The Legend of Alexandros: Belen (16 page)

“My queen,” the goblin king hissed, jumping off his horse. “My you have aged so much. You were once a young lovely thing…now not so much. I hope you remember me. I would be terribly saddened if you did not.”

“Of course, I remember you, foul beast!” Cassandra cried. “I shall destroy all of you for what you have done. And never shall I grant mercy to such an evil bottom feeder such as yourself again.”

Cassandra leaped to her feet and broke free from her shackles; the incredibly tall and graceful Cassandra powerfully kicked the goblin king in the face, sending him smashing to the ground. She let out a mighty warrior cry signaling all remaining Amazons to retreat. Cassandra repeatedly stomped on the goblin king, and, as goblin warriors approached to aid him, she tossed and smashed all that placed hands on her.

She raised her sword. “Now, no mercy shall be granted for you…ever again!” She lifted the sword high and went for the killing strike…but Zuers charged in from behind, piercing her in her back with an enormous sword. She fell to her knees with the sword sticking out of her back.

Zuers laughed as she crawled to her daughter. Aloysia cried as her mother lightly kissed her on her forehead.

“Say hello to Mabruk and Tobias for me…” the goblin king hissed then beheaded her with a single swipe of his rusty sword. He kicked and spat on her body.

“Bring back any Amazon you find,” said the king. “Take them back to Heshuezo and keep them as fresh as possible… I am sick of eating rotted flesh…oh, and leave her head here. I do not wish to have her stare at me as I feed on her corpse.”

His warrior troops gathered up the remaining Amazons and left the burning village. The goblin army then split up after the invasion; the majority of the horde returned to Siruac with Zuers, and the other few returned to Heshuezo with their goblin king.

CHAPTER XVI

TAKEN

“W
hy have me captive!” Alexandros shouted at the cloaked figured man. “I am no threat to you! Release me now!” The cloaked figure tightly wrapped the rope around Alexandros, which held him to a tree. The cloaked figure had disarmed Alexandros and tossed his weapons in a pile near the campfire.

“Why will you not answer me?”

“You will be fine,” the cloaked figure said in a deep hoarse voice. “What I do, I do for your own good; nothing rewarding can come from the place you wish to go…I shall release you once they have moved on from those mountains.” The cloaked figure crouched by the campfire that burned bright before them. “I have seen what those beasts are capable of… you would be foolish bursting in like a headstrong boar.”

“I will rip your head off and feed it to the wolves if I miss this opportunity,” said Alexandros.

The cloaked figure turned slowly to look Alexandros in the eye. “Well, just try and escape then, my friend…”

The Morning Before…

The morning sun rose high in the sky as the group traveled down the road toward Heshuezo. It had taken Alexandros and the others most of the night to make it out of the Evedsatu forest. Valchor had gotten the group lost twice trying to find his way to the road. It finally took Winston to fly up over the forest to point the way out, Winston flew up into the sky with joy, for anytime he could make himself useful Winston jumped at the opportunity.

All through the night Valchor complained about everything, to the point where even the soft-spoken Elora had to tell Valchor to silence himself. Alexandros tried not to take resting stops too often. He led the group down the rocky dirt road that seemed to go on for miles without end. Tired and hungry they traveled, but Alistair seemed a bit unsure if this was a smart choice. He questioned Alexandros’ decision to head straight for Heshuezo. For twenty-two winters no man had stepped on the Heshuezion Mountains—who knew what they would find there?

“I must say this,” said Alistair, stopping Alexandros in his tracks. “And I wish for you to listen, young warrior: your judgment is clouded by anger, and at this moment you cannot see straight. We should be taking the fight to Barbarious; if the goblin army is truly at Heshuezo then Barbarious’ forces are weak; therefore, he is at his most vulnerable.”

“This is not your choice to make, wizard,” said Alexandros. “I have decided this is best. I will end Barbarious, but first we take care of these ghouls.”

“You are confusing vengeance for strategy; you are walking blind right now as you cannot see beyond the hatred in your heart.”

“Do not give me any of your nonsense, wizard; these are the monsters responsible for the murders of my family and every soul in my village. So how dare you say I am the blind one? You have known this was my main focus since the morning I met you, and now you think I am unfocused and reckless?”

“Barbarious is the one making the decisions for the goblins—once he is vanquished then the goblins will be nothing.” Alistair said to the group pleading with them. “I think you need a night to level yourself, Belen. You are not thinking clearly. Let us rest here for the remainder of the day and…”

“No! This is not a group choice. We are going to Heshuezo, and that is final!”

“And who has made you leader?” Bixbin cut in. “Before yesterday we all made choices together or choices that suited the mission at hand.”

“Shut your mouth, dwarf,” said Alexandros harshly. “You have not a clue as to what is going on half the time. You like the elf are here for who knows truly. You tagged along because you had nowhere else to go.”

Bixbin clenched his hammer. Alistair stepped in between them.

“Do not be a coward, Belen,” Alistair said.

The mere mention of the word sent rage into Alexandros. Raphael held Alexandros by his arm holding him back from Alistair.

“You wish to mention being a coward, Alistair? If anyone here is a coward it is you. You allowed Barbarious to murder Tobias and break the princess’ legs. You stood there and did nothing! You hid behind me when I stepped in front of you. And if I have learned anything from you, it has to be that you are afraid of Barbarious. The way I see it, you will forever be that cowardly old merchant who lived in the centaur forest.”

Silence filled the road; no one said a word. Alexandros pulled his arm away from Raphael.

“Is there anyone else before me who agrees with the wizard here?”

No one replied.

