The Demon Heart

Chapter 6 The Duel

Damian was shocked, every fiber of his being was freaking out every nerve told him to back away, so he grabbed Alice's arms, and pushed her away from him making her fall back onto the bed, and Alice smiled. "So is that what you want." she said, Damian glared at her and finally spoke with an eerie tone in his voice. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU IN HERE?" Damian said with his voice booming throughout the room. Alice gave a spine chilling grin "Wow your really good my impression could even have fooled Arthur so what gave it away." Damian glared at the woman wearing Alice's face and felt the urge to punch her but kept his emotions in check. "The Queen." Damian spoke "Im sorry the Queen? What does she have to do with this." the impersonator said "You called her the Queen, Alice has always called her mother, now what are you doing in here?" The woman let out a chuckle and stood up from the bed walking around Damian studying him like he was an unknown species "I was curious all these rumors of a child who could kill a man without a second thought was too much to handle for a girl like me and I just had to see it for myself." Damian kept his eyes on the woman keeping himself aware of his surroundings and her every move inside the room she was dangerous and he knew it. "And that form of yours? Some type of illusion I assume." the woman crossed her arms and walked closer to Damian his heart was slow and calm, Damian counted the beats 24...25...26 until the woman pulled out a knife and Damian's heart rate shot through the roof she swung the blade at him and Damian pulled his head and chest back dodging the blade by millimeters. It all happened in a split second but by the time the blade missed Damian's chest his heart beat was at sixty and the woman's eyes lit up she was pissed. "How the hell did you do that you little shit? Do you have some kind of detection magic?" A million thoughts went through Damian's head when she missed but one stood out the most. KILL... Damian went forward and kicked the girls knee on the side bringing her to a kneel and when she went in for a stab at his chest he caught her hand inches from his skin and pried the knife out of her hand, pulled her arm behind her back and put the knife to her throat. "Im not going to ask you again." Damian hissed, the Woman began to laugh once again and when Damian pulled her arm back more dislocating it she stopped laughing and let out a faint cry. "Well it looks like you are better then I anticipated, but you have one flaw. You wont kill me you have a soft spot for woman or else you would have just given me a nice sized hole in my body to get your answers." The woman said, Damian's eyes were fixed on the blade held against her neck she wore a face that was familiar but he knew little about. But she was right or half right so he let her go and threw the knife towards the ground and it stuck to the wooden floor with the blade about an inch deep into the wood. But when she turned around she held her arm it obviously still hurt and her face showed a lot more pain then she was meant to show and when Damian saw her face or more accurately Alice's face he felt a sudden flash of guilt and she saw it. "So I guess you really do have a soft spot for women or is it just this face that im wearing." the woman said with a cocky look trying to hide the pain, and Damian's fingers slightly twitched, but she saw that too. "Oh so I was right you do have a thing for the Princess was it because I kissed you I could do it again if you'd like." The woman said as she locked her arm back into place again and let out a louder cry then before. "You don't have to worry though I wont tell anybody about your little crush. But I have to say I am a little jealous you would rather pick the Princess over me." the woman put her hand over her heart and stared in Damian's direction but for a split second Damian saw her break eye contact and saw her look past him, Damian's eyes grew wide as his heart began to race again and in another split second he turned around and saw nothing but was stabbed in the leg. His leg was in pain and it felt like it was on fire not like before when the generals were torturing him this was different when he looked at his leg there was a blade in it and his body grew weak he laid on the floor and couldn't move the blade was poisoned, but he kept his eyes on the person who stabbed him. He was invisible Damian couldn't see him but now that he was more aware of his surroundings he could feel his presence like he was emitting a large amount of heat and from that Damian could see him, even when he didn't move. But he had to concentrate and that was hard when he could barely move his head and his leg was burning up. He moved to the woman's side but kept his eyes on Damian and then the man became visible. He wore a black mask and outfit with bottles at his side that was covered by padding most likely to keep them from making noises. "You were able to see me even while I had my transparent spell on you really are dangerous but that toxin you feel burning up your leg will leave you immobile until morning im sorry for my sisters idiotic display of affection but we have to go now." the mystery man said but Damian wasn't paying much attention, his body was on fire and it hurt. Even with his pain tolerance it was almost unbearable and he was pissed, even though it hurt to move even though it hurt to stand he got up, stood on both his feet and took a step towards the two. The man pulled out a knife and was ready for any kind of attack Damian might throw at them, but that was all Damian had and the man in the room saw that as he relaxed his body and put his weapon away. The man walked