Pamella thought she heard wrong. If she didn't, she could have sworn, the King threw into her face the fact of the Lord of Darkness's necklace whereabouts. She felt it between her inner robes and outer robes as it pressed against her. The rising body temperature as a result of the stress that started to develop within her created the illusion of the metal becoming as hot as the first time she used it against the creature from the forest; burning through her flesh.

She glanced down at where it was and then looked at His Majestie's mocking eyes. She inquired, evading throwing herself into the wolf's mouth.

-          Why do you say so your Highness?

The King's eyes lowered and inspected the young man's appearance. He tilted his head and started humming to himself. Something about his stare made Pamella uncomfortable.

Pamella,

-          Anyways... Let us continue with our game shall we your Highness?

His majesty shoved aside the suggestion and walked towards Pamella. He said,

-          Master Chu, you must be exhausted, bored of this game already. I am and "I" will stop playing this instant.

Pamella interjected,

-          That's against what we agree on!

The King raised himself over her figure; intimidating her a little.

-          You should do as you please. You can keep on drinking if you wish to. Share it with the rest of your party, but all I ask of you is...

He grabbed Pamella by the hand that sashed together the top of her robe.

-          To hand over whatever you are hiding inside your robes!

He was about to yank the robe of he but was stopped dry by a sword at his neck. The blade shinned as it rested against the soft elastic skin.

Xián Leng glared at the King with eyes burning red with anger.

-          Let go of...

He silenced himself before the word left his lips; her.

-          Your Highness, please let go of my friend here. HE hasn't done anything to deserve such treatment.

Pamella,

What's with his mannerism. HELLO! You can't ask a person to be nice when you are almost about to slice his head off. It doesn't work that way idiot!

The King chuckled. He looked deeply into the violent man's eyes and surfed over his factions. After some time, his smile faded away. He just stared the man with eyes full of concern, shock and if so, a fear of the sort.

He let go of Pamella but didn't move an inch from his stance. Mumbling,

-          How is this possible...? You... You...

As Pamella saw the reactions change from bad to worse on the King, her anxiety went rift rocket.

He knows about Xián Leng! This is bad! Really bad!

The King,

-          How did you... resurrect? You were killed that day by his Majesty the Emperor... This is not possible!

Xián Leng's face twisted into confusion. The rest of the people in the room remained silent, waiting what was to come. Xián Leng inquired,

-          Excuse me but... What are you talking about...?

His sworn still unshaded hanged by his side; ready for any moment if needed.

Both the King and him wore the same lost face.

The King,

-          You are... You are Hu Xián Lèng... Right?

Xián Leng shrugged and nodded.

No... Please stop you dumb King!

The King continued.

-          The Lord of Darkness himself has risen and he intends to kill us al!

What wait... What?! Hold up!

-          Close all the gates! No one shall leave this palace! Anyone that dares so, shall be killed at the instant! Is that clear!

The whole castle affirmed in unison.

-          YES MY KING!

Directing himself to Xián Leng; eyes full of hate and intended to kill.

-          You... How dare you show your face on this Earth?!

Ummm... He was already showing his face on this Earth long time ago... Only, he was tree faced. Ok... That joke even made me cringe at myself.

The King drew out his sword and charged towards Xián Leng. The blades crashed and slid, releasing sparks of energy. Xián Leng crouched when the King charged towards his head and high kicked only to be blocked.

They went at it for along while. Pamella and the rest had made themselves at home. Sitting near a pillar, away from the fight, they drank wine while they waited for either one who was fighting, to stop.

Hei Bao,

-          I feel that we should lend a hand...

Jiti,

-          I agree, go and help Xián Xián beat the guys ass, while we wait for you here~

Hei Bao huffed.

-          And why is it only me that has to go?!

DuZhi,

-          You are the one with a weapon, plus in my current state I can't... HEY! Give that back!

Pamella took away the jar of wine from him before he got the chance to taste it.

-          Children your age should not be drinking alcohol.

Annoyed, Duzhi exclaimed.

-          How many times do I need to tell you people, to STOP calling....

Pamella ignored him, and as she played with the bottle in her hands, serious she said,

-          Did any of you get the chance to see on His Majesty's attire any gold charm?

DuZhi already angered by the guys attitude towards him huffed,

-          Weren't you the one drinking with him, face to face?! You dare ask us such a stupid question?! How spaced out are you?!

The other two denied with their heads and shrugged.

DuZhi continued outstandingly calmed down. The little guy had the tendency to calm down after he raged and vent off the steam.

-          If the object is as powerful and important as your fixation to get it portrays it to be, then it is obvious he won't wear it for everyone's eyes to see. Think about the difficulties anyone would get if people knew you had a powerful object in your hands. You'd be prone to get killed for it, or blackmailed.

DuZhi had a point there. It made sense for the King to not have the charm in display but if she could just have a hint of where he had it, then she could put her mind to organize a plausible plan.

She rested her eyes on the fighting pair; eyes focused on the King's movements and robes.

Xián Leng's sword slashed towards the King's face. He dodged it, sending his head back. Only a drop of sweat was cut through by the blade. The King flipped and landed behind him. He tried to land a blow on his back, but his hand was caught before it had the time to have contact with Xián Leng.

Xián Leng flipped both of them in the air and as Pamella was already getting dizzy with all the eye exercise, from the King's waist a golden shining object fell loose into the giant alcohol jar. She gasped and screamed.

-          There it is!

She let the small bottle of wine crash into the marbled floor and rushed towards the fighting scene.

Hei Bao rose from their resting place and ran towards her direction.

DuZhi was left with Jiti for company. He commented,

-          Is that guy's sanity ok?

Jiti,

-          What do you mean by that?

Duzhi,

-          I mean, who the Hell let's a bottle of delicious smelling wine crash and spill itself to waste like that?!

Jiti rolled his eyes and glanced at the fight and the two moving figures that closed into the giant object in the center of the room.

Hei Bao called out to Pamella as she anxiously ran to the alcohol jar. Once she caught up to it she knocked on it a little to see how hard it was.

This is hard... It'll break my knuckles if I punch it... Wait a second... I am not a normal human right now. Maybe, if I concentrate my spiritual energy on by fist and punch it, it'll break apart.

Watching her smirk with a devious look and her eyes glowing, Hei Bao didn't focus on her already flaring fist and it was after it collided with the jar's material and he heard it crack, that he shifted to the now resting hand and the jar's surface.

Looking confused, Pamella mumbled while straitening herself,

-          I swear I heard it crack... Why didn't it...

*CRACK-CRACK*

A small crack appeared where the fist collided, only to extent itself on it whole. Hei Bao didn't wait for it to fall apart, he grabbed and placed Pamella over his shoulder, and made a run for it. He tried to kick open the giant doors from the room that led to the main hall, but to no avail they remained shut. He growled in frustration.

A large piece of the jar's top fell and loudly crashed on the floor. The crash caught Xián Leng and the King's attention.

The jar's content was glowing a bright golden color. Light poured itself from the crack and the energy's pressure fought its way out, creating more cracks to appear and pieces to fall.

Noticing that he didn't feel the charm on himself, the King duked and direct himself towards the jar's mouth.

Pamella screamed.

-          XIÁN LENG DON'T LET HIM GET NEAR THAT JAR! Hei Bao, let me go!

Not loosening his grip, he refused and continued banging and pushing against the doors.

-          Are you crazy! You'll die drowned!

Pamella countered,

-          The charm is inside that Jar! I need to get it first, or this was all for nothing! For that is why we came here and we, well at least I, won't be leaving without it! Comprendes gato! Now, let me GO!

DuZhi pushed Hei Bao aside. Another piece of the jar broke. It was already ready to explode.

-          Get out of the way kitty~

Hei Bao fumed at the nickname but refrained himself.  He let the little guy do whatever he attempted to do.

DuZhi concentrated all his thoughts in only one thing; to get the Hell out of there and slam open those pain in the as doors. With some hand sign and a flex of the palms backwards, he crashed unto them, releasing an amazing quantity of energy. They all, except Xián Leng rushed out and directed themselves towards the Palace's exit doors.

A bunch of guards awaited them, ready to make their guests depart a painful one, but right then, the giant wine jar exploded into millions of pieces, letting the liquid inside flood the entire palace.

The liquid rushed at an extreme speed. Seeing the situation, the guards  blocking the exit threw their weapons to the ground and were the first ones to sprint out from the place.

Jiti laughed out.

-          HAHAHA! COWARDS! OH HEAVENS! IT'S COMIIIIING!

They all crossed the portal and turned to one side of the street to evade been cleared by the torrent.

Not too much later, Xián Leng came out in a rush.

-          Let's go! NOW!

He grabbed a hold of Pamella's hand and sprinted into the woods. The rest followed closely.

Everything felt so rushed, that Pamella's heart hadn't stopped beating abnormally fast. She didn't want to imagine that everything was lost, and it was all a waste of her precious time.

Xián Leng peered open the palm of her hand and handed her something small but she could feel the amount of energy that emanated from it. As she looked at it she sighed in relief.

She felt so excited, that she would have bear hugged Xián Leng if he hadn't had a hostile aura over him. Even if happy, her whole body ached, and she could feel a pressure in her heart.

Looking back at her cold serious partner she wondered in fear,

What... Did he tell you...?

[Comprendes gato] – Spanish for "Do you understand cat...". If you read my first chapters, you'd know that MC's main languages are both Spanish and English, so she tends to curse or speak Spanish from time to time.