PoV Grian

One word runs through my mind as the blue-eyed sorcerer summons a monster.

F***.

Skizz tenses next to me, crossbow aimed to fire. A guard yells some order to kill it that I didn't authorise. 

The creature kills them. With sound. The room goes silent. Everyone focuses on the creature as it turns, lumbering, blind, just sniffing the air. Everyone except me. I glare at the sorcerer, backing away, grinning. All I have on me is my sword, proved useless as a guard shifts closer, aiming and the beast turns instantly to them. Another moves slower behind that, creeping towards the back of the room and the corridor there. A glimmer of an arrow. A flash of movement that can only be Prince Scar. Still, no one else moves. I glance around the room before raising my hand. 

Prepare to attack.

5 fingers raised. Slowly, everyone notices what I'm doing. As I count down slowly... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

We attack.

With everyone moving, the monster doesn't know which way to turn, which one of us to attack. The next casualty is the guard hunting Scar down. I don't target the monster, instead slashing at Tango. He blocks with his magic staff, pushing me away. My feet dig into the ground, keeping me balanced before I stab. Missed. I grab his staff, but immediately let go as it burns my hand. A few more slices... all blocked or missed. But I'm slowly pushing the sorcerer back, into the corner to pin him there. Finally, I land a hit, straight across his chest. I can't help let out a victorious yell, aiming to kill him and-

'GRIAN BEHIND YOU!'

Someone shoves me. The next thing I know I hear a shriek, louder than anything I've heard before, painfully loud. But I don't die. Skizz, who's still keeping me close to the ground, eyes wide with fear, saved me. 

'Oh my goodness.' I mumble. I glance back to where the sorcerer was. He's gone. 

'Are you alright?' Skizz asks, standing. My ears still ring with the shriek. I feel them bleeding slightly, but I still catch Skizz's question, nodding.

'Ears hurt,' I reply, accepting his help standing. 'And now the sorcerer's gone. Completely disappeared.'

'Don't worry about that now.' I glance back to see the few guards left shooting silent from each corner, slowly killing the monster now resembling a terrifying pincushion. I'm about to join them, but Skizz stops me. 

'I'm not letting you die.' 

'Skizz I...' But before I can argue, the monster collapses, dead. I watch with revulsion, as it unravels into dark vines, before disappearing back through the cracks in the ground. Bodies fill the room. I count the few left... 5 of us, including me and Skizz. Everyone's staring at me.

'What now, Your Omniscience?' One asks. I barely catch it; the monster must've damaged my hearing.

'Skizz, you two, stay here and... clear up the remains. We won't be able to get them back home... so bury them outside the castle grounds. Write their names and anything you know about them on the gravestones. Make sure they'll never be forgotten for their heroism.'

'And...?' the last guard, Tay, speaks again. I grab a crossbow and some arrows from one of my dead guards

'We're going to kill Scar.'

The blood splatters easily show the way over. I signal for Tay to stay hidden as I enter a room full of dead plants, like the ones the monster was made of. Scar's speaking to someone that isn't me, but I still reply.

'Thanks, Scar, but I think your time of pretending you're good is over.'

I step into view. He slowly stands, surrounded by the tiny terrifying creatures that slowed our progress past the crystal walls. A few attack. I stop them easily with an arrow I quickly replace in the crossbow.

'What do you want?'

'To kill you.'

'Please.' He's got nowhere to go. 'I- I don't know what's going on. I- I- I don't understand what the Curse is really... just what Tango told me. And now he's started killing people. Like- like Cub.' 

'You know exactly what you're doing,' I spit, stepping closer. 'You wanted to kill Watcher Potentes. Probably me and Pearl too. And then have two kingdoms in your sorcerous hands.' I don't pull the trigger, but keep approaching. The creatures hiss, swarming me. A couple attack... I try to swat them from the air. But in my moment of distraction, Scar runs.

'HEY!' Tay's there, chasing after. I follow, escaping the creatures. Through the doors, outside into the cold. We're on a cliff-edge, never a good place to fight. Scar's just backing away, giving a small, scared laugh.

'Watch your step.'

'You watch yours.' He's closer to the edge than we are. I aim my crossbow. I've not got many arrows. Neither does Tay. But we've got enough to kill him, or hurt him enough to leave for the wolves I've heard roam here. He's got nothing to protect him - no magic creatures, no weapons I can see. One hand shifts towards the necklace keeping his powers under control. 

'You don't want to do that.'

'You- you can't stop me. You said yourself. No one knows what's happening here. No one knows we're here.' A madness, a desperation, has entered Scar's voice. I'd almost feel sorry for him, if he wasn't about to unleash the same power his brother did and kill everyone on this mountain. 'If I kill you and your friends, no one will know. I- I get to stay here. Safe. Tango will find me, and keep me safe-'

He falls.

I run, hearing a thud not too far down, staring over the edge to see him lying on his back, clearly in pain. There's a path down there, not too far. 

'Take the path,' I mutter to Tay. She nods, running off. I jump down at the lowest point I find, walking down. Scar sees me, scrambling into the corner, legs close to his chest. He's breathing fast, eyes wide. 

'I showed you around the gardens,' he whimpers. 'If- if we were going to kill you, I would've killed you there. The- the allays would've hidden your body... the guards would've vouched for me. W- why would I lead you all the way up here?'

'You tell me, Prince Scar. You tell me why you killed my guards with your pet monsters where no one can find us

'Why- why would I KILL PEOPLE?' He's crying.

'You're ALL MONSTERS, MURDERERS, SORCEROUS HERETICS, WAITING TO KILL US!'

'I'M INNOCENT!' My crossbow aims for his chest. 

'You're either an IDIOT, or a PSYCHOPATH to believe that!'

'I did NOTHING WRONG! I- I never- I'd never...' He starts sobbing. I don't lower my crossbow. 'I- I'm not a murderer...'

'No. You're dead.'

I pull the trigger.

:)