The Arisen

Chapter 6

Leander knocked the sword out of the last guard's hand with one swift slash before kicking him into the hard, brick wall. The impact made a crunching noise, causing Cleo to flinch in shock. Getting into the right tower was fairly simple for the duo to accomplish, since the side they scaled had an open window in the middle. As soon as they made it through the window, they encountered three guards hastily making their way down the stone steps. Even though the staircase provided narrow fighting space, Leander was able to dispatch the first two guards with ease. This alone almost made Cleo fear Leander, who seemed to strike without any thoughts. Now the last defeated guard sat leaning against the wall, panting for breath. Leander quickly raised his sword to finish the last guard.

"Please don't!" the guard begged, still panting, "I beg of you!"

Leander narrowed his eyes in a cold stare and began to swing down his sword, but Cleo suddenly jumped between him and his final kill. It took Leander quite a bit of effort to stop his slash from hitting Cleo.

"Stop!" she said, holding out her arms as if to block the blow.

"Are you crazy?!" Leander protested in annoyance, "This guy as an enemy of Metrissa!"

Cleo turned around and quickly flicked a small cloud of powder into the guard's face, causing him to fall limp onto the ground. She then turned to face an angry Leander.

"Do you have a heart of stone, Leander?" she asked.

"Sometimes your life depends on how willing you are to take one," Leander said, his voice turning dark with anger, "How can we face Proximos and his thousands when we can't even kill one man?"

"But you killed those two other guards before they could even react!" Cleo protested, still stunned, "We're supposed to be heroes, not monsters. He has fifteen minutes before he awakens, so we should do something with him now instead of wasting our time arguing."

"I could just kill him right now!" Leander said as he tightened his grip on the sword, "Now it'll be painless!"

Cleo frowned. Her eyebrows were slightly quivering.

"I'm not going to involve myself in a group of heartless killers," she said, "The gold coins we're wearing are reminders to do what's right, not licenses to kill. If we are to return evil with evil, what good would that make us?"

Leander grabbed the coin from around his neck and stared at it in silence for a few moments. He seemed to be thinking past his emotions, and it looked very difficult for him to do.

"Fine..." he said, sheathing his sword, "We'll take him to the dungeon. We need to hurry, though. I'm not sure how the others are doing."

Leander and Cleo each grabbed an end of the guard and carried him down the staircase as fast as they were able to without tripping.

~ The left tower ~

After a long descent down the stone staircase, Phoebus and Pollux made their way across a narrow, torch-lit hall and stopped in front of a wooden door.

"This should be it..." Pollux said, "Second door to the left."

He tried to open it, but it seemed to be locked shut.

"Eh, looks like I'm going to have to use the impolite method..." Pollux said before kicking the door open.

The loud crash resonated through the hall, but nobody else seemed to notice. All of the guards must be preoccupied with more serious concerns. The two boys rushed into the room, which only contained two small cells. Besides the small, barred window found in each cell, there weren't any other sources of light, giving a gloomy atmosphere to the small dungeon. Some drops of water falling from the stone ceiling above broke what would've been an unbearable silence.