The Warlord

Damus just shrugged and swung his sword again at the Warlord. "Just shows you, not to get distracted." His movements were wild and unpredictable. He had fought against Warlords the size of Dominic before and knew not to leave them any opening to wield their weapons.

One thing Damus didn't take into consideration, Dominic wasn't the normal warlord. He was a strategist. He planned ahead five moves when he caught on what type of enemy he faced. He allowed Damus to think he was getting the upper hand, while doing so, he watched as Damus begin to tire himself out. With each swing he made, the more strength he placed behind it to get pass Dominic's defenses. It only took ten minutes of hard swinging to feel the strength behind each attack become weaker and he could see the sweat begin to pour off the older man. He knew his time was coming, he just had to hold off for a little bit longer, then he would have his turn attacking.

It was only a short time when Damus began to falter. Dominic began to see the openings he left and decided to switch positions and began to attack. Each swing he made, he put only half of his power behind it, he kept his movements slow. Letting the shorter man think he was tiring as well. But when he saw hope in Damus's eyes, he couldn't help but smirk and he picked up his pace. He began to move in the ways the Vrah had trained him, placing full strength behind his swings then finally. Letting Damus see just how dangerous of a man he was. He turned his sword and cut cleanly through Damus's sword and smirked to see the stunned expression across his face. With a few more careful moves, he thrusted his sword through Damus' stomach all the way to the hilt and turned the blade for maximum damage. He whispered in his ear. "You should never mess with my people." But then he grunted feeling something sharp going in under his ribs.

Damus just smirked at him as he felt his life leaving him. "I.. I won't be the only one leaving this world today." He managed to get out before he slumped onto the sword.

Dominic drew his sword off the man and stumbled back before tripping backwards having forgotten about the dead bodies on the ground. He looked down at his side to see a black knife hilt in his side and he groaned a little. Already feeling the poison running through his body taking affect.

* * * * *

Isabella and Tomas's fight was harder. Just like the hand to hand fight she did with their parents. Their fight went from one side to the other, but neither getting the upper ground. As their swords met, a spark was formed from the power behind each swing.

When the next close metal kiss happened, he stepped towards her and with all of his strength, he pushed her back hard. She wasn't ready for that and stumbled back a little before tripping over a body and feeling the grip lost from her swords.

As soon as he saw that opening. He raced towards her and kicked her in the stomach to move her further away from her weapons. He felt a little satisfaction with her grunt and knelt over her. Pressing the blade of the sword against her neck slowly. "I did what this meeting to be different, but what can one do..." then he heard a grunt and someone trip and turned to see who it was.

When he saw it was Dominic, he quickly looked around to see Damus dead on the ground and he smiled. "Maybe another time then." He tossed his swords away and took a few steps back before giving Isabella a soft nod. His handler was dead so he had no use to killing anyone in his name.

As soon as Isabella saw Dominic laying on the floor, she jumped up and raced over to him. She looked at the black knife handle and looked over to her brother. "What poison did you use on the knife?"

Tomas just shrugged. "Our family poison."

Isabella narrowed her gaze at him. If Dominic dies because of that, she would kill her brother in a fit of rage she knew she would have if that happened. Yelling out. "Father. I need the antidote to the family poison now!"

Anthony ran in and looked at his son and shook his head as he walked over to Isabella. He placed his hand on Dominic's forehead. "There is only one antidote, Isa. We aren't allowed to do that until the first child."

Tears streamed down Isabella's cheeks. "He can't die, not this way. If it wasn't because of us, he wouldn't of had to come here."

Tory looked at them and sighed. "Do it. You can do it again once the first child is born. I won't tell anyone." He knew they had already broken so many laws of their people so one more wouldn't hurt.

Isabella gave Tory a look before cutting her palm and pulling the dagger out from Dominic's side and placed the open cut of her hand against his wound. Her father took her other hand and cut the heel of her palm and place it against Dominic's lips for her blood to roll down his throat.

Anthony kept his hand on Dominic's forehead until he could see Isabella weakening from the blood lost and pulled her away and bandaged her hands before going to bandage Dominic's wound.

* * * * *

Each mission that needed to be done inside the castle had been completed. Families were reunited with not much problems at all. The only ones who had to be killed were the guards who tried to hold back the enemies. As soon as the Vrah had seen other Vrah with the enemy, they knew what they were being told was the truth of being set free once the main task was completed so they helped to kill the remaining guards who stood between them and their families.

* * * * *

It was a week after the battle when Dominic woke. He looked around at the strange room then turned his head to see Isabella sitting on a chair with her feet up on the bed. He couldn't help but chuckle, remembering he had take the same position when she had finished the fights with her parents. He reached out and touched her leg gently. Then smiled when he saw her eyes opening.

"What happened?" He asked.

Isabella hesitated for a moment. "Damus stabbed you with a poison blade. But we had the antidote to save you."

He nodded a little. "Is that why I feel so sore?"

Cringing a little, she shook her head. "That would be, because of the antidote. It will be like that after each hard fight from now on. You will sleep for a full day from now on after any. But you will be immune from any poisons from now."

He raised a brow to that. "And why would a antidote have that reaction to any future fights I have?"

Moving her feet off the bed and sitting forward a little. Staring at the ground as she said, "The antidote was blood from my family lines. Your considered Vrah now with the Council. It wasn't meant to be done until after the first child is born but Tory gave permission to save your life." Then looking up to him with tears in her eyes. "If there was any other way, I would have done it. But it was the only way to save your life. I'm sorry."

Staring at her hard for a long time before his lips twitched. "So that means you won't ever beable to get rid of me, huh?"

She nodded silently and looked back to the ground.

She didn't see the smirk he had across his lips. "Good, because your my woman and I don't want to be separated from you now that I have you fully. But I guess we better start practicing on having our first child so we'd be doing things proper in your beliefs." He cringed a little as he sat up and pulled her into bed with him.

She let out a small cry when he grabbed her and pulled her to him. But couldn't help but melt into his arms when he kissed her. She knew where her place was and to hell with anyone who ever tried to take him away from her again.

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The End

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