Traitors, Part Ten

Jasmine let the cloak fall to the ground, "You studied up?" The man clapped his hands together, "Of course, I had originally planned on working with you but you refused." She smiled, "Yes, I saw the message." He smiled with all the courtesy of a hyena, "In Fact I was about to head over and see you." 

She narrowed her eyes, "For what reason, to hide away." He shook his head and put his hands behind his back, "No! I want to sow chaos, I started with the guard." He gestured at the now still Arnold, "First pick a victim, manipulate them. Before long the entirety of the guard had been replaced with thugs." 

Jasmine watched as the man paced, "And then I created conflict. Hire a few bandits and supply them, send them out to the countryside and recruit more." He lifted his hand, "But someone went and ruined that part of my plan. I'm still trying to find out who wrecked my camp. You wouldn't know who that was, do you?" Jasmine glanced at Alex, "No, I don't." 

He walked back and forth, "No matter, these are boys who are pretty much dealt with." He laughed, "Two was thrown out a window just a little bit ago." Jasmine frowned, he must have been talking about John and that butler of his. This man was dangerous. 

A purple hew began to form on her red eyes and the man rinned, "So, are these the famous golden chains I've heard so much about? Beautiful, but they seem a little… underwhelming." He laughed and Jasmine felt a little annoyed by his response, but he wasn't wrong. 

She couldn't feel her arms or fingers, she was low on magic. Holding back Poison magic of such a high quality was a feet, and she wasn't even a Medical mage. She was weak, but she had to stop the man here. That or find a way to get Alex back into the game.

She swung her arm out and the golden chain darted towards the man. He blocked it with a shield of ice and retaliated. Jasmine whipped bolts of ice out of the air with her golden chains. The man laughed, "They say your chains cannot be broken?"

She whipped her arms, "How about we find out." The chains spiraled together and struck the shield cracking it. The man was preparing a spell as they hit once more with even greater force. Moving the chains wasn't her problem, but their manifestation was weakening.

With one last strike the shield shattered but he was already done preparing. He forced through his hands a stream of ice towards Jasmine and she used the chains to pull her out of the way. The ice hit the wall behind her and sent jagged and sharp pieces of ice everywhere. Before she could attack she had caught the man running at her with two Ice blades in hand. 

She pulled the chains back to her and the man began his attack. He swung violently at her, but she could block his attacks with the chains. He was too fast to keep up with and there were strikes that got through her defence and cut her. 

She could tell he was battle hardened swordsman as his skillful swordplay seemed impeccable. The point of one of his swords darted through her defence and caught her off guard. It impaled her abdomen and she caught the blade with her chains before he could push further. Her chains pulled it out of his hand, but it did little to deter him. 

He began again, but Jasmin was hurt. She began losing focus on the chains and part became unstable. She backed up against the wall and worried strictly on defences, but two chains weren't enough. With one blade he had become faster, striking over and over. Many slipped past and cut her arms, but she held her ground well enough to concentrate. 

As the man swinged again she caught his arm and slung him into the wall allowing her to get away. She backed up Alex, who stood still and lifeless imprisoned by ice. The man got up, and looked at her. "They are strong, but," he picked up a fading but whole golden link on the ground, "they are breakable." 

Jasmin was nearly spent, and her chains were failing.The chains began losing form, links falling to the ground with a clink before fading off completely. She snapped and one of the chains wrapped around the men without warning and he gasped, "This will not hold me." The links began to freeze, she had little time left. 

She turned to Alex and began investigating how to get him out. She couldn't shatter the ice, it was too dangerous for Alex. She ran a purple glowing hand over the shell, the ice was stringed together with thick magic. It was a powerful magic with at the moment no way of breaking out. 

She heard cracks as the man struggled against her chains, he was almost free. She then remembered back to before they left and she looked at his mask. His one green eye had been left open, but the other was closed. She held her hand to his icy face and it began to turn translucent before moving into the ice. 

She grasped his mask and pulled it off his face revealing his red eye. She threw it down and she heard the chains break apart and she turned. He had broken free, "The legends did not add up to your reputation." She swung her arm and the chain darted at him again. 

Instead of blocking or dodging, he caught it with a single hand. Ice had begun to form on the chain running down to her hand. She let go of the spell and it shattered leaving her defenseless. The man walked slowly towards her, "You're disappointing." 

Jasmine cried out as she felt two sharp and cold pains in both feet and felt the chilling embrace of ice on her legs. She was doen for. He laughed, "Don't worry, I will make sure your underlings join you before long." He smiled disgustingly as he walked up to her. 

She was mad that he would even think about hurting them. When he got close enough she used the last remaining magic left to form two more chains. They shot out of her hands at such speed it knocked her back. The man caught both of them. 

She growled as they began to freeze. The ice had reached her stomach and now her arms were being frozen over by the man. He looked at her, "It is a shame, you would have been a powerful ally." She spat on his face, "Go to ….." The man smiled, "I've already been."

The spell had been complete and Jasmine was frozen solid. He reared his head in laughter, "HAHAHA, so easy. Are there no challengers able to defeat me, or have the legends of the north lied to me?" The king had been watching this entire time helplessly stuck in place. The man noticed he was staring at Alex's frozen body, "Oh, do you recognise him?" 

The King sheathed his sword, "I do." The man laughed, "Then let me hear his name, he put up a brave fight. It is customary to know who you defeat." The king scowled, "Alex Mooring." The man stood for a second before breaking into laughter. He grabbed his stomach as he wiped away a tear, "Ha, as if this is him." 

He raised a hand and two ice bolts stuck the king in his shoulders. He growled and fell into his throne. "You lie, Alex Mooring is a Legend above all others. He is my inspiration, a master of his craft. The reaper of the north is a terrifying monster whose only goal is the destruction of his enemies." 

He held his hand up to Alex, "This is a kid. You are a coward to use his name as a bluff." In the silence of the hall there was one faint but prominent sound. A single crack appeared over Alex's eye and the man looked back at him. 

"...No, my Ice petrification is absolute. No one can escape its grasp." Almost in a defiant answer more cracks appeared ringing out over the hall. He backed up staring at Alex, "How can this be?" 

A red glow appeared from Alex's eye as the ice flew off his body. A shockwave shook the room and all the ice flew off his body. He stepped off the spikes and wiped off what ice remained. Alex felt dazed as magic flowed from his eye.

The man looked on as a smile seemed to inch its way up his lips. "Could it be true, could you be him." The man fell to his knees as the glow of Alex's eye lit the room up. 

"The Reaper of the North."