TLoS: Warlord Takeo Ch. 5

It wasn't long before Takeo and Hunter managed to see the remaining ape raiders.  The two of them kept quiet and followed the group, maintaing a distance of around a hundred yards.  The apes limped and lumbered through the field, many of them having blood stains on their armor and torn cuirasses.  Despite the fog, Takeo could make out around twenty apes.  

"Damn! We can't even raid villages anymore!" one of the apes growled, limping and patching up a cut on his hand.  

"Malefor is displeased with our failure at defending the Well of Souls, there are rumors going about that he replaced us big apes with little Grublins."  another one said.

What's a Grublin? Takeo would have to ask Hunter at a better time.

"Bah! They no good fighters! They weak bugs and get squished easy!" said the first ape.  They were silent from then on and drastically slowed down their pace.  One of them finally collapsed from blood loss, but Takeo could see that the dead ape's companions didn't care.

The two followed the apes for ten minutes, but the group stopped to rest.

"Should we kill them now?" Takeo whispered, not taking his eyes off of the apes.

"No, let's follow them.  I want to see if there is a larger group of these beasts and if this bunch will lead us to them." Hunter whispered back, also not taking his eyes off of the apes.

They two sat there patiently, waiting for the apes to resume movement, when all of a sudden, a blood curling scream erupted from the fog.  Takeo heart beat fast from surprise and Hunter perked his ears up, trying to determine the source.  The apes stood up and looked around in the fog, but did not move.  Another scream came, followed by a slashing of metal on flesh, then the scream was silent.  

The apes widened their eyes with fear, but still dare not move.  Takeo was looking around and could see nothing, until finally, a massive silhouette appeared in the fog.  It had the shape of an ape wielding massive swords in both hands and calmly walked to them.  Takeo and Hunter were confused, but kept quiet.  

"W-who are you?" one of the smaller apes stammered.  The silhouette then put one sword on its back and reached for its waist.  The apes watched with fear as it then pulled out a giant knife and threw it at the smaller ape.  The blade decaptiated the ape and the head rolled.  The apes, despite their fear, charged in after the silhouette.  

The apes disappeared as silhouettes and started swinging their swords at it.  Takeo could see that the mysterious attacker was was at least twice the size of the smaller apes and that it easily blocked and parried any blow the smaller apes were trying to hit it with.  

The attacker brought his swords up and swung it down through the skull of one of the apes, going through to completely bisect the ape.  It then made short work of the others, until the last one standing attempted to flee.  It didn't get far as it tripped and fell.  The attacker then grabbed the throat of the downed ape and held it infront of him at eye level.

"Z-Zaroth?!" the ape choked.  Takeo and Hunter soon heard a sickening, wet crack sound and the struggling ape went still.  The attacker dropped the corpse and put the other sword away.  He stepped closer to where Takeo and Hunter were hiding in the grass and they could see the features.

It was an ape.  Massive, standing at around eleven feet tall.  The armor he wore wasn't like the black or yellowish ones that the other apes wore, but it was light grey and almost regal looking.  The eyes weren't the same bloody red as the other apes, but a dark emerald green color.  

"Come out you two.  It's no use hiding." The massive ape called.  Takeo and Hunter exhanged looks of concern, but stood up.  Hunter held his bow up and Takeo aimed his Eviscerator at the ape as they stood up.  However, they didn't step closer to the ape.

"That's more like it." grunted the ape. "I just saved you two alot of work."  

"Who are you?" Hunter growled, keeping his bow steady.

"The name's Zaroth." The ape answered.  His voice was deep, but not guttural.  In fact, he spoke very fluently.  

"Zaroth then, why did you..." Takeo began.

"Why did I kill them?  Because I needed to meet you." Zaroth interrupted.  He then went to the spot where his knife lay and picked up.  After cleaning it off on the tunic of one of the dead apes, he sheathed it again.  

"Why would a servant of the Dark Master want to meet..." Hunter started to say until he was cut off by a loud growl from Zaroth.

"Don't you ever call me a servant of that monster.  I never worked for him willingly, and don't you ever assume that I did, unless you want a slow death!"  Zaroth placed his hand on the pommel of one of his great swords.

Takeo and Hunter were baffled.  They didn't expect hatred for the Malefor to come from an ape.  They stil didn't lower their weapons, but stepped closer to Zaroth.  The massive ape, however, didn't seem to mind that their weapons were still aimed at him.  Zaroth lowered his hand from the pommel.

"I thought apes were undyingly loyal to Malefor." Takeo stated, hoping that wouldn't trigger a very negative reaction from Zaroth.  

"HA! Apes are only loyal to those that promise them power.  The apes have never followed Malefor out of pure loyalty.  The traitorous wretch promised them power over the lands if they assisted him in wiping out all opposition.  I take pride in being the only one to never follow the Dark Master."  Zaroth grunted, sitting down in the grass.  Takeo and Hunter then slightly lowered their weapons.

"How did this hatred start with you? Are you smarter than your bretheren?" Hunter inquired.  

"Yes, I am smarter than everyone of my ape comrades," Zaroth declared proudly, "but the real root of my hatred intesified with the death of my father."  

The two of them finally put their weapons away completely, but kept some distance.

"My father was also another one that didn't like Malefor.  When Gaul, the Ape King, decided to form an alliance with Malefor, my father led a rebellion against it.  The rebellion was quickly crushed and my father died valiantly.  The apes that participated in the rebellion, however, cowardly swore allegiance to Gaul and Malefor.  I was younger when this happened." Zaroth scratched at an itch on his head.

"I, like many other male apes, were taken from our villages and forced into servitude.  I was very bitter about father's death, but managed to hide it."

"Didn't you ever try fight back?" Takeo asked.

"I've entertained the thought of forming a resistance, but I knew that it would be fruitless and I would be crushed completely.  The only thing I could do was to reluctantly follow every single order issued to me.  Years went by and I reached my Commander status, leading my own companies of apes.  Even then, I knew it wouldn't work."  Zaroth sighed.  "I was part of many attacks.  The takeover of Tall Plains, the enslavement of the Manweersmalls, the establishment of our forces in Dante's Freezer, the building of Cynder's fortress in Concurrent Skies, even the raid on the Temple itself!!!"  Zaroth growled furiously.  Takeo and Hunter judged Zaroth's regrets were in fact genuine.

"I took part in many atrocities and there was not one damned thing I could do about it!"  Zaroth was now fuming.  Takeo and Hunter stood their quietly, waiting for the ape to calm down.  Zaroth regained his composure and looked at them.

"When did you finally break away?" Hunter then took a seat in the grass, and Takeo sat down as well.

"After the Fire Guardian's rescue from Concurrent Skies.  I was on my way back to Cynder's Fortress, until Ignitus came down from the top and burned many apes while fleeing.  When I got to the base of the fortress, many of the apes were dead and burning.  I seized that moment to escape and I killed those that were under my command."

"So where did you go afterwards?"  Takeo asked this time.

"Everywhere.  I did all I could to sabatoge the Dark Armies.  Then I got news of four creatures entering this realm and siding with the purple dragon.  I just finished wiping out the leftover garrison at Munition's Forge when I was alerted of this turn of events.  I then trailed everywhere you went in an attempt to make contact with you.  I expected to meet all four, yet I only see one.  It's my understanding that the other three are in suspended animation with the purple dragon yes?"

Takeo nodded in affirmative.

"Well, one's better than none.  That's my brief, uninteresting story for you."  Zaroth then stood back up and stretched.

Takeo stood back up with Hunter and said, "If your against the Dark Master, then why haven't you seeked help from the dragons?"

Zaroth let out a boisterous laugh. "Because they would've killed me.  Do you honestly believe that they thought it was possible for an ape to resist his control and come to help?  Of course not.  Dragons are so dogmatic with thinking."

"That's unfortunately true." Hunter confirmed.  He then pulled Takeo aside and turned his back to Zaroth.

"Can we trust him?" Takeo whispered.

"Maybe.  My first thought was to kill him and head back.  However, he seems very genuine with his hatred.  Yes.  I think we can trust him."

Takeo was undecided for the moment.  

"As a token of good faith, how about I tell the location of a dragon prisoner?" Zaroth said, seeming to pick up on the conversation.

"What?" The two of them asked in surprise.

"I have vast knowledge of all ape movements, supply lines, strongholds, and prison sites.  There is one particular one that has a dragon prisoner." Zaroth confirmed.  

"Where?" Hunter asked.

"Due west of here, near the route to Tall Plains.  He is a weird dragon.  He is dark grey with a red scar over his left eye.  Never seen anything quite like it."

"I say we go for it." Takeo said, placing the rifle on his back.  Hunter nodded and slung his bow on his back.  

"Excellent..." Zaroth grinned and led the way silently.