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❤️ My Hostage (Part 15) ❤️

"What is that in your hands?" Another of his brothers asked as soon as Storm stepped outside and closed the door behind him.

"This is my mother's, she normally uses it to cover her face when we go out to beg for alms." Storm responded as he climbed his horse once again. The house has been left untouched so he knew no one would attempt to open it except him, no one could come here. "I wonder why?"

"Maybe it is because she doesn't want people to know it's her," the same man replied.

"Only she has an answer to that," Storm said. "Let's get the hell out of here." he added.

They left and returned back to the palace.

Once they returned Storm came down from his horse and nodded at his brothers.

"I don't want to be disturbed," he said to his brothers. "Please pass the message down to the guards." he added and left for his room.

*********

Unknown Hidden Place:

It Was Night time and the evening breeze was cool, the moon was hidden by clouds.

The dark mysterious man appeared in his lair and with the aid of a single candle burning one could see the Cave.

Phoenix held onto the bars of her cell and looked at the empty hands of the man in the cave who chuckled darkly as he noticed where she was staring.

"I haven't brought his head yet, soon anyway," the mysterious man said and went to touch Phoenix fingers that were holding. "Your son is something else," he added.

"So are you."

He huffed out, "He thinks he is strong but not to worry, I will get him and present his head in a platter of gold." he squeezed the finger's a bit tightly and let go.

"I am sorry for everything," Phoenix whispered. "If that is why you want to kill Strom, please stop, you are punishing me already. I don't want to lose any one."

"I have told you the only reason why I kept you alive was to find Storm and I finally found him. I will make his death easy and painless and you my Phoenix you will watch everything you love die before I kill you."

"Stop calling me that, have you forgotten who I am? I know you still have a heart just find it, I know it's still there." Phoenix mumbled and started coughing loudly, the more she coughed the more blood was seen coming out from her mouth, painting her dry lips red. "Stop it." she whispered.

The mysterious man smirked and then turned around, his back facing the cell once he did that, the coughing stopped and Phoenix exhaled out. "This is to show you, you've also forgotten who you are talking to," he said. "Bye, I came to pick something." he added and went to the place where a table was in the corner of the cave, he began searching for something until he came across what he was looking for, a mirror made of stone. He turned his head slightly in Phoenix direction and gave her a lopsided smile. "I have seen what I came here for. Admire your cell." Saying that, he picked up his cloak and put it on which concealed his identity and he disappeared and reappeared outside the Cave. He ran with super speed and disappeared again, reappearing and floating in the air far away from the cave. He ran like a flash and came to a halt in a forest.

A twig was heard behind him and then two masked men came out from the darkness surrounding them and bowed before him.

"We have been training them non stop like you ordered, Master," one of the Ninjas said. They were still kneeling down with their heads still bowing low.

"Good," the mysterious man said and this time around, he spoke in so many voices that one could not distinguish whether the voice belonged to a male or to a female. "You," he pointed at the other one that hadn't spoken. "Take some food and water down to Phoenix cave and give it to her. If she escapes you are dead, I mean I will kill you then bring you back to life and kill you again.... painfully." he told the Ninja.

"I know the risk Master," the Ninja said. "But she can not escape, she is too weak to do that."

"And she is no ordinary person, she is Phoenix she may look weak and miserable in your eyes but believe me, she is smarter than you just give her a knife and you will see what she is capable of doing with her hands. Be careful," he said. "And make no mistake." he added in a low voice. The Ninja nodded his head and was gone in a blink of an eye. "Get up," he said to the remaining Ninja who quickly stood up to his feet.

"Have you found a way we can kill that bastard, Master?" the Ninja asked.

"No, not yet. His head is strong for me to get in unlike the other one."

"What are we going to do now Master? Our plan was to know how strong he is, which we have already clarified that part, Master. So what is our next step? Should I send more Ninjas to the palace?"

"No, that will be wasting the lives of our Ninjas, training them and getting them to this level is not easy, you should know that."

"I am sorry for bringing that up Master," the Ninja apologized.

"Whatever," the mysterious man said. "Well since my plan A didn't work out, well it was a test to know his strength, I started making use of my plan B and she is right there in the palace where I want her to be."

