Dawning Skye

468 Hunting Trip(Part Seven)

***CONTENT WARNING: LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE, AND GORE***

The sun was barely visible through the thick trees, even though sunset wasn’t for another hour or so. Benzo and Draco had been running through the forest for hours, killing everything that they came across. The horn that Norvis had blown were drawing out the Dark Fae in droves to deal with the intruders, and spread out in the forest: just like how Marco had planned.

Sheri had made it to the side of the entrance as several goblins, orcs, trolls, and other Fae funneled out of the caves. None of them realized that an enemy was half a foot away as they passed her, and ran towards the screams of their comrades. After the group passed, Sheri slipped into the caves, and hid off in a corner.

Her job was to change the moisture in the air similarly to what she had done to the goblins a little while ago. The air was heavy with it, which would make it hard to breath. With Ahriman herding them from the other side, the Fae would have no choice but to flee out of the front.. ‘Exactly like he predicted..’

As Sheri pushed her magic to it’s limit, she could hear the clamor of frantic footsteps and screams. Hundreds of Fae rushed down the cavern, and out of the main entrance coughing and wheezing. They trampled each other in their rush to get to fresh air, yelling about toxic gas.

None of them noticed Sheri in her little crevice until they started to pile up on each other. A few of the goblins sniffed at the air, but couldn’t see her through the crowds. Right as they started to clear a path towards her, Marco’s voice whispered in her ear..

“Do you need power, Sheri? You’re at your limit already.. All you have to do is say yes, and I’ll grant it to you..”

With the goblins inching closer by the second, Sheri answered; “Yes, My King..”

“Good girl,” came his reply before the shard in Sheri’s neck started to feel hot.

.....

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A moment to searing pain gave way to electric fire coursing through her body. Right as the goblins reached her, Sheri stepped out of her hole in the wall with a canteen of water in her hand. They snarled as they lunged at her, but got large bubbles of water sent into their mouths instead.

They choked and sputtered before drowning where they stood, shocking the others trying to get out of the caves. Sheri was still manipulating the moisture in the air as she’d defended herself, then concealed herself with her magic again. She continued attacking anything that came close with a smile on her face as she increased the output to toxic levels.

As the acidity in the air rose with the confusion and fear, the Fae were nearly tearing themselves apart when a booming voice called out; “MOVE! MAKE WAY FOR THE KING!”

Sheri watched as six oversized trolls, three orcs, and the largest goblin that she’d ever seen shoved their way through the crowds, and out of the cave. She didn’t know if it was Marco’s magic influencing her or not, but it took every ounce of her self-restraint not to attack them herself.

As the groups of Fae started to dwindle, Sheri looked at the ground in disgust. Most of the ones that had been trampled to death were the youngest and oldest of the Fae there. Anger swelled within her as a cloud of darkness slowly moved towards her from where the Fae had come from.

“I have cleared the caves. Everything is as our King said it would be. Now, we clean up,” Ahriman stated in his deep, semi-drawl tone.

Sheri released her magic as she asked; “Does the Dark magic in our King’s power come from you?”

Nothing came from the cloud of darkness for a few moments, then Ahriman replied; “For now.. Come. It is time.”

Sheri nodded in agreement, then walked towards the cave entrance. She couldn’t believe that she’d had the courage to ask him such a sensitive question, and that he’d answered it. As they exited the cave, an icy chill ran up Sheri’s backside as she wondered what he had meant by the ‘For now’ part..

************

Draco and Benzo had picked off every living thing that they had seen in the forest while waiting for their King to call to them. They spent hours running, killing, resting, then repeating. Nothing but Fae and oversized creatures could be found as they dashed across acres of land around the caves; mostly the unintelligent kind.

Barghests, wild chimeras, ogres, and basilisks were everywhere. Plus the oversized insects that had mutated and grown between five, and eight times their normal sizes. The two needed to make sure that nothing was left to act as a witness, not even animals.

If a Tamer got ahold of an animal that had seen the situation, then it could tell them what they saw. It was easier to just kill everything and complete their mission as quickly as possible versus going through the forest with their own Tamers. As Benzo finished off an overgrown spider, he saw Draco about ten feet away from him.

After pulling his long sword from the spider’s head, he ran over to Draco and said; “The sun is barely visible anymore. When do ya think we’ll Really get to attack?”

“Now.. Come to the rendezvous point, and we’ll begin the assault. Sheri and Ahriman are flushing them out right now,” Marco’s sudden voice made Benzo flinch, which made Draco smirk at him.

