The Fires of Hell
#19 of Legend of the Tiger Clan
After a day in the medical wing Abby made a full recovery and was greeted happily by her friends and Kerric who plucked her off the ground locking her in a romantic kiss, he was so happy that she made it out okay as he stared into her eyes knowing that he nearly lost her, while the couple spent the morning together the ship was docked at Surf City; the number one fish market and trade center in all of Gaia. Day after day ships from all over would bring exotic spices, food and the occasional women.
Zeng and Sparky went down to the market to buy some food for the kitchen and thanks to the shards of his thorium axe he had some money to spare, he soon came upon a blacksmith whose shop was full of all kinds of weapons both enchanted and one of a kind, as the blacksmith came out of the forge he showed himself to be an ox with a piercing in his nose and a very well built body.
"Welcome. don't get many hunters in these parts, need a weapon?"
Zeng had been caught eyeing the works of the blacksmith then he spotted a hammer giving off an icy mist that piqued his curiosity.
"How much for that hammer?"
"Sorry my friend you're too late. A high paying client of mine reserved that weapon."
With that being said Zeng left the shop in disappointment and decided to buy a cloak to hide his sword from potential thieves, he and sparky soon wandered through an alley as a shortcut to get back to the ship but the little sprite suddenly felt a chill crawl up her spine.
"Zeng I think we should turn back."
"You're worrying too much the only thing here is rats and-!!!"
Suddenly a huge sack was drapped over his head and something slammed his head from behind knocking him out, Sparky who flew into cover during the ambush saw that the people taking Zeng opened a secret passage in the alley and swiftly made their way in making sure nobody saw anything.
Back on the ship Zengs mothers had just finished preparing lunch and noticed Zeng was not at the table with the others, Saline checked his room and found nothing while Sharon and Elicia asked around if Zeng was with any of the crew.
"Xani have you seen Zeng?"
"He went into town to get some more food for the galley, he should've been back by now."
"HEELP!!!"
The little sprite suddenly flew into Elicias arms exhausted beyond measure as she tried to catch her breath and tell them the message.
"Zeng *pant pant* taken *pant pant* trouble!"
"Slow down sparky! now tell us what happened."
The moment Sparky told them about Zengs kidnapping Sharon crushed the steel pint in her hands, when it came to protecting Zeng she and Elicia were fierce.
"SOMEBODY STOLE MY BABY?!? RRRRAGH!!!!"
She ripped her chair into two pieces before storming out the room and grabbing her spear, leaving the others a little scared.
"Make a note guys: NEVER piss them off."
Meanwhile in a dungeon cell Zeng awoke in shackles but his weapons were still with him meaning that this was not some random robbery, then he could here the sound of bones being crunched followed by a blood curdling scream then the door to his cell suddenly opened and he saw a hyena with two bull bodyguards beside him.
He was dressed in nobles clothing meaning he was the leader of this group and at the snap of his fingers two mugs of wine were given to him and Zeng as a table of small orderves were served along with it.
"Forgive me if my boys were too rough but it was necessary to get your attention. welcome to The Crimson Ring."
The Crimson Ring was an undergound fighting circut where mercenaries were pitted against each other in gladiator combat and a hunter was occasionaly thrown in if they aquired a powerful beast and Zeng was that hunter, as Zeng stared into his drink the hyena simply smirked as he took a bite of a small sandwhich.
"Don't worry it's not poisoned."
"Why did you kidnap me?"
"A man who likes to get to the point. I like that...You see we've aquired a fire dragon we've named magmond and so far...he's killed every merc i've sent at him and that's where you come in."
"And what do I get if I kill this dragon?"
"Magmond has a gem embedded into his head. you kill him you get the gem and you get out of here no strings attached. And for the record this is probably your last meal."
Without another word Zeng gulped down the wine and prepared for the match. While the arena was prepared Shayde and Xani found the entrance Sparky told them about, it seemed everything was going well until the guards caught the group moving through the tunnels.
"What're you guys doing here?!?"
"Uh well you see-"
"The arenas that way and you better hurry they got some tiger going up against a fire dragon."
The tiger they were talking about was no doubt Zeng and they soon found themselves in the crimson ring filled with mercs and bounty hunters.
"Hello beautiful *crack* AAAIE!!!"
"Hands off the merchandise pal!"
Elicia had tossed a thug out of his chair as he attempted to grab her from behind. The crowd soon roared with excitement as the announcement for the match was given.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WELCOME TO THE CRIMSON RING! FOR TODAYS MATCHUP MAGMOND THE FIRE DRAGON SHALL BE PITTED AGAINST HIS MOST CHALLENGING OPPONENT EVER! PRESENTING ZENG!! LAST OF THE TIGER CLAN!!!"
As Zeng entered the arena he saw his friends in the stands and gave a wave before drawing smolder from its sheath then the crowd began stomping there feet as the gate in front of Zeng was raised.
"Magmond! Magmond! Magmond! MAGMOND!! MAGMOND!! MAGMOND!! *crowd cheers wildly!!!!*"
From the gate came a crimson red dragon with piercing yellow eyes and its mouth was already smoking as it drooled with hunger. At first the two circled each other then Magmond darted in with jaws wide open only to have his mout slammed by Zengs shield three times before slamming into the arena wall and being slashed at his throat, it seemed all over as Zeng turned his back leaving the arena but while the others cheered for Zeng angel noticed the dragon was still breathing.
"YES!!"
"It's not over yet! look!!"
Angel spotted the dragons wound suddenly healed up and as it rose to its feet it reared back its head taking a deep breath and Shayde quickly gave Zeng the heads up.
"ZENG WATCH OUT!!!"
"Wha-WHOA! *Blocks torrent of fire* GAH!! That heat!!"
The heat from the dragons breath was strong enough to force Zeng to discard his shield and again the two combatants found themselves in a stand off until Zeng dashed right beneath the beast cutting its legs and gutting its chest but again the wounds healed up as it tried to blast Zeng with another fire breath.
"It'll take more than a few sparks to do me in-GYAAAAAH!!!"
As Zeng charged in again the dragon smacked him away into a pile of bones, as Zeng started to regain his vision, then his body started to feel cold and at his feet was the hammer he saw at the blacksmiths in the grip of a fresh corpse, as he reached for the hammer Smolder suddenly began to glow and drained the weapons magic and this time as Zeng picked up his blade the flames glowed blue and an idea came to him.
"I think it's time someone gave you the cold shoulder!!!"
This time as Zeng charged in again he thrusted the blade into the dragons chest freezing it from the inside out and as the beast fell it clawed Zengs chest leaving three gaping claw marks in his chest as the others stared in shock.
"ZEEENG!!!!"
"MY BABY!!!!"
All Zeng could see was blurred images running toward him, then everything went black.
The End.