Teekay tried to work out what was going on and clearly couldn’t make heads or tails of the situation, apart from the fact that he was being held at gunpoint. In front of him were seven fully armoured Rethans, all silently scowling at him.
It had all started with a simple knock. And then a loud bang. The door collapsed on itself as Rethan elite soldiers poured in, stampeding through the house and immediately grabbing hold of Teekay. Not knowing what was going on, he had attacked back, but was quickly overwhelmed. All the Rethans bar one were dressed in black and gold. The biggest Rethan though had glimmering red and gold armour and had gone straight for Elkay.
“What are you doing here?” Elkay hissed. Clearly he had heard them before Teekay did, as he had drawn a weapon, his prized gold and silver sword.
“That is no way to speak to your older brother. And that is certainly no way to speak to the High General!” Rethais hissed. “I am here to terminate your existence in person, as I do not trust you in your current state.”
Elkay hissed back. Rethais towered over him, but he didn’t care. He didn’t see Rethais as a threat.
“Oh dear, I never realised just how much of a coward you were!” Elkay kept his blade ready. “It is bad enough that you refused to send out search parties for your former leader, it is bad enough that you left me for dead but now you come here, calling this dead Rethan a threat?”
“You defected to the Skyavok…”
“You left me no choice! I was lost and abandoned and you left me in the dark! I was ill and you did not tend to me! I was your leader and that was how you treated me. Yet you consider me the enemy. You just want your power, you want your turn at the top, like the spoiled brat that you are.”
Rethais hesitated. In that single moment of hesitation, Elkay acted, striking the hilt of his sword against Rethais’s arm, swiftly disarming him. The Rethan guard immediately turned their gunstaffs towards Elkay.
“DROP.”
Elkay lowered the sword but remained standing, kicking Rethais’s weapon away.
“No. Not until you realise you all follow a coward…” Elkay turned back to Rethais. “You could not even earn power legitimately. You just rode on my back, absorbing my feats. With me ALREADY out of the picture, you could have ruled peacefully. But no, you had to make yourself complicit…”
“It does not matter!” Rethais shouted. “Not any more! I have won and you have lost!”
“Well it obviously does matter!”
Rethais growled, drawing a new weapon, pointing it at Elkay’s throat.
“You should have never existed. This should have been all mine. From the start.”
Elkay hissed, pushing Rethais’s blade away. “Then fight me for it. Fight the way I fought. You were handed the universe, I ripped and tore my way to the top.”
“Oh, I will!” Rethais growled back, stepping forward. “I will gut you like the swine you are, and then I will murder your Skyan whore.”
Suddenly, something pushed between the two Rethan siblings.
“WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS GOOD ARE YOU DOING?” Retvik’s heavy blade smashed through Elkay’s and Rethais’s weapons, disarming them both. “What are you DOING?”
Elkay and Rethais continued to glare at each other.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Retvik demanded. “Rethais, LOOK at me!”
Slowly, the eldest Rethianos turned to his brother, rage flickering in his eyes.
“He wanted me dead, Retvik!” Elkay explained. “I know I was not supposed to exist. I know I am a mistake. Yet I have been defeated and he still wishes to ruin me further.”
Retvik rolled his eyes. “Really, Rethais? You are risking EVERYTHING. And for what? A complete non-threat… No, worse. Your own blood. Someone who has treated you with nothing but respect his entire life.”
“You do not-“
“YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND!” Retvik roared, causing the guards to visibly shudder. “YOU RUIN OUR HONOUR? FOR THIS?”
“He is a threat to…”
“No, your actions are a threat to our honour…” Elkay sighed. “You already had it all. And now you have reopened old wounds that had healed oh so long ago…”
Rethais closed his eyes, then handed his weapon to the closest guard. The guards put their weapons down and began to exit the house, leaving their mess behind.
“He was a mistake. This was a mistake…” Rethais finally sighed.
“It was!” Elkay tutted. “But we can forget that any of this ever happened. You leave this home, you return back to yours and none of us will speak of this further.”
“But what of him?” Rethais pointed at Teekay. “What of this little creature?”
Teekay lowered himself down, feeling incredibly awkward. But Elkay lifted him up, holding him close.
“Teekay will keep our secret,” Elkay sighed. “He will not talk. I trust him. Perhaps more than I trust you, Rethais.”
Rethais sneered, then stormed off. Retvik turned to Elkay, sighing as well.
“I am very sorry, little brother…”
“Do not apologise for him…”
“He will never admit his faults.”
“I know. I do not care. I died, I just want to remain buried.”
Retvik nodded in understanding, then turned to leave.
“Stay safe, brother.”
“You too.”