Mythical Guardians

♤26. That thing verses...a useless rod?♤

  Jason watched as the team walked out of the cave, undoubtly shaken by the experience. He, too, was helplessly terrified, when he was bound upside down.  He thought his imprisonment at the centaur territories was bad enough, but the trolls took the experience of being a trussed up turkey to another level. To be honest, he was embarrassed that he needed someone else to save his hide, especially when he was unconscious for the majority of the time.

  He spotted Aquarius and Cedric, them being the last out of the cave. Cedric seemed pale and tired, but at this rate, Jason doubted if anyone wouldn't be, being knocked out like that.

  He glanced at his watch, and frowned. Assuming that it was accurate, it was already late afternoon, and they were stranded in the middle of nowhere, with no idea how far the trolls had taken them.

  "Gordon," he asked, "You have any idea how far we are from where we've started?"

  Gordon's brows scrunched up, then his face lightened up when he saw a few dozen large footprints," We could follow these. Or, we could just keep on heading east."

  "There's no telling how far the trolls had brought us," Johnathan frowned," We could end up in the middle of nowhere instead of Vesra or Oxira."

  "True, but again, the road east eventually leads us to one of these two countries," Gordon said,"And besides, we have Darkkris's ace to worry about. He's gonna catch up with us soon, that's only a matter of time."

  "How?" Jason asked," No tracker could have been that accurate, right? And besides, we took down those guys, right? We can take this one."

  " We might," Gordon said, but he didn't sound optimistic," But this is his ace we're walking about. This guy," the centaur shuddered, "He's the stuff of nightmares. He never fails Darkkris, and none of us have really seen him except for Tyrus. And even that guy doesn't like talking about him, like he's afraid of him."

  "Who's Tyrus?" Cedric asked, poking his head in the conversation.

  "The elf on the board," Gordon said, his voice strained, glaring at Cedric," The one I told you not to kill."

  Cedric didn't seem all that concerned, merely frowned slightly," Oh. That guy."

  "And I thought we agreed on no killing," Gordon said, his voice tinged with the slight undertone of anger.

  "Dude, did you seriously forget that those guys were trying to kill us?" Cedric shouted," They don't deserve anything better, killing them now is a mercy!"

  "You don't give a damn about what they deserve!" Gordon hollared," They were like me, they didn't ask to work for him, maybe they just needed something so badly, maybe they were just doing these terrible things because there is no other way that they could see. And if there is a better alternative I am sure they will jump at the chance without a thought!"

  "There is always another way, and they chose to work for that psychopath, that's something they will regret for the rest of their lives," Cedric growled," and they know that's gonna earn them a permanent spot in Hell. They didn't care, they just go ahead and did it. They made the choice."

  "Okay, okay, chill, guys," Jason interrupted and stepped beteeen the two when Gordon was about to retort," As exciting as your bickering sounds, the thing we need to worry about now is Darkkris's ace. Gordon, what else do you know about him?"

  "Tyrus once told me that the guy is cursed by the gods," Gordon said, still glaring at Cedric,"And has lost his sanity. He doesn't seem to be working as a bounty hunter though, he's almost a slave of Darkkris', working for him without any need of repayment."
 
  "Guys?" Johnathan called.