***
Elba ran down one of the many passageways on her way out of the palace, running into debris that had toppled inside the halls, blocking various exits. Elba had to double back a number of times, though she did not run into many visreh, for they somehow wished to stay away from her whenever they felt her presence looming near them. The creatures would see her in the distance and would just smell her in the air as if she was made of a different substance than most of mankind, though she was just the same as everyone else, but not to the visreh; the instance they saw her, they would turn and flee with great fear.
Elsewhere in the palace, the king ran down one of the passageways with a slew of guards surrounding him. He had already tried to escape through several secret doors but had been unsuccessful in doing so, for the visreh had come and blocked his escape. Everywhere they turned to was infected by the vile creatures.
At last, they came to a corner and saw an opening to another passageway leading outside, but before they could advance, they were ambushed, not by the creatures, but by Drunen, who also had with him a small number of guards. At first they were so disoriented that they were prepared to fight each other, but once the prince realized it was his father, he ordered everyone to stand down.
“Where is Mother?” Drunen said.
“I’m afraid the Queen has fallen,” said King Dren. “Your mother, son, was consumed by these creatures. They attacked us during our sleep. A number of them fell on your mother, and I tried my best to get them off her, but some more came upon us and dragged me away. And they began to tear me apart until the guards came in and took care of them.” The king showed Drunen his wounds on his right arm and torso. “It was too late for your mother. After we got rid of all the ones that attacked her, she had already passed from this world.”
Drunen could not speak. He loved his mother very much, and a rage began to seep into his veins.
“Is your rage going to bring your beloved mother back?” said a voice in the shadows.
“What?” Drunen said as he looked around. “Who said that?!”
“I do apologize if my pets have been…hungry…of late,” Malasorta sneered, revealing herself to Drunen and the king.
“You!” Drunen said, raising his sword to her. “You did this! You brought these creatures into the palace. You’re responsible for all of this.”
“Yes, I am responsible for this,” Malasorta said, “and I will be responsible for so much more, including the death of your precious sun. I meant it when I said I would not leave without turning this land into a sunless land. Did you think me a liar?”
“Malasorta, you will die by my hands,” Drunen said, now in a much focused state.
“Lady of the Sunless Land,” the king said. “Your actions have brought ruin to my kingdom, and for that you will not leave my sight with breath still in you.”
“Be careful of what you wish for,” Malasorta said. And to comply with his request, she ceased to breathe. Drunen took a couple of steps back.
“Look, king!” cried Malasorta. “Not one breath, yet, I’m still here.” She began to cackle, as if the wildest bear had inherited the faculty of laughing. Her hair grew long, and her face turned black as death. Her arms elongated to twice their size, and her hands grew like those of a giant’s. She grew in height to well over eight feet tall, and her legs became ten times as muscular as those of a man.
“Malasorta,” the king said, horrified. “What have you become?!”
“The name is Mahlevenieh, old man,” the beast said. “Learn the name of the one who will send you into a sunless abyss.”
Seeing this horrible picture of a woman, Drunen lunged at the beast without hesitation. Mahlevenieh grabbed him by his sword’s blade, lifting him and laughing in his face. She threw him against the wall so hard that it knocked him unconscious.
“Son!” the king shouted as he rushed to his firstborn’s side, but before the king could shed any tears for Drunen, the beast came up behind him and grabbed his neck. She pulled him up to her, and she took one of her abnormal hands and thrust it into his chest, killing him instantly.
At the same time, a group of visreh had come upon them, and they sneaked up behind the lady beast. She threw the king on the floor. “Here, feed on royal blood,” the beast said. Mahlevenieh took the king’s crown off his body. “There are no kings in my land. Everyone is a sovereign!”
“Is that present for me?” the beastly child said, making his presence known in the midst of the shadows. Armored up in his blood-red metallic plates, he approached Mahlevenieh.
“Logrec, my nephew,” Mahlevenieh said, “how good of you to come. I do have a gift for you.”
Logrec took hold of the king’s crown. “Thank you, my lady. I will add it to my collection. Now, for the other prince…”
As the beastly boy made his approach towards Drunen, his helmet twitched, and the picture plate that covered his mouth moved, and a different picture moved in its place, that of a salivating mouth.
“My appetite grows for royal blood,” Logrec said as he bent over the prince. “You’re next, and then, of course, your precious Luca.”
“Your appetite is the true beast of the land,” said a voice coming from a distance.
Logrec and Mahlevenieh looked up and around the corridor in an attempt to spot the origin of the voice. Then, out of the darkness, Elba came into view.
“What is it that you said, old woman?” Mahlevenieh said.
“It was not me that said it, Queen of Vice,” Elba said.
“SHUT YOUR MOUTH!” Mahlevenieh shouted, clearly insulted by her words. “Don’t ever blaspheme in front of me again!”
“Oh, yes, I almost forgot,” Elba said, approaching them. “You’re not the true queen.”
“I’ll tear you apart!” Mahlevenieh roared, with the veins in her neck bulging like fattened snakes, and the beastly lady made a sudden move, as if she was beginning to lunge at the old woman, but quickly stopped dead on her tracks.
“Were you about to try something, imperfect beast?” Elba said, trying to work on the dark lady’s nerves. Mahlevenieh growled like a wild animal caught in a trap. “What do you see?”
Mahlevenieh’s eyes honed in on an object in the shadows. Logrec stood up and slowly backed away, ending up near Mahlevenieh.
“That can’t be,” Logrec said to the beast.
“What do you want, old woman?” Mahlevenieh said, backing away.
“Where is the boy’s mother?” Elba said.
Mahlevenieh smiled and scoffed. “What do you want with her?”
“The boy is to seek her out,” Elba said.
Mahlevenieh’s eyes grew immensely, and she pronounced her next words with pure passion. “GOOD LUCK.”
“Where is she, beast?!” Elba shouted, now approaching her. Mahlevenieh just snickered under her breath.
“ANSWER HER!” sprung out of the unseen, open air. Seconds later, a large hound, the same one that had saved Luca from the dastardly Nonio, revealed itself to the beast. This caused Mahlevenieh to cower and back up. “Near the end of the land,” said a hesitant Mahlevenieh. “That’s where she takes refuge.”
And just as those words leapt out of the beast’s tongue, Logrec managed to pick up a lantern that had been up in flames for a while, and he took a visreh and busted the lantern on top of its head, igniting it in flames. Next, he picked up the visreh with superhuman strength and threw it at Elba, which forced her to dive backwards and onto the floor. At the same time, the beast called upon a great dust storm to head over and ambush Elba and the hound. This gave Logrec just enough time to bust through the wall and jump out of the palace. Mahlevenieh followed, with both of them landing on the ground next to an immense pile of burning ashes.
Logrec spat at the earth, “I’m done with this palace.”
“Quickly, nephew,” Mahlevenieh said, “to the school.”
***