MakiaVi: The Frozen King - Chapter 6
Far to the north in the Zekul province lies it's capital city Xarada. It is a massive city carved into the side of Mount Denkeen. Within the royal palace, the King of Zekul sat upon his throne that stood twenty feet above the ground. The king was a large dragon built like a brick wall. His scales were pale with a slight tint of blue in them. His long black hair sat gracefully on his blue and silver tunic. Upon his head sat a spiked crystal crown that looked as if it were carved of ice. Ten other thrones were at his sides at varying heights. All but one of them were occupied by dragons all in their teens wearing blue clothing with silver trim. A servant entered the room and bowed before the King. "Lord Kardon," he said "I regret to inform you that your assassination attempt has failed. It appears your son is to blame." Kardon's face tightened. "My son?." He gestured to his right. "As you can see, all four of my sons sit loyal at my side, and on the other, my five daughters. Dare you suggest otherwise?"The servant threw himself to the ground. "No my lord, of course not. Please forgive my mistake. I meant no disrespect." The king smirked. "Knelden, you have served me and my family well. You are a beloved family friend so I will be light in you punishment." Knelden smiled. "Thank you my lord! Thank you!" Kardon raised his hand and two guards lifted Knelden by the arms. "Five years in the dungeon with you. Take him away." The guards dragged him out of the throne room. The main door slammed shut behind them. The king grumbled, "We must be rid of that cowardly bastard. Him and his traitorous mother have been a thorn in my side for far too long." The princess sitting on the lowest seat spoke, "Father, if I may?" The king answered, "Speak Crea." She stood up and gave the King a light bow. "I would like to take care of Edion. I must redeem myself for my past failure." Kardon thought for a moment. "I approve of this request. Go to the potion lab and regain your power. Don't make me regret this decision." "Yes father. Thank you." Crea replied. She quickly turned, tossing her black hair to the side and leapt off of her throne. The servants bowed before her as she walked out of a side entrance to the throne room. Crea strode through the long castle halls. The walls were decorated with blue banners with a silver tree sewn into it. The words "Our Roots Run Deep" were written below it. She pushed open a large oak door to reveal a beautiful bedroom with a large bed covered in blue silk sheets. A hand carved vanity with an assortment of fragrances on it sat next to the bed. Crea grabbed a small bag and began to pack for her mission when she heard a knock at the door. "Enter!" Crea responded.In the doorway was one of the princesses. She shared Edion's blue hair but had scales that were a much deeper shade of blue. "Well well," she said with a smug grin, "Stepping up to take down our big brother. Are you really going through with this?" Crea scoffed, "Of course I am Serada. This time, I'll bring him back. He won't be able to hide behind mother now." Serada's smile disappeared. She sighed as she stared out of the window to her left. "She was always so kind. I truly do miss her sometimes. Do you think she will ever come back?" she said. Crea stopped packing and looked at her sister sternly and said, "You wouldn't want father to hear you talking like that." Serada gritted her teeth. "That man is no father of mine! That monster drove our mother away and now you want to take Edion away too?!" Crea darted across the room and put a hand over Serada's mouth and shushed her.Crea whispered, "I'm just going out to ask Edion for help. He is the only one who can challenge father. Maybe he even knows where mother is." Crea removed her hand and continued packing, "Remember, some of our siblings are still loyal to father. Tread carefully. I will be back as soon as I can." Crea zipped up her bag, grabbed her longsword and started walking out the room. "Please, take me with you." Serada begged. "I can't stand it in the castle anymore! I can't even breathe without five people reporting it to Kardon." Crea shook her head and said, "It's
way too risky. If father knew you left, I don't know what he would do. Please just hang in there until I get back with Edion." Crea hugged her sister and opened the door. In the hallway stood her brother Kulon. He was the spitting image of their father. He had pale scales, Coal black hair and lifeless grey eyes. "Oh, am I interrupting something?" he said. Crea gave hesitated but eventually gathered herself and responded, "Just, saying goodbye. I really must get going." As she walked towards the door, Kulon then blocked the doorway with his arm. "Is that so? Because I could have sworn I heard you talk about plotting against father." Kulon put a hand on his blade and said, "I can't just let that slide now can I?"Crea kicked Kulon in the stomach, causing him to crash through a window in the hallway. She grabbed Serada's hand. "We need to leave now!" Crea yelled. As they ran down the hall, they could hear a horn being blown in the distance."We can't fly until we break father's curse." Crea said. "The cure is in the potion lab." They ran down the hallway and up a spiral staircase. Before they could make it to the top floor, two of the castle guards blocked their path. Crea and Serada drew their swords and clashed with the guards. They swung at each other a few times, each blow missing it's mark. Crea managed to parry her opponent's attack and then hit him in the head with the flat of her blade, knocking him out cold. Serada gave the other guard a knee to the stomach then and elbow to the back of the head to take him down.They climbed to the top of the staircase to the potion lab. There was only one guard standing in their way. Crea ran up and kicked the guard through the door, knocking it off it's hinges. The potion lab was a large room with shelves of glass vials of colorful liquids everywhere. "Quickly, look for the cure and let's get the hell out of here!" Crea yelled. They both ran through the lab searching for the potion. Guards could be heard closing in on the lab. Crea and Serada tore the lab apart to find the correct vial. Within a cabinet off to a corner was the cure. "Damn! They only have one dose left." Crea said. Serada sighed, "Take it. You need to get the MakiaVi's help. Hopefully they will go easy on me." "Oh I'm taking it alright." Crea responded. "and you with me." Crea
