” Nathen rested his hand on his brow and shook his head. He looked at Emily and said, “Let me guess. Too busy trying to rub your face against his wings and have your way with him?”

Emily let out an adorable laugh. Her lips moved up into a smile, but her eyes were filled with rage as she gripped her staff. I couldn't understand why, so I laughed as well, hoping I didn't miss out on a joke.

She rewarded me by smacking me in the head.

Narius

Shortly after finishing our drink with Nathen, Emily led me through the busy streets of the capital city and to a giant circular structure of arches from which the sound of cheering leaked out. Once inside, we navigated the maze of corridors until we arrived in front of a door with a small picture of a silver-lined cloud drawn onto it.

“Emily, what's behind the door?” I asked.

She laid her hand on her hip and grinned. “The guild balcony, and, with everyone so busy, it'll just be the two of us watching the game in there.”

Producing a small metal key from her pouch, she opened the door and pulled me through, dragging me onto one of the balcony's cushioned benches.

Tearing my eyes away from her beautiful face, I studied the circular stadium. It was packed with humans, shouting towards the ground where a few dozen of them waited by one of the two massive gates. Some of the people on the ring were young, others were old, but they all glanced at each other nervously.

“There it is,” Emily muttered.

I followed her gaze to the center of the Arena. There, the missing half of the Grimoire was trapped inside a glass dome, black smoke swelling against the glass, trying to break out.

Just as I was wondering if I could smash the glass and take the remnants of the book, a man’s voice echoed through the stadium. “Remember, folks: this is a clean-up match to pick the cream of the crop. The last few standing will be qualified to enter the tournament with the rest of our worthy contestants. Let the game begin!"

The crowd screeched with excitement, and over the clamor came the roar of a beast from the arena. I looked down and saw a huge grey-skinned creature, easily five times taller than me, emerging from the gate across from the cluster of humans.

The troll appeared identical to what I had imagined from the books: a scaly beast without any hair and stubby legs that supported a larger upper frame. It also made me wonder why any human would want to drink its milk. The creature picked his nose, then rubbed his mucus-covered finger against the wall of the Arena. Immediately, the transparent protection spell on the walls made a ripple of energy and disintegrated the booger.

“And now a round of applause for our brave entry level contestants!”

"What?" I gripped my seat, my stomach growing uneasy. "They are going to fight? I thought they were here to play a game."

The troll grinned, revealing rows of rotting teeth. He stomped towards the cowering figures, stirring up a small cloud of sand with each step.

The humans, huddling together for safety, looked like a small pile of books next to a giant grey tree.

Three humans broke away and tried to skirt around the troll. Light reflected off their armor and weapons as they ran towards it. The troll took a swipe at them. Two of the humans disappeared from sight, then reappeared, crashing against the Arena wall and coloring the sand red.

The beast reached out and closed his fist around the last of the trio. His victim slashed his sword against the troll’s fingers, only for it to bounce off the skin. The creature laughed and tightened his fist. The human screamed until a red mist exploded out from the troll's grasp and silenced the cry.

The troll smiled and opened his blood-drenched hand. Hunks of flesh escaped his fingers and plopped against the sand.

The spectators roared with delight.

What is wrong with them?
 I gazed at the happy spectators around me. Not a single horrified face could be seen. “This... this is crazy. I... I feel sick.”

“To them, it's entertainment,” Emily said, holding onto a brown bag that seemed to have materialized out of nowhere. "I didn't know it would be this bad today. Narius, I think you should close your eyes and wait until it's over. There's nothing we can do."

I summoned my halberd and spread my wings. “We need to put a stop to this, right now.”

Emily grasped my hand firmly. “No. Not if you want to see that half of the Grimoire again.”

"What? What does the book have to do with anything?"

"It's the prize for winning the tournament. If you ruin the qualifier, you won't be able to set foot in the Arena ever again, let alone reach the book."

Before I could tell her how wrong she was, the contestants ran to the gate behind them and pounded on it. "Get us out of here! This is insane!" one of them shouted. "We can't fight a monster like that!"

The gate remained closed. Some of the humans sank to the ground and watched the troll lick his bloodied hand. Others slammed against the gate even harder, screaming curses or pleading for their lives.

The onlookers booed, and, perhaps encouraged by the sound, the troll swept his hand through the group of humans. He knocked down several of them, sent a few flying, then grabbed a young female.

She shrieked. Her screaming unnerved me, but my promise to accomplish my duty held me back. 
If I don't save her, will someone else step up?
 Emily tightened her grip on my hand, and, for a moment, I saw an image of her in place of the woman. Everything became clear.

