#phantom battle

This was worse. 

Worse than living in a run down hole in a crumbling building.

Worse than being caught the first time and being forced into the Cave of Wonders. 

You were tied, very tightly, to a chair. A chair set on the ledge of a balcony, right over the ocean. 

You were balanced for the moment, but you couldn’t tell for how long. 

“Ali of Abawbwa...or rather, Y/N.”

The vizier’s voice oozed from the shadows. 

‘Oh yes, this is the absolute worst scenario for me right now.’

You struggled harder against the ropes as you watched Phantom come towards you. 

His black and red robes were just as regal in this light as they had been in the desert sun. This regal appearance did nothing to improve the disdain and self importance etched into his face.

His hair was slicked into its perfect place, and his kohl rimmed eyes were hard, flickering only with hatred and contempt. 

You gave a small shake of your head, “You’re mistaking me for someone else. Release me and I won’t hold this against you.”

He stopped three steps before you. He raised his snake shaped staff and levelled its ruby eyes to yours, “Do not bother with your lies street rat. You are no royalty, it’s all a facade done up by the genie. My genie! Now tell me where the lamp is!”

You glanced back over your shoulder, and watched a massive wave crash down upon the cliff edge beneath you. 

From your little encounter in the cave, you knew you were dead regardless. 

Facing Phantom with as much courage your heart could muster, and with as much, if not more, contempt, you challenged back, “What lamp? There is no lamp. I am Ali from Abawbwa. And you’re going to be in so much trouble for this.”

Phantom shifted his hold on his staff to ensure he had a firm grip near the head. Lifting it he pressed the tip against your shoulder. 

“If you survive, I’ll know you have it for certain. If not…” He shrugged, “Then I will still have removed your annoying existence from my path.”

He shoved, and the chair tipped back. 

“No! No! Nooo!”

Your stomach dropped.

The air roared in your ears as you fell.

You spun, flipped and twisted with no means of controlling yourself. 

Your back erupted with pain, and the air was forced from your lungs as you hit the water. The force of it broke the chair, but that did little for your ability to swim with your hands bound together. 

The two men were apprehended and brought to the castle’s dungeons.

Upon receiving this news King Phantom abandoned the corpse, giving the guards instructions to dispose of it. He’d gather more information from a body able to speak.

One portal and ten steps, and he was in his dungeon.

The castle dungeon held the kingdom’s murderers, rapists, and arsonists. Rather than keep an entire building separate for these criminals, the King preferred to have them close at hand. For those days when he was feeling particularly bothered and needed someone to take his frustrations out on. 

It used to be he would do so without giving it a second thought, but after some nagging on his servant’s part, he would cast a truth spell on the scum first, and ascertain whether they were rightfully imprisoned.

It was fascinating to learn how many were genuinely the culprit, and how many of them were thrown in as a scapegoat for someone else, or had willingly taken the blame for a friend or family member.

His servant had given him another, more fun suggestion regarding his treatment of prisoners. 

When he found them innocent of their crime, he would make them watch what he did to true guilty criminals. Then he would release them, and encourage them to describe the event in full detail to anyone who would listen. 

As a result, the crime in his kingdom had dropped rather quickly. Many people had made requests to move from his kingdom. It was an enjoyable method of weeding out those that would pollute his land and cause him to listen to more complaints.

The cells held a handful of prisoners at the moment. Some had been around for a few months, and upon his arrival, immediately scurried to the back corner of their enclosure.

The guards in charge of the dungeons, for this shift, bowed and indicated the cell that their new captures had been thrown into.

Walking up to the bars, King Phantom’s brows rose as he saw the condition of the men. One had his arm in a sling, his lower lip was split, and his right eye was nearly swollen shut. The other had his hand bandaged, with purple fingers sticking out, his nose was broken in two places, and a nasty gash was visible on his cheek.

Looking over his shoulder at the guards he asked, “Put up a fight did they?”

The guards exchanged a quick glance with each other, then both gave the slightest shrug of their shoulders.

King Phantom was smirking as he tsked, “Naughty, you know they’re my toys to break.”

The men in the cells shifted, inching themselves further back. 

King Phantom breathed in deep and hummed in pleasure at the smell that reached him, “Afraid are you? Good. You should be. You two unfortunate miscreants are far out of your league. I’ve an idea of who you’re working for, but I’d love to know who you think you’re working for.”

He unfastened the ties to his cloak, and let it drop to the ground. He flicked his finger and the lock on the cell came undone. Pulling open the door, he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. A wave of his hand and all the torches in the dungeon extinguished themselves.

One of the men whimpered. 

A pair of blazing, inhuman, ruby irises peered down at them.

Then, they were both screaming.

*~*~

A woman’s screams ripped you from your sleep.

Irritated, rather than alarmed (screams weren’t uncommon in this castle) you got out of your bed and shuffled over to your bedroom door.

“I swear, if they’ve hired someone new and not given her the proper warning about his Majesty’s transformations, I will skin some people.” 

Opening your door, you peered out and immediately had to duck back inside, avoiding being hit as a man was sent flying past you.

Peaking around the door frame, you felt your stomach clench. The man was dead, three daggers were clustered into his chest right where his heart was.

Looking down the hall in the other direction, you wished more than anything, that you had a means of speaking to the King from any amount of distance. 

