Chapter 34

“Who are you and why would you want to help us?” Lizz asked eyeing her suspiciously.

“My name is Nessa. I’ve been asking myself the same question” Nessa said with a smirk. That comment confused Lizz and Charr a little.

“Do you know Rex?” Lizz asked.

“Yes I do” Nessa replied nodding. When she said that she noticed Lizz frown a little. Was this girl his lover? She thought to herself, she reacted to her intrusion like Nessa would defending him if he was hers, another question that needed answering. She then realised that she was regarding Rex as hers, silly thoughts about him again she thought. “What or who has him unable to fight his way out? I know he is more than capable of taking on those 3 plus us and still probably win.”

“How you know how Rex fight?” Charr asked stepping closer to her. Lizz pondered for a second on that also, most curious.

“I have seen a little of what he can do firsthand is all” Nessa asked with a shrug, this seemed to be getting a little tense, she wasn’t sure she could take on them both right now not being at full strength yet. The giant would definitely prove a challenge and she was not sure what Lizz was able to do, she seemed a little too sure of herself not to be taken seriously. “Do you want my help or not? I specialise in not being seen.”

Lizz and Charr looked at each other for a second, they both seemed to have the same thought. If this Nessa woman got caught and killed it was not an issue of theirs, but if she could do what she said she could and help free Rex, bonus. “What is your price?” Lizz asked.

“It is payment enough to see what has stopped someone I thought unstoppable” Nessa replied with a grin. That was her plan all along, she wanted to see what or who had been able to overpower Rex.

“Ok then…” Lizz trailed off, she was still very suspicious, it was almost like this woman knew more than she let off.

Nodding her head at Lizz and Charr, Nessa threw her hood over and started walking down the hill. She made sure she took in as much information as she could in the process, looking at potential hiding spots, where and how many people in the area, places to avoid and importantly, looking for where they had Rex. Moving towards the side of a building, she closed her eyes and chanted her family’s ability to shadow meld. This allowed her to blend in with any available shadow and not be seen unless someone shone a light directly at her. Looking herself up and down to make sure it had worked, she looked around the corner, crouched low and started off in the direction of the voices she heard. Seeing two men at the fire as she went past some bushes, they seemed preoccupied with a certain conversation, something about who is the boss? Odd she thought, shaking her head she continued to a small shrub that was at the base of a small hill. Looking at the hill and looking around Nessa concluded it would be a good vantage point to scan for Rex again. Keeping low she headed slowly up the hill, there seemed to be dry branches and leaves everywhere. Perfect, quiet still night and all this dry s**t on the ground that would be so loud if she stepped on any of it she cursed to herself. Just as Nessa reached the edge of the summit, she heard another two voices. Laying flat on her stomach she slowly crawled forward to get a visual. The first one that appeared was a woman who seemed to be scolding someone tied up, as Nessa crept forward a little more she saw who was being told off, it was the one and only Rex. She noticed he was bound at the legs and hands and his hands were tied off to the tree. That should not be any trouble for someone as strong as him, he should have been able to snap them easily. Scanning the area around him she noticed a faint red glow from behind his shirt, then it hit her, they must have done something to him to prevent him from using any of his power. That must be a powerful item to stop him Nessa concluded, I would love to get my hands on something like that she smiled. Watching the scene in front of her she was waiting to see if she would leave or whether she would have to kill the woman to get to Rex, calculating quickly, she determined that it would leave her only minutes before the other two men by the fire had noticed the woman was no longer talking and would come investigate. She also was not sure how powerful any of these people were, after all they had stopped Rex in his tracks and captured him, so one of them had to be stronger than they let off.

As Rex was listening to the woman rant about how much they were doing to make off ransoming him off he asked, “So why are you helping my uncle? You are aware he wants to dominate nations not actually help them, right?”