I brushed Emily's hand aside. “I’ll get the book some other way.”

Emily latched onto my arm and held me in place. “This isn't easy for me either! I don't want to see them die, but if you interfere in a fight you will get banned... wait... if you can't get the..." She frowned for a moment then nodded. "No. Narius, you are right. You should go. I won't stop you."

Confused by her sudden change in heart, I returned my eyes to the coliseum's floor and readied myself for flight, only to see a familiar figure there.

A male human, wearing richly-decorated, bright white clothes, stood on the troll’s arm. It was the prince who had made the rude comments to Princess Yuriana. His blade sunk into the grey skin of the troll and created a small fountain of purple blood.

The troll howled and dropped the woman.

Emily bit her lip before muttering, "At least everyone is going to be safe from the troll."

"At least?" I wanted to ask more, but, at that instant, the prince pulled his blade from the grey skin and ran up the troll’s arm.

Alarm flashed across the creature’s face. He slapped at the intruder but missed. He tried to back away, but it was too late.

Prince Kale jumped onto the troll’s shoulder and plunged his blade into the troll’s left eye.

The beast screamed, rumbling the ground with his cry and forcing me to cover my ears.

Appearing immune to the noise, Kale pulled his weapon out and dropped to the ground. Meanwhile, the troll grabbed his bleeding eye socket and stumbled back across the Arena, crashing against the wall and slumping to the ground.

Safe for the moment, the prince sheathed his blade and rushed towards the female lying on the ground. He got down on one knee and offered his hand. The spectators applauded as he brought her to her feet, unconcerned about the injured troll.

Kale said something to the women, but before she could respond, the troll roared.

The sound deafened every other sound in the stadium. Removing his hand from his bleeding eye, the troll rose to his feet and burst into a sprint towards the prince, creating a sandstorm with every pounding step.

Seemingly unfazed by his impending death, the prince sent the maiden away and calmly drew his blade. The edge of it glowed white with magic that looked and felt more familiar than the magic humans used. Though I did not like the man, I silently prayed for the prince, hoping that he would save the rest of the humans.

Kale held his ground, and just as they were about to collide, he burst into a sprint and dove between the monster's legs, then bounced up and drove his sword into the troll's groin.

Purple blood filled the air. The troll collapsed to the ground, chunks of meat separated from his body, and he cried out in agony, making me wish I could ease his pain.

Taking advantage of the troll's vulnerability, Kale hopped onto the creature’s neck. His sword glowed white again. It was unmistakable this time. The prince was using the sword's power and with it, he struck his sword down into the back of the troll's head.

Dark violet blood sprayed everywhere, turning the yellow sand of the Arena black and bringing the jerking body to a halt.

The prince, now soaked in the troll's blood, smiled and held up his sword for the cheering crowd. To my surprise, it remained spotlessly clean.

Still, despite feeling a bit sorry for the troll, I sighed with relief, glad that the fight was done. I glanced at Emily. I was about to tell her how relieved I was when I saw her frown down at the scene below.

She grabbed my arm and tried to pull me towards the door. "Narius, I was wrong. You aren't ready for this. We have to go right now if you don't want to see something horrific."

I held my ground. "It's okay, Emily. The troll's dead. It's all over."

"No, it's not. Don't look!"

I looked down at the site of the finished battle to prove her wrong.

She was right.

Prince Kale had his sword planted in the chest of the human who had been banging on the door moments before. The man's muscles went slack, and he fell to the ground.

He wasn't alone.

All over the blood-soaked sands, the humans killed each other. The ones who had been frozen in fear, now fearlessly drove their weapons each other. The prince was the most visible, killing only men, slicing through them like a scythe through wheat, but only knocking down and disarming the women.

For some reason, the crowd cheered and chanted his name.

I stood still, unable to tear my eyes away from the madness. "No! Why? Stop!"

"Narius, they are just playing by the rules. The troll didn't kill enough of them."

"But..." The death that littered the ground was horrifying. Everything in this place sickened me. "This... this is wrong."

My breathing grew rough, and I felt dizzy just watching. No one seemed to care about the dead humans, some of whom were now mutilated beyond recognition. I couldn't understand how they could kill each other so ruthlessly when they had all been so scared just moments before. It was too much. I couldn't take it anymore. I screamed in rage and tried to jump out the window when a sudden jolt hit me. My body froze, and my muscles slackened. Unable to control my body, I crashed to the balcony's floor.