Cairo - 11 The Ridge

Although it was dark outside, I could still see the vast array of mountains being approached in the distance. There was a tiny split inside the mountain where the ocean waters passed over countless rocks and debris, but that split was so small and narrow it seemed impossible for a ship this size to pass through.

“Who were you talking to?” I asked again as the ship quaked up and down.

Leonidas made an innocent face, keeping his voice hidden in the back of his throat, “Just some relatives at home. They’re worried sick ’bout me, but I promised them I wouldn’t be returning until after the adventure.” He laughed, fakely. “Would you like to speak to them?” He pulled out the orb again, handing it over.

I gave him a wry look, grabbing the orb from his weak hands. After observing it for a moment, that bastard slipped from my vision like a black panther at night. I jolted my head behind me, seeing his devilish smile staring back at me with a knife pressed up against my throat.

“Shh, Shh, Shh.” He whispered, placing his finger against his lips. “One sudden noise and…” He gently pushed the blade into my scar, making me feel the pain I felt all those years ago. As he dug the tiny point of the blade into my neck, the ship seemed to have hit a rock of some sort, making us bounce up and down like sailors in a storm. Surprisingly, Leonidas held the blade steadily, careful not to do more damage than was intended.

A few drops of blood ran down my neck, and he leaned in even closer. “You still don’t remember, do you?” He asked.

For some reason, that question caught me more off guard than the knife pinned against my neck. I looked deep into his eyes, searching for an answer until I finally found one.

It was him—The warden with the general’s hat from the Gulag. There was no denying that smug look he always gave me. Except he looked nearly twice as old now. His face had a similar structure, and his eyes were still the same as before. So how could I not recognize him at first? Was it the hair? The attitude? The weakness I felt from him?

“There you go.” He said, noticing that I remembered. “I always wondered how you managed to escape for a second time. Who was behind those explosions?”

I squinted my eyes, perplexed and confused. Even after all these years, Leonidas himself didn’t know what the cause behind the explosions in the castle? This seemed odd, too odd to question—given my current state.

“You look stunned.” He beamed. “Have you spent all these years pondering about your life choices? Have you been hiding in the off chance that I was still alive and wanted your head on my paddle?” He cackled, tightening his grip on the blade. “No… You’ve been afraid, afraid of your past and what it’s done to you.”

I gulped, unsure if he was right or wrong. Either way, I felt an odd feeling wrap itself around my heart. A feeling I hated, one that I wanted to escape from for so long. A feeling of being secluded, lost in the world around me as if nothing ever mattered… I felt alone.

Meanwhile, the ship hit yet another rock, and this time we were both sent flying against the railing. I carefully picked myself up off the floor and noticed the mountainside engulfing the ship inside its corrupted pathway.

Leonidas quickly sprung up from the floor, flipping the knife in his hand and charging at me.

When it came to hand-to-hand combat, I was very skilled. In fact, I’d be bold enough to put myself pretty high on the ranking. However, that inner fear inside me prevented me from focusing, and I couldn’t predict any of his movements.

Leonidas swung the knife from the bottom of his hip, aiming for my stomach in hopes of causing enough pain for me to avoid fighting back. I managed to dodge with a quick step back, then another, then another, and then another.

I was dodging easily, but my hands wouldn’t fight back. Something inside of me refused to hurt this man, and I couldn’t get a hold of whatever it was. It’s as if my body didn’t want to accept this man as the final scar on my arm… Luckily enough, it didn’t need to.

After dodging another attack, Leonidas caught me blindsided and sprung his knife into the center of my thigh.

“Grggh!” I grunted as a knife lodged into my thigh. It felt as if the nerves in my leg had fired all at once, amplifying the pain to an extent I wasn’t used to. The blade was only in there for a second, leaving no room for hesitation from Leonidas.

He quickly pulled out the knife and flipped it again—this time aiming for my throat. “You’re dead!” He cursed, however, just as he initiated the swing, a brave hero came to my miserable rescue…

Mooks leaped onto Leonidas’s back, sinking his teeth into his arm as if it were a piece of steak.

“AHHHH!” Leonidas yelled in a sea of pain, feeling the pressure of Mooks’s teeth sinking deeper and deeper into his skin. He tried to break free from Mooks’s gruesome bite, swinging and flayling all over like a mad man. He roared painfully, Mooks’s teeth piercing through the layers of his skin like tiny arrows through an apple.

Blood began to soak through his clothes, and the pain in my leg made me far too slow to help my companion.

Leonidas tossed his knife into his other hand and plunged it inside of Mooks’s abdomen. Mooks whimpered so bravely it nearly hurt my heart just to hear that painful noise escaping through the tip of his throat.

As the grip of Mooks’s bite loosened around his arm, that bastard sunk the knife even deeper inside my dearest companion. Blood started seeping from Mooks’s body, staining his luxurious white fur with rivers of dark and red gore. Leonidas forced the knife out Mooks’s body, throwing him overboard like an empty old bucket.

“NOOO!” I yelled as I tried to get up, but that damn pain in my thigh restricted any sudden bursts of movement I tried to initiate. My leg wouldn’t answer me, and using my other one would only do more harm to the first. I somehow managed to gather the strength to kneel—fighting through the pain—but Leonidas sunk his knife into my kidney faster than I could react to.

I wheezed so loudly it’s as if all the breath in my lungs just vanished without a trace. I slowly fell to my knees, and he ripped the knife out of my body.

I began to fall, but Leonidas caught me in his arms, dragging my pitiful body to the edge of the railing. “Go and die like the good boy you were.” He whispered in my ear, hurling me over the railing.

As I fell overboard, I could see him smiling at me from above. Smiling just the same as when I clung onto his boot, thanking him for sparing my life. Smiling like the time he gave me my most gruesome scar. Smiling as if he knew he’d finally gotten rid of me.

After that, I let the pain wash over me, and my eyes fell into the darkness.