"I don't get you Master,"

"Of course you won't understand. You see, Juno, who is my wife, is in Ashland as I speak to you. I made Dean send her to Ashland because I know Storm is there and both have a past together. And Juno will soon remember who she is and it will now be very hard for her to leave Ashland. That's when my main plan kicks. And Dean has his own personal armies which were created by one of the gods. He doesn't use them unless it is war and his dragon's too and that is why I haven't killed Dean yet. He is the only one who knows how to wake up his undead warriors and look at Ashland, they have nothing but weaklings who are just mere warriors," the mysterious man said and took a deep breath before breathing out.

"Oh I see where you are going Master, because of Juno there will be war between the two kingdoms."

"You are very intelligent," the mysterious man praised the Ninja. "It will be a battle of the fittest and whoever conquers and kills the other one gets to finally meet me and fight me and I will get what rightfully belongs to me," he added.

"Juno, Master?"

"Yes and my throne."

"What can I help you with, Master? Is there something I must do for you?"

"Nothing, I like doing my things myself, staying in the shadows and watching, patiently waiting to strike my opponent," the mysterious man said. "Now go back to meet the rest of you and make sure they get double their training, if they need rest don't deny that to them, give them rest and make them work extra hard."

"I will do that Master," the Ninja said and was gone also leaving the mysterious man behind.

Bringing out the mirror to his face. He stared at the mirror for a moment before it glowed slowly and Dean's sleeping body was seen through the mirror.

"Ah this is better than appearing in your dream Dean," he said to himself. His eyes glowing red as the X mark he made on Dean's forehead started glowing red too. "Time to wake up, sleeping head."

********

Kudarma Kingdom:

Dean slowly opened his eyes and when he saw the posting he was in, he quickly jumped up to his feet with speed. He couldn't remember how he ended up falling asleep on the ground.

He was grateful that no one else saw him in that state, it would have been embarrassing to him.

He felt somehow for a slight second and then the feelings were gone. The glowing on his forehead stopped and the X faded away, Dean didn't notice that. He made his way over to his room window and looked outside, noting the stars in the dark sky. He left the window and headed straight to the bathroom. He is going to stay patient for one more day, after tomorrow and if there is no news from Kando he will have no other option then to send a message to Ashland Kingdom in a language they would understand.

*******

Ashland Kingdom:

Storm had slept off after much thinking about his mother and by the time he woke up it was night.

'How can I fall asleep when I was thinking?'

Storm pondered as his gaze once again landed on his mother's mantilla which was in his bed. In fact he had used it as his pillow.

She didn't take this with her when she took him to this Palace years ago and even though she was gone, she left her mantilla behind which was unlike her.

"I just want to see you again, to know you are okay even though you hurt me," Storm said to himself as he stopped himself from breaking down. A knock on his door Interrupted his thoughts and he cleared his throat and went to open the door. He thought it was Gwen until he opened his door and saw the face of the guard he remembered. "Yes."

"My Emperor sorry for disturbing you, Lord Emera wanted to know if you had released his daughter yet," the guard said to him.

Storm remembered his promise he had made to Emera. "Please tell him that Juno will be with him shortly," he said and didn't wait for the guard's reply before he started heading for Juno's cell, closing his room door.

******

Morgan's Room:

Gwen couldn't believe it was already night.

"I can't believe I spent my whole day with you Morgan without anyone disturbing us," Gwen said with love in her eyes. This is how she had pictured her happy ending with Morgan. Soon Morgan will ask her to marry him and she won't waste time in giving him an answer. Then their wedding and having children for him. It seems her dream with Morgan in it will surely come to pass. They were both lying on the bed, Gwen's head was resting on Morgan's chest.

"I love how we spend our day in each other's arms," Morgan said, thankfully his mother hadn't bothered to come to his room like before.

"Yeah me too. As much as I love to stay here with you I have to go and check on Storm to know why he whistled. It's night already," Gwen said, sitting upright and making a move to get out of the bed when Morgan's hands sneaked around her waist and pushed her back to him, making her fall on top of him. He quickly changed that and was now on top, pinning Gwen with his weight.

"You don't have to leave Gwen."