“You are all snakes…each and everyone one of you. Fine…I shall go alone then…I shall not forget this.”

Alexandros stormed off down the road.

“Do not leave…” Winston said as he half glided and half walked toward Alexandros. “You promised to be my friend, please do not do this…do not go…please… Belen…”

Alexandros ignored Winston and walked off leaving Winston standing alone.

Alistair, Elora, Bixbin, Winston, Raphael, and Valchor watched him walk away. Winston stood sitting on the rocky dirt road, holding back the tears. Elora wrapped her arms around him for comfort.

“Well…does this mean the journey is over?” Valchor asked as he looked around to everyone. “Because my father will not be happy to see me so soon.”

“Well, I cannot imagine anyone who would be happy to see you after just getting rid of you,” said Bixbin.

“Let us set up camp here. Tomorrow morning we shall all decide on what to do,” said Alistair.

Nightfall…

The night came quickly near the valley as Alexandros approached the Heshuezion Mountains. The sun seemed to set faster than usual. He stopped to make a small campfire for himself alongside the road near an eerie dead tree; the only tree for several miles in the area. He seethed with anger. He sat back against the tree and glared into the small crackling fire—the only sound for miles.

How could they all agree with Alistair? Of course, he was wrong. I am fully focused.

Alexandros poked the flames a few times with a long thin branch to keep it burning—and as he did, he felt a mighty blow to the back of his head, sending him crashing hard to the ground. His vision became blurry—but he saw the shape of a dark figure standing over him as he fell unconscious.

When he awoke, a cloaked figured sat at the campfire staring at him. He wore a black dirty old cloak with a hood that exposed very little of his body and face; his hands were filthy, and he was barefoot. While tied to the branchless tree Alexandros sat squirming, trying to loosen the ropes.

“Do not struggle; the ropes will not untie themselves,” the man said in a deep hoarse voice.

“Why have me captive!” Alexandros shouted at the cloaked figured man. “I am no threat to you! Release me now!” The cloaked figure tightly wrapped the rope around Alexandros, which held him to a tree. The cloaked figure had disarmed Alexandros and tossed his weapons in a pile near the campfire.

“Why will you not answer me?”

“You will be fine,” the cloaked figure said in a deep hoarse voice. “What I do, I do for your own good; nothing rewarding can come from the place you wish to go…I shall release you once they have moved on from those mountains.” The cloaked figure crouched by the campfire that burned bright before them. “I have seen what those beasts are capable of… you would be foolish bursting in like a headstrong boar.”

“I will rip your head off and feed it to the wolves if I miss this opportunity,” said Alexandros.

The cloaked figure turned slowly to look Alexandros in the eye. “Well, just try and escape then, my friend…”

“Who are you? Tell me! Who are you?”

“I am…the grave keeper,” the cloaked figure whispered. “My crypt is not too far from here. I shall keep you until they move on from Heshuezo.”

Alexandros tried to break free, but the grave keeper simply tightened the rope. He smacked Alexandros across the face for trying to escape. Alexandros clenched his fists.

“Now listen to me, my friend,” said the grave keeper. “Where you are off to is a place no man should ever step foot on. No good can come of it, and you would surely die.”

“You have no clue what you say stranger; you do not know anything about me. You have no right passing judgment over me.”

“I am trying to open your eyes, you foolish traveler, but you seem to be extremely hard-headed. You, young warriors and your blood lust…so blind it is truly sad.”

Alexandros rolled his eyes. The grave keeper lifted a small black traveling bag from behind the flames and pulled out shining silver dagger. He heated the blade over the fire.

“Well…” said the grave keeper. “It seems I am going to have to cut the blindness from your eyes.”

Alexandros fought hard to escape; the grave keeper pushed back the young warrior’s head and proceeded with trying to cut out one of his eyes.

Alexandros swiftly kicked the grave keeper in the chest sending him crashing onto the campfire. Alexandros then reached with his foot for the silver dagger, which had fallen to the ground. The grave keeper thrashed about as he tried to put out the fire that took over his cloak. Alexandros kicked the dagger into his reach picked it up and cut the rope. The rope snapped. He jumped to his feet, ran to the grave keeper, and began to stomp on him repeatedly, releasing a month’s frustration on the cloaked grave keeper. For several minutes Alexandros repeatedly stomped on the grave keeper until finally Alexandros stopped and fell to the ground, he stared at the grave keeper who could barely move.

“I am going to thank you right now…you have opened my eyes to something. I cannot do this on my own,” Alexandros said, stepping back, completely out of breath and left the bloody beaten grave keeper on the ground. The grave keeper’s cloak had been beaten off of him revealing his battered face. He was bald; his eyes were round and dark…and he barely looked human, being incredibly pale and filthy.

Alexandros gathered his weapons and made his way back to the road, glancing first toward Heshuezo, and then he turned to head back to his travel companions. He heard the moans from the grave keeper in the distance. Suddenly, the grave keeper jumped onto Alexandros’ back and began striking him in the face. Alexandros tossed the grave keeper off of his back, and the grave keeper kicked Alexandros in the midsection, laughing insanely as he swung his dagger. Alexandros grabbed the grave keeper’s hand and broke his wrist. The dagger dropped to the ground, and the grave keeper shouted in pain—but he refused to stay away, even after being badly beaten and having a broken wrist. He charged again at Alexandros. Alexandros lifted the dagger from the ground and with all his might launchedimpaled the dagger in the grave keeper’s face, sending him hurtling backwards, killing him instantly. Alexandros left the body sprawled out on the barren road that led to the mountains of Heshuezo.