The air whipped past his face and hair as he rode his horse at top speed. His head was lowered, to minimize wind resistance. Sweat poured down his face. He could hear his heart thumping in his chest, even through the loud galloping of his horse. Five knights, atop horses, followed closely behind him.

"My prince! It's not safe to ride so fast through the city!"

Prince Darius ignored the voice of the knight behind him. This was an emergency. Every second counted.

"What have I done? How I could let this happen?" He cursed himself for his current predicament, wishing he had relieved himself at Otto’s Brothel before heading home.

The sexual tension building up inside of him was becoming unbearable. It had almost been twenty-four hours since he had slept with a woman.

When he arrived at the brothel, Prince Darius was surprised to find that its doors were broken down.

Intruders? They're probably dead by now.

Only death awaited those who dared attack the brothel. It would take an army to bring the place down. Otto had bought the best security money could buy. He had some of the strongest mercenaries on his payroll, including Prometheus, the most feared mercenary in the Dominion.

Dismounting from his horse, Prince Darius rushed toward the entrance.

"Please wait, my prince!"

Again, he ignored the voice of the knight behind him. What was there to be afraid of? The only place in the city that was more heavily guarded than Otto’s Brothel was the Royal Palace. It was even more secure than his own mansion. In other words, it was a perfectly safe place to enter. At least, that was what he thought until he stepped inside, slipped, and fell on his back.

As he lay on ground, a foul odor ravaged his nostrils. "For goodness' sake! With all the money he's raking in, he can't even afford a cleaning lady?"

One of the knights behind him helped him up. "Are you okay, my prince?"

Prince Darius glared at the knight. "Do I look okay to you?"

He looked at his hands, which were covered in a sticky red fluid. "What is this crap?"

Looking down at the floor, he screamed when he saw a severed head staring back at him. He kicked the head away. It was among the countless body parts that were strewn all over the floor. From their appearance, he could tell that they were the remains of Otto's men. There were no signs of the attackers, so he concluded that this was the work of one man.

He could only think of a handful of people in the Dominion who could single-handedly take on Otto's mercenary army - the Combat Tournament champions, the knight commander, and the head mage. Since the latter two were supposedly on his side, he ruled them out. That meant that the culprit was a combat tournament champion. The only one who he and Otto had offended was Hupo. But Hupo should already be dead. That is, if everything had gone according to plan.

Otto had conceived of an ingenious plan to kidnap the beauty who worked at Chicken Castle. The plan was to lure Hupo away and then kidnap the beauty.

The first part of the plan had been put into motion when Prince Darius persuaded his father to invite Hupo to the palace. Convincing his father was easy. All he had to do was remind him about the impending werewolf invasion and then explain how Hupo was critical to their being able to repel it. Of course, Prince Darius didn’t believe any of his own words. In a full-scale war, what difference could one man actually make?

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To prevent Hupo from seeking revenge, Prince Darius had hired assassins to kill him. Since Hupo was visiting the Royal Palace, he would be unarmed, so killing him should have been a breeze for the assassins.

At least, that was what Prince Darius wanted to believe. But the scene in front of him suggested that Hupo was still alive and out for blood - the blood of a prince. If Hupo had indeed defeated the assassins, then he had probably already learned who had hired them.

Prince Darius realized that his own mansion was no longer safe. Hupo could be waiting for him there. At the moment, the Royal Palace was safest place to hide

He turned to leave. "We're going to the Royal Palace."

The knight closest to him spoke. “I mean no offense, my prince, but weren’t we banned from stepping foot inside the palace?”

“This is an emergency. I’m sure my father will understand.”

***

The view before Hupo's eyes changed. His attention was immediately drawn to the blazing hot inferno in front of him. The wind carried the black smoke from the roaring flames, raining down ash. He stood, shaking, unable to believe what he was seeing. Chicken Castle was burning.

"Alana, put out the fire! Coco and Easton may still be inside!"

"On it!" Alana pointed her white staff at the burning restaurant. "Strong Winds!"

Powerful gusts of wind burst forth from her staff, snuffing out the inferno.

The crowd of onlookers, astonished by the potency of her spell, gasped.

As Hupo rushed toward the smoldering remains of the restaurant, he prayed that he wasn’t too late. The restaurant could always be rebuilt, but Coco and Easton were irreplaceable. They weren’t just his employees - they were his family.

"Master Hupo!"

Turning around toward the voice, he saw Coco running toward him, dressed in nothing but a blanket. She embraced him and sobbed.

He patted her back. "There, there. You're safe now."

"It was awful!"

Alana approached them. “What happened, Coco? Where's Easton?"

"Allow me to explain." Dugu emerged from the crowd of onlookers.

***

Hupo stood in front of the door of Dugu’s hotel room.

Coco clutched his arm tighter.

Unlocking the door, Dugu paused for a moment, before opening it.

A man rested on the bed inside.

When Hupo took a step forward, Coco tugged his arm back. Her eyes were wet with fresh tears.

He wiped a tear from her face. “I need to see him.”

She lowered her chin and let go of his arms.

When he approached the bedside, his eyes widened at the sight of the faceless man on the bed. In place of his face was red flesh and empty eye sockets.

His chest began to ache. He felt as though someone had bound his heart and lungs with barbed wire and tightened it.

How could he have let it happen? He’d promised Easton a better life, but instead, Easton had ended up suffering the worse pain imaginable. Had Dugu been even a few minutes late, Easton would have perished. Hupo didn’t know how he would have been able live with himself if that had happened.

He turned to face Alana, who was covering her mouth. “Please heal him.”

She sat at the bedside and touched Easton’s hand. “Healing Touch.”

The numerous cuts on the exposed flesh closed. Nerves crossed the flesh and reattached themselves. New eyes and skin grew in place of the missing ones. In seconds, Easton’s face was restored to its original appearance.

Coco cried tears of relief while Dugu gasped.

Hupo clinched his fists. “Who did this?”

“There were two of them. The one who mutilated him was the brothel owner. He took orders from someone named Prince Darius.”

“Where are they.”

“The owner of the brothel is dead. I made sure of that.”

“Then all that’s left is the prince.”

“He may already know that the owner of the brothel is dead. If that’s the case, then he’s most likely hiding in the Royal Palace.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

“There’s an army stationed there. We’d have to carve through an entire army just to get to him.”

“Is that all?”

Dugu was speechless.

“I’ll pay the prince a visit tomorrow. We need to get everyone to safe place first.” Hupo knelt next to the bed and brushed back Easton's hair.

Anger swelled within him, twisting and screaming to be released. But he knew that now was not the right time to unleash it. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he leaned forward until his forehead touched Easton's. “There will be justice. I swear it.”