Alrakis stared at Taiyi incredulously. When he saw Nerio in front of them, even he couldn't believe his eyes. It was as if he had resurrected from the dead. But the way he behaved and spoke with them, he had no doubts that it was Nerio. Ever since Taiyi had told him about Nerio, all he wanted was to capture him and kill him slowly and painfully, making him bear each and every pain that he had inflicted on his mate and wife. The mere name 'Nerio' would fill him with angst and boundless rage.
He was behind Nerio when he talked to Taiyi. Nerio was tumbling down. Alrakis dashed the dolphin after him. And to his wild surprise he saw that Nerio had closed his eyes and his face was twisted in pain. Yet another chunk of hair turned white. He was holding the saddlebag tightly as if it contained some treasure.
Taking advantage of the situation, Alrakis took his sword out and directed his dolphin past him in a way that he swayed his sword over the strap of his saddlebag. It sliced over his shin, making a deep wound on his shoulder. Nerio roared in pain, as he shot his hand to his wound. The saddlebag opened from his grasp and fell deeper in the sea. "Noooo!" Nerio yelled.
Nerio was experiencing excruciating pain because his dark magic was retracting and his real features were coming back and at the same time Alrakis had slashed him with his sword. His priority was to get the saddlebag which contained the herb, but he spun and his eyes flared with anger when he saw Alrakis behind him. With every bit of energy left in him, he flung his hands towards the werewolf casting a spell.
White beams of light sizzled through his hands and shot across the water to reach Alrakis, but his dolphin saved the rider. As if sensing the coppery tang in water, it guessed what was about to happen and dived away past him. He swirled and came behind Nerio. The lights shot through the water and somewhere deeper they disappeared.
Enraged as hell, Alrakis sliced his back all over again. Taiyi had asked him to capture the culprit. If her suspicions were right, then this was Menkar.
Taiyi froze. Memories of her rape flashed across her mind all over again.
A loud growl from behind came and Nerio found himself in the grip of Alrakis. His sword was on his neck. But Nerio didn't flinch. He said, "You do that and Tania's soul would never be free!"
Alrakis wanted to slash his throat and kill him. It was simply unbelievable what he had done to his family. "You are insane," he hissed. "I have yet to see a man this vicious. You are vermin. A lowly rodent who has no morales."
Nerio grabbed the soul stone in his hand. And laughed. "If you kill me, Tania would never be free."
"Then you will be taken as our prisoner!" Taiyi hissed. She came to be a hand's distance from him. "You disguised yourself and lived as the High Priest of Cetus Monastery all these years. So where is the real High Priest?"
When he didn't reply, Alrakis yanked his head up by grabbing his hair. "Answer her!"
Nerio's lips lifted in a malicious smile. "What a foolish question to ask. I killed him."
"You took his place for thousands of years only to exact revenge on me?" Taiyi asked, her voice tinging with emotions ranging from disbelief to anger.