Elvis of Dragonhaven

Chapter 5 Promise

Rose woke up in a very dark room. "Elvis?" She moaned. "Where are you, Elvis?" She felt around the room with her hands and found a candle and a box of matches. She lit the candle and saw that Elvis was still asleep on the floor. She sighed in relief. "Wait. But where's Ratchet and Ash?" She worried. She worried even more when she noticed Elvis was crying and moaning in his sleep. "Elvis," she knelt down and gently shook him awake. "Are you okay?" She asked quietly, "Why are you crying?" Elvis hugged her and sobbed into her chest. Rose was a little surprised but she tried not to let it show. "What's wrong, baby boy?" She asked patting his back. "I-I dreamed about M-Mama," Elvis sobbed. Rose guessed that his mother was dead, but she didn't say anything. Elvis tried to explain what happened to her, but his sobbing and sniffling made his speech incoherent. Rose rocked him gently and rubbed his back. Elvis fiddled with her hair like he used to do with his mother. "It's okay. I'm here. Shh." "Don't leave me. I need you," he gripped her tight, shaking. Rose was shocked. No one had ever said that to her before. Her mother died in childbirth and her father left her when she was 13, thinking she could take care of herself. She had thought that no one needed her. "I'll never leave you, my darling," she promised.

After Elvis had calmed down, they looked for a way to escape. The room they were in had no furniture, only a little table in the corner with the candle and the matchbox. There was a door that had a number pad on the wall next to it. "Hm. Looks like we need to break some kind of code," Rose crossed her arms, thinking. "There's a note on the floor," Elvis stooped down to pick it up. It was a poem that read,

"3 strikes and you're out,

3 strikes and you die.

I have no doubt

That this is where you say good bye!"

"Well, that doesn't help much," Rose scoffed. "We only have three chances to get it right," Elvis crumpled up the paper and tossed it on the ground. "Let's look around for clues," Rose said. They looked around. There weren't any writings on the wall or the floor. Elvis picked up the matchbox. He opened it and dumped the matches out, revealing the code inside. "I found it! It's 9827," He showed it to Rose and she typed it in. The door opened and a man with a knife walked in. He was a big buff guy, much taller than Rose, dressed in a black cloak with the hood covering his face. His arm was bleeding, he had been stabbed by something.

"Hey, there, pretty lady," the man giggled. "You stay away from her," Elvis drew out his sword. The man picked Elvis up and put him over his shoulder. "ELVIS!" Rose screamed. "Don't worry, pretty lady. I'll take care of your man." "Let. Him. GO!" Rose grunted, slashed her trident with all her might and a huge wave of power struck against the man. He dropped Elvis and fell to the ground. The man was nearly dead from the huge shock. Elvis was panting and shaking. "No. You shouldn't have done that, pretty lady," the man moaned, weakly. "Shut up!" Elvis stabbed the man in the chest with his sword. The man choked on his own blood and died. "C'mon! Quick!" Rose took Elvis' hand and rushed out the door. Zariah was standing there. She did not look pleased at all. "You killed my husband!" She shrieked. " Heh. I'm surprised anyone would marry this phsyco," Elvis thought. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS, HUMAN BOY!" She screamed. Rose took out her trident and tried to stab her, but she realized it was a hologram. "Ha! You idiot woman! AHAHAHAHAHA!" The hologram turned off.

"We should try to look for Ash and Ratchet," Elvis said. All of a sudden, Ash came running towards them, her velvet outfit was all torn up. "Ash?" Rose gasped. Ash hugged Rose by the legs. Elvis bent down, "What's wrong, kid?" He stroked her hair. "There was a man," Ash sniffled. "He tore up my clothes and tried to choke me...e-everything started to go black," she said, trying not to cry. "But I managed to stab him in the arm with my arrow." "Are you okay?" Rose knelt down to give her a hug. "I'm fine, but I don't know where Ratchet is. We were separated." "Let's go find him," Elvis said.