Chapter 11 Left To His Doom.

Isaac and Lenna both looked over in time to see Kahtesh rip a man’s head off of his body with the sound of tearing flesh, gurgled screaming, splashing, and the sound of claws on stone accompanying the gruesome sight. The dragon didn’t seem done as there was still another enemy who was trying to rid himself of his cloak that was currently ablaze while babying his left arm.

Kahtesh turned, the man’s head still in his mouth and he lined up with the archer. ‘I want the last one alive.’ Isaac ordered mentally through the still clearing fog and lightheadedness. Kahtesh had already started charging his lighting rune so he angled his head downwards before firing. The lighting vaporized most of the insides of the head that was in the dragon’s mouth and the head exploded like a tomato under a wagon wheel. Fragments of skull, one of Katesh’s teeth, some hair, and bits of flesh were blasted out in a roughly forwards direction.

Some of the onlookers lost their lunches. Kahtesh was anything but subtle. In fact, Isaac, the egomaniac drama queen, was the most subtle among them. It was no wonder they always found themselves in trouble. Kahtesh bounded towards the final enemy. He covered the thirty feet to his target in one leep, gliding most of the way. The man threw the flaming cloak at the dragon as he jumped away. Kahtesh wasn’t hindered in the slightest and simply jumped again with his jaws open wide.

Kahtesh clamped down on the man’s right arm and whipped his head to the side like a dog trying to tear meat off a corpse. The man’s shoulder dislocated, his elbow broke, half the flesh on his forearm was shredded and he was tossed to the ground face first. The dragon let go of the man’s arm and walked around to the other side of him effectively cutting off his escape route. ‘Good dragon.’ Isaac sent Kahtesh mentally.

Isaac sat in the street still trying to catch his breath as he looked around. There had only been about a dozen people there to witness the event but Kahtesh was no longer a secret. He looked up to Lenna. “You okay?” He asked breathlessly.

Lenna dropped to her knees next to him and checked him over. “Are you okay?” She demanded.

Isaac nodded. After a moment he gave her a grin. “I’m immortal, remember?”

Lenna shook her head. “I forget sometimes my Lord.” She replied loud enough for anyone who was listening to hear before adding quietly: “I have never been so afraid.” Tears were visible in the corners of her eyes but she quickly blinked them away and rose to her feet. She offered him a hand.

Isaac shook his head. “I need another minute to catch my breath. Make sure our prisoner doesn’t bleed out would you?” He directed.

Lenna nodded and after a long look at Isaac she turned to Kahtesh. “Kahtesh, switch.” She ordered the dragon. The dragon tilted its head to the side not completely understanding the command as it could not feel the intent behind it. Kahtesh could always feel Isaac’s intent through their connection but orders from Lenna were not always as easy to understand. “Protect your master and I will handle the prisoner.” She commanded.

The dragon understood that time and trotted over to Isaac as Lenna walked over to the prisoner. The prisoner had taken out a healing potion and downed it as soon as the dragon wasn’t looking. Lenna ran towards him as he tried to get up. He saw her and dropped back down onto the ground. “I surrender.” He replied to her incoming fury.

Lenna slowed down her approach. “Good.” She told him. Once she was close enough she hauled him to his feet. His steps were unsteady. The healing potion had healed many of the injuries but not all of them. His shoulder was still dislocated and much of his arm was still raw from the recently closed holes. She sat him on the ground about seven feet from Isaac. The guard arrived a few seconds later. More and more armed and armored men came from different directions. They took in the scene with a mix of horror, concern, and awe.

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Isaac took a deep breath and winced. His rib was still fractured from Kahtesh’s violent exit. He closed his eyes and ran death mana through his fractured rib, in line with the bone, through the bone, over the bone. The injury was gone a moment later as if it had never existed. He cycled some more of his death mana through his torso just to make sure there were no unknown injuries remaining. He opened his eyes to see Lenna standing over him. She extended a hand and helped him to his feet.

Isaac’s world started to spin and his knees felt weak. “Take your time. My healing probably gave you a fever.” Lenna told him as she steadied him by the elbow and shoulder. Isaac nodded and focused on just breathing for a moment.

