The sun sets as the bright, yellow winged man barges into the blood-stained throne room, the room in which his king sits with one of his dead men at his feet and an enraged look plastered on his face, sending a slight shock straight down Jimmy's spine, as he's not used to seeing his king so serious.
"I-uh, we found Martyn, he's alive." He stutters out as Joel looks up to him with his face changing to one of relief.
"That's good. Bring him to me then." Joel stands up, placing his glass down and walking towards where Jimmy is standing.
"Already done." Jimmy says, smiling as the doors open again with a beaten and bruised Martyn walking in with another man behind him.
"He took a fair beating, i dont think I've ever seen this one lose a fight." The blonde haired man says laughing, catching a glare from Martyn.
"What happened, Martyn, who beat you? Why were they in the prisons?" Joel asks with a tint of concern in his voice, not concern for Martyn, though, concern for the news he's about to hear.
"It was Hypno, a-and Etho, the hitman, they escaped with the prisoner." Martyn coughs out, still pretty beaten up from the fight, honestly shocked. They kept him alive, although he would make them regret that decision.
"By the prisoner, you mean the prisoner." Joel over emphasises as a look of shock or maybe even fear creeps onto his face.
"Yes, the prisoner, not just them, they had some outsider i dont know with them, and most importantly, the dwarves, they had the dwarves!" Martyn shouts to Joel, who has to step back from him.
"The dwarves helped them?" Joel asks again, making sure what he's being told is true.
"There have been many sightings of the dwarves leaving the kingdom." The blonde says again, confirming what Martyn said.
Joel walks back to his throne, brushing over it with his hand, feeling it coated in gold and other gems.
A throne he won. Instead of inheriting it back during the war fourteen years ago, the former king was stupid and brutal. The truth is Joel was only a knight in the kingdom of Stratos, sworn to protect the king no matter the cost. He broke that oath.
When the king decided he wanted to flee and leave everyone to die, Joel made sure he couldn't. He killed the king right then and there and took the throne in an instant.
There were no heirs, and the king never seemed to have luck with a wife or any woman at all, so there was no one who had a claim to the throne, only someone who would take it for the people.
He gets called a traitor to this day, but what he did he did for Stratos, and he doesn't regret it at all.
"If the dwarves have taken their little axes up against us, we'll take our swords against their heads, this war is going to be bigger than we imagined, but we will win it." Joel says, smirking, smirking to hide the slight fear he has inside him. The dwarven mountain is known to be impenetrable, only a couple exits, which are highly guarded.
"You think i can lead our men into that mountain? you may aswell kill us all." Martyn argues knowing how insane the idea is.
"Many will die, but you can overpower them. after all, that prisoner showed us a few tricks." Joel laughs a little, handing Martyn a dagger.
"What's this for?" he asks, looking down at the white coated handle with a gold streak.
"When you see the dwarven king, put that right in him, and make sure to give it back." He pats Martyn's shoulder before walking out the room, leaving the three men inside.
"That dagger, it may look fancy, but it's what killed the last king of Stratos. He wants it to kill every king of the realm, and only kings, that dagger can't be used to kill someone who isn't a king." Jimmy says to Martyn, informing him of the daggers purpose, the king killer.
"I'll get the men ready to leave for the mountain. If the others return, send them aswell." Martyn demands before storming out the room, sheathing the dagger as the door slams shut.
"Zedaph, this is your first taste of war, im sure you'll enjoy it as i have." Jimmy laughs, looking at the scared boy in front of him.
"Sometimes i wish i was back at Dogwarts, with my people, my family, Doc." He says, looking down at the ground.
"Maybe you'll return, but for now, you have a job to do here, so do it." Jimmy roughly pats his shoulder before leaving the room himself.
Zedaph watches him leaving, making sure to wait until no one is left in the room before walking up to the throne, a throne so shiny he can see his own reflection on it.
"You kept him alive!" Impulse shouts jumping up at Etho, who is currently resting against a wall.
"Yeah, yeah, so what? we kept him alive." He laughs a little, not seeing the massive deal.
"So what? So what! Il tell you What, he's going to go tell his king that i was there, my kingdom will be gone by sunrise!" Impulse shouts, pulling Etho up to his level.
Etho snaps back into it, realising what he's done as Hypno does the same. "Oh. We didn't think about that." He says with a genuine, concerned look on his face.
"Well, that was real smart of you two, sentencing a kingdom to death because you wanted to fight a man again some time. Thanks for that." Xisuma says, sitting on a table, not caring much but not enjoying the thought of a kingdom falling.
"And Skizz is there all alone, we can't get there in time, it's a two days travel from here and half a day for them, if we go we'll be too late." Tango shrugs his shoulders, making sure to send a disappointed face straight to Etho.
"Skizz always asked me if when I died he'd be king, he's not worthy of it, he's no dwarf and he wouldn't know how to lead the men, he could never be king but he might be the one dying with my people, it's unfair." Impulse sighs, dropping Etho back down to the bottom of the wall.
"Well, that's a real shame, im sure the king would like to see you, Xisuma, so come on, we're leaving." Hypno says, standing up and pushing the door open for Xisuma to leave.