around Damian scanning him, inspecting him and finally left through Damian's window. For the next hour Damian stood there desperately trying to keep his body up until he finally collapsed and fell asleep. Another battlefield, more bodies and more carnage as far as Damian can see he moved around freely but everywhere he went there was a scorched ground and bodies, until he came across a cave in the side of a cliff the cave lit up despite how dark it was outside of it and when Damian went in he saw a ring of fire up against the wall of the cave and within the ring was a sword. The blade dug deep into the stone and the fire around the sword would just stay where it was burning for all of eternity. Damian awoke on the floor his leg was bandaged and the blood was cleaned he stood up and his leg was sore but the wound was gone so he ripped off the bandage and threw it away moments later there was a knock at his door. Damian hesitated to open the door, he contemplated on his next course of actions until another knock came heavier this time like the person on the other side was getting impatient. So when Damian opened the door he wasn't surprised to see Captain Han on the other side of the door. "Come with me, we have work to do." Han said "What are you talking about?" Damian asked, Han just gestured for Damian to follow and walked down the hallway. Tired and sore from the previous days Damian followed Han through a series of doors hallways and people until he stopped paying attention and his nightmare caught his mind. Why was this happening to him, was it because he was here in this unforgivable land that he was forced to live in or was it the actions he took the horrible decisions he made it all made no sense to him and he continued to try and force the pieces together until Han snapped him out of it. "Hey!.. Damian is it, I want you to listen to me we have about seven hours to get you an outfit suitable for tonite so just stand there and listen to what the tailor tells you to do." Han Yelled, bringing Damian back to his senses. He looked around and he noticed he was in a room full of clothing and jewelery, he was amazed at all the different styles and he saw a woman with a piece of rope come up to him and started to move his limbs to her every need and bagan to take measurements she was being incredibly rough so when she got to Damian's legs he yelled "Woah!...Hey!...Pineapples! Pineapples!" the tailor stopped and looked up at Damian in confusion and said in a European accent "Pardon me?" Damian desperately tried to keep himself from laughing and said "Nothing never mind." and the tailor resumed moments later she wrote everything down in a notepad and handed it to another girl then walked around Damian examining him it seemed like a lot of people were doing that lately. She walked around him and lifted up his arms pinched at his cheeks and poked at his muscles. She waved her hand at the girl who had the notepad and she said "we will have to work with dark colors, his posture and skin tone will work best with dark but not all dark throw in some white and get me a design within the hour." the woman with the notepad wrote everything down and left the room. With the tailor still looking at Damian she eyed every part if him and said "your body is impressive a young boy like yourself would usually be easy to dress because most boys who aren't in the royal training camp usually fit the same sizes with different variations, but you are different. You have little fat and your body is in great physical condition but your also tall. Most boys get muscle by carrying around heavy weapons and armor all day and it decreases their growth but not you, your different." Different was all Damian knew at this point, there was no normal not anymore. Finally after a minute or two of the tailor examining Damian's body Han stepped in and dragged Damian out the door saying to the tailor behind him without looking back "sorry but we still have some other things to do." And they left the room following another series of hallways until they came upon a door that led them outside. The area was was a courtyard with dirt and wooden weapons everywhere, it was a training ground. "The Queen wanted to see a test of your strength before tonite we brought along father Arthur just incase someone gets carried away." Han gestured towards Damian. When Han stopped dragging him Damian scanned the area and sure enough there she was the Queen sitting only fifty yards away from them in the shade under a tarp with guards surrounding her, Arthur and Alice. "So do I have a say in whether or not I want to fight?" Damian asked "sure you do" Han responded, "but its the least you could do for the Queen who is throwing a party for you." Damian raised an eyebrow at this 'I thought she was throwing the party for her daughters safe return' Damian thought only to be cut off by a wooden sword being tossed at him by Han. "Just fight Damian lets not waste the Queens time any longer than we already have." Han proclaimed, so Damian picked up the sword from the floor looked at it then back at the Queen and her daughter 'might as well try to show off to the Princess while im here' he thought but he had hoped more than anything that he didn't go to crazy and end up killing the poor guy. So as he turned around he saw a glare flash in his eyes and Damian's eyes widened and his heart rate shot through the roof again, he leaned his head back barely dodging a razor sharp blade by millimeters while he had his head bent back he saw Alice with her silver hair a blue dress stand up from her chair and when he was sure the danger was clear he lifted his head strait again and took a few steps back. Han was holding a real sword and Damian had a piece of wood