Rise of The Mortokai Read online

  ‘Is something wrong?’ Daniel asked.

  ‘What? No, no, no, nothing at all. Everything is just fine,’ Bertram replied, waving off Daniels inquiry.

  Daniel didn’t believe that for a second. He could see how flustered Bertram was, no matter what he said. And at least one over person noticed the major domo agitated state, a rather plump man in a rather garish green and yellow outfit.

  Applause accompanied them all the way to the top table, where the council of three and only the most important of guests would sit. Since the council always sat together it meant that Daniel and Finn would be seated apart. But Finn, ever the opportunist, saw this as the perfect moment to pull Daniel towards her and kiss him before they were separated, which garnered several hip-hoorays from the gathered crowd.

  ‘Just so you don’t forget me, while you’re sitting all the way over here,’ she whispered.

  Once the goddess and her consort had assumed their seating, a fanfare rang out signalling the arrival of the council of three at which point everyone stood up. From a door Daniel hadn’t noticed, until now, behind the top table, the three ruling royals of Almedia filed in and took their seats. The royal luncheon for the goddess and her consort could now begin.

  This celebration was a complete contrast to the one Daniel and Finn had attended the previous night; that one had been loud and rambunctious this one was far more sedate as you would expect in the presence of royalty.

  Daniel knew a little about the pomp and pageantry surrounding state visits from watching the news about the British royal family. And although this was more akin to what he would expect in a medieval kingdom as opposed to that of Elizabeth II, that knowledge still helped a little. Basically, he knew enough not to make a complete fool of himself.

  As he sat at the top table, he wished Finn were sitting next to him. Her confidence in herself and attitude of not giving a damn what people thought about her would be perfect for him right now. He felt a little self-conscious being the centre of attention but if he was with her then he could deflect some of that her way.

  He glanced down the table; Empress Xu ping was to his immediate left followed by King Ewynn then Chief Seydou and finally Finn, stuffing her face whilst cracking a joke with the chief.

  Daniel chuckled to himself. He had to admire her for being so ballsy. Secretly he wished he could be like her. In the few days he had been in Ariest he had become somewhat of an overnight sensation; rescuing the boy you were accused of killing and becoming the consort of the goddess would do that, but he didn’t crave the limelight. That’s for the Finn’s, Tristan’s of the world, he thought, and probably his dad back in the day. For Daniel however, it wasn’t that long ago that he would have been hiding and avoiding contact with people, being the centre of unwanted attention. He still was, to some extent, but the looks he got here were of admiration not the stares of curiosity he got back home.

  It may just have to be something I need to get used to, Daniel mulled over in his mind as he listened to the empress tell him stories about Gydion battling a Wyvern singlehanded and others about his dad, Eric Mondragon, saving her daughter, Princess Sun Siu Ping from a varg, the description of which sounded much like that of the Fenris wolf from Norse mythology to Daniel.

  ‘So, tell me, what great adventures has your father had in your world?’

  ‘Adventures? Well, he got married and they had me,’ chuckled Daniel, who instantly got embarrassed after seeing his joke drop like a lead balloon. He cleared his throat and began again. ‘Earth is a very different place to Ariest. Sure, some things might look familiar to you but they are things from our history. There are no quests to be had, no vargs, no princesses needing rescuing. No magic.’

  ‘And what of war?’ King Ewynn asked. ‘Surely a great warrior such as your father must be leading an army in some campaign.’

  ‘He’s a builder now. He builds houses, but he has seen the news reports about war. In my realm there is no glory in war. War is waged because of greed. They kill people because of commodities. Or they interfere with other countries politics. But there have been a few times the world has united to battle a common enemy, much like Ariest has done in the past, but every time it’s the innocents who suffer.’

  ‘And that’s where the glory can be had. It’s not by killing ten gnolls by yourself, it’s by defending a building full of the very young and the very old from ten gnolls. That’s where you show traits of your father, Daniel, and your mother. Both try to help those that can’t help themselves. And you have done the same. You are a credit to them. I’m sure they will be proud of you.’