"Why do you get to decide where i go?" Xisuma asks with his arms crossed.
"Because i helped save you, and you're part of Dogwarts. Now come, on." He says again, quite obviously in a rush.
"You should go, Dogwarts will need you." Etho says, nodding at them.
"Fine, I'll go, we will meet again, my friends, and thank you for saving me." Xisuma, thanks the three of them before the door closes behind them.
"Alright, Xisuma, hop on this horse, you're going home." Hypno smiles at the thought of reuniting Xisuma with his people.
Joel sits down on his bed, taking a long breath before the door opens in front of him, this dreaded moment finally coming to life as his wife confronts him.
"What is this im hearing about you started a war?" She asks, looking down at him with anger in her eyes.
Joel stands up quickly, looking straight into her eyes before saying. "Me? Starting a war? they killed my friend!" He shouts, realising he startled Lizzie and calming his voice.
"This war will kill us all, you know that, right, you could've prevented this." she says calmly, showing she's not angry but just dissaponted.
"We were all already dead. This war is only speeding up the process." He sighs before hugging his wife.
"Then try make sure you survive." She pushes him out of the hug before sitting down on the bed.
"I'll do my best." He says with a smirk on his face. Part of him has always enjoyed the taste of war. The other part hates seeing his people die.
Mumbo picks up his sword before walking to the gates of the castle.
"Hold on, where are you going?" False steps in front of him stopping him from leaving.
"The king said if there was no word of his return by now to find him, so i will." He places a helmet on his head before walking past False to see over a hundred men in front of him, ready to leave with him.
"I never knew you got an army." Keralis says, walking out next to him.
"Sometimes, the snake's money is useful. It can buy an army." He smiles to Keralis before walking down to them and hopping on a horse.
"The King's coming back, right?" False asks Keralis, now visibly scared at the thought of the king being dead.
"Of course he is!" Keralis shouts, knowing he has no idea if the king will return or not, but he hopes so.
"He has to, or these walls will fall sooner than we expected." False says, looking upon the walls that have kept them safe for hundreds of years.
"Oh Jevinnn~" Doc whistles, walking up to the cells that his test subjects are trapped in, the dark, dirty cells.
Jevin feels a shiver go through his body as he backs up to the corner of his cell in fear of what's coming for him.
Doc reaches the doors of the cells that hold Jevin and Grian, knocking on the door of Jevin's before opening it and grabbing him.
"L-Let me go!" Jevin shouts, feeling himself being dragged out of the room, unable to fight back as Grian watches through the bars horrified.
"You're next, boy." Doc laughs as Jevins pleads fade out as they get further and further away from him.
He backs up against the wall, head in his hands as he panics about what comes next. He wishes someone was here to protect him, someone like Xb, he would've killed Doc if he even tried to touch him.
Doc throws Jevin into what he calls his 'lab', but really, it is just a torture chamber, starting to strap him down with a smirk on his face before Falso walks in to the room.
"What are you doing here? can't you see im a bit busy?" Doc asks, looking down at False angrily.
"We need to talk, now." She says, leaving the room as he follows close behind.
Jevin looks around, looking for any sort of escape he can find before realising one of his arms is strapped down and the other isn't, making it possible for him to unstrap himself.
He quickly does so, grabbing a knife and peeking out the door to see if Doc and False are gone, which they are. He sprints out of the room, finding himself met with a guard blocking his exit.
"Prisoner, what are you doing out?" He asked before he could see the knife lodged straight in his neck, splattering blood over Jevin as he dropped to the ground.
"What is it?" Doc asks as False brings him to the throne room where only her, Keralis, and Doc are.
"We are the only people who can lead this place while the king is gone. What do we do?" She asks, standing in front of the throne looking over the two of them.
"We don't know. The king will be back shortly none the less." Doc says with his arms crossed and a dissaponted look plastered on his face.
"Maybe so, but we have to do something while he's gone, anything at all." Keralis replies, stepping forward.
"Like what, none of us are rulers, a scientist, an assistant, and a structural engineer, not exactly fit to rule a kingdom." Doc laughs a little at the thought of any of them sitting on that throne.
"I am not an assistant." False spits out glaring at Doc.
"What are you then? All you do is whatever the king wants. You're his messenger, His personal assistant at best, and maybe a warrior." Doc spouts back before starting to leave the room.
"Im good enough to be a knight, at least!" She shouts back, causing him to turn slightly.
"Good luck with that." He chuckles, walking out the room, heading back to where Jevin was.
Jevin runs past the cells, trying to unlock the one Grian is in, but noticing he doesn't have the keys to do so. "Im sorry, Grian, i can't get you out, just take this!" he shouts, pushing the bloody knife through the bars on the cell door.
"Jevin, wait!" Grian runs up to the door trying to catch Jevin, but by the time he does, he's already gone.
Doc walks into his lab, looking down at the ground, noticing the distinct lack of sound coming from where Jevin usually is he looks up, seeing no one.
He could've sworn his heart skipped a beat, and he ran out of the room down the hallways, stumbling across the dead guard.