shaped like a sword. "What the hell is this I thought we would both be using fake swords?" Damian protested "where did you get that silly idea? I never said that, I thought it was obvious the Queen is here to see your skills and from what Gabriel said your improv skills are really fascinating." Han replied, but Damian was pissed he cant block with a wooden sword not when what he's blocking is steel so when Han attacked Damian dodged that was all he could do he looked for weaknesses but his stance was to protective and all he could do was dodge until Han swung his sword and the blade cut across Damian's chest leaving a cut descending from his left shoulder to his right rib it wasn't deep but it still stung so Damian got creative when he finished his swing he grabbed the blade with his right hand and tried to kick Han in the chest but the blade disappeared from his grasp and then reappeared when Han swung his hand at Damian like he was still holding it and it cut Damian's upper thigh. He stammered back and held the wound on his leg, he completely forgot he could do that so he thought of another plan. Damian circled Han and waited until Han went in for another slash at Damian, but he didn't move until the blade was inches from his face and he ducked below the blades path and moved in closer to Han, Damian grabbed Han's arm and pulled it over him slamming Han's back on the ground but he turned over and swept Damian's legs out from under him knocking him down as well and as Damian tried to get up off the ground and onto his feet Han kicked him in his side knocking him back down but Damian used that momentum to get him back up to his feet and picked up the wooden sword but when he looked in Hans direction he saw another swing coming at him he only had one choice block it and he did but the steel blade cut right through the oak wood sword leaving only the hilt and a small portion of what was supposed to be the blade. The wood knocked Han's blade off course from Damian's face and it missed by inches and Damian took a few quick steps back and took a normal stance like he was waiting for a bus or a line to move up and looked at what remained of the sword and then he looked back at Han. Calm and care free Damian began to walk up to Han, he didn't take a defensive stance and he didn't say he gave up so Han knew it wasn't over yet and with each step Damian took it sounded like a boulder falling onto the ground with the amount of silence there was, it was so quiet that Alice could almost hear Damian's heart beat. Han stood in a fighting stance ready for anything, except for when Damian just kept walking step by step until he was within two feet of Han and Damian tossed what remained of his sword to the side and Hans eyes followed but when he realised his mistake he looked back and Damian was coming after him with ferocious eyes that gave him chills and conjured a black dagger in his right hand, held Hans arm with his left and stuck the edge of the blade up against Hans throat. A bead of sweat trickled down Hans face, not because​ he had a workout and not because their was a dagger touching his neck it was because Damian looked fierce and pissed he had the eyes of a killer and he kept his posture perfectly still he didn't shake and he didn't move it was like he was frozen in mid battle but he wasn't he was waiting for Han to do something stupid so he could paint the dirt red. It stayed like that until they heard a clap, Damian and Han looked over and the Queen was clapping along with Alice and Arthur. "Fabulous work Damian you really do seem to be talented and you can even conjure an armé." Queen Mary said, Damian turned his head in confusion and said "a what?" a few moments of awkward silence later Alice started walking up to Damian with her hands clasped in front of her and said "an armé is a weapon conjured from the soul at will, but breaking an armé wont kill the user but it will damage their soul and put them in a critical but not lethal state its equal to getting the Flu. Your very special there is only a handful of Humans that can summon an armé and not many armés have any kind of paint on the blade." with each step Damian's heart beat louder and faster as memories of the kiss from an imposter the night before started flooding his mind. Damian's heart started to beat faster and harder until the blade in his hand disintegrated into ash and blew off with the wind and Damian collapsed onto his knees grasping his chest and he fell over. With his face in the dirt and his chest covered in bloody mud from the wound his body burned, and as his heart beat slowed Damian's body grew hotter and heavy until the ground began to scorch and crack, but just as Damian's heart almost stopped completely he heard a familiar voice and felt a hand on his back and moments later everything went numb. Damian couldn't move, see, hear, smell or even sense anything it was all nothing and for a minute Damian thought he was dead until nothing but pain coursed throughout his body. He could feel it with his heart beat and with every pulse of blood the pain got worse, and as every cell of blood moved throughout his body it felt like everything was burning up, like someone injected him with a gallon of lava or like his blood turned into acid and was burning him inside out. Pain was everywhere from his bones the the hair on his skin it wasn't until it all stopped suddenly that Damian realised that he could see again and right next to him on his right was Alice holding his hand but she had thick gloves on, and on his left was Arthur and an older man with grey hair standing over him with their burnt hands on Damian's chest, then the sudden relief of pain sent a shock throughout Damian's body and he drifted back asleep.