drank the potion. Her eyes momentarily glowed a light green tint. "Let's fly."Crea picked up her sister and darted straight out of a window. "Once we make it over the Zekul border, we should be safe." She flew south as fast as she could. Kulon appeared behind them, and was slowly catching up. Crea grumbled, "We aren't going to outrun him." She flew close to the ground and Kulon followed. "You ready?" Crea whispered. Serada nodded. Crea let go of Serada and they both landed and slid on the ground, prepared to strike. Kulon was caught of guard and barely had time to draw his weapon. Crea and Serada struck him together, knocking him right out of the air. Kulon crashed into the snow with two deep cuts on his shoulder and chest. "Come on, finish it!" he grunted. "It will be the one thing you've ever done right." Crea looked down at him and said, "You know, I said the same words to mother when I tried to hunt her down. You know what she said to me? 'I would sooner fight every army on this planet before I kill my own daughter.' and that was the last time I ever saw her. Her family was the most important thing in her life. When she spared me that day, I realized father's ruthless ways would only tear our family apart." Crea sheathed her sword and said, "Maybe someday you too will understand." She picked up Serada continued south.Near the end of their day, Crea and Serada arrived in the town of Kukal. They stopped at the local tavern, The White Tiger with the hoods of their cloaks up and sat at the far end of the bar. Crea raised her hand and ordered each of them a drink. She calmly sipped from her drink as Serada sulked in her seat. "Not much longer now." Crea said. "We should reach the border in not time." Serada silently stared at the glass of wine that sat in front of her. "I wonder if Edion finally cut his hair. Remember when one of the servants confused him for you?" Crea said with a smile. Serada tapped her claws on the bar and let out a weak sigh. Crea set down her drink and asked, "What wrong? You haven't even touched your drink. I thought you loved Zarkaz? Do you want something else?" Serada gritted her teeth as she angrily scraped her claws on the bar. "You want to know what I want? I want to not have to fear for my life everywhere I go. I want peace in my own damn family! I want..." her voice trailed off as tears filled her eyes. "I want to see mother again. I want my life back
to the way it used to be." she sobbed as Crea put her arm around her."Hey now, listen. Once we get down to the MakiaVi, we'll find Edion and-" "And what?" Serada interrupted. "He fights father for the throne? Start a rebellion? Maybe we'll just assassinate father and just slip Edion in his place. Either way, it ends up with us fighting and killing our own family. I just want it to stop." Crea sighed, "If this is about Kulon-""How could we just leave him there!" Serada yelled. "He was our own brother for gods' sake!" At this moment, every eye in the bar was on the two of them. "Keep it down!" Crea whispered. "I want to make it out of here with my head on my shoulders." Serada realized the situation and sat back down in her seat. Crea continued, "Look, we can fix this mess but we can't help anyone if we are dead. Kulon has always been tough. I bet he's already back at the castle getting patched up. We can help everyone but I need you to calm down focus. Can you do that for me?" Serada nodded. "Good, because the fight's not over yet. See those three wolves in the corner?"Serada peeked over her shoulder to see three grey wolves covered in armor glaring at them. "They don't seem to like is very much." Serada said. "Not at all." Crea answered. "But what really concerns me is that there were four of them a while ago. Where do you suppose the other went?" Serada's eyes widened as she said, "To get backup." Crea downed her drink and said, "Let's go!"They jumped out of their seats and shuffled towards the front door. Once they got close, a knife flew right past their faces and embedded itself in the wooden support next to them. One of the wolves padded toward them. His face was covered in scars. His cold blue eyes locked onto his targets."Leaving so soon ladies?" he mocked. "We get plenty of thieves and lowlifes here, but not many traitors let a lone princesses." Crea backed up as some of the patrons began closing in
on them. "We are not traitors!" she screamed with a hand on her blade. The wolf grinned. "That doesn't concern me one bit sweetheart. I'm after that thirty thousand gold bounty on your heads." After hearing that, everyone in the bar stood up and prepared their weapons. Each of them had a hungry look in their eyes as they stalked closer. The wolf continued, "That money can feed a lot of people. Just give up and make it easier for everyone."As they closed in, Crea whispered to her sister, "Any ideas on how to get out of this?" Serada thought for a moment and said, "Remember when we used to play Blind Bandit as kids?" Crea smiled and grabbed Serada's hand, stood back to back and they both took a deep breath. They exhaled a thick fog that engulfed the entire bar. They immediately dove to the ground as they heard the sound of everyone else wildly clashing in the chaos.Crea held her sister as she glided them across the floor of the bar toward the door. They crashed through it and landed in the middle of the street. The only light was the glow of the tavern as they watched shadows brawl within. They both laughed and hugged each other. In the middle of their celebration, they heard a voice yell, "There they are!"They turned to see the fourth wolf down the road from the tavern with a group of mercenaries behind him. Crea grabbed Serada by the hands and flew into they sky. Serada looked down to see that the mob was close behind them. They started throwing rocks and shooting arrows at them. Crea did her best to dodge the attacks but an arrow hit her right in the stomach. She grunted as they began falling towards a church.They crashed through one of the stained glass windows and smashed into of the pues. Crea rolled around in pain from her injury. Serada scrambled to her sister. The arrow made it's way through Crea's stomach and stuck out through her back. Serada exclaimed, "Those bastards!" she grabbed the end of the arrow and broke it off. Serada then grabbed a chunk of wood from the shattered pue. "Here, bite on this. We have to pull it the rest of the way through." Crea nodded and put it in her mouth. Serada grabbed hold of the arrowhead and said, "On three. One. Two. Three!" as she yanked the arrow out of her sister. Crea grunted loudly as she bit the piece of wood in half.Serada breathed a bit of ice on Crea's wound. "That should stop the bleeding." As she helped Crea back to her feet, their pursuers kicked in the doors to the church.The leader yelled, "Get them!" as they rushed Crea and Serada. They both drew their blades and traded smiles as they charged head first into the mob.