Chereads / A Time for Redemption / Chapter 13 - Run

Chapter 13 - Run

The queen of Eternity sat upon her throne as the prisoner was brought in, the same man that had won it for her. His red beard hung down to his barrel chest, fire red hair hanging below his shoulders, swaying with each step. Chains of Cold Iron clanking, weighing down his arms and feet, he needed no guard to walk with him yet he had one on either side in suits of dark steel bearing Halberds. Once he reached the base of the steps to the throne the guards take a step back and he falls to his knees with his head bowed. A wave of her hand and the chains disappear, it pained her that he had to be like this, not at her side, like she wanted him to be.

"Well my love here I am, upon the throne you promised me so long ago. Do you know why you are here?" "I was arrested for walking through a door that I didn't even know existed." "Do you know where it came from?" " I used my ethereal arm to rip your mother's soul to shreds. She threatened you, she threatened our children, she had just killed your father. Her own husband she slaughtered simply because he loved you and approved of our marriage instead of being spiteful like she was." His anger was rising and he stood to his feet ready to take the steps up to the throne. "There it is, the anger of the red wolves" the queen said with a smile on her face. "I had to know it was you, I'm sorry for my manipulation. No one knows what comes out of those doors, if anything at all. After you foolishly fought Nero alone, all of Eternity thought they had lost their prince forever. I have a gift for you, Selene step forward." Out of the darkness step a young woman with fire red hair, cut just below the ears, eyes as green as grass, with a petite strong build wearing a white dress that just touched the marble floor and a tear rolling down each cheek. " Father?" she whispered just loud enough for him to hear. The look of sadness and joy were unmistakable on both their faces, and he could only nod. She sprinted toward him and threw her arms around him and she whispered in his ear "I missed you", "I missed you sweet girl" he whispered back. As the queen lifted her hand others appeared from the crowd and he greeted them all by name. "Malak, Grom, Lukus, Lilla, Marraha, Axiom...." hugging them all and exchanging tearful smiles and laughs of joy. After he had been reunited with all his children the queen finally spoke. " Do you remember the day you left to fight Nero, the important thing I had to tell you, there is one more you need to meet." " Then let them come and I would greet them the same". He said with a smile on his face. " She wishes to see your true form and judge you for herself." The smile didn't fade as his form became The Red Wolf, large enough that the queen on top of her twelve steps would be within easy reach. He pounded the marble floor hard enough to leave an indentation of his paw in it and making a crack from the throne steps all the way to the door he entered in. Then he snarled and gnashed his teeth toward the throne. The queen only smiled as a white wolf, nearly as tall as her chair, sprung from behind it and stopped at the edge of the top step and snarled and gnashed her teeth back. The Red Wolf jerked his head back, he thought it a trick, he knew where his brother was, yet this was not his brother. He began to sniff the air around her, then her face, then he looked her over and seen it, a bit of red fur in her tail and a spider mark on her leg. The White Wolf began to sniff his close head back before letting out an ear splitting howl, forcing everyone else to empty the throne room, leaving only three. He became more joyous now, sitting on his hind legs let out a howl of his own, marvelous and terrifying, deep and loud. After he finished, he stood back up and the wolves pressed their heads together and hugged, as wolves do. In an instant she sat on his leg and arms around his neck, and he sat upon the steps, his arms around a raven haired girl. The queen smiled, descended the steps and sat beside them "Our family is now whole" she whispered. He looked at her and her hands fell to both sides of his face and she pulled it in then pressed their lips together. " I will never be that foolish again" he whispered and she kissed his lips again and put her arms around them both.

"That's a nice memory" Adum said as he opened his eyes to see that his own arms and legs had been bound with chains. ' I have been able to completely fix our body, the clothes however, well we might need new ones.' Adum chuckled when he looked at his leg and saw the hole in his pants where his wound had been. He then looked over at Mykel who was asleep or passed out, or maybe he had been knocked out since the white light. 'Is anything wrong with him' Adum asked in his mind ' No, he just isn't used to using he power yet' the Red Wolf responded. " So how do we get out of here then?" Adum asked looking around. They were in the back of a military vehicle, benches on each side everything painted the same dull green and a canvas covering. The entire vehicle bounced and he nearly fell forward, then he saw where he was chained. The chains around his arms and legs where wrapped several times and a lock used to keep them from falling off, and a second chain leading to a metal loop, bolted to the floor. He reached down and pulled the loop from the floor then broke each chain to it. "Easy enough" he said, there was another bounce, this time he did fall forward and he landed on his face, making a loud noise. The vehicle then grinded to a halt, and he crept to the back to see what was happening. There was a lot of shouting and gun fire, he could make out Rigne's voice and what he thought was growling. He peered out of the back and saw creatures with boney spines, long clawed hands, and green skin that looked as if it was slimy eating and killing and eating everyone. "Adum, we must find Rigne, he have to help them" the Red Wolf said as he pulled Adum back into his mind. "Very well go", then Erikk jumped to the front of their mind as Adum climbed to the back and their body hopped out of the vehicle, nearly falling down due to the bound limbs. He frantically began searching for the General, spotting him only a dozen meters away, began to hop as fast as he could toward him. Rigne looked in their direction somewhat confused, then Erikk answered "no time to explain, I can help release me". He hesitated for a moment listening to the cries of his dying men before reaching into his pocket and produced a key. After releasing his arms one of the creatures jumped on Rigne and he began struggling with it, leaving the key in the lock that Erikk used to unlock his legs then stuck the key in his pocket. The creature nearly snapped Rigne's face, then Erikk used a hand and crushed its neck and threw it to the side before offering a hand and helping Rigne to his feet. " Thank you" he said and picked a rifle up and offered it to Erikk. In response he flipped his arm down and his blade fell out like a switch blade. He nodded his head in approval before saying "now go help my men", Erikk smiled and rushed to the first monster he could find and slashed it several times before in fell down dead. Rigne rushed to the front of the convoy and began giving orders and firing on the creatures. Erikk had killed several of the creatures when he saw a dark steel figure with deep red eyes fighting a couple of the creatures on its own. Erikk smiled and rushed toward it and slashed the nearest of them until it cried out in pain and fell over dead. The figure looked at him and said "I'm not here to fight you this time, only to bring him home and as many of these men as we can save" the figure nodded toward Rigne, who was shouting and firing his rifle to the sound of his men dying. "Cassandra, then I am here to help this time" Erikk responded before nodding and heading toward the truck that Mykel was still chained in and Cassandra rushed toward Rigne. He hopped back in the truck to see the boy was now awake and looking around. "What's going on" he asked frightened, "No time to explain" Erikk responded, unlocking the boy's chains. Then threw him over his shoulder, hopped out of the truck and rushed toward Rigne. The monsters seemed to be winning as what remained of his men had rallied around their general. Not even their best efforts seemed to have any effect as the monsters surrounded what was left, Cassandra and Erikk pushed out as the circle around Rigne shrank smaller and smaller. Rigne grabbed the pendent beneath his shirt and closed his eyes to say a prayer. Before he could start the monsters began to scream out and their numbers seem to dwindle from out side the circle. He opened his eyes and saw a massive white wolf and a giant black widow had flanked the monsters and little by little their numbers dwindled faster and faster. He smiled and with renewed vigor commanded his men to push back harder, and they did, killing the creatures faster and faster, until only a few remained. The remaining monsters fled leaving only 200 or so of his men left, so he didn't give the order to give chase. He did look in the direction he saw the giant black widow, but he only saw a young woman with red hair, cut short just below the ears. Wearing silvered armor, and wielding a spear and a shield, he walked to her and knelt at her feet and bowed his head. She responded by placing the head of her spear beneath his chin and lifting his head. She looked at him oddly before saying "you are the one who wears my mother's symbol?". He only nodded, then she abruptly dropped the spear head into the sand and looked at Adum, who had his arm raised, petting the chin of the massive white wolf. She looked perplexed until he also looked at her, then she smiled and said "Father", "Hello sweet girl" he said smiling.

Moto had been running so long, luckily they had come upon a vehicle that he Mary and Emma jumped into and he pushed the car as fast as it would go. The monsters had not yet reached the capital, because he was behind them speeding toward a group of them. He estimated they were about twenty miles or less from the capital, and he was gaining on the running pack of monsters. He was nearly close enough to run one of them over, then they jumped out of the way and stopped. In response he slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a skidding halt. Mary and Emma jumped out along with Moto, until he realized he had no weapon. The sun had begun to rise, however had not yet crept above the horizon. He looked around for a weapon but, could only find a rock, that he threw at the now charging monsters, not even coming close. Emma and Mary used their guns and brought a couple of them down. Moto kept throwing rocks at the monsters, doing no damage. The monsters where only 60 meters away then Mary looked at him with her faceless head and said "Father run!". He answered by saying " I will not leave you, not again". It was when Emma said without looking " Your Grace, the capital needs its president, now go! You can do nothing here but die, we will hold them off." Moto looked around in desperation and saying, "I love you both, come back when you are done." He then climbed back into the car and sped off toward the capital with a tear streaming down his cheek, as Emma and Mary held the monsters back, for as long as they could.