Son of Fire

Chapter Thirty Seven

"Madam. We lost a total of ten of our people" A man dressed in black leather gear said to the woman who stood by the window. Looking upon the Isle.

"The powers of the Auradon girl was unexpected. And Josh's powers are more potent than we thought." She says before turning around. Her light brown hair flipping from her left to right shoulder. Along her left eye was a scar, and her eye was damaged. But her other eye was an emerald green.

"And the girl. She is connected to Josh is someway" The man said and the woman nods.

"Yes, it would seem so. I had heard that Josh originated from the Dragon Empire. So this girl must also come from there. This complicates things. I had hope to take the pirates out in one strike." She sighs. "We should start by taking the East Side off the Pirates. It is close enough to the docks, and we can move our base of operations there. Then we have a better vantage point on them." She says, but the man falters.

"Is it smart to do that? I mean, getting us closer means we are more open for an attack. The only suitable place there for a base is the Vertigo Mansion. But it has alot of entry points. We could easily get overrun." He argues and the woman raises her eyebrow at him.

"Did you just challenge me?" She asked in calm anger. And his face is struck with fear.

"No... No... Of course not" He rambles.

"You did. Its funny. I don't remember you leading the Cartel. It's me. And the reason I do, is because I make sure no one questions me. And when people do question me. They pay." She says. And within a blink of an eye, she had drawn a throwing knife and threw it at his leg, causing him to fall down in pain. She walks over and pulls a bigger dagger. It was serated and had two other blades come from the main. She kneels down to him, he tried to crawl away but he was to hurt to do so. She grabbed him by his neck and danced the blade along his neck.

"You know. I've learnt that there are certain points of the body that induce the most pain" She saus as he brings the knife up his face and slots the point of the knife slowly into his eye. He begins to scream. His screams were full of fear and pain. His body uncontrollably jolting as he tries to pull from her grip. But he couldn't. So she pushes the blade further it, blood poured out and covered the blade which was now a dark red. She reveled in his pain as a malicious smile forms on her face as she forces the blade fully through, and his body stops still and flops with life. The screams now gone, left with just the sound of the wind blowing against the window. She pulls the blade out and wipes it against his jacket before putting it into her own, and yanking the throwing knife from his leg. She looks at the body and sighs.

"Great. Now someone's gotta clean this up" She mutters as she walks away to find someone to clean it up.

***

Audrey found herself just outside the Dock. She knew Harry wasn't far behind her. She had heard him follow her.

"Are you just going to stand there?" She huffed. And she heard him laugh as he walks over to stand with her.

"You caught me. I'm just making sure you're good. You have alot going on, don't ya lassie." He says and Audrey sighs and nods.

"Yeah, no shit." She snaps, then looks at Harry and sighs. "Sorry. Just... I feel useless here." She admits and Harry laughs.

"Really? Ya must be joking. Ya a skilled fighter. And you ain't half bad at makin a strategy. And Josh goes far to protect you, sure. But he knows you are more than capable." Harry says.

"So why won't he let me attack?" She asked.

"It aint about his lack of faith in your skill. He just knows that the Cartel is a big unknown. So he ain't going to risk anyone's life for the sake of finding out. He's a good guy. Uma chose right to let him join the crew. We need a good guy to lead us." Harry says and Audrey doesn't move or speak for a second.

"Wait..." She says as her eyes jolt around, as if she is fitting an invisble jigsaw together. "If I was a leader of a gang who are experts of staying in the shadows. What's the one thing you want to minimize" She says and Harry looks puzzled.

"I dunno, dead bodies?" He shrugs.

"No, distance. The more distance you have between your target, the more chance you'll get to spot." She says as she smiles, and begins run back through the pipe to the docks, she turns around. "Come on!" She yells and Harry makes chase.

The two run into the docks and down the stairs and find Josh, Gil and Anna sat on the stairs leading to the quarterdeck.

"I think I know what the Cartel are planning to do" She says, and Josh straightens up and looks at her.

"What do you think they're doing?" He asks, standing up and stepping towards her.

"Well if they're motif is keeping hidden. Then they'll want to get as close as possible to us. So I think they'll be moving their base wherever it is. Or they are already close." She says and Josh smiles widely at Audrey.

"Smart. I knew there was a reason I kept you around" He winks and Audrey laughs. The argument of earlier seemingly gone. "Harry. We need patrols around the nearby area. I want five on the east side of the Island. And two on the west side. And have them converge near Hades hideout. But dont enter it. That's someone we don't want to piss off" Josh commands and Harry nods, him and Gil walking off the get the Patrols, leaving Anna, Josh and Audrey. Josh walks over to Audrey and pulls her into a hug.

"I'm sorry for earlier." He apologises.

"No. I was being reckless. I should apologise. I know your just trying to do the right thing." She smiles as she pulls away slightly and looks up at him, before pulling him down and kissing him fiercely.

"I love you" She whispers as she pulls away, her hand gently corressing his cheek. He grabs her hand and gently plants a soft kiss on the back of it.

"I love you too" He responds and the two step away and turn to Anna.

"Sorry you had to see that" Josh chuckles and Anna shurgs her shoulders.

"Meh. I love romance." She smirks and the three share a laugh as they walk over to the edge of the ship and look over at Auradon.

"Do you miss it?" Josh asked Audrey.

"Yeah, I do." She admits. "But Im good here. I'm with you. And I couldn't be happier." She smiles as she reaches up and kisses Josh's cheek.

Then

Darkness.

Josh felt a darkness flood over him as his vision becomes black. His head felt heavy. He tries to look around but he couldn't tell if he was doing so.

"Anna! Audrey!" He yells.

"Josh!" Anna responds. His vision quickly regains but he was no longer on the ship. But he was... Somewhere else. He couldn't tell. But he saw a Throne. A Throne made of bones. And there was someone sat in it. He was bald. His eyes were old but his face was somewhat young. Half of his face was burnt, which his body tried to fix. But to no avail. His eyes mirrored Josh's burnt orange.

"Hello, my Children. I felt it was time that we should all meet." The man said, and Josh looks around. And there was five of them. The five Children of the Dragon King.

So, a look at the Cartel. Some Audrey and Harry bonding. Some Josh and Audrey. And some Dragon Empire development. A big chapter indeed! Next chapter we will meet all the Dragon Children. So there's that to look forward too!