After thoroughly examining the location Kael returned with Martin to the waterfall to wait for the others. The other man caught a few fish in the river and roasted them on a small fire Kael lit so they could eat something while they waited.
The team supposed to meet them at dawn arrived even earlier, led by Peter. The grief on his face immediately told Kael something was wrong.
“What happened?” he asked, jumping to his feet, looking for Rhiannon. “Where is Rhiannon?”
Peter cleared his throat as if struggling to find the right words. “She disappeared,”
“What?” the shout scared a few birds away.
“She told me she needed to go for a walk into woods to clear her head and since it was midafternoon, I didn’t see any harm in it,” Peter started explaining. “After two hours, I started to get worried and went looking for her. It didn’t take me long to find her clothes in her favorite corner of the river, but she was nowhere to be found.”
“Is it possible she drowned?” Kael asked, struggling to control himself, his heart racing in his chest at unknown pace. He couldn’t lose Rhiannon. Not her.
“No, not there and if she had, we would have found her, the water there is pristine,” Peter explained.
“So, you assume she was taken by the demons,” he concluded, feeling the rage and the impotence rushing through his body. They had Rhiannon.
“Yes, that’s the only logical explanation,” Peter agreed.
Knowing he was about to explode and that they couldn’t afford being detected by the demons, Kael shifted into his drogon form and flew up, high enough to be able to let out the loud cry of rage that wrestled to come out his lips.
He was in so much pain and rage, it wasn’t a surprise when he shifted into the fire creature. He wanted revenge, he wanted to destroy the demons and leave no trace of them in this place. The cocktail of feelings rushing through his body was so powerful he lost control of it completely.
Thinking of the possibility of losing Rhiannon was more than he could handle, he prayed to all the gods he had heard of to find her alive and well. The iron band squeezing his heart at that moment was all it took for him to finally realize what his instincts hadn’t told him yet – Rhiannon was his soulmate. The woman he had been looking for his whole life.
With this knowledge, his body shifted again, he was still a fire creature, but this time the fire he was made of was blue, pure and more powerful.
Determined to find Rhiannon and Esther, he shifted back to his humanoid form and descended to meet the others.
“Let’s do this,” he said, with a stern tone. “They will regret ever having crossed my path.”
The men nodded and followed him into the water. It was time to show the demons who they were up against.
Like last time, he was the first one to go through the last pool and only when he was sure there was no danger, did he allowed the rest to come through the narrow passage.
When they were gathered at the chamber, Kael turned to look at the men. “The minute we walk out of here, I want you all to do your best to kill as many demons as you can. Have no mercy, since they have shown none to you or your families.”
The men nodded, and only then did he allow all his rage to come out and his body to shift into the raging blue fire creature. He wasn’t going to stop until he had the last demon destroyed. Not this time.
As silently as possible, they left the chamber spreading through the corridors in groups of three and soon they were destroying all the demons they found on their way.
Kael headed directly to what he assumed was the main room, sure he would find the leader of the demons there. He wanted to destroy him personally, to end his cruel reign.
A few hours later, Rhiannon started to hear some commotion outside her door. She had spent that whole time pacing the room, wishing she had some clothes on, or at least, a sheet or something to cover herself with, but there wasn’t and being left naked didn’t forecast anything good. Their theory the demons used the women to breed gained more sense and she couldn’t help shuddering under such a possibility.
When she started hearing noises outside, she let out a sigh of relief. Kael was there. No matter what happened, she was sure he would do all in his power to release all the women imprisoned by the demons, destroying as many of them as possible, in the way.
She was about to get to the door to start knocking on it when it was opened violently, by the demon leader.
“So your friends really think they have a chance against me?” he roared, clearly furious, as he strode to meet her in the middle of the room. “Let’s see how brave they are, when one of you is in danger” he added, grabbing her and dragging her out of the cell back to the main room.
He had gathered a significant number of his men in the room, probably counting on their numbers for protection. He clearly had no trouble sacrificing his men to protect his own skin.
“Having me at your side won’t protect you,” she warned him.
“I don’t need protection from some weak humans, your presence here has another purpose,” he assured her. “You’ll allow me to show them just who they’re messing with,” he explained with a cruel tone.
Shuddering, Rhiannon tried to free herself from the demon’s grip, but it was useless. He had no intention to let her go.
The warriors finally entered the main room, coming from all around, led by Kael. Rhiannon was surprised to see him transformed into a blue fire creature. She guessed he was even more powerful than before and apparently the demon leader realized that too. Kael was far from the weak creature he was expecting.
“Rhiannon, are you alright? Did they hurt you in any way?” he asked from the entrance.
“She’s fine, for now,” the leader said in a cold tone, pulling Rhiannon closer to him. “But she won’t be, not for long, unless you retreat with your friends, now,” he demanded, in a loud roar.
“I’m not leaving this cave without her and without making sure your reign of terror ends here,” Kael assured him.
The demon pulled Rhiannon until she was in front of him, one of his hands pressing her throat to his chest and the other one, resting over her heart.
“If you don’t send you men away in ten seconds, I’ll pull her heart out of her chest and devour it,” the demon announced, with a cruel grin. “You’re no match for me, strange creature and you’ll be sorry you ever dared to come up against me.”
Kael’s fire seemed to become even more powerful, more intense and Rhiannon was sure he was about to explode, and no one would escape the consequences of such wrath.
As if he had reached the same conclusion, he ordered his men to leave the room. They protested, especially Rhiannon’s father, presuming Kael was surrendering, but something, perhaps the dangerous shine on Kael’s eyes convinced him it wasn’t a good idea to disobey Kael.
“Take the rest of the women out of here, as fast as possible. Make sure you destroy all the demons you can on your way out,” he ordered, in a low tone.
“You can’t fight all of them by yourself,” Peter protested.
“Don’t worry about me. Just take everybody to a safe place, away from the cave,” he insisted, barely containing the rage coursing through his veins.
Peter finally agreed, and they left the room, leaving Kael alone with all the demons and Rhiannon.
The leader let out a loud laugh. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to fight me. I can see you’re not human, but you’re as weak as they are,” he said, with a dark grin on his lips. “You put what you call feelings in front of your ambitions, you care too much for each other. You still haven’t accepted the universe is a cruel place, and only the strongest ones survive,” he mocked Kael.
“Let her go,” Kael demanded, ignoring the demon’s speech. “I sent my men away.”
The demon laughed again. “Yes, you did. But I never said I would free her if you did. That’s where we differ,” he explained, missing the fact the glow around Kael seemed to become even brighter. “I don’t follow orders or instructions and the life of your females mean nothing to me. I can always replace them in the nearest village.”
“Release her!” he roared, and the demons near him took a few steps back, apparently seeing what their leader, blind with his arrogance failed to notice.
The demon leader squeezed his hand around Rhiannon’s neck a bit tighter, making her let out a moan of pain.
“You’re no threat to me. Kill him!” he ordered his men.
But none dared to move. They could feel Kael’s power from afar. They knew they were no match for him.
“What’s the matter, your fools? He’s just one, he can’t fight you all,” he roared furiously with his demons’ reaction.
The demons finally dared to take a step towards Kael, but they didn’t go much further. Letting some of his rage out, Kael stretched his hands and formed a powerful ball of fire between his hands, before he directed it towards the first lines of demons in front of him.
In a matter of seconds, they were turned to ash, just like that.