"Oh no..." He mutters, checking the guards pulse before he continues running.
Jevin grabs some weak armour to disguise himself from a storage room before finding his way out of the back exit of the castle.
Grian could hear Doc blasting past the cells as he hunted for Jevin. He was pretty sure if Doc found him, he would kill him in an instant, maybe even rip him in half.
Jevin walks down the streets with his head down, walking past the execution site where Joe is killed, the ground still slightly stained in blood, although he has no idea why.
He only has one destination at the moment, the gates, he has to escape somehow, and many men are leaving with Mumbo, so he hops onto a horse to leave at the same time as them.
"Alright, everybody, we need to go save your king!" Mumbo shouts, pointing his sword up at the sky before riding out the gates with his men following him.
"Everybody, listen to me, Let's go kill those dwarves!" Martyn shouts in a sinister tone as he turns around with his sword pointed forward while at least a thousand men follow behind him.
"My king, there are men ahead of us!" Bdubs shouts as the four of them come across a barrier of about fifty Stratos men blocking them from reaching Dogwarts.
"What do we do?" Ren asks, stopping in his tracks as two of them get closer.
"No idea." Wels says, making sure he is in front of Ren to protect him.
"This is Stratos men alright, and i think this is the death of us." Cub sighs, looking at them, the four of them being obviously outnumbered.
The two others get closer, coming to a distance where they are recognisable.
"Good to see you again, my king." Scott says sword in hand as he stops about ten metres in front of Ren.
"I wish i could say the same." Ren says, getting odd his horse with his axe in hand.
"Whats wrong, didn't expect us here?" Gem lauĝhs a little with a tight grip on her sword, a short sword with a flowery hilt.
Cub walks up to Bdubs whispering in his ear as Bdubs nods along, catching note of what he is saying before walking over to Wels and saying. "Get us as much time as you can."
Wels nods before standing in front of the three of them, ready to fight as many men as he has, too.
Scott grins as he looks back at his men, who all seem slightly amused by this act of heroism, also enjoying the fact that three of the most important people in Dogwarts are now his to kill, he'll be a hero to Stratos after this.
"Well, what are we waiting for." Gem laughs as she points her sword forward towards the four of them.
"Im riding back to the mountain, i dont care if i get there after the fight. Those are my people, and i will be there." Impulse states not accepting any arguments as Tango and Etho accept it instantly.
"Good luck, my friend." Tango says, placing his hand on Impulse's, showing sympathy for whatever he may find at his home.
"Thank you, and you too." He says, smiling at Tango and only nodding at Etho before leaving their home.
"Hopefully, he can make it in time." Etho mutters before walking up the stairs, leaving Tango behind.
Tango decides to follow him to find him wiping tears from his eyes in his room, he had no idea why, and honestly, he's never seen Etho like this, so it scares him.
"Hey, what's wrong, Etho?" He asks, placing a hand on his shoulder and looking into his eyes.
"It's nothing, don't worry." Etho puts on a fake smile, knowing the real reason is he saw his son for the first time in years.
"You can tell me, but I'll trust you and leave you alone, okay?" Tango smiles back at him before leaving him alone in the room but making sure to stand outside the door.
Xb looks up at the moon, noticing how dark it has become and knowing he should find shelter soon. If there's one thing about being outside the walls at night, it's how many crazy people will try to kill you.
He walks through the forrest some more before seeing smoke in the distance. He walks up to where he sees it coming from to find no one near it. A completely abandoned fireplace is odd for out here unless it's a trap.
He thinks to himself right before he feels his head being pulled back with a knife placed against his throat.
"Hey- hey, calm down." Xb says, putting his hands up as the other decides to lower the knife.
Xb takes this as an opportunity to kick the other in the chest and jump out of his grasp.
He pulls out his sword, pointing it at the man as he can barely even make him out due to the darkness.
The man pulls out an axe, a pretty badly forged axe as they circle each other, as he comes into the light of the flame. Xb can make out a rather large scar covering his face, shocking Xb as he realises who's in front of him.
"Hold on, what's your name?" He asks slightly, lowering his sword just in case his theory is wrong, but certain he's right.
"Wouldn't you like to know, i feel like i know you." The man says with a confused smirk on his face. He recognises the face on the man before him, but he's lost track of how many crazy men he's met out here.
"Listen, i don't want to hurt you, it's me, Xb? do you remember Scar?" He asks as the others' eyes widen, and he lowers his axe.
"Xb? Why are you out here?" He asks, putting the axe away as Xb lowers his sword too.
"I got banished, like you, im here looking for you." Xb answers, walking up to Scar with a smile on his face.
"Looking for me? why?" He asks with tears in his eyes from the memories of Dogwarts.
"To give you this." Xb says, handing him the letter he was given by Stress and Iskall.
Scar looks down at it, recognising the stamp instantly, as a couple tears fall from his eyes, and he starts to open it.
End of chapter 6: 3289 words
No comment on this one either. It was done in 3 sittings, so it could be very inconsistent, but it's a massive setup for the next chapter, to be honest, i hope you enjoyed it!