It was difficult to truly tell anything about the room. But that might have been for the best, for even if you could've seen the room, there wasn't much to tell. It was big, it was dark, with thirty or so people sitting around one giant table. Arguing.
And, from the sounds of it, this was far from the first time.
"We move NOW!" Cried a large man with horns protruding from his cheeks.
Only one spot at the table was vacated. But, for some reason, everyone kept glancing at it anxiously, as if at any second, it would be filled. And they did not want whoever it was, to intrude on this conversation.
"You forget one thing, Clift," said an overweight man in a large chair. "We don't have Dare,"
"We don't need Dare," scoffed a teenage boy with a sleeve of tattoos. "My father would just as well take his place, Boss,"
Boss glared at him "Your input is duly noted Jake, but it's not Dare's presence that is required. It is his knowledge. After three years of fighting by Skelitin's side, he knows the boy better than any of us,"
"Dare had his chance," a teenager at the other end of the table announced. "Eighty years ago! And we've been stuck here waiting for him ever since. We had Scary and him on the run since the beginning. We don't need the extra wait,"
It was Ty, the merciless bodyguard, and go-to hitman for the ruthless killer in the seat before him: a nine year old with dead eyes, and dark pigtails. Katherine Black.
"What about Match, and Stitches?" Insisted a wizard at the far end. A frail dame by the name of Ava. "They were fantastic at tracking and neutralizing Da-"
"What is this?" A whisper cut through every voice in the room, followed by an intense silence. The voice was so quiet that he barely produced an echo, but bloodthirst and death were etched in every corner of it.
Nobody had noticed a large figure appear beside the largest chair at the head of the table.
Even Boss averted his gaze. He glanced at the red haired girl to his right, and motioned that she do the same.
Everything froze as the newcomer surveyed the scene. Even the clock seemed to tick softer than usual. He pulled his chair back with a deafening scrape, and sat down. But his form was intimidating all the same.
He scanned the table. "Go ahead. Tell me," he hissed quietly.
"We were just thinking-" Clift began.
"We?" Boss coughed.
"Some of us were thinking," Clift corrected himself, shooting a glare at Boss. "That it might be for the best if we moved forward without Dare,"
"Is that so?" The man asked. He seemed to debate this idea, tracing the rim of his glass with his finger. "Stand up if you agree with this... adjustment of our plans,"
Clift rose out of his seat. But when nobody followed his lead, a panicked look entered his eye. "I-It was mostly Red's idea,"
Boss put his hand protectively across the girl's chest. "My daughter had nothing to do with this, you cowardly bucket of scum!"
"I'm running out of patience," their leader hummed, tapping his foot under the table.
"Well, do we really need to wait another thirty or forty years for the Child of Stone the set Skelitin free, just so that we can hunt him down again?" Clift demanded. "Or can we just find Skelitin and put an end to him while he's immobile?"
"What's my name?" The man asked.
"S-sir?"
"What... is my name?" He repeated. "I won't ask you again,"
YOU ARE READING
The Skelitin Saga: Volume One
FantasyWhen he was younger, Grayson Ritcher had been searching for something that didn't exist. Something from his favorite childhood book. A fragment of someone's imagination. The statues of two wizards, frozen in time, mid-duel. He never thought that he'...