“We do the job, we get paid, that’s all we care about” the woman snorted back at him. She had a simple logic that worked for them, hearing that Rex knew because he had nothing to counter offer, he was going to have to accept his fate. He thought for a minute that it was odd he had not gotten a sign from his friends that they were going to try and rescue him. As he sighed and looked off over the hill towards the ruins they were overlooking, he noticed a quick flash not far away. At first, he thought he was seeing things, he had been hit quite hard and would not be surprised if it was from that. But when he saw the small flash once more in slightly over from it, he knew it was not from his injury. Looking at his guard he noticed that while she was sitting down eating her roasted meat, she was too pre occupied to notice it. As the small light got closer in behind the woman, he saw a familiar face appear out of the shadows. Winking at Rex, Nessa grabbed a hold of the woman’s head and twisted it quickly, it let out a faint cracking sound and the woman’s eyes glazed over. She Nessa released her hold the woman’s body slumped into a heap in front of them. Nessa looked up, grinned at Rex and said softly.

“Why haven’t you torn them up like you did to me?”

“I didn’t tear you up, I stopped you doing something silly. I see it hasn’t stopped you either” Rex whispered back.

“I’m debating on helping you get out, you nearly killed me, would only be fair to return the favour” she said through gritted teeth.

“Are you forgetting what you tried to do, multiple times?” he smiled. It seemed Nessa had forgotten that she had chased Rex to begin to do the exact thing she hated Rex for, trying to get her killed. This made her blush slightly.

“Point taken” she whispered nodding. “Let’s get you out so your friends up there can undo that red thing.” Nessa pointed up the top of the valley with her head, Rex smiled, his friends had come to help him, odd they are replying on Nessa, but if she got him out, he did not care.

The moment she touched the bindings on his wrists a small sizzling sound came up straight away and Nessa pulled her hands away instantly with a faint squeal. The bindings had burnt her! This is problematic, how am I going to get those undone and not get burnt.

“Use her knife” Rex whispered nodding at his female guard. Nodding back Nessa quickly slid back, fumbled through her pouches and pulled out a small knife. She started cutting the bindings that held him to the tree and his feet first this time, he could at least run after she cut him free. As she brought the blade back and forth, she could feel the same heat start to travel into the blade handle. Whoever these people were, they didn’t want Rex getting free. Just as the binding that held him to the tree was cut the blade slumped over, it had heated up the blade so much it had half melted it! Seeing as the only knife they had was now useless, she was out of ideas except carry him as close to his friends possible so that the giant could take over.

“I have to carry you” she huffed.

“Ok” smiled Rex. Nessa shook her head at his smile and offered, “Or I leave you here to try hopping”

Nodding Rex stood up. “Woman!! Where is the liquor skin!!??” came a loud voice from down the hill.

“S**t! we are out of time, lets go” Nessa snarled. She leant Rex over her shoulder letting out a little grunt, he was heavier than she anticipated, she was definitely going to move slow carrying him. As she started down the other side of hill with Rex over her shoulder the voice yelled out again.

“Damn it Pilk!! Don’t you ignore me!!” the voice roared.

They were only halfway to where Lizz and Charr were when the voice roared out again, “Pilk is down, find him!!”

When they knew Nessa and Rex were discovered Charr and Lizz came down the hill to help. Nessa limped out from behind a ruined building with Rex over her shoulder. This made the two friends look at each other, why was she carrying him and had not just cut the bindings?

Once Nessa reached the other two, she dropped Rex and said, “The bindings burn anything that touches them, metal included. We need to go, now!”

Charr quickly said, “Rex we need you run, hold still” as Rex held still, he noticed Charr close one eye and looked like he was lining his axe up.

“What are you doing?” he said quickly about to pull his legs back.

“Hold still” Charr snarled, he kept one eye shut, poked out his tongue a little and brought his axe down, hard. Just as the axe thudded home Rex closed his eyes. He did not want to see his legs missing. So he instead tried wiggling his toes with his eyes shut.

“Will you stop being a baby and get up!” Nessa snarled watching Rex, “We need to go.”

“Yeah that’s not happening” said a voice from in front of them.

Stepping out from a building in front of them, the woman called Pilk stood there with her hands on her hips and the other 2 companions came out from the building slowly, their bows drawn ready to fire.

Rex stood with a gaping mouth. He looked at Nessa who was in shock as well, didn’t she snap her neck not 5 minutes ago?

“How…you were…” Nessa stammered.

“Yes, I will return that favour back to you” she growled at Nessa tilting her head from side to side, “You two, hand him over and we will let you walk away.” She smirked pointing at Charr and Lizz.

Rex looked at his companions is dismay, he didn’t know how he was getting out of this.