Benzo huffed in annoyance as he glared at Draco, then said; “We’re on our way, Your Majesty.”

Marco grinned to himself as he walked closer to the cave area. All manner of Fae were coming at him, but they seemed to move so slow that it wasn’t even a challenge to kill them. It reminded him of dancing across a ballroom, and his swords were his partner.

As he bobbed and weaved between the trees and his enemies, Marco was like a graceful blur. They could smell him, but by the time their eyes had caught up, their heads were leaving their shoulders. Sensing his overwhelming power, many Fae tried to go around him, and escape..

“Norvis, you’re in charge of roundup. Kill them all with no regard. I don’t care if their corpse is useable after, just don’t let them escape.”

“On it, My King! I’ll use Bertha on them,” he replied over the communicator.

Marco chuckled lightly; “Is that what you named that thing? I suppose it fits.. Just make sure that you get them all.”

As Norvis confirmed his order, Benzo and Draco came into sight. An ogre was running towards him, so Benzo veered to take it down before it could reach his king. Right as he was about to take out it’s legs, Draco came from above him, and sliced the creature deeply down it’s backside.

While breathing hard from running around so much, Benzo snipped; “The fuck man! I had that one!”

Draco grinned at him mockingly; “You snooze you lose, my friend. You would’ve taken too much time, and our King is waiting right there.”

Benzo looked up to see a smiling Marco, which unnerved both him, and Draco. It was rare to see their king show any emotion, and the both now knew why. Most women found Prince Marco to be quite dashing, but they had never seen him genuinely smile before.

The dark, twisted happiness they saw in his expression would send any sensible person running for the hills. It was the face of someone finding true pleasure in the carnage he was causing. As they stared at their King, a rat the size of a wolf ran passed them, and straight towards him..

Marco grin was menacing, but the rat charged full-speed at him. He held up his long sword while dropping his short one, and fell backwards with the momentum from the creature. Using the force to his advantage; Marco arched his back inwardly, and made the two of them roll: placing the rat on the bottom.

The blade of his sword had blocked the rat from biting him, and Marco was now slowly applying pressure to it. The rat flailed and screeched at the blade cut into it’s mouth, then it’s jaw’s hinge. It scratched and whipped it’s tail in an effort to break free, but it was too late.

With one final shove: Marco’s long sword cut the top half of the rat’s head off. It’s body twitch and thrash about as Marco got up. His clothes were torn up a bit, but he didn’t have a single scratch on him. As Benzo and Draco fell to their knees and apologized, Marco belted out a deep laugh..

“It’s fine, you two. I’m actually enjoying myself quite a bit right now, so don’t worry if a few get passed you. Just remember to leave the strongest ones for me.”

Benzo and Draco bowed to their King, then Draco asked; “Is it time?”

“Yes.. Sheri is nearly finished, as well as Ahriman. We can issue our challenge now,” Marco replied with a constant smirk.

“What do we do if he declines the surrender?” Draco asked as he relaxed and took out a bit of jerky, then munched on it.

“He won’t decline. It will make him look weak in front of the others, which they won’t stand for if their society is strength-based. He may send out his subordinates to test my strength, which case I’ll send you two first. When you utterly destroy his men, I’ll challenge the king and his two best..”

“That should be sufficient enough for me to test my Tank trait. I haven’t even hit half of my top speed yet. And nothing I’ve punched or kicked so far has survived the first hit. It’s why I’m using my swords instead, but I need to test out my fighting skills as well. Tidas may forgo a traditional fight, so I need to check my capabilities in a fistfight.”

“Why would he fight you? Other than hitting on his wife in front of him?” Draco joked.

Marco’s grin stretched; “Oh, I imagine that he’ll try to after he returns fro Sai. I doubt that he’ll be able to get out of the restraints, but I haven’t gotten to where I am by taking chances. By the time Tidas brings my future wife back to me, I’ll be able to beat him at what he best at. But I need to know where I am now.”

“Pardon me, but you’re on-par with Princess Skye, right? The two of you just have different traits right now?” Benzo asked as the started to head towards the caves.

After Marco had nodded in the positive, Benzo added; “But she has four traits. I thought that your Tank trait was your third.. What’s your fourth?”

Marco grinned broadly as he replied; “What indeed.. Oh, look: the Fae are organizing. Let’s see if this so-called King sees his people as assets, or fodder..”