The enslaved
After the disappearance of king Cassius, non of the soldiers could explain what had happen that day, some of them received a shock that lasted for a life time. The son of Cassius prince Acacus, was then crowned king. He was no better than his father. He made a decree that the kingdom of Gortha was no more, and that it was now merged with Azroth, which he renamed after his father.
"From now henceforth, the kingdom of Gortha and Azroth will be one, and it shall be called Cazroth, in honor of my father the late king Cassius". He also gave a decree that all the people of Gortha be made slaves. The strong men where made to do hard labor, some of the women were made concubines, some were made to work on their fields. Their children were not left out from the suffering .. For except you were a baby who could not walk, you were to have something doing. Be it going on errands or working the fields you had to do something. As soon as the girls came of age, they were being auctioned to the wealthiest buyers.
For years and years, the once people of Gortha kept on suffering in the hands of their captors, and as the years went by the story of what actually happened to King Cassius was told in different ways. Some said he was turned into a cow and was made to roam the earth for eternity, while some said after he conquered Gortha, he was coming home victoriously and fell into a hole in the ground and died. Others believed that his son who was now king of Cazroth was responsible for his death. But only a few knew about what had really happened to their king that day.
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300 years had passed after what happened, the practice of witchcraft had been banned after a wizard caused the death of one of the past kings. So anyone that was caught doing magic or practicing witchcraft would be burnt alive. The people of Gortha were still slaves. Years had passed and different kings had emerged but not once did a king try to release them from their bondage. It seemed as if Cazroth only produced rotten kings, each one worse than their predecessor. More wars had been fought within the years, it was almost like there was always a kingdom rising up against them or they were trying to conquer a new kingdom. They were fighting another war again.
They had been in the battlefield for days, they had massive weapons of war, they had constructed three mighty trebuchets that were 65ft long. It took 8 men too move the stone that was being used as a projectile. They were very close to victory, for the enemies men were down to not more than a hundred, while they were still thousands in number. They passed their enemies both in numbers and in weapons.
The general Lord ceteus, was sure that sooner than later the king of Ajalon king Bezzal will surrender. If not, he was ready to destroy all the Ajalonian soldiers. He was right.
The king Bezzal called for a truce stating that he would give anything Cazroth wanted. In exchange they were not to kill him and he will remain king over Ajalon. The general sent a messenger to the king who was not on the battlefield but was still in a nearby location so when the battle was over he would lead the soldiers back to Cazroth as the Victor of the battle. Pallas was by far the worst king Cazroth had produced. All he cared about was women and drinks and claiming victories he didn't work for. Some even wondered how he ended up being king of Cazroth.
"sire, I have a message from the General for you His majesty, my King" the messenger says as he comes into the tent where the king was, he goes down on one knee and has his head bowed down as he speaks. King Pallas was still in bed and by his sides were four naked women. There was wine vases all over the floor. The place was a total mess. It was not one a king should be in let alone the king of Cazroth. "Sire.... Sire.." the messenger had to call out again almost shouting before Pallas stood up. He got up, walked over to the table and poured himself a cup of wine, "what is it that you trouble me for so early in the morning? Have I won the battle? he asked as he had a sip of the wine." Almost sire...the general has sent me. He says king Bezzal has called for a truce saying whatever Cazroth wants he is ready to give in exchange that we end the war, and he will still be king".
He let's out a loud laugh "so Bezzal that old oaf finally gave in?... Anything I want huh? Okay". he looks around for a brush, ink and paper and writes some thing down then hands the paper to the messenger "give this to Ceteus".
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"I will not ask for much for I am a fair king, just that every full moon you must bring four damsels to the palace, the finest wine you have and half of the taxes your people pay will be brought to me". As general Ceteus read the message, King Bezzal felt the requirements were just too much, they were outrageous he thought....but alas there was nothing he could do about it. They had killed thousands of his soldiers bringing them down to a hundred... he had to give in.