At the far end of the hall, a man was single handedly holding his own against four of the guards. He was blocking, parrying, and just….dancing, around them, all while landing lethal hits with his mace. His mace which was drenched in blood, sending spray and splatter onto the walls and floor with each swing.

Going back into your room, you slipped on your boots and grabbed your cloak. You couldn’t stay in your room and just wait for the mad man to continue on his merry way with his slaughtering. 

You cautiously peaked around the frame once more, and nearly succumbed to the instinct to just lock yourself inside your room. The man had brought down two more of the guards and was making quick work of the last two.

‘Where is our fire breathing King when you need him?’ 

You took off down the hall, sending a silent prayer to the Gods for the souls of the guards that were being slain. 

“Yoo hoo! Little servant? Where are you going?! I’d like to have an evening stroll with you!”

The stones of the hall carried the man’s voice to you. The hairs on the back of your neck tingled, as he sounded far too jovial. More concerning, was that he was here, slaughtering people, people that you knew and cared about, because he was after you.

Rounding the corner, you spotted two more guards ushering the servants to the servant’s passage. 

“He’s coming! Go with the servants! We need to get word to the King, now!” You’d never given yourself heirs, you’d never presumed to think you could give others orders just because of your station. Yet there was no time to consider these things. You yelled these orders at the top of your lungs all while you continued to sprint down the hall.

The guards didn’t hesitate to obey. Once the last of the servants fled down the passage, they followed after. 

You continued past the servant’s passage, keeping to the main hall. No one else needed to die if you could keep this unhinged man on your tail.

Practice from being by the King’s side, or sheer luck, sent a shiver down your spine, urging you to duck. 

A dagger flew over your head and into the tapestry on the wall ahead of you. 

“Oh goodie! If you hadn’t moved, I would have been in a lot of trouble ~”

He was closer than you’d anticipated him to be. Did he have magic to move him faster?

Part of you wanted to stay where you were, and confront the man dressed in such gaudy clothes. The smarter, larger part of your brain, kept you running.

~*~*~*

King Phantom gave the blood on his hand an experimental lick, and cringed, “The amount of salt you humans consume is disgusting.”

The two men had given him everything he needed, and in record time. 

Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped the rest from his hands as he walked towards the door, “Send for the grave keepers to clean this up.”

Another guard, sweaty and breathing hard, toppled through the door, “Your...Majesty, an intruder! In the servant’s wing, he..he’s slaughtering our men, their armor does nothing to protect them!”

King Phantom paused mid-wipe, his mind latching onto the location of the intruder.

The handkerchief burst into flames and crumbled to ashes, “Where is my servant?”

The guard paled, “Th-they sent me to find you, your Majesty.”

“You ....left, my servant? Just left them, with the intruder, who is able to cut through armored guards without any effort?” with each word, King Phantom advanced on the guard, his pupils narrowing into slits.

The guard could only drop to his knees, and bow his head, “They ordered me and another to get the others to safety, Your Majesty! I was obeying their order, as you’d ordered us to do Majesty.”

A touch of ruby energy ebbed from the corner of King Phantom’s mouth as he glared down at the stupid human.

Unfortunately, the imbecile had done as ordered on both counts. Five months ago, out of sheer boredom, King Phantom had given the secret, ironclad ruling, that his servant’s orders were to be obeyed as if they were his own. It was a game to himself, to see if his servant ever noticed. He hadn’t anticipated that his servant would never take such liberties as giving orders on their own.

Of course the one time that they do, it puts their life into jeopardy.

“I will deal with you later. Lock him in the cell!” He snapped this to the two guards behind him.

First he had to go kill this intruder, then he would deal with the idiot.

*~*~*~*

Remus was having the time of his life.

He got to vent out his 'happy' on the guards, and the servants were an absolute joy to send scurrying like mice. 

Then here was his target, lovely little servant that they were, they were doing quite well at dodging his daggers. Contrary to popular belief, Remus isn’t so silly, as to not collect his daggers on the go.

They were beginning to slow down, which was to be expected after running for a solid four minutes without a break. 

‘Stop messing around and bring me the servant!’

Remus’s mustache drooped, disheartened to have his fun cut short. “Party pooper.” He muttered, knowing perfectly well that the spying spell placed on him would allow her Highney to hear this.

“Little Servant ~ We can’t keep playing anymore I’m afraid, but not to worry! I’ll be ever so gentle with you ~” 

Remus lifted his mace and gave it a twist. The mace shrank and reformed, changing into a ripple edged dagger. 

His enchanted boots responded to his will, and sent him dashing faster than he had been. 

He caught up to the servant right as they tried to turn a corner that lead down a set of stairs. His arm went around their waist, and with a tiny flick, he cut an itty bitty line on the back of their wrist. His enchanted weapon had just slipped a potent sleep spell into their bloodstream.

His hold tightened as the fight went out of them, and they began to fall asleep.

A soft, “Majesty” whispering out on their last conscious breath.

“Release my servant at once.”

Remus’ mouth popped into an “Oh” as he looked down to the base of the stairs.

A rather handsome chap was advancing, a ruby aura of power ebbing from his body. His voice had been deep, gurtual, ancient. 

Not scared in the least, Remus dipped and scooped up the servant’s legs to hold them in a princess carry.

“Sorry, Scrumptious Highney, but I’m on delivery duty. And your adorable little friend here is the package. TA TA!” 

Knowing it was there, Remus took a step backwards, through the golden rimmed portal.