Ileus: The Dark Prince

"What are you doing?" Anastasia shouted as she tried to pry the dagger from Iona's hand. 

Iona dodged her efforts. "I will slice my wrist to give him blood. I will let him feed on every last drop of my blood, but he has to live!" 

"Iona!" Anastasia scolded her and forced her to throw the dagger on the ground. "Stop it. He won't be saved with your blood. We need the blood from his family." 

Iona started crying again. She rushed to Rolfe's side and held his hand to her cheeks. "Then what do I do?" she asked, feeling utterly helpless. Anastasia moved to her and started stroking her hair. The girl had gone through so much that seeing her in this state made her heart wrench with pain.. 

"He will be fine, Iona…" Anastasia tried to reassure her as she stroked her hair and her back, her fingers infusing warm and soft magic so that her ache subdued. 

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In the wilderness of Tibris, Ileus was out with General Yion and ten other faes and demons to find Kaizan. He had brought a variety of weapons and was armed to the teeth. Crested over a hilltop, he stood with his leg on an outcrop as the cold wind whipped his hair. He tried to remember every aspect of the chaos in the throne room but he couldn't remember where Kaizan was or who he was fighting with. He was too concerned with Rolfe and Iona's safety and so he had taken them away swiftly. 

Kaizan was promised to him at an early age and ever since the man had stuck with him like an extension to his body. They had grown so thick and he cherished Kaizan's presence. There wasn't a day when he never thought of his friend. The memory of Kaizan teasing both him and Anastasia at every possible moment increased his heartache and he rubbed his hand over his chest to ease the breath out. He wondered in what condition his friend might be in and those images replaced the finer memories. His throat bobbed as he sucked in a sharp breath of air. Who could have taken Kaizan? He wasn't in the pile of dead bodies, nor was he in pyres. They had searched every part of the palace and every nook and corner of Galahar. They had also searched the tunnels, but the man was nowhere to be found, which led him to believe two possibilities—he was killed and eliminated or he was abducted. If he was killed, then where was his body? Ileus had been sniffing the air in order to pick his friend's scent, but the cold, unrelenting winds had blown away the scents. Hell, he couldn't even sniff the faes and demons around him. 

He pierced his eyes through the darkness of the icy mountains around him to see any sign that would lead him to Kaizan. But there was none. A murmur from behind distracted him. He heard heavy panting of someone approaching them and then people speaking in demonic language. He picked up the words, 'horse', 'vials', and 'blood'. When he turned to look at the man who was speaking in a breathless tone, he narrowed his eyes. He walked down the slope through a thick layer of snow that entered his boots and crunched under him to reach the demon. "What happened?" he asked, his shoulders too tight. 

The demon bowed to him and said, "The healer who was supposed to bring blood, was killed in the fields while returning." 

Ileus' hand fisted tightly until his knuckles were white. "So, get more blood!" he barked. 

The demon nodded vehemently, cringing a little. "They have already sent four other men to get blood. But there's been a development." 

Ileus narrowed his eyes and asked, "What development?" 

"The demoness who killed the healer was found running down the slope of Tibris in the west. Our people are still chasing her but she is one of the most deadly soldiers of the king's army. She was trained in various combative forms and then later became Edyrm's spy. It is difficult to catch her." 

Even before he opened his mouth, Ileus was already running down the slope. "We need to catch her!" Why would she kill the healer? There were a thousand questions in his mind and only she could answer. He hoped against hope that she might know something about Kaizan. "Take me to the west!" he barked another order at General Yion. Yion flared his wings and ran down the slope behind Ileus. As soon as he grabbed Ileus in his arms, he shot in the air. Others followed. 

West of Tibris was a long stretch of white mountains with firs growing down the slope as if marching like soldiers. All of them spread as far as possible to find the demoness. If only they could spot her through the firs. The roaring winds threatened to slow their speed and also impede their search, but Ileus wouldn't let it go. He had to find Giera for she was the only lead he had in his hand. 

"Over there!" the soldier who reported them pointed downwards. On his alert, they all shot to where the demoness was. She was running parallel to the slope under the shadows of the firs. In a few seconds they had reached the ground and Yion let Ileus out of his grasp gently. 

Seeing activity in the air above her, Giera had already noticed the faes. She ran faster, darting behind the trees. Ileus bared his fangs. He started running after her, as one of the archers amongst the faes fired an arrow he had nocked. It struck the trunk close to where she stood. He already had the second arrow nocked in place when she threw her dagger. It struck him in his hand and his bow came crashing down, the arrow shooting high in the air.

"You can't escape me!" Ileus shouted as he increased his pace to catch her. 

Giera giggled. Then in a venomous voice shouted at him. "You are no match to me, bastard wizard! You were no match to our king. And that bitch wife of yours—she is going to die soon. Even that sister!" She started running between the firs, making it difficult for all of them to catch her. Suddenly she climbed up a tree and jumped from one to the other. The faes couldn't fly in the denseness of the forest, and so she got a fine lead. 

Ileus looked at a low hanging branch of a tree. As he ran after her, he yanked it out of the tree and shaped it into a spear. He bit off the tip of the branch to make it as sharp as possible. It wasn't that good, and chances were that it could miss the target for Giera was leaping very fast above them. But he had to take the chance. He looked at others who were following the demoness and they all knew that he needed more spears. All at once, he heard branches snapping off the trees. He looked up at the blur of motion and aimed for her. He hurled the spear at her, but it missed, splintering the top of a fir tree. It was the third spear that brought her down.