Octavius was on the ground, screaming as if horror itself had overtaken him. Some of the Aracs moved to help him, but Lord Stretton knew better. These deals were too delicate. He held a hand to stop them. "Fear, I have no business with you just yet. You have no right--"
My terms have changed.
Lord Stretton's smile fell, his mouth twitching. "Fear, we have already discussed this. You requested the relic we recently uncovered, the necklace that the maid made off with. And as I've already told you, we will soon recover--"
The necklace is nothing to me anymore. Lord Stretton, is it not true that your previous plan to mount enough power to free my Lords was to collect powerful relics and absorb the power from them?
Lord Stretton set his jaw, pensive. He wasn't sure where the General of Fear was going with this. "Yes. That is true. What does that have to do with anything?"
What changed your mind, Lord Stretton?
Octavius continued screaming on the floor, immobilized. The General of Fear's voice was getting an edge to it. Lord Stretton would have to be careful, or all the men in the room could be trapped like that, Lord Stretton included. But he had to maintain the position of authority here, or the General of Fear would prey on any weakness. "You already know. It would take a large amount of time to recover that many relics. When we found out the the Ancient Ones had chosen another five, we decided to prevent the uniting of them and be able to unlock the Dark Lords all at the same time, we would find and capture one of the five and offer her to the three Lords to break them out of the prison that holds them."
Precisely. Therefore, Lord Stretton, this isn't your fault, the General taunted. Neither you nor I were able to divine that the Ancients had chosen another five at the time that we made our agreement. Now that we know, I now see that I was asking for too little. I have change my terms, Stretton. I want the death of one of the Ancient's chosen. I will not awake for anything less. The necklace is useless to me now.
"Now wait a moment," Stretton said, now angered. "You can't do that. We had a deal, General. We spoke with you under all of the required circumstances and made a clean deal months ago, sworn in blood. You have no grounds to change the deal, because there was no foul play on our part. The fact that you don't like the terms you made is not my problem."
Fear said nothing. The room remained in an eerie silence. Then, he suddenly reached forward, through the boundaries of the ring, grabbing Lord Stretton by his head and pulling him towards the ring, though the lower part of Fear's body was unable to leave the perimeter of the ring. Renen looked on in horror. He had never seen his uncle involved in a deal that went bad. Lord Stretton's screams filled the room, his mind being filled with the horrors exuding from Fear. The Dark Ones, when summoned from the dark country they come from, couldn't hurt or kill anyone until the deal with the summoner had been made. But that only applied to anyone not involved in the deal. The summoners were in constant danger of being at the mercy of those they summon, especially when the Dark One is angered. Renen had no idea what a Dark General was capable of in this moment.
The Dark General didn't pull him in. It's not your problem, Lord Stretton? Fear demanded. Do you know the horrors I can show you right now? You don't know true fear. True terror. I've been waiting thousands of years for someone to set me free. I can wait a thousand more. Another mortal is bound to heed my requests and set me free. That is certain. But what isn't certain is if that mortal will be you or another. Right now, I would be just as satisfied to teach you a lesson on true horrors than to hear more of your putrid insolence.
Lord Stretton didn't stop screaming. He couldn't hear anything. Fear paralyzed every part of him. Renen stepped forward. "Deal. We will find the Chosen one you are looking for and bring you their blood as evidence."
The General of Fear released Lord Stretton and turned his closed eyes towards Renen, Lord Stretton left stammering. Smart boy you have here, Stretton. Very well, we have a deal. We will speak again when my terms have been met. Farewell. With that, his upper torso went back within the limits of the portal.
"Cl-l-lose the portal," Lord Stretten stammered, standing upright now, pointing at Renen.
"Yes, uncle," he replied, taking the staff from Octavius' convulsing hand and touching it to the golden ring, his heart in his chest. But this time the circle closed at his touch like it was supposed to, and the fire died instantly, leaving the room dimly lit by the torches on the wall.
"Men," Lord Stretton said, gaining his composure now. "Take Cadri back to her cell, and bring in Nexa."
"Nexa?" Renen questioned.
Lord Stretton gave him a look that meant that they wouldn't discuss it around present company, and Renen kept his silence.
The men about them quickly went to their tasks. Cadri was escorted out.
Once they were alone, Lord Stretton looked at Renen. "Do you know the dangers of what you just did?" he demanded.
"I-I- I only wanted to help. You were--" Renen stuttered.
"You know how delicate these deals are. I don't trust Fear. He might try to use the shakiness of the new deal to his advantage. If we allow him to change the terms once, who knows what you've opened the door for him to negotiate?"
Renen now realized his error. "I-I'm sorry, uncle."
"It matters not," said, stroking his chin. "We will regain the advantage, don't worry. You're still an apprentice with much to learn. Given everything in consideration, it could have been worse. Much worse."
Just then Nexa was brought before them in all of her reptilian glory, her scales glistening in the torchlight and her milky one eye staring into the distance. You called, your majesties?
"Men, you can leave now," Lord Stretton instructed.
The Aracs emptied the room, and the three were left alone. "But uncle, why have you called for Nexa?" Renen asked.
"Because now we have a problem. We can't use Cadri to fulfil the terms of the deal we've made with Fear. She's needed for the sacrifice to free the Dark Lords once we have all of the keys to their prisons. So we need the location of another chosen of the Ancients. She's the only one that can help us with that."
Your majesty already knows how these things work. Pitrious and I were only summoned for two purposes. We learned for his majesty that Cadri was chosen by the Ancients, and we have agreed to escort Cadri to the Island With No Parallel. If his majesty asks me of anything else...
"I know. You will ask for another price. I'm willing to accept that."
Nexa smiled and showed a huge line of black teeth. Then I am at your majesty's service. What do you require of me?
"I can't take any chances. I want to know the location of all of those that have been chosen by the Ancients."
Nexa's mouth twitched, in pleasure, almost. Quite a large order his majesty makes. How does his majesty intend upon paying such a request?
Lord Stretton considered it a moment. "I will send one of my own armies to set fire to an entire town of Ecencia."
Nexa made an odd squealing sound. The king sending his armies to kill his own citizens. How delicious. I accept your terms. But I will accept nothing less than 10 thousand deaths, you understand. Not any old small village, we're discussing.
"Of course."
Very well then. Anything else?
"No, you may go back with the Aracs that took you here."
As Nexa left, Lord Stretton caught the reaction that flashed across Renen's face. "There... won't be a problem, will there?"
Renen set his jaw, forcing his sister's words out of his mind. "No, of course not."
Back in her cell, Cadri knew she had to warn Yunara. She slipped off the silver ring she had on her finger. She went to the bars of her cell and looked around. No one was around. She kissed the silver ring, activating its power.
Suddenly she wasn't in the prison cell. She was standing beside Yunara, who was lying in bed, staring out the window.
"Yunara," she called.
Yunara jumped and turned over to see her. Her face portrayed confusion, shock, and relief all at once. "Princess Cadri!"
But Cadri's face was stern. "Yunara, listen very carefully. I don't know how much time I have before someone checks on me in my cell. There's been development."
--
Hmm... so Fear has changed his terms. What does this mean for the Chosen? Will Stretton get to them before they can be united? Give me your predictions in the comments and don't forget to vote!