The Kindred Chronicles: Tides of War (Book 2)

Pious Ambitions

"You have been a fine host, old friend." Havet smiled sarcastically while stretching his neck, noting the damp room that had hidden him from the weavers for the past month. "How is it that we have come to such opposing conclusions when we have so much in common?"

"Our commonalities are limited to the strength of our convictions." Cerulean rose from his chair. "And you have overstayed your welcome. Now, give me my ring and leave."

Havet put on the long black expensive coat that Cerulean gave him, without hiding his satisfaction. "Good taste in clothing—another commonality we share."

"My ring, Havet. Der' ilak dathor ("Surrender them willingly"), or I shall tear you apart where you stand!" The handler materialized two portals behind him, commanding a handful of constrictors to pour out of them.

"Please, Cerulean. We both know that you and your monsters would never be able to defeat me." Havet grinned.

Cerulean commanded the constrictors to tower above the former Magister. "You haven't the slightest idea what monsters I now command, or the monster I have become. My ring. Now!"

Havet glared at the countless pairs of serpentine eyes, causing the constrictors to hiss louder at him. "Fortunately for you, old friend," he said, his tone became serious and menacing, "I am a man of my word, for we are nothing without our principles. I shall return your ring, in exchange for one more favor."

"Which is?" Cerulean sneered.

"A portal. To my base in Manila."

"After you return my ring!" The handler's patience was all but spent.

"Your ring is there, in the well by the terrace."

Cerulean created a third portal behind him and tried to leap back into it, but Havet turned the ground beneath them into chains of hard wood that fastened the handler's feet in place. The constrictors, seeing their master assaulted, immediately threw themselves at Havet. In the blink of an eye, the former Magister wove his black coat's thread into steel blades, which ripped the giant snakes apart. Seeing a chance to escape, Havet leaped above the handler and aimed for the third portal.

"Not yet!" Cerulean screamed, commanding an exceptionally huge garg to jump out of one of the portals and block his former ally's path. The garg clawed at its prey furiously, but Havet had already created an energy barrier around himself.

"Your monsters are pathetic!" Havet screamed as he pulled the ground beneath the creature, creating wooden spikes that stabbed the garg's exposed stomach over and over again. It roared in pain but didn't stop its attack, pounding on the barrier with its full weight.

Cerulean felt the wooden shackles around his feet tighten and creep up to his legs despite his efforts to outweave the former Magister. "Go!" he yelled at the constrictors from within his portals, commanding them to surge through the portal to Manila to retrieve his ring. The moment he saw his minions slither through, Cerulean focused all his might on freeing himself before Havet could incapacitate him completely.

"You have always been a fool, Cerulean." Havet spoke calmly as he walked toward the third portal, his energy barrier following him with every step. "Entrusting your future to the frailty of beasts, your romanticism with such ideas have brought you unimaginably low! Can you not see it, old friend? Why do you persist in such hopeless pursuits? It is a waste of your talent and potential!" Havet spat with disappointment. "You could have been a general in my New World! A general!"

"I already am." Cerulean gritted his teeth and willed the first two portals to disappear, replacing it with one much bigger and darker. From it stepped out a giant, hairy and veiny; the appearance of death incarnate. From behind it, another one followed, just as menacing and deathly.