  He hadn’t thought about his parents for some time, but the king was right, saving people is what they did. And when Daniel was put in a similar situation, he instinctively did exactly what they would have done, even if it meant saving someone that apparently hated him like Jimbo.

  As a child, you always hold your parents in high regard, put them on a pedestal. But to hear other people, people of such high standing, do the same, gave Daniel a huge sense of pride, but also trepidation. People would expect him to carry on building the legacy his dad left behind. Eric Mondragon may have retired but his presence would live on.

  The weight of expectation rested heavily on Daniel’s shoulders.

  Chapter Four

  ‘I can safely say, that without a doubt, that meal was fit for a goddess,’ Finn announced as she and Daniel, arm in arm, were led back to their rooms by Bertram and two guards. ‘Namely me!’ She concluded with a cheeky grin.

  Even though Daniel agreed with her, in that the whole experience was amazing, he could tell that something was still not right with Bertram. The way he creased his brow and slightly shook his head from time to time was a giveaway.

  ‘Come on, Bertram, I can see something’s on your mind.’

  ‘As the major-domo,’ Bertram relented, ‘I take pride in performing my duties well. It may be a small thing to others but to have a dignitary seated in the wrong place could be seen as a slight by the council.’

  ‘Do you mean that man in the brightly coloured clothes?’

  ‘Yes. That man is Prince Gillygon of Mionechinko.’

  ‘Really? Isn’t he supposed to be a handsome man?’

  ‘The most handsome of his people!’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘Anyway, a man such as he should be seated near the top table, as is the custom, to reflect his standing.’

  ‘So why was he sitting near the door?’

  ‘I have no idea.’

  ‘Surely, being a prince, he should know the proper protocol?’

  ‘Well, yes. And when I offered to have him moved to where he was supposed to be seated, he declined. He even left the luncheon early.’

  ‘That’s a bit odd,’ Daniel thought aloud.

  ‘And that’s even odder,’ Finn added as they rounded the corner and into the corridor their domiciles were located. ‘Isn’t that your room the prince is coming out of?’

  ‘And where is his escort?’

  ‘Oi!’ Daniel shouted.

  The prince stood stock still for a moment before he turned away from them and walked down the corridor in the opposite direction.

  ‘Oi!’ shouted Daniel again, louder this time.

  ‘Perhaps he’s lost,’ Bertram offered as an alternative, but when the prince seemed to pick up speed after Daniel tried to get his attention again, the major-domo had to conclude that Prince Gillygon was indeed up to some funny business and sent Daniel and Finn’s escorts after him.

  ‘Woohoo!’ There was no way Finn was going to miss out on the opportunity to see a royal get a beat down like a common criminal and she set off after them.

  ‘Finn! No, wait!’ An exasperated Daniel called as he reluctantly gave chase. He had the funny feeling that he might end up having to rein her in and to temper her exuberance which she, in the short time he had known her, tended to allow to run wild.

  She was fast, and the chubby Prince Gillygon was surprisingly just a
s fast. The group quickly pulled away from Daniel. They rounded corner after corner. Several times they disappeared from his view.

  Then her heard the scuffle of a fight getting louder as he neared another corridor, but the scene that revealed itself wasn’t what he was expecting. One of the guards was out cold slumped on the floor and the other was being flipped this way and that by Prince Gillygon.

  With the second guard unconscious, the prince turned his attention to the two youngsters.

  Daniel flashed a nervous smile as he eyed the unpredictable prince. Finn, however, had a wide grin on her face as she loosened her shoulders, settled into a stance and prepared to fight.

  ‘Give me the book,’ the prince demanded. ‘Give me the book and I won’t have to hurt you.’

  Daniel was a little taken aback by the prince’s voice; it was a lot higher than he was expecting. ‘What did you say?’ He asked after he had gathered himself

  ‘Give me the book King Noi of Murias City gave to you.’

