Chapter 70 - Ruthless Replica

Julia, Rachel and Michael finally got to where the Alpha King was. He was engaging in a sword fight with someone.

Julia couldn't understand what she was seeing. The Alpha King was fighting with himself. She looked at the others to know if they were seeing the same thing.

"There they are" Michael wanted to rush at the Alpha King fighting with swords. He obviously didn't look carefully

Julia pulled him back hardly and he fell to the ground.

"Look before you leap" Rachel said strictly. "Which one is the Alpha king?" she asked afterwards.

"That is my father of course" he retorted.

"And he is fighting with who?" Julia asked calmly.

"With....what is this? He is fighting with himself" he stuttered and drifted back in fear. He stared at Rachel probably with the hope of giving him an answer.

"We have a little bit of time before Quentin finds out we are here. Let's move away from sight" Rachel slowly moved to a hiding spot. Michael and Julia followed her.

"So what's the plan?" she asked.

"The plan?" Michael seemed confused.

"You wanted to save your father from a sorcerer. You surely do have a plan to do that" she repeatedly questioned.

"You are our plan" Michael sighed.

"Julia, tell me a different story from his. He has no plan to save his father" Rachel definitely couldn't believe that.

"We only planned to involve you" she moaned awkwardly. That sounded dumb.

"Okay, I'm here now. Few minutes till Quentin finds out I'm here" she clapped her hands.

"I don't think we should be clapping for you already. Can you just please tell me why I am seeing my father's twin brother that I have never for once heard about?" Michael peeped to look again.

"You think that is a twin?" Rachel chuckled. "That's an illusion that will kill your father while we watch helplessly because we don't know who to help" she completed her assertion.

"I think I have a plan" Julia proclaimed suddenly. "We should just look for the real Alpha King and kill the imposter" she advised.

"There is only one person here that can do that" Rachel surmised. "One is the real Alpha King, the other is a puppet controlled by Quentin's mind and moves. Every soldier has a fighting pattern. You can identify your father by recognizing his fighting moves and pattern" she pushed Michael slightly to check again.

Michael peeped through the leaves. His face had clearly said all what was on his mind. He was damn clueless.

"I can't identify him but one is dying already, fatally wounded" he broke out.

"I knew everything before you say it. Time to launch the contingency plan" Rachel breathed in deeply and sighed.

"And that is what?" Julia asked eagerly.

"Watch me!" she dashed out of the hidden spot and walked towards the fighting identical kings.

"Mother, what are you doing?" Julia rushed after her. She seemed to have lost her senses.

"What is she doing?" Michael grumbled.

"Quentin!" Rachel yelled on top of her voice. "What else do you want from us?" she questioned him.

"My wife!" Quentin seemed heartbroken.

"I am neither your wife nor the mother of your child" she rebuked.

"Henry, I told you to come alone and you brought a sorceress along. You have made it worse" he raised both his hands up to the heaven. Thunder struck hard. He brought down his hands to point it at the Alpha King.

Rachel intervened. She threw her hands into the air. Quentin fell on his back like he was pushed hard by someone.

The Alpha King's replica also fell on his back. The real Alpha King was groaning in pain and was losing blood from his wounds.

Michael took the replica's sword and stabbed him with it. He came back to his father and lifted him on his shoulders.

"I didn't want to kill you before but as you has declared yourself as neither my wife nor the mother of my child. You have relieved me of a heavy burden. Now I can kill you without remorse" he laughed.

"No. You can not kill me, Quentin" Rachel cleaned the tears rolling down on her cheeks. "I have to kill you for what you did to her. She is my only daughter" she broke into tears.

"You are still shedding tears after over twenty years. A good sorcerer should not be emotional" he tutored her.

"I didn't want to be a sorcerer, you forced me to" she wiped her tears.

"Because I love you" he replied.

"And I am going to use that sorcery against you" she promised him.

"Let's see how you are going to do that, Rachel" Quentin seemed relaxed. He moved closer to her to show her his confidence.

Rachel rushed to him intending for his neck. Quentin remained as he was. She grabbed his neck and tried to strangle him.

"What is all this nonsense?" he pushed her away and she fell on the floor. "Is this how you are going to kill me?" he stood over her.

Rachel sprang up again. She gasped and rushed at him, aiming for his neck again. She was easily thrown off.

Julia couldn't take it anymore. She rushed to help her.

"Mother, you will get your bones broken if you continue like this" she tried to stop her.

"Leave me,I know what I am doing!" she yelled at her. She moved back towards Quentin.

Quentin was busy trying to get something off his neck. He was hitting himself on the neck repeatedly.

"Do not bother yourself, it is already there" Rachel winked and laughed at him.

Quentin removed his hand from his neck. Julia saw an 'X' drawn on his neck. Blood dripped from the