A guard approached them. “Lord Wexler, Lady V’Nova, are you both alright? Should I call a cleric?” He asked worriedly.

Isaac nodded to Lenna that he was good and straightened. “We are fine.” He told the guard. “Have two of you bring that man with us.” He ordered and gestured towards the only living attacker. “The rest of you can clean up and run damage control. A fight in the noble district is bound to cause a panic. Ensure no one uninvolved was injured. And lastly, send a messenger to Lady Arbencroft explaining what happened.”

The guard nodded after a second of processing his orders from someone who was definitely not his supervisor. “What should I tell Lady Arbencroft?” He asked and then gestured towards the bone dragon who was a few feet away. “And what of that?”

“Tell her seven people attacked us on our way home. They were dealt with. We are taking the only survivor into custody.” Isaac commanded and then looked at Kahtesh. “Go back to sleep, little one.” He ordered and Kahtesh coiled up on the ground and then sunk into the shadowy void that opened up beneath him. “What of what, guardsman?”

The guard audibly gulped and then nodded his understanding. He turned and ordered two of the other guards to help take the prisoner to wherever Isaac was planning to go. He then told the rest of the guards to do as Isaac had said before taking the job as messenger for himself. The two new guards hauled the archer to his feet and nodded towards Isaac that they were ready to head out. “Take him to the cells.” Isaac ordered.

While Isaac was dealing with the guards Lenna started retrieving her thrown weapons. Even though she was the one to advise Isaac against throwing his weapons, she was beginning to make it a habit. Unfortunately she did not have any good spells for attacking enemies at range and not causing a large amount of collateral damage. Isaac waited for her and then the pair began following the guards that were escorting the archer.

“How are you feeling?” Lenna asked after they had been walking for a short while.

“A little lightheaded but fine otherwise. It’s clearing up quickly enough.” He replied without looking at her. Jerking his head to the side too quickly or too often still caused him to grow dizzy. He was drinking water which was helping him to cool off and he could tell that his body was almost back to normal operating temperatures. “You?” He asked.

Lenna nodded. “Fine.” She replied. After a moment of silence she continued. “Annoyed.”

Isaac smirked. “At the clothes being ruined or that they actually got the drop on us?” He questioned jokingly.

Lenna turned to look at him and gave him a flat look. “At you being stabbed in the throat my Lord.” She replied directly.

Isaac shrugged. “I won’t say that it was a pleasant experience but it wasn’t the first time I was getting ready to greet the reaper.” He turned his head slowly to look at her while they walked. “I’m more concerned with your severed heart.”

Lenna shook her head. “My Lord, you are more important, remember that.” She told him. Her tone did not leave anything up for debate but that didn’t stop Isaac from trying.

“Not to me.” He retorted. “You… you can bring me back, I don’t know if I can do the same for you. If I can then only one of us ever needs to survive an encounter, I understand that that will almost always be me, but I still don’t want to have to bring you back if I can help it.”

Lenna searched his eyes and face for a long moment before sighing in defeat. “Why do you always have a counter?” She asked.

Isaac smirked. “Because I have already thought through both sides of the argument and I know you. I know how you think and what points you are most likely to argue.” He replied. “Sometimes it’s almost like reading from a script.” He confessed.

Lenna’s look turned flat. “You are… difficult.”

Isaac laughed. “That’s a word for it.” He shook his head. “I think what term you were looking for is ‘a pain in the ass’.”

Lenna shook her head and then turned back to face forwards. Isaac could see the slight smirk pulling at the corner of her mouth. His eyes lingered for a moment too long before he blinked a few times to clear his head. Turning back to look forwards again he realized that they were almost to the cells. The guards that they had been following had been pleasantly quiet the entire time and the prisoner was trying to, at the very least, not make his situation worse, and thus was being completely silent.

Once inside the small holding prison, that they had a singular unpleasant memory of, Isaac gestured towards the back. “Lock him up in one of the magic suppression cells. Leave the door open and then you two can be on your way.” He told the guards. The guards did as they were told and shared a look before giving Isaac and Lenna short bows and then leaving them alone with the prisoner.

The unspoken message was clear. ‘No one wanted to be the man they had just shackled and left to his doom.’