1 1 | King of Kings

"Bloody ass, my rear hurts. This is why I detest traveling," King spat, picking on his rather shortly trimmed nails. He hissed in pain when he accidentally scraped deeper than he should have. "We shouldn't have bothered accepting the invitation."

"You should have thrown your complain while we were still in Venice," Pandora replied, silent sarcasm seasoning her inexpressive tone and face.

King snorted, looking out of their carriage. Their vehicle jumped when a wheel rolled over a sticking rock, and he grunted, hitting his head on the ceiling.

"Why stay quiet beforehand?"

"I don't know," he stated, massaging the back of his head. "It just went over my head like it was a flying fart in space that I completely ignored the fact that we're going back to that crapulous hole full of shits," the male spat, shaking his head and gesturing a hand wildly in the air.

Pandora sighed at him. "It's the least we could do for Axel."

The lad creased his face when he heard the name. He didn't blurt a word though, just left another snort out of his nostrils and looked away.

Pandora remained hushed too. She knew very well how King felt about most of what was related to their pride. Being domineered was one reason; being unofficially shunned was another. But they were already in Romania, spent long hours of traveling by land, and now tolerating the head-splitting ride from the shabby wooden carriage that stank. It even felt as if it would crack apart whenever its wheels hit a rock in the road. But it was all they could afford. They just needed a ride to the mountains, and spending five gold coins over a fancy wheel was not worth it. Not that they could afford one.

King peered at Pandora in his peripheral vision, who flung a strand of her copper-colored braids out of her face. She still had her poker-faced profile, acting oblivious to his silent pleas. He finally gave up, simulated a sob, and tossed his head back hard on the headrest. It was a blunder since behind him was only a plank of wood.

"Stop grumbling." Pandora avoided looking at his theatrical arse.

King breathed out an obscene curse through pursed lips, rubbed the aching spot on his skull before he ignored her back, and continued his grumbling. He planted his head onto the small window by his side, the sound of his fake cries flittering away as the rush of the fresh breeze whispered across his face. It's so green, he mused as he watched the tall rows of trees roll by like a film.

Everything was all familiar to him, but distant at the same time. He got used to a capital, where human-made structures started to climb towards the sky, and metallic carriages of newborn gas engines are populating. Venice was abundant in colors, but pure nature was still the richest of all.

King placed his head back against the headrest, softly this time. He observed from the corners of his eyes as Pandora picked up her flask of coffee. "You should lower down on your caffeine consumption." He puffed air out of his nose, looking all neutral.

"I feel drowsy," Pandora replied.

"... That's your third one today."

"Is it?" Pandora took a sip, feigning obliviousness. King raised a brow at her.

Abruptly, his eyes slightly stretched up when a snort, followed by a snore, rumbled from beside him. He turned his head to the side and stared at Douglas. The big-framed chap, with long legs that stretched to the other side of their seat, was slouched over the side of the vehicle. For a seventeen-year-old, he sure was big.

Pandora knitted her brows, eyes piercing in front of her when King started singing out loud. Douglas, shifting from his position, groaned. Or more like a whine. That didn't stop King; he was getting his revenge from when the latter had jolted him awake by screaming yesterday. His lips curled up as his tone heightened.

Douglas's head perked up, confusedly squinting his eyes at King before his face dug into a scowl. "King! Shut it!" he snapped, partly kicking King's shin before he whined back to sleep. King sang some more, pitch so out of range and annoying that the latter bolted up for real. Douglas coiled his arm around his neck.

"Ack— hey!" King thrashed as Douglas held him in place, knuckling his mousy curls.

"You called for it, you shrimp!"

"Wha— who's a shrimp?!"

Pandora's knuckles went white against her flask while the two tussled inside their carriage, shouting, grappling at each other, and bumping against her in the process. Not to mention, rocking their already distressed cart towards the possibility of breaking apart for real. It was one of their perpetual nonsense again.

"Quit it, you t—"

The coachman and the horses' cries reigned in when an enormous silhouette suddenly leaped on the middle of their path, barely a few yards in front of them. And suddenly, there was a white flash that swept them along the jaw-rattling boom and the earsplitting noise of shattering wood. King clenched his teeth, biting back his voice as pain bit his body relentlessly like a mad dog. The world spun so many times he had semi-drifted out of consciousness, feeling like he was nothing but a weightless rag doll.

Then, for a moment, everything ceased, the world gone into obscurity. King felt senseless. At times, his eyelashes quivered, and he thought he must be dreaming. Or more like a nightmare. He recollected the events. Leo Madre, he thought. Yes, that shithole. They were heading back to their pride for Axel's twenty-first birthday, alongside the same man's rank promotion, rented a shabby five-silver coin ride in Slovenia, and—

King gritted his teeth and twisted, pain crashing back in on his guts. He started coughing and heaving for air, scenting the small trail of blood that dripped down his nose. Dust whirled in around him, wooden shards scattered around like a bundle of confetti.

King dazedly twisted his head to one side, hoping his cousins would get less than his abrupt nose job. He watched Pandora move, who disturbed the hollow mass of wood. "Doug?" King forced out of his burning throat, his voice barely reduced to a whisper.

Douglas patted his forehead, grimacing as he did and soaking the tips of his fingers with a print of fresh blood. "I'm..." Douglas groaned as he sat up, "I'm all right?" he returned, sort of like a question rather than an answer. King and Pandora were still relieved to hear it.

King tried to move, and he hissed in response. There was a burning sensation on the left side of his pelvis. Much better, he thought. At least, he wasn't dead.

"Get out, " Pandora suddenly blurted out. "We have to—"

There was a faint, raspy growl blending in with the shuffling of pebbles under the now silent surrounding. The horses have already long escaped when the carriage broke... so who was making that sound?

They all froze, straining their ears at the sound that moved in. A stagnant odor started attacking their noses. King grimaced and started breathing through his mouth instead. His heart was drumming on his chest, and when the rustling stopped, and he saw Douglas and Pandora's eyes widen eerily as they stared so intensely at him... no, behind him, he shuddered.

King slowly turned his head to seek what it was behind him that got his two cousins into their wordless disposition. And when he did, a massive chain of chill slithered its way into his body.

Through the narrow gap on the dirt-splattered side, a bent-over creature of leathery grey skin was staring at him, lips curled into a smile as it flashed its shark-like teeth at him.