Chapter 41: Dungeon Tales - 3

His eyes burned with revenge.

He was no longer looking at the objects or people around him. His eyes seemed like gazing beyond and far beyond. The paleness of his face turned from worse to worst as his state of mind started playing with him.

The clouds started moving in front of him as if they were being rearranged to shroud the mountains. The shape of a horse was formed atop the mountain in the distance. It looked like it was galloping ahead and there was a man who had perched atop the horse.

The sudden neighing sound that he had heard back at the palace ground, started echoing in his head.

"Arrggghhhhh....."

He yelled and his voice clearly reflected the torment that he was going through. The glass of wine that he was holding in his hand, took the toll of his anger. That thin stem of alloy couldn't stand his pressure and was succumbed into two. The remnant wine spilled on the floor and stained the carpet.

The sharp edge of the broken metal pierced the skin of his palm and made his blood rush out through the broken skin.

"Master!"

Whispered Diogenes, but scared of being scarred by his master, he retracted the rest of the sentence that was on the tip of his tongue.

Other members of the council looked at each other with eyes showing nothing but a restless fright within and then they looked at Diogenes, for they didn't know what was to be done next. Staying in the room meant facing the wrath of their master and leaving the room without his permission meant a disregard of his authority.

Either way, their fate was doomed so they decided to silently depart the room.

Having noticed a slight movement, he turned his head and saw them all departing the room noiselessly.

"Ungrateful cowards!" yelled Nubeous and threw the remains of the wine glass on to the wall. The only thing that could calm him now was the news of the whereabouts of the ingot. But he had to do something about the itch that his heart was dealing with.

Feeling restless, he decided to march towards Ambracia himself. His want for that ingot, his want for that supremacy was never this strong.

So along with an entourage of forty strong men, he galloped towards Ambracia. A part of him curious to know about the origin of the man who had almost pushed him on the verge of defeat.

He rode for hours at a stretch not even halting for once, not even allowing the horses to have a drop of water till he reached Ambracia village which looked like an eroded site.

The wrath of the fire and the merciless rain was evident.

Everything that had been burnt had been washed away. The only part which was still habituated was the area near the pond where the apothecary was treating the people along with the help of a few more villagers.

Seeing the entourage from the kingdom, the people from Ambracia scattered away in fear. Eva hid behind Nefeli, wrapping her fingers around the scarf that her mother had tied around her waist. Before the head soldier could announce the arrival of Master Nubeous in front of the villagers, he himself got down from his horse and walked towards one of the villagers who was lying on a piece of a rug as his legs had been badly burnt.

He knew perfectly that this man couldn't run, so he inched closer to him, enjoying the fear that was visible in his eyes and asked,

"Do you know who Morpheous is?"

Nefeli's heart skipped a beat as she heard the question and so did Eva's.

"Mother!" she whispered in fear. Her heart had already been agitated for long, as her bother had been away for several hours and there was no news about their whereabouts. A thousand soldiers more had arrived form the kingdom and they had already destroyed every inch of the remaining cropland. She had no idea, where her bother was, but Nefeli immediately turned back and covered her mouth with her palm. Every hair on her skin knew how ruthless that man was.

"Did you burn your tongue as well?" yelled Nubeous, uncomfortable with the spread of silence.

"Yes, I do!" echoed a frail yet undaunted voice.

Nubeous turned in the direction of the voice and found a female in her forties with a broken leg, looking in his direction. A crooked smile etched on his face as he had located the source for information.

"Who is he? Was he born here? Are his parents alive?" asked Nubeous looking in the direction of Iris.

"He is my son," said Leonidas and came forward bravely.

Nubeous scanned him from top to bottom and smirked, for he looked way too ordinary. 'A child of such a common man cannot be the chosen one,' he thought and relinquished the labor of his agony and turned consoled at once, unspeakably consoled for just the thought of inflicting pain on his father was enough to quench his revenge thirsty soul.

"Kneel!", he commanded and Leonidas obeyed. Nubeous's hand reached for the hilt of his words and seeing that Eva couldn't contain herself. She had lost him once and found him back with the mercy of God. She was not going to lose him again.

"Father!" yelled Eva and ran towards him and Nefeli followed after her, but before she could get hold of her daughter, she was already standing before Nubeous. She looked battered but her soul wasn't and in her eyes, Nubeous couldn't see even a hint of fear.

"My father is innocent. You have no right to punish him," she yelled.

She had that same fearlessness in her eyes as did Morpheous and that irked every ounce of his skin.

"Forgive her master. She is naive," said Nefeli and pulled Eva back before Nubeous could even frown but little did she know that his blood had already started to boil. He was so enraged that his pores started oozing out sweat, even though the downpour before, had calmed the heat.

He paused and wiped his forehead and pushed his hair back that had clung to his forehead, wet with perspiration. His eyes fixed on hers which burned with rage. And in the next moment, the arches on his temples were raised and so was the sword of death.