Standing just outside of the Lion's mouth Fortress. The Redwing army stayed there silent as they could see the evening sky start to arrive. The dark sky started to come out, and they had been standing there for a while. Soon the soldiers on the fortress walls started to gather their torches and lighting crystals and the Redwing army had done the same.

  A request had been made to talk to their leader, their hope was that they were to meet with Gary. Instead, another man had arrived, one that they were familiar with as well. It was Monk. They wanted to talk and find out whether this surrender was real and Sir K had asked to discuss this matter with them.

  Although they had agreed, Monk refused to see anyone but his old teammates. Martha, Kyle and Jack were the only ones allowed to meet. They decided they were to meet at the fortress walls and that they did.

  Monk had come down from above and walked out to meet the three. They could see that the Dark guild members seemed to respect him greatly.

  'Has he become a leader, something similar to Gary?' Martha dreaded thinking about this.

  Above them, there were many archers pointing their arrows, and just through the gates, they could see beasts. If an attack were to happen, it would be very unfavourable to the three of them, but they hoped they could convince or learn more about this so-called surrender.

  When Kyle looked Monk in the eye, all he could see was cold eyes and a hard face. This wasn't the look of someone who was ready to surrender. This was the look that someone had when they were ready to go into war and fight.

  It was clear to Kyle now that the whole thing was an act.

  The three watched Monk carefully, how he walked upright, how he conducted himself. He was still a small person, but he felt really big, and they were wondering if this was the same Monk they knew back then.

  Martha was hurt most by this. She looked saddened and wasn't impressed at all. Too stunned to even say anything to him.

  Sniffing the air, and trying to get a peek. Jack was trying to find out if there were any signs of Harry. They were sure he had taken him and was one of the reasons why they continued to march forward. He couldn't find anything, and out of anger, Jack looked at Monk.

  "So you now work as a little pawn for the Dark guild. I see you have made it big here." Jack said. "I wonder what made you give up and go to the other side, betraying your friends……and loved ones."

  Monk smiled back and wasn't angered by Jack's words at all.

  "It feels really good to be on this side," Monk replied. "Here I am free to do as I wish, here people listen to me, and more importantly I'm on the winning side."

  "I want you to surrender Monk." Martha suddenly said. "And I mean actually surrender."

  "She's right, this act isn't fooling anyone, and the only reason why we came is because we don't want to see blood split on either side," Kyle said.

  "What if I do want to see blood spilt?" Monk replied coldly. "No one ever cared to think about what I want?"

  "This is useless!" Kyle complained. "Just tell us, are you going to really surrender or are we going to have to storm in here and teach you all a lesson."

  Jack and Martha didn't like how aggressive Kyle was. For this whole trip, he had been a little more aggressive than usual. They thought that maybe it was just due to Kyle talking to someone he cared about a lot. Both Monk and Gary were former Black sash knights after all.

  Monk glanced at his men, and then let out a big sigh. "Unfortunately, what I want and what Gary wants are two different things. Gary actually doesn't wish to see blood just like you guys. I don't understand him, but I do serve him so I must listen.

  "We agree to surrender, but there are some conditions, of course, if you can't complete these conditions, then the fight will begin. Immediately."'

  "We will hear them." Martha quickly said before Kyle would say something inappropriate again.

  "The soldiers are scared that they might be harmed, while retreating with the weapons in their arms. You see they have family inside. What we suggest is, you allow the soldiers to leave this outer fortress and they shall leave their weapons in the castle. Then we will return back outside.

  "While heading into the castle, we hope that the Redwing army will be saintly enough to not harm us. So just in case, allow them to carry their weapons until they are inside."

  "What if it's a trap?" Jack asked.

  "We would be giving up our advantage. Our position on the fortress walls and to attack you from a height advantage. If we were planning something inside the castle, we would have stayed in there while you stormed through our gates. Use your brain, Jack." Monk said in a snarky voice.

  "And the second condition?" Martha asked.

  "For the punishment against the Dark guild members to be a light one. We don't wish for death. We understand we are enemies, but if we were to be sentenced to death, then we might as well fight with our lives on the line here."

  The three of them looked at each other and started to whisper until they eventually came to a conclusion.

  "What you have suggested sounds fair," Kyle said. "But when you return to the castle, you have one hour to drop your weapons and come out showing you are unharmed. Otherwise, we will storm the gates and there will be a fight. Whether you're armed or not."

  "Excellent," Monk said.

  With that, the supposed surrender was in play. The three of them were able to return to the Redwings, and they had explained the conditions and request. A short time after, they could see that the gates of the fortress were being opened, and the men and women were really retreating back inside of the castle.

  "This seems a little unreal," Katy said, the nerves in her body were starting to leave her, seeing the army retreat. "After preparing for so long, our battle, it ends like this. '

  "I would be careful," Kyle said. "I still think it's a trap. It shouldn't be this easy."

  Bliss couldn't agree more, as she had a sick feeling something was about to happen.

  "You hold onto that crystal tightly young boy," Lenny said to Van.

  The gates were being slowly pulled open and then just when it was barely open. Suddenly, a loud bang was made, and the men fell on their backsides. A large dent had been made in the black material wall.

  "This is not good, that wall is as hard as galthreium itself," Bliss said.

  It was different in colour, but that was to make the castle walls and fortress gate immune to fire. It was still just as strong.

  "Is it a beast?"

  The Dark guild members who were trying to open the gate form the outside just seconds ago, even they were in a panic as they started running around getting out of the way.

  A few more bangs against the door were made, and the dent only got larger and larger.

  "Prepare your weapons!" Sir K shouted. It seemed like the short relief they had would only last a few seconds.

  Finally, one loud bang was made, and the doors were burst apart and had been sent flying as something large and bulky had slammed through them. The gates had been struck with such force that the men standing behind the doors were sent tumbling all the way down the slope that a few of them had even crashed into where the Redwing army was standing.

  It was Dark out, and it was hard for them to make out what the figure was, but as the Dark guild members got close. Their torches revealed the scales on its body. The large tail and spikes running down it's back and its large wings on its back.

  With a couple of flaps, those that were still close to the thing fell over, and the torches lights were put out by the wind. The creature flew up and rose into the sky. Its large serpent body could be seen as the moonlight shone against it's back.

  "A Dragon!" Jack shouted.

  "How….." Bliss said in shock. "How can this be…"

  Swooping down from the sky, not discriminating between the Dark guild members or Redwing members, the Dragon was ready to kill any living human it could see.

  ******

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