3 CHAPTER ONE - A REMINDER FROM THE PAST (2/3)

Somewhere in the throne room, the big guy with the axe at his back puts something in a bag and puts it in his jacket. He sneaks out. As he runs outside, his path merges with that of the lady in the group as she is also running.

"Did you get it?" the big guy asks her.

"Yes Rickon. It's in the bag. You?" She replies.

"Yes, but one problem. Atlan's in trouble."

"Harold should be around him, right?"

"That's the thing. I haven't sighted him yet."

"Well how's that not a surprise?"

Rickon is not so pleased with that response. He shakes it off though.

"I guess we'll have to get him ourselves then:' Diane adds.

"Lead the way", she says with a smile and they move towards Atlan's location.

***

At this point, Atlan is trying to take a good picture of his surroundings as a couple of Egorks form a battle stage in form of a circle around them. Atlan doesn't expect Momor to keep his end of the bargain if he wins, but he can't act without his archer backing him up. It's too big a risk when the prince is involved. But how can he be so sure that his archer Harold, will show up or that he is not already there without giving Harold's position away. For now, the best he can do is hope Harold gets there on time and creates an opening while fighting that humungous Egork for both of them to act.

Looking closely at Momor, he notices that Momor's hand is on the prince's shoulder. As Atlan drops his weapon, two Egorks come to tie his hands behind him, rather tightly like they were expecting him to try to wriggle free of his bonds amidst the fight. He had no intention to though. He didn't need his hands to beat this Egork. It had to be slow. He didn't need to end it quickly. All Atlan wanted was to make sure Momor's hands were not on the prince in any way. Momor has the ability to project spikes from different parts of his body. Although they were quite short once out, trying to attack Momor while he was still in physical contact with the prince could result in his injury or worse, his death. But for now, he needed to keep the Egork in front of him occupied. Ending the fight quickly was not to his favor in any way.

The Egork raises his hands with his axe in one hand and roars as the crowd of Egorks cheer him on. He is probably trying to intimidate Atlan.

"Here we go," Atlan says as the Egork swings his axe towards Atlan.

Atlan keeps moving back to avoid the Egork's axe. The Egork takes a very large swing at Atlan which he avoids. At first, it looks like an opening, however in less than a second, the Egork recovers from his initial momentum and begins spinning the axe towards Atlan. He slightly loses his footing as he moves back to dodge the attack which forces him to collide with the wall of Egorks behind him. Immediately, they push him towards the Egork who wastes no time in swinging his axe at Atlan's head. Atlan rolls beneath him and his axe to get behind the Egork. At that moment, he notices Momor almost jumping at the thought that he might just have gotten Atlan. One thing was of importance though, Momor's hands were completely off the prince's body and all over his own face.

That was it! He just needed to let the Egork get so close, that it would look a sure win and then he'd counter. The only problem was the distance. There was no possible way that he would get there before Momor reacted. Time was not on his side and he needed something else. If only Harold, his archer was close. But there was no way to determine without exposing his position. Harold did prefer attacking from the shadows than an all-out battle.

However, amidst dodging the Egork's attacks, for almost a moment, Atlan feels Harold's presence. It was too short for him to pinpoint it or probably for anyone else to even notice but that was the signal he needed. He just needed to create the opening and Harold was sure to act. He started to observe the Egork's movements to find weak points he could exploit. After a few more swings from the Egork, Atlan charges straight at the Egork getting really close. The Egork counters with a mid-level horizontal swings aiming to cut Atlan in two, faster than you'd expect for something of that size. Atlan notices that Momor's hands were up again and he immediately jumps to dodge the Egork's attack. It was at that moment when Atlan could see above the wall of Egorks that he notices Momor's foot on the prince's foot.

"Shit," Atlan was quite pissed at how much effort was wasted till now. He realized how much Momor had played him. While still midair he performs a spinning kick and takes the Egork's head cleanly. There is complete silence as the Egork drop.

Momor begins to laugh hysterically. "You seem disappointed even though you won. Rather effortlessly," Momor says as he looks down at the fallen Egork in disappointment. "All that muscle and he couldn't hold you off for longer. Pretty disappointing."

The wall has now separated, allowing Momor and Atlan to have a clear path between them. Atlan is trying to figure out how he can turn this to his advantage. But first he should try to close the distance between himself and Momor. As he attempts to walk towards Momor, he notices that the Egorks try to attack him so he stops.

"I know what your plan was. There was no way you expected me to honor our agreement. I mean, why would I? That Egork couldn't beat you even if you were drunk. And I was definitely not going to let you have your way. So, I figured you'd try to buy time. And I'd lead you on to believe you had a chance, because I'm also buying time. I know you're not alone. I just need enough time to find all your friends on their way here, while you were preoccupied. That is why you were buying time right? For them to get here?" Momor is beyond delighted. He is overjoyed at the thought of finally besting Atlan.

"Well, isn't that a failed plan," A voice behind Momor says to his greatest shock. Had he failed again? Before he could react, the anonymous person kicks him forward and secures the prince. It's the archer, Harold!