Tom

Tom slowly stirred, on a familiar bed. 

He slowly opened his eyes and saw Billy above him with a concerned face.

“You okay there bud?” Billy his best friend said.

“Yeah I feel like I got hit by a train”

“Yeah Father told me what happened, he said you got sick entering the jail cell-“

“Dad!” Tom suddenly sat up. His forehead hit Billy’s forehead from the sudden sitting up.

“Ow!” Billy rubbed his forehead.

“Ow what the heck!” Tom groaned.

“I-I mean your dad- actually- Axel! He is sleeping with the prisoner!”

Billy seemed disgusted at the idea but all he said was “Yeah…..and?” 

His heart broke. Nobody was going to help him and if he told them that the crow-man was his dad they would surely put him in jail. 

He didn’t want to lose his friend. 

“Tom…..do you perhaps know the crow man? Like more than just him giving you his keys to his home and giving you food?”

“I uh……yeah,” He said defeated and he hoped his friend didn’t do anything to him. Even if his dad is the King.

“He’s my dad”

There was a silence and then Billy placed his hand on his shoulder.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Can you blame me? You hated him and my brother's guts! And if you and your people wanted him dead then if you found out about me, you’d want me dead too!”

“No! You are my friend I would never do that to you! And oh my goodness It just sunk in that your brother is the great villain Tactzo! You two don’t look alike but now that you mention it.....you look a lot like your dad. Blue eyes, blonde hair….just no wings”

“Now can you understand why I can’t just sit aside while my father is being taken advantage of ?!”

Billy tilted his head “You can’t? But haven’t you been sitting aside this whole time? If I was you I would have already tried to free him long ago…..so why haven’t you done anything?”

“I-I-“ he didn’t have an answer but his heart knew. 

He was a coward.

"I thought I was doing the right thing by letting them pay for the injustices they have caused" Tom offered.

Billy let out a big sigh. “I know your brother is terrible terrible man but you are not your bother. And I understand that what they are doing to your dad is disgusting and I wouldn’t want that happening to him. Although I do believe he should be kept in jail- if it really bothers you then I’ll help you”

Tom looked into Billy’s eyes and smiled. He hugged him.

“Thank you”

“I’ll help you free him but I won’t help you save your brother if we capture him again and this time really kill him”

“Yes, I understand thank you, Billy!”

The shorter boy got off his bed and began to dress in black clothes. 

“Come on get dressed nightfall is about to come”

Tom hurriedly put on black clothes. They both wore ski masks and put on their strongest armour. 

Obsidian armour.

“How did you get this armour? I thought you only had silver armour”

“You forget that my father is the King of this city he has access to all of this”

“Hmm if I had known about this I would have yoinked it,” Tom said admiring the strong armour.

The shorter boy smiled “I know you would of hence why I kept it hidden”

“Here have a potion of invisibility” Tom gave it to Billy.

Now fully geared, the two made their way to jail. They managed to knock out the two guards at the entrance and they slowly made their way inside.

His dad's arms were chained above him while he was passed out on his knees. His clothes were shredded but covered him enough to not be fully naked.

“Help me out here,” Tom said beginning to uncuff him.

Billy helped remove the chains and made the nocked-out man drink the invisibility potion. Together they dragged the man out. Billy holding his legs while Tom held him from under his armpits.

“He’s so….heavy” Billy let out.

“Do you have a feather potion to make him lighter?” Tom asked.

“No” Billy breathed out.

Both tried to avoid guards the best they could and they managed to get him out of the building when their invisible position was running out. They placed a cloak over him and leaned him against a dumpster in an alleyway.

“Okay, do you have more positions?” Tom asked.

“I have one more,” Billy said looking at his bag.

“We can give it to him and try to drag him over to your house-“

“No, we should go to the sewers. It’s the only way to get him out of the city before they notice” Billy said as he pointed to the floor.

“Okay then” Tom grabbed the hatch to the sewers and pulled it open. 

“Okay, you have a rope? We have to lower him down” Tom said pulling his dad over the entrance.

With great effort, they managed to lower him.

The good thing about these sewers they had sidewalks beside the running water so it was easy to travel around without getting wet.

Together, they carried him through the sewers.

“Okay okay, can we take a break? I think I’m going drop him if we don’t-“ Billy asked as his arms were slowly giving up under him.

They stopped and dropped him and made it to this intersection of sewers. 

“Okay we go left or right or go forward- argh!” Billy yelled in pain as a sword got impaled in between his shoulders.

Both boys screamed.

Billy looked behind him to see an almost 7-foot-tall boar hybrid. He had a full set of Obsidian armour which were all enchanted and he held a long sword that now had Billy’s blood on it.

Even if that man didn’t have all this enchanted obsidian armour from his sheer size and strength he could kill them both in seconds.

The boar hybrid raised his sword to finish Billy off when Tom jumped in.

“Wait wait wait TACTZO!”

The man froze and looked down at Tom in disgust.

“Brother, He’s helping me save Dad!”

A large finger points at Toms's chest, his sharp claw-like nails almost stabbing him as he speaks.

“You don’t deserve to call him dad nor call me brother after what you did. You don’t care for family. You just care for your pesky little friends-“

“I’m saving him! You can’t say I don’t care!” Tom protested.

