27 : Feast

Cassius smirked when he saw the sight of the quivering guards in front of him. The sight made him even more hungry.

That fear was what he craved.

"Ah, who we have here!?" A voice boomed and Cassius turned on his heels with his canines sharp, pointy and ready to pierce, gleaming into a scary smile out of his gums.

They were ready to tear apart, and that was exactly what Cassius planned to do.

Xena's uncle flinched for a moment but kept himself composed. He had prepared his mind and soul, not to show that he was affected by Cassius even though he was scared to death. He was the one to slay the King and Queen of his kind, he should not be scared of their son.

Oh no, he shouldn't be, but what can a line human, out of his prime do infront of a creature ready to grill him? A human that had just made a swifter angry.

"I am hungry, I will just start with you," Cassius mumbled and in a blink of an eye, he was towering over Xena's uncle's small figure. This caused the man to finally flinch back in Surprise as well as his heart jumping out of his throat.

All his previous preparations had gone down the drain.

"Don't you want to know where your people are?" This made Cassius stop. Once again, he had to stop his desires over revenge.

He didn't know how many times he had to give up his desire for revenge.

"I will tell you and allow you to take them if you leave this place without harm-" he was cut off when Cassius spoke,

"I don't need anyone's permission, now you will tell me-" this time Cassius was cut off.

Old man is off his knockers today. Cassius thought. Really want to die, I see.

"Or what!?" Cassius rose a brow with a smirk on his face. He was not going to beat around the bush, he had to save a damsel in distress, Prince missing in action and his men.

At the moment, he was not going to waste his time with this poor excuse of a man.

Cassius grabbed the scrawny man's precious jewel between his legs, almost inserting his long sharp claws inside the flesh and spoke,

"I will rip it off. Now speak!" Cassius shouted in his face and the poor - not so poor - guy jumped. Okay now, he did not care what Cassius took, he just wanted to keep his next-generation making thing intact.

"D-Down the hall, turn left. Everyone is there." Xena's uncle had to calm his tongue from wobbling and trembling. Cassius shrugged and lowered his lips to the man's ear,

"Next time, I won't warn. I will just rip it off." With that, Cassius turned around after releasing the man's groin that had already started throbbing.

What Cassius didn't know was that scrawny man had planned something and half of the plan was already complete.

Cassius was unaware of the schemes of humans and it didn't cross his mind either.

He walked with confidence oozing out of his body. The guards opened gates for him when Cassius bared his fangs at them.

After a few minutes, he stood in a room that was big enough to hold the people of the whole kingdom. It was the place where there were creatures just like Cassius.

His kind.

There were more!

But Cassius heart throbbed and ached in pain as he noticed how they had lost their color and health.

Cassius was happy to see them but angry at their appearances. Children had no wings - just like Stephen - while the older people looked close to death.

"I am going to murder them," Cassius mumbled as his King instincts kicked in.

This caught the attention of the other swifters, yearning for escape, young and old stood up and spoke, hope finally lifting their faces.

"Prin- King Cassius!"

"He is alive!"

"King!"

"King Cassius!"

The creatures started and Cassius one by one ripped their doors off.

"I have decided that you should feast today. Eat anyone and everyone who had hurt you - but only those who had made you work and give you pain." Cassius called and a chorus of happiness went around.

He was for once, letting the innocent humans survive. If it were any other day, he would've told his kind to annihilate the whole kingdom for all he cared.

"What about you King?" One of them asked and Cassius recognized the guy as Edmund.

One of the guards that served his parents.

"I have to go save my brother and . . . Someone." Cassius mumbled and opened his wings which left everyone in awe. "Once you all have eaten, go north. To your home."

Cassius had no idea why these many swifters could not break a jail made by humans. There has to be a sorcerey in this.

And with that thought, Cassius flew out followed by his people. He decided to leave them on their own. Hopefully, they will get stronger when they eat the humans.

Cassius was almost out but then he remembered something and turned back. He was not going to leave before grabbing his lunch - the very scared guard he had pointed out before - and was ready to feast himself.

