Endless

Chapter 40

Devon

I tied Bellona's hands together, she was still unconscious but I could tell her wounds were healing and I didn't want her trying to attack us when she woke up.

Malik stood a few feet from me, his expression was dark. The anger was still there, eating at him slowly.

"We need to find Thane, either he'll surrender after he knows Bellona is captured or he'll try and fight. Once we get him this will be over." I said to Malik, he did a short nod but didn't meet my eyes.

I looked up at the sky, dawn would be in only a few short hours. The fighting needed to stop by then, this shouldn't carry on into the day, the warriors would be weak and exhausted.

"Devon." Malik mumbled. "Have you heard anything about Xavier and Emily?"

I shook my head.

"No, nothing, which could be a good thing."

"Or a very bad thing." He responded looking down again.

I was a little concerned. The archers in the trees were suppose to report to Cyrus if they saw anyone going towards them, and since Cyrus was gone, they would need to report to Malik, but I doubted anyone knew Malik was in charge now.

"They'll be okay, they're both strong, we need to find Thane." I said and looked towards the fighting only about seventy yards from me.

I could see warriors still going at it, but it was a lot less than before.

Many were on the ground dead, others were carried off to the side to heal.

Just by scanning the crowd I was able to locate Thane. He was a very large man, not only tall but muscular too.

He was in the middle of everything, a huge grin plastered onto his face. It was obvious he enjoyed fighting.

In fact I was almost sure he didn't care who he was attacking, it looked like he was striking at random to whoever came near him.

"Malik, I think you should stay here and watch Bellona, make sure she doesn't try anything." He nodded but didn't speak. I hesitated for a moment.

"Are you alright? Do you want me to bring someone over here?" I asked but he shook his head.

"No, I'm fine, it's just... a lot to process I guess." He said with a shrug. I rested a hand on his shoulder for a moment before turning.

I understood what he was saying. Not only was his master dead, but he had to take his place. I could only imagine what must be going through his head.

I made my way through the crowd, doing my best to avoid all the chaos.

When Thane spotted me, his expression wavered slightly, as if he was surprised. His grin came back in mere seconds though.

"Lord Devon." He said loudly as I made my way towards him. "I was hoping you and I would meet on the battlefield tonight."

"Master Thane," I said formally. "Bellona has been defeated, we have her captured. You may surrender now or we will take you in too." I stood my ground, meeting his amused gaze.

"You have Bellona huh?" Thane responded a bit nonchalantly as if I had just told him the weather.

I noticed a lot of the fighting around us had slowed or even stopped, as if they were waiting to see what would happen.

"I will surrender, if you beat me in a one on one fight." Thane said after a few minutes of silence. "I'll even tell all my warriors to stop fighting, that way we will have an audience and no one else has to die."

I did my best not to look completely confused. Why would he want to do that? Did he really want to fight me that badly?

I didn't see why, I mean yes I am of Royal blood but my fighting skills are not as high level as a warrior, let alone a master.

I had my fire, my greatest weapon, surely he knew I would use that above all else.

"I accept your offer Master Thane, but all other fighting must cease." I responded after mulling it over.

"I will make the order, this fight is not to the death, just until one of us in no longer able to fight, Lord Devon."

"Agreed." I responded. Thane made the order and everyone halted, some of the eastern and southern warriors looked at me in confused, I just nodded to them, telling them to stop fighting.

I was doing this to not only end the blood shed, but hopefully protect Emily and Xavier as well.

A final fight between me and the Master warrior of the Northern coven.

Could I truly beat him though?

Even I had heard stories of the great Thane, who murdered his previous master at only the age of twenty-two. No one would dare try and fight him, his own coven fears him greatly. On one side, he seems civil, knowledgeable, but on the other, he is a cold killer and lusts after the rush of victory. He was confident and maybe a little too cocky, which could be seen as a weakness.

Warriors moved away from us, creating a large circle to give us space.

"To be honest, I was hoping I'd one day battle with your brother Aaron, his strength was impressive, I wanted to test myself in battle with him, but you will have to do." Thane said taking a few steps back.

"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I won't hold back for your sake." I responded and he chuckled.

"I'd expect nothing less from a royal."

And with that, the battle began.