"It is not Sarcos!"Sienna said and tried to wiggle out of Aiden's embrace.
The king tightened his arm around her waist even more."What do you mean?"
"I will tell you what I know if you talk to me first," she said.
The king let her go. Sienna stood in the dark and listened to the dimmed voices. The eagle warriors were moving around her. They could see well in darkness. Suddenly a light of a small fire illuminated the rocky walls. Sienna found out, that they are in a decorated grotto with colourful but a bit primitive-looking paintings on the walls. She stood in the corner and watched the eagle warriors move around quietly. They sometimes muttered something dimly, but she couldn't understand what.
Aiden came to her with a confident smile, he gave her a soft silky cushion to sit on."Tell me everything little tigress." he sat opposite to her on another cushion and stared at her with his ruby red eyes.
"Are you Sarcos friend? "she asked him curiously.
"The best one, " dark eagle smiled." We grow up together as cousins. I took you because I noticed something is wrong with him."He smiled gently.
" You are right! I need help to bring him back." Sienna nodded with tearful eyes. She told Aiden about how immortal took over Sarcos's body and she is waiting for him to come back. The Dark Eagle King's eyes lit up. "No worry my lite tigress, I will free Sarcos. I will kill his body and end his suffering!" Aiden smiled sneakily.
Sienna bit her lips." I'm busted, he is not Sarcos's friend." She thought and shook her head."You can't do that! What if the immortal takes over you instead?"She tried to reason with him.
Aiden nodded."You are right, I will make my plans. How is that possible? Haha, the mighty Sarcos lost his own body?"
"Please, do not laugh at the unfortunate," she whispered.
" Why is it so?" he looked at her curiously.
"I have to sleep with the body of my mate, with his shell, which is taken by the immortal, who treats me as his slave," Sienna whispered.
Aiden looked at her curiously. "How strong Sarcos could lose like this?"
"He sacrificed himself. As long as an immortal is in his body, he can not hurt me, as I bear his mark."Sienna tightened her lips."Sarcos knew he wanted to mate with me and I would not stand spiders. So he let him use his body instead."
Aiden stopped laughing."Did Sarcos love her this much." he thought and started to feel envy for the Scorpion King. "He must be immensely strong to do this." Aiden nodded his head.
"But why will anyone want to hurt you?" he lifted the strand of her golden hair." You are exquisite," he said. Sienna just smiled sadly.
Aiden looked kindly at her."You surely must go thru a lot lately. Rest for now. You will be staying in my castle to keep safe. I will destroy Sand City and take over. Then he would not be king anymore and you be free of him!"Aiden said with a gentle smile and Sienna knew she is in big trouble.
"But please, I don't want so many innocent people to die because of me."Sienna cried out pleadingly.
"It is not because of you. I wanted to do it for a long time. I despise scorpions. They should be wiped out. Sand City is full of gold and treasures. I like that. I want to create the biggest army in this world! I was just waiting for Sarcos to be weaker. Now is the right time." He smiled.
Sienna's face went pale." He wants to destroy Sand City." she thought in shock and stared at him like in a bad dream. Aiden saw her bloodless face and chuckled."You are so pale, are you scared of me?"
"You said you are Sarcos's friend! You fooled me!"Sienna's voice sounded desperate.
"I'm his friend. I will do him last favour and take care of his beautiful queen."Aiden smiled cheekily and ran his finger on her soft cheek.
Sienna shivered in cold."Ahh, you are cold," Aidan smiled and covered her with his cape. It was made of silver wolf fur and black silk from another side. It smelled like blood and forest.
"Thank you."Sienna hugged it because she felt freezing. Aiden's words made her shiver to the bottom of her heart.
Aidan smiled at her." Have a little rest, we will be spending the night here. Come, "he led Sienna to the quilt inside the far corner of the grotto."You can sleep here. I will be next to you, so you have nothing to worry about."He said reassuringly.
Sienna lay down as she was told and felt the tears going down her cheeks. She missed Sharchan and Tyrell and worried about Sarcos and Adenou. They shared one body after all. She needed to run fast and warn them. She tried to pinch Sharchan's and Tyrell's marks secretly. Maybe it will help her to call them. She hoped Sharchan could take on the Dark Eagle King.
Aiden saw her tearful face. He curled his lips and lay down next to her on his side."Don't be sad."He smeared her tears with his fingers. It is the law of this land. The strongest rules!"He said darkly.
Sienna bit her lips. Aiden looked into her blue eyes. She surely looked alluring when she cried."Come here, my little tearful tigress."He propped his body closer to her and put her head on his hard chest. Sienna was scared to move away, so she just closed her eyes. She did not feel uncomfortable near him and his muscular body made her feel warmer. She had a similar feeling near Voltoire." Probably it is the bird warriors thing." she thought and pretended to fall asleep till she was asleep for real. The pictures from the day were running in front of her eyes, Adenou, Ziran's warning voice, her wild dance, and Aiden's ruby red eyes.
Aiden could hear her frantic heartbeat and noticed when she was asleep for real. He smiled."She is like a cute little tigress." he thought. He was excited to know her more. He played with a strand of her golden hair in the dark and thought about how to take over the Sand City.
Sharchan felt the hard flinch in his heart. He looked at Tyrell."Did you feel it too?"Tyrell nodded."Go to Sand City and talk to Lord Ziran."