"You didn't think I would forget about you, did you?" Cassius devilish smirk had sent the human to heaven before he could've been devoured.

Stephen woke up when someone sprinkled water on his face.

"Karen?" Stephen remembered her. Karen looked around with a finger over her lips.

Stephen was in ropes and thrown somewhere in the corner of a small tent.

"Quite! If they know, they kill us." Karen spoke in her broken English. Karen then helped Stephen up and they both moved out of the camp.

"You get out," Karen spoke and Stephen nodded,

"They will kill you if they know that you helped me. Come with me." The witch looked around and replied,

"He will kill me. The creature that was with you." She was talking about Cassius and Stephen immediately understood.

They - Karen and her sister - must have been spying on both of them and waited until one was gone to attack the other.

"He is my brother. He won't if I tell him to." Stephen reassured and the witch looked around once more and then finally nodded.

Thought Stephen was not really sure about it, hopefully Cassius would actually listen to him.

"Let's go," Karen said and went to the cage where Killian and Xena were kept. The other witches were dancing around the fire while they both rescued Xena.

There were other humans but the main priority was Xena.

They broke the lock and got in. Karen picked Xena while Stephen picked Killian. Both were out like a daylight.

"Why are you helping me?" Stephen asked like any other sane human being would've asked.

Karen was helping Stephen. Why? One, she didn't like the Human that her fellow witches were helping. Two,  she was a good person. Three, she may or may not have a little crush on Stephen.

But Karen was too shy to answer so she just smiled at Stephen who was as clueless as thief in court.

Stephen and Karen slowly walked until Killian decided to wake up. Killian probably thought that he was being carried to some place to be killed and without looking at the people carrying him, he started shouting.

That of course caught unwanted attention from the witches.

"Damn it!" Stephen muttered when the witches stopped dancing and everyone turned to look at them. Double hell!

"Run!" Stephen shouted and Karen took off with Stephen hot on her heels.

But of course, they could not escape since the witches rounded them and had their spells going. Karen's sister looked at her with betrayal clearly visible in her eyes.

"What now?" Karen asked and Stephen was about to say 'I don't know' when his dear brother made himself known and cleared his throat.

The witches turned around and focused all his attention on him because Cassius was far more of a threat and also, he had his wings open to be appreciated.

"I can probably make space for a dozen more witches in my stomach," Cassius spoke and winked towards Stephen  - who still had a surprised Killian over his shoulder - nodded and immediately ran away with Karen behind him.

While they ran, Cassius grabbed one witch by her throat and used his wings to swish every other witch away. With another powerful push of his wings, he lifted himself up with a witch flailing in his hold and flew away.

He happily bit into the witch who screamed for her dear life but he did not care. He just wanted to eat and food was what he was going to get.

Xena had woken up.

When she opened her eyes, she noticed she was under the shade of a giant tree beside a lake. It was peaceful until she heard a man scream. She was immediately up and looked around.

Her eyes widened when she spotted Cassius scaring Killian by hanging him upside down from tree branch.

What in the world?

She was happy to see Cassius safe and sound including everyone else who was seated around Cassius, watching him have fun.

What Xena noticed more was that there was a witch. How? What happened when she was out?

"Cassius!" Xena called out and Cassius immediately stopped and turned around.

Without thinking, Cassius had knelt down beside Xena in a flash completely ignoring the upside-down Killian still hanging from the tree.

"Hey! Put me down!" The words fell on deaf ears.

"How are y- Ahm, you are up," Cassius spoke while staring straight into her eyes.

Xena nodded and opened her mouth to apologize,

"Cassius, I am sorry. You don't get to your destination bec-" Cassius stopped her with one finger raised,

"Don't worry. I am happy right now. I freed my people already and asked them to go back home. Don't ruin my mood by saying anything wrong." Xena was surprised but still smiled and threw her arms around Cassius - which of course made him freeze.

But Cassius didn't say anything and let her embrace him. For just a while. For just this once.

Because he was happy.

"Someone get me off!" Killian called from the branch.

...
I mean, who doesn't like Cassius? I love him! So should you!

P R O Q U E E N