4 Chapter 4

Chief Leon lifted his robe as he stepped carefully over a thorny bush. His face still had the calm look, which made you wonder if something was wrong with his head. He was walking into a trap, and he knew it, but yet, he still looked completely calm. Following behind him, keeping out of sight, was a tall, skinny man, with a hood draped over his head. His features were impossible to make out, as the thick blackness covered them in full.

The man was Chief Leon's personal bodyguard. Although Chief Leon ordered no one to follow, the skinny man did so. No one could see him as he moved as silent as a shadow, through the darkness of the trees.

In the large spread out campsite, that could even be considered a stronghold because of the amount of men guarding its surroundings, a man sat comfortably on a short, softly padded bench, his arm moving rhythmically up and down, as he meticuosly carved a stick of wood into a fine point. The man had dark brown hair, that was filled with curls. He could be considered handsome, but the look on his face made any sliver of handsomeness disappear completely. The expression of unfettered rage, made him look like a demon straight from the underworld.

Reginold Kale pulled the 6 inch knife away from the chunk of wood he was carving, and stroked his finger along its sharp edge, leaving a trail of warm blood in its wake. Lifting his sliced finger to his lips, he sucked the blood from the finger, before lifting his strong, rage-filled gaze towards the man that stood in silence in front of him. The angry look vanished, replaced by a forced smile, before asking,

"Tran, how far is he now?"

The man named Tran glanced carefully towards Reginold and tried to look as calm as possible as he replied,

"Sir, he is five minutes from our camp."

"Okay, let him in without hindrance when he arrives." Reginold commanded coldly.

"As you wish, sir." Tran replied trying not to let the fear show in his voice.

Tran bowed, before turning and moving towards the exterior of the camp.

When Chief Leon broke through the trees into the campsite, the guards awaiting him, looked him up and down before pointing towards the center of the camp, with looks of disdain on their faces. Ignoring the looks given him by the men, Leon kept walking at a steady pace towards the man that sat on a cushioned bench with a knife in his hand.

When Leon arrived at where the man sat, he looked over the man in front of him throughly. Instead of greeting him, the man sitting in front of him didn't look up, and instead kept his attention on where he was rubbing his fingers down the smooth wood. Although the man's reaction irked Leon, he remained calm, as he couldn't exactly escape if he offended this man. Before, Leon would have smacked this man in the face, but now he couldn't, because this man in front of him held the key to Ironguard's safety.

Resisting the urge to pull a knife and slash this man's throat, Leon instead clasped his hands in greeting, and asked,

"May I ask what you are doing here on Swordfish Island?"

The man stayed silent for a few moments before looking up into Leon's eyes, and replied with a voice that lacked emotions,

"You may call me Chief Reginold of the Black Snake Tribe, and you must be Chief Leon of the True Dragon Tribe, am I correct?"

Reigning his emotions in once more, Leon replied as calmly as he could,

"You are correct, I am Chief Leon, Chief Reginold, and I don't want any trouble."

"Trouble, you don't want trouble, well it looks that we both share a common interest. I also don't want trouble, but sometimes trouble just comes. Am I right Chief Leon?" Reginold replied, once again turning his gaze to his carving.

"What do you mean?" Leon asked suspiciously.

"Don't tell me you don't know." Reginold's sharp gaze jerking rapidly back up to Leon's.

"Know about what." Leon raised his eyebrows sharply.

Reginold stood up from the bench so quickly, the bench tipped over from the momentum.

"Your father killed my father, and I am simply coming for revenge. Imagine my surprise when I heard he died a few yeards back. I could no longer kill him to get my revenge, so I decided I would just kill his son instead for my revenge." Reginold replied with a fercious look, along with complete and utter hatred.

Now it was Leon's turn to be surprised. Isn't this the situation where the rival fathers emnity and hatred fall to their sons, before they have the chance to kill each other. "What an unexpected situation," Leon thought, before answering,

"Oh so my father killed your father, I am truly sorry for your loss, but is killing me truly nessacary?"

"Of course it is nessacary, killing you is the only way of venting my anger towards your father." Reginold viciously shot back.

"So you are going to kill me?" Leon asked unconcerned.

He guessed it would be something like this, and he also knew he would die, but he had to wait for Ironguard to get cleared before he died.

"Of course I am going to kill you, and after I kill you, I am going to kill that son of yours, and all of your tribe. And when I'm done, the True Dragon Tribe will exist no more." Hahahahahaha..." Reginold replied before laughing heartily.

"Since I'm going to die, you will honor me with a meal first right, I mean it would be a way of prolonging the torture of the fact that I'm going to die soon, right." Leon stated in mock fear.

Reginold's laughter cut short, before pausing for a moment. After a few moments of thinking, Reginold nodded in satisfaction.

"What a good idea, you know you are going to die, so I might as well drag on the fear of dying, besides, I want you to watch your precious village go up in flames, along with the screams of your people." Reginold said coldly.

Leon groaned inwardly, he could only hope that all the people left the village, or he would be in trouble. He couldn't let Logan die before living a full life. He had to stall Reginold a little longer, to give time to the villagers and his son.

"Bind him tightly." Reginold ordered, snapping Leon from his musings.

Three guards rushed from the sidelines, and grabbed Leon roughly, shoving him to the ground on his knees. After they tied him tightly with rough rope, that rubbed against his skin, itching consistently. Reginold walked up to him, seizing his knife handle with an iron grip, as if the knife would fall from his grasp without much effort.

"No need to worry, I am just going to play with you a while, you won't die. After all, you need to see your son burning with your own eyes, and hear his screams of pain." Reginold said in an almost excited tone of voice.

Grabbing Leon by the hair, Reginold shoved the knife against Leon's chest, dragging the knife ever so carefully along Leons flesh. The knife cut cleanly through the Leon's clothing, only to cut even deeper into his skin. Leon gritted his teeth in pain, trying to ignore the pain as best he could. He had to do this, he had to give his son time to escape. He could only hope that his guards were evacutating the village.

Jarin watched as the curly-haired man tortured Chief Leon. If one could see his face right now, they would see a small smile curving the corners of his lips. He had been the personal guard of Chief Leon for the last 10 years. He had been careful to never let the Chief see his face. It took him a long time to earn the Chiefs complete trust, but it had been worth it, to be able to see the look on Leons face when he saw his own tribe burning to the ground. He was not going to let Leon get away alive, he had wasted too many years planning this. He had to have his revenge.