“Hard to believe you when you had the chance to save me and what did you do? Act like I was a stranger and watch- WATCHED me get executed!! What the heck did I ever do to you that you felt like betraying me?? If I didn't have someone saving me I would have died!” The man used his arms as he spoke, “When I escaped I thought day and night trying to figure out how you! We’re okay to watch your brother get killed-”

“You have 3 lives so you are okay if you lost one-“

“That’s such a trashy reason and excuse! You really don’t think they wouldn’t have made the execution process so that I may lose all 3 lives? Or are you really that naive to think they’d stop at one? Oh and here’s a better one! How on earth do you even know I have 3 lives?! I could be like Dad for all you know! Only have one life!” In anger, he pushed Tom making him fall.

“Leave him alone!” Billy said taking out a dagger and pointing it at him despite bleeding from the other arm.

The boar looked down at him unimpressed.

“I guess you are just okay watching your brother die-“

“I’m sorry….I- didn’t think- I just didn’t want to lose my friends. I knew that if you got the chance you’d destroy this whole city along with the innocent lives in it”

“A sorry shouldn’t be accompanied by excuses. No one is innocent after they have kidnapped our father, done horrific things to him and tried to kill me. Do they still not know you are related to me?”

The boy shook his head “Only he knows”

“Hehe, He might be okay with it but if the rest find out, you really think they wouldn't try to kill you?” Tactzo growled.

“I would expect them to kill me but they'd be killing me because of your reputation, not because of anything I ever did- so I don’t blame them-“

His red eyes narrow “Unbelievable…..you are not family. Don’t ever come back home. Don’t ever contact us and I am warning you when I come back to destroy this place and you get in my way........ I won’t hesitate to kill you just like you did not hesitate to watch me die”

“Tactzo….”

The man put his sword away and carefully picked his father. Cradling him with one arm due to their height difference.

Tom was crying and grabbed his Cape “Brother please don’t leave-“

He turned to him and glared “If I find out that he got hurt and you just watched you are going to get it-“

That’s when the boar hybrid caught Billy’s face again.

“Wait a minute…. You. Aren’t you the horned man son?”

Billy looked up at him nervously “Um no-“

“He’s just a friend don’t pay him attention Tactzo-“

The man smiled showing his sharp teeth “And you still try to defend the enemy” The man walked up to the boy and grabbed him by the wrist.

“Wait wait don’t kill him please!”

The boar hybrid rolled his eyes. “Fine, I won’t but he needs to be punished for what his dad did."

He brought Billy’s fingers close to his mouth and Billy began screaming and thrashing around, trying to get free.

Tom tried to push him away but the boar hybrid opened his mouth and bit his pinky and his ring finger. His fingers came clean off leaving the boy with only 3 fingers.

Tactzo felt a sharp jab on his shoulder it didn’t hurt him due to the enchantments and potions he had on.

Tom had stabbed him trying to get him off from his friend.

Tactzo gave him a bloody smile as he chewed the fingers with his teeth and then swallowed them.

Billy was rolling around in pain and Tom’s grip on his sword was shaking.

“And you stabbed me to try to get me off of him…” He was no longer surprised but disappointed.

“You are no longer my brother Tom from here and on, choose your friends and die with them if you wish” With that he swiftly turned around and began sprinting down the sewers. His footsteps slowly became distant and then he disappeared.

Tom quickly went to his friend and gave him a potion of health. He quickly ripped his shirt to wrap it around his hands and tried his best to cover his friend's bleeding shoulder.

Picking him up, piggyback style, he began sprinting back to the city.

“Please don’t pass out on me-“

“I'm trying” Billy slurred.

The boy coughed and then giggled maybe it was from the pain? 

“Now that him eating human flesh rumour is right does that mean you eat…human flesh too?” Billy slowly said.

“What? No, ew, not in a million years would I….I knew that he could eat others but he never has done it in front of me. Dad and my other brother don’t have that appetite either. He does it more to scare people not because he actually likes flesh”

Billy chuckled again. 

“Ask me more questions” Tom knew that this would help him stay awake.

“Has he always led through absolutes?”

“Yes” 

“Does he mean it when he said he is going to kill everyone? Because Dad tried to execute him?”

Tom nodded “Yes, you heard the rumours that man will kill everyone in his path. He won’t care….especially once he finds out what Axel did to Dad”

Billy didn't ask what he meant about Axel and there was silence before Tom spoke again “Well he might leave a few children living. He always goes about enjoying making orphans” 

Billy seemed slower with his speech.

“Why?”

Tom chuckled almost like recalling a fond memory.

“He says it’s to build character he needs people out there to hate him and come after him. He says if he kills everyone without leaving some survivors he’ll get bored. He hopes that those orphans will grow up to hate him, Train and go after him one day. So there might be hope that not all of Maryland gets destroyed"

“Your brother……is evil” 

Tom nodded “Yeah I realized that once I came here” 

They were out of the sewers and the city was in chaos.

People shutting their windows and doors and soldiers and guards running around.

“The prisoner escaped please stay indoors” The soldiers ordered.

They were stopped by guards and Tom asked for help. He told them he was carrying the King's son on his back. They took him to the hospital and he followed behind them until a soldier took him to see the King.

“What happened?” The King asked.

“Tactzo came to save Phill and we bumped into each other. We fought but he ended up hurting Billy and getting away”

The president gripped the edges of his table.

“We couldn’t get it out of him the location of their hideout! That means we'll have to prepare for when they regain their strength and decide to attack us," Letting out a deep sigh he looked at Tom with a hard face, 

"May the skies protect us all"