Vengeance is never at its fullest unless it was for the one you truly care about. My succubus demon was it. The day they took her away from me was the day they sought the most painful way to die.
I will scour the hellish terrain and go through every realm to find her. No beings will be spared.
*****
We came back to an eerie silence, there were no guards at the gate, and I know something was wrong, immediately. When we reached the courtyard there was a strong smell of blood. I was not liking the situation, the west had never held any kingdom's attention to seek war. Yet the things that I was seeing were burning my anger and my mind snapped quickly reminding me of Basilea.
No... no... no... fuck no...
"Search for the others," Titus commanded his warriors, and all broke from their formation and hurriedly roamed the palace, and it didn't take long before one of the low-rank warriors came back with a pale face and a rage expressing his anger.
"I found them, the guards, their throats slashed, all dead. The dragons untouched,"
I was relieved to hear the news, though my feet ache to run and find Basilea I need to stay with my men before venturing out. I didn't need my men to lose their king the same day the place grounds were being splattered with the blood of their peers.
"Whoever they were, they didn't come from the front, I found tracks." Another warrior came with information, then another telling his general that the royal court was trashed.
Titus cursed, with several of his men reporting the damages in choppy abrupt manners, I stayed beside him needing to hear them knowing it'll be quicker that way. Justus was the first to come back from the towers, I didn't even see him when he headed back towards us. His eyes were wide, his chest heaved, and I knew something was wrong when I saw him. Something was very wrong.
"Sabina, she's dead, Basilea's gone, I think she's taken."
On instinct, I hurriedly walked past Titus and told Justus to show me, and I was not ready to see Sabina's head separated from her body. I cursed while my eyes frantically looked at the room's surroundings for clues. But everything was as is, aside from Sabina's decapitated head seemed that they decided that they got what they came after for. In that bleak moment I realized Justus was right, beings had taken my succubus demon.
How dare they!
"My King, the secret passage," the low-rank warrior, I didn't remember his name, speaks out. Seeing my face, Titus offered me his name.
"Phineas, show us."
I shook my head as I told Titus to stay behind and lead in my absence, while I went with Phineas and Justus to look for Basilea.
There was a moment of hesitation from Titus' side, but I ignore him and went to follow Phineas into the narrow hallway. I've learnt about this passage many decades ago, both Titus and I had agreed to seal it off and the knowledge remains for emergency purposes for future reference.
I knew where the tunnel ends, though I didn't expect there'd be more paths leading through a maze of narrow corridors. I kept quiet, while my eyes darted through the tracks below then I smell her, the smear of blood barely visible but I knew it was hers. I growled when I told Phineas to move faster telling him that we were on the right path.
My anger was bubbling, threatening, ready to be unleashed on the beings who dare to take my Basilea. She was taken from my residence, it was an insult, mocking me as if I couldn't even keep my female companion safe in my territory.
The space was getting tighter, it was getting harder to breathe and my wings were forced to be drawn flat to my backside. The air was getting stuffy, until finally, I was able to smell a change of air, a breeze, meaning there would be an opening by the end of the corridor.
"We need to be ready, hands on your weapons, keep them within reach, keep your ears sharp and be aware of your surroundings," I whispered when we were finally getting closer to the opening.
I was not prepared to see the vast opening of the barren land, Phineas was still following their tracks until he halted his steps and we were hidden behind a huge boulder. There were hundreds of crawlers gathering, shouting, and spewing out words we didn't understand.
"We need to go back, I need to get my generals, we need to plan this carefully." I signaled both Phineas and Justus to move back. Both males were still of low rank, I need skilled men to get Basilea back, I was not going to risk her life by going in unprepared.
The walk back was faster since we knew our path already and it didn't take long before we reached back to my territory.
"My king," Titus greeted me with a worried expression, he waited until we were settled in the royal court before he talked more. The place was still a mess, though my throne was still intact, so I sat and started telling Titus about our findings.
"This was a planned move, they intended to take Basilea for who she is and what she represents." My oldest general started carefully pointing out his assumption.
I nodded since it was my suspicion as well when I saw too many crawlers gathered in one place. They must've stalked her since the last encounter. For months they've been digging into the passageways until they found what they were looking for. An entryway to the palatial ground.
"We need to plan this carefully. There were hundreds of crawlers, though we know they're lousy at their defense they had Basilea and we need to at least find out where she was being kept before we trashed their place and kill each and every one of them." The anger rolled out of me. I couldn't help it, my feelings for her were too strong. I couldn't help thinking she might die without even knowing how I truly feel for her.
There was a slight twitch of disagreement on Titus' face, which made me raise an eyebrow. But then Titus lowered his gaze and agreed with me, several other generals were there, and obviously Phineas and Justus.
In the back of my mind, I had a feeling we had a traitor in our midst. The crawlers wouldn't easily find the secret passageways. But they still did and they still managed to find their way into my palace grounds.
"Generals, meet me here in twenty minutes, meanwhile gather your men and tell them to get ready. We're moving the second we've come up with a plan. Osirus, you go first with Phineas and go back to the tunnel and be our lookout, report for anything suspicious, immediately."
Both males nodded and I was satisfied they still have respect towards their king because without Basilea turns out I was a little bit messy. I couldn't think properly and kept on doubting my decision every couple of seconds. Though I managed to keep it down, I knew at some stage my walls were going to crack and my mind was going to explode, and emotions would vomit out of me. And that was why I needed a timeout to gather myself.
The generals nodded while Osirus and Phineas bowed and excused themselves to go through the corridors. I went to my chamber, feeling empty the second I looked at my surrounding. I quickly changed to my royal clothes, ready for war, as I wear my color proudly.
When a knock came at the door, I just realized that I haven't moved from where I stood. I should've gone back to meet with my men soonest I was done changing, Titus was at the other side of the door with a concerned face.
"I'm okay, we're doing this, we're getting her back and annihilating every one of those filthy demons," I said to Titus, trying to regain some control of the issue on hand. I couldn't even imagine why those lower beings dared to do such a thing. Though I was convinced that there was a greater demon behind them, and the fact needed to be explored, I needed to know exactly who we were dealing with.
"So, had any one of you managed to find the real demon behind this?" I asked, once Titus and I reached the royal court.
"I'm sorry my king, we've sent our best tracker out but until now we haven't received any news." Bharat, one of my generals said as he looked straight into my eyes.
"Very well, let's talk strategies. I want to come in strong. I want us to kill as many as we can. I want each general to take their demons and fallen angels to kill those wretched monsters in cold blood." All generals hummed in agreement I couldn't let go of my pride. This was it, my generals, my followers, all would be under me, their lives mean nothing but to serve their king. And I was very pleased with them.
Now I just wished everything would go as planned and Basilea would be back in my arms in no time.