Traitorous Kin

A cold sweat broke out on Winthrey’s brow, as he desperately fought for his life. This was a side of Damutris he had never met before, a violent streak he had only been introduced to a few minutes previously when he had walked in on the bizarre ceremony. It was apparent that his uncle was enjoying this immensely, and all doubt that might have lingered in his system had now been cast aside as each second he got closer and closer to destroying his adversary.

Winthrey’s mind was working at a mile a minute, and all of his thoughts seemed to be bumping into each other, making them lose their coherence and become mindless gibberish. Each time a clear thought would form in his head, his uncle’s sword would meet his, and the clank would seem to spread his thinking to the wind, making it struggle to glue back together again.

In the end, it was the gigantic creature that saved Winthrey’s life. One moment Damutris was swinging away, spittle flying from his mouth, his eyes held in contempt at their one and only target, the next, he was up in the air in the thing’s mouth, a doomed man in the jaw of death. All of his men turned their heads up in shock to their fallen leader, and Winthrey recognized a distraction when he saw one.

He bolted for the exit, and raced up the stairs three or four at a time. Now, they seemed to spiral on and on all the way up to Heaven, and time stretched out into an unbearably long segment of space. When he reached the half way point of the stairwell, he heard the creature give out an unbearable shriek of agony, and then the sound of it falling to the ground. Right when he reached the door, he heard the last thing he had expected to hear, his uncle screaming his name.

" WINTHREY!" it yelled. " COME BACK HERE YOU COWARD!"

No, it couldn’t be. There was no way Damutris could have survived that creature’s attack. Winthrey had seen it eat the other man, its assault was ruthless and unforgiving. How could his uncle still be living after being in that thing’s mouth? The answer was simple, his uncle was no ordinary man.

Not staying around to find out for sure, he slammed the door behind him, and desperately looked for a way to block it from opening.

Nothing.

The hallway was bare of anything that could aid him in slowing down his enemies. He heard the sound of a single set of running feet making their way up the stairway. He turned around in terror towards the closed door. His uncle was inhuman anyway, so he doubted if anything he put there would stop him. So thinking, he fled for his life.

He had a thousand doors to choose from--he could run into any one of them and there was no way for his uncle to know which one--but he stopped at none of them. On and on he ran, not knowing where he was going, only knowing that he must go somewhere.

After his legs began to ache and his breathing became deep and laborious did he start to recognize where he was. By chance, he had stumbled into territory he was familiar with. Or perhaps his subconscious had led him there with out his knowing. The hallway where his room was laid only two turns away, and beyond that, his father’s chamber.