  ‘You’re not getting anything, tubby,’ explained Finn, ‘except a beating from me!’

  Again, someone was after the Book of Azul, thought Daniel. First that Shadow Dancer and now this hooky prince. There had to be something about it. Something he had missed. He hadn’t believed it when King Noi had told him but maybe it really had been written by a god.

  And then a realisation came to him - he didn’t actually have the book!

  Everything had happened so quickly after he had been arrested and brought before the council of three; he’d been released, drafted into the Beltane games, fought and destroyed a Shade and become consort of the goddess.

  He hadn’t been back to his room at The Dirty Dog. And that’s where he had last seen the book, unguarded. He knew he had to get back as soon as possible he had been more than a little careless with someone else’s property and he had to be responsible now.

  Finn and Prince Gillygon circled each other. Every now and again they would throw a feint jab. It was the prince that made the first meaningful attack as he suddenly shot forward with a knee strike which caught Finn in the sternum.

  As the fight progressed, it was plain to see that the prince surprisingly had the upper hand in the speed and agility stakes whereas Finn won out when it came to tenacity and ferocity.

  Although Finn connected with several heavy blows, a headbutt to the bridge of the princes nose a particular highlight, on more than one occasion Daniel observed that the prince had his friend in a position where he could have seriously injured Finn thus ended the fight and made his escape. But each time he wouldn’t make the blow. He tried to but his arm would shake and strain, it was like something was holding him back.

  Daniel didn’t have the time to dwell on that however, as he watched Finn get slammed against the wall. He had to do something and although he was loath to do so, desperate times called for desperate measures.

  Daniel quickly searched his database-like memory for a suitable spell he’d read from the Book of Azul, then using what he’d learnt from Trinity, combined with that from Aradia, he began to cast the spell.

  To Daniel the whole process was like rubbing your stomach and patting your head whilst reading Dr Seuss. It took him several attempts to get the combination of hand gestures, magical incantation along with concentrating on the right Essence pool but finally Daniel cast the spell.

  A light blue bolt of frost shot from his hand in the direction of Prince Gillygon who amazingly evaded bolt after bolt with flips and somersaults. The prince however couldn’t dodge Daniel’s frost attacks and Finn’s shoulder charge at the same time blasted him against the opposite wall.

  With the prince momentarily stunned, and at his mercy, Daniel had no trouble hitting true with his spell this time. Several rings of ice clasped around the rotund prince, pinning his arms to his body and imprisoning him.

  ‘Now that’s what I call teamwork!’ A sweaty, slightly bruised and dishevelled Finn enthused. She threw her arms around Daniel. ‘That’s our first victory as a couple!’

  They held each other and bounced around, his enthusiasm at their win matched Finn’s. It was the first time that Daniel had intentionally used magic on his own and he was elated, he was sure that Trinity would be proud. A part of him couldn’t wait to tell her.

  At that moment, Bertram, no longer hearing the sound of battle, popped his head around the corner. He asked ‘is it over?’ Then he surveyed the damage that had been caused by the fight. His jaw dropped in disbelief.

  ‘Yeah, it’s over,’ Finn answered as she tried to make the most of what was left of her dress, and failing in the attempt. ‘Your prince put up quite a fight but he couldn’t take on the both of us.’

  Bertram was still stunned by the devastation before him as he looked over the torn drapes, broken pottery and patches of jagged ice everywhere. Once he’d taken a moment to make a painful mental inventory of the cost, he let them know what he’d discovered. ‘That is not the prince. We found him tied up and gagged in his room. He was not best pleased, as you could imagine, and there will no doubt be some recompense by the council to avoid an incident.’

  ‘So, if this isn’t the prince, who is it?’ Daniel was just as puzzled as the others.

  ‘Do not worry, we will find out in time. Guards, take him to the gaol.’

  The four armed palace guards who had arrived with Bertram advanced on the prisoner. All of a sudden, they came to a halt, as right before everyone’s eyes, the flesh of the imposter prince began to bubble and he started to groan in agony. His girth shrank as did his height, accompanied by the sound of bones snapping and cracking, which made Daniel cringe. The hair of the imposter grew longer and changed from brown to golden-blonde. Ears became pointed and ear-ringed. The painful groans of the peculiar male voice transformed into a distinctively feminine one. A red line tattoo appeared across her eye, down the left side of her small heart-shaped face.

  When the transformation ended, the same elven female Shadow Dancer that had tried to steal the Book of Azul at the Dirty Dog, stood before them, perspiring and breathing heavy from the exertions of her radical change.

  ‘Oh, oh!’ Exclaimed Daniel. The ice rings that he had been so proud about magicking up, were made for the much larger body of Prince Gillygon. With the Shadow Dancer returned to her true form, the rings simply fell to the floor.

  She smiled and stepped over them. Then all hell broke out.

  In one swift motion she pulled off the garish coloured clothes she wore as part of her disguise and threw them at the guards, which concealed her movements momentarily, more than enough time for her. With lightning fast kicks, in a matter of seconds, she had knocked out two guards, grabbed the spear shaft of a third and dragged him towards her before knocking him out with an open palm strike under the chin. The final guard thrusted with his spear, and immediately regretted it, as she easily parried it before battering him around the head.

  Then she turned her attention to the others, took the stance of a javelin thrower and aimed at Daniel. But again, she hesitated. She grimaced and clenched her teeth then her throwing arm began to shake. Her left hand was balled in a fist so tight her knuckles were white and Daniel could see the veins standing out along her arm. A tattoo of knotted thorn-vines swirled around it and the leather bodice she wore suggested the design covered the entire left side of her body.

  The Shadow Dancer assassin suddenly relaxed and after taking a couple deep breaths snapped the spear over her knee. She glared at Bertram, Daniel and finally Finn with her yellow-green catlike eyes. The major-domo shivered under her gaze. Then without warning she jumped through the window and was gone.

  Chapter Five

  It was a beautiful afternoon in Almedia. The suns shone high overhead and there was barely a cloud in the pink sky as the city was bustle with energy. The repairing of the buildings damaged in the conflict with the Shade had already begun, and life continued unabated.

  The work was being undertaken by the Ganygu Conglomerate, the
rich family company that made its doubloons from mining. Bad publicity a few decades ago, when several men turned up dead in one of their mines couldn’t stop their growth, and in recent years they had expanded into construction, winning contracts from long established constructors.

  Daniel looked on as he and Finn rode past, and saw all manner of beings at the worksite; Dwarfs, goblins, gremlins, ogres, pixies, leprechauns all working together with corporate banners that had a picture of a winking goblin with toothy grin that read “Ganygu, sounds like poo but we smell better than a Caribou!” all over the place.

  He turned to his left to point out the signs to Finn but she was too preoccupied with waving out of the carriage to her new fans to notice.

  When Daniel had told Bertram that this was the Shadow Dancer’s second attempt to steal the book and the fact that it was back at the Dirty Dog unattended, the major-domo had made a request to the council of three and they had granted Daniel and Finn permission to use one of their carriages to take them to the Dog and then deliver Finn’s new dresses to her home.

  Now making their way to the notorious tavern Having the goddess and the consort parading through the streets in an ostentatious horse drawn carriage was too much for some and they began to line the streets, first a few at a time and then more as the word spread.

  ‘This is awesome!’ Enthused Finn as she waved and lapped up the adulation. Some brave souls ran alongside the carriage and threw her paper and a quill wanting her signature, which she duly did, signing it “The Goddess”. Every now and then someone would call out for Eric Mondragon’s son or the Shade slayer but when Finn tried to get Daniel to “give the people what they want” he was reluctant to get involved.

  ‘Come on Daniel loosen up and enjoy the ride. It’s only going to be like this for a year. After the next Beltane festival, we’ll be back to being plain old Finn and Daniel; no more goddess or consort.’