"Sienna is not there!" Sharchan shook his head."Write to Adenou. I'm going after her. "Tyrell nodded. Sharchan went out of Crystal City and changed into a huge snake. Then he slithered fast to the far away mountains.
Adenou was running around the castle like a headless chicken. Sienna was gone and he felt humiliated and insecure. He felt like someone stole his heart from his chest. The pain in his scorpion body was unbearable. He went to see Rem. Rem was already holding Tyrell's letter. "Sharchan went after the queen already," he noted to his new king. I instructed the generals too, my king, "Rem bowed. "They are getting men to depart tonight. Lord Ziran will lead them."
"Why him?" Adenou went a bit jealous.
"The tigers fight eagles better than scorpions. Lord Ziran is the strongest warrior here apart from you and king Sharchan. He is also excellent at scent tracking.
But the best one to fight with the eagles is king Sharchan. Please, give him some time, he is very capable, I'm sure we hear the news of the queen shortly."
"Well, should I not go to get my queen back? Get me a Voltoire and ready my army. I will lead them."Adenou furrowed his brows.
"My king, I have intel about dark eagle attacking Sand City. Most of the army needs to stay here."Rem bowed."I think King Aiden took the queen to lure you out of the Sand City, so he can attack it and take over. You are the only one who can stop them. The eagles can pick on scorpions quite easily. If you go, Sand City will be lost."Rem said seriously.
"Why do you think I should care about a scorpion's city?" Adenou shook his head.
"If your city is lost, you cease to be king and can't claim the queen anymore!" Rem played the triumph card. Adenou bit his lips." Did you not tell me Aiden was Sarcos's friend?"
Rem nodded," He must notice your eyes and that you do act differently. He is trying to use your weakness. If I did not learn of his plans to attack the city, I will say he was thinking your queen is a present to him, because you left the room without her!" Rem's eyes were in the angry fire.
Adenou furrowed his brows."Yes, it must surely look like that. I passed my queen with no notice. It looked like I did not want her. Why I did not pick her up?"His brain was raging.
"Will Aiden hurt her?" Adenou asked Rem worriedly.
"No, king Aiden is not rough with females. I think he will keep the queen or want a ransom. And I'm sure he will not try to eat her as you eighter!"Rem said between his teeth.
"That was Thurssa's spider, it went out of control."Adenou nodded a bit uncomfortably. It looked like young Rem is telling him off for not caring about a queen enough.
"Write Aiden an offer for ransom. Four big chests of gold." Adenou sighed."This was so frustrating. His queen was gone and he had to stay behind to guard the city." I give Sharchan four days to bring her back."Adenou said. "That was how long it took Sarcos to save her from me. We see if he is so capable."He went down to Sarcos's laboratory and started writing poems to ease his troubled heart. Now he understood what Sarcos went thru and he did not like the feeling.
"My heart was stolen from my chest on that faithful evening. I plan my revenge slowly but have to hold you in my arms first.
How much I miss you in my arms, to feel your body next to mine, to touch your golden hair and kiss your pink lips, to stare inside your blue eyes."
Adenou could not concentrate on writing, so he went to read some poetry till he fell asleep. At night Sarcos as a black scorpion went berserk with anger. He knew Aiden will not hurt Sienna, but was angry Adenou did not pick her up. He was trying to manipulate his body in secret, but it was not working well, because Adenou did not listen on purpose.
Sarcos took his men to hunt. He wished to have a spare body for Adenou to beat him to mush. "Eat much as you can, the eagles will be back soon," he said to his men. He ordered to install more bird traps all over the city and got defences ready.
"Write a letter for ransom to Aiden, 12 chests of gold," he said to Rem.
"I have already written one letter for four chests with your name," Rem bowed.
"Scrooge."Sarcos scoffed. "Write under some other name then."
"Who?" Rem asked. "Tyrell and Sharchan surely sent letters too."
"Ahh!" said Sarcos," Just write under my name and put double big S at the signature." Rem nodded and went to write another letter.
In the morning Aiden woke up Sienna, "Get ready little tigress, we need to go." "Good morning, "Sienna smiled gently. She stood up and saw the grotto is high up inside the rocky mountain.
"Can you let me out, I need to refresh myself, please?" Sienna asked politely. Aiden nodded and send one warrior with her. It was an older and a bit grumpy eagle with a shaved head and only in the middle, he had a stripe of standing hair. Like a mohawk. He took Sienna down.
"Can you please turn around?" Sienna asked as she wanted to go inside the river, which flowed under the mountain." No," he said grumpily. Sienna sighed and left her underwear on as she went for a bath. He was watching her like an eagle he was and it stressed her out. She manage to kind of half hide herself to go toilet and then she had a little swim in the cold water.
She saw she have no chance to run from Aiden. They were watching her and they could fly. It looked like she will have to go back with them. Sienna sighed and decided to stall a bit. "Come out now!"Aiden was staring at her too.
Sienna went out with an innocent smile. The wet underwear was revealing her curves. Almost everything was visible for a moment. The Dark Eagle King licked his full lips. She looked like a tasty dessert. Sienna carefully put on her dress and took the wet things off. She squeezed the water out of them and made a tiny packet.
Aiden tied her on another eagle's back and they went high to the sky. The hot air and fast wind dried Sienna's hair fast. She watched the sky above and imagined the animals from the shape of clouds. They were flying for a long time, but as the hottest sun passed at noon, they landed at the stony castle high up in the steep rocks.