"I accept your conditions"
"well then the war is over... Ceteus says as he holds the hands of King Bezzal....you shall ride with our king back to Cazroth were a feast awaits. Tonight you shall celebrate being allies with Cazroth".
Then King Pallas and King Bezzal rode back to Cazroth together. While Ceteus stayed behind to gather the weapons used for the war. At least that was the excuse he gave the king.
The truth was that Ceteus who had heard various stories on the death or disappearance of king Cassius, had stumble upon the journal of one of his predecessors who happened to be a soldier at the time the incident took place. He read the journal and was surprised to know that King Cassius was not actually turned into a cow, neither was he killed by Acasus like the stories were told. He was actually turned into a wolf like beast and was still very much alive. He was just imprisoned deep in the ground. He then decided to release the beast. He was the one who purposely told the men to construct a trebuchet 65ft long instead of 50ft that they had constructed before. He knew that the impact of the rock hitting the ground a couple of times would crack open the ground.
Now when both Kings had gone back with most of the soldiers it was already midday, he gathered the men that were left which were about 15, and the Gorthan slaves there. Altogether they were 20 men with him. According to the journal, King Cassius was imprisoned right in the heart of the battlefield, and that was were he went. Just as he had expected, the impact of the rocks had cracked open the ground. So he ordered the soldiers to start digging, for the first time in a long time the Gorthans and Cazroth soldiers were on the same level. They had their mattocks and then they started digging.
They had dug and dug for hours, but they had no idea why they were digging a big hole in the center of the battle field, it was just endless. All they knew was that they were all not allowed to stop digging until they were told to. They had dug at least 75ft deep with no results when one of the Gorthans hit a part and it opens up. They hit that same spot repeatedly until it was big enough to pass through. They had found a cave.
"We found a cave my lord" they cried out happily for they were exhausted. Ceteus was overjoyed when he heard this, he told them to go in and then tell him what they saw. The soldier who was above ground went down with a torch and some extra sticks to give to them. They took the sticks from him and lit their torches as they went into the cave. Now inside the cave all they could see was scratches on the walls, "they look like they were made by the sharp claws of an animal" one man said, "what kind of animal has such huge claws" another man said, "the question is not what kind of animal,.....it is what kind of animal lives so far deep in the ground",.....
"What do you see? Ceteus asked at the top of his lungs ."just scratches on the walls my lord"...
"yes!!.., I found him , I found King Cassius" he said to himself joyfully.
The men were still looking round the cave when they suddenly felt a swift movement, they looked around and saw nothing. So they continued inspecting the caves then this time it was not just a feeling, they actually saw something move.it moved so fast that they could not actually pinpoint what it was. So they pointed their torches to every direction , trying to see if day could get a clear vision of whatever was in the cave with them. But before they could even get a closer look, the scream of one of the Gorthan slaves was heard ,then they turned around to see a man like beast . He was at least 14ft tall, when the torches flashed on his face his eyes were like burning red. They could now see the huge claws that had made the scratches on the wall. He had his huge teeth on the man he was holding as he devoured him like he had been starved for centuries, then threw what was left of him on the floor, then he charged towards them.
They all ran in different directions ,but ended up heading for the opening they had come in through.
Ceteus who was already climbing down the ladder they had made into the hole hears the shout of the men and quickly climbs back up. The men got stuck trying to force themselves out or the opening in the wall which makes it easier for Cassius to descend upon them, biting some of them or just throwing them in different directions that led to there death. Five of them successfully made it out of the opening in the wall and were about to climb up the rope ladder, when out of fear ceteus cuts off the rope to stop Cassius from climbing up, to the horror of the men who were still down there.
ceteus starts running towards his horse. He could hear the horrified screams of his men as they were being killed. He was almost at his horse when he heard a loud sound, it was as if a very large rock hit the ground. In a terrified state, he turned around slowly, and he could see him, standing there, looking at him with those burning red eyes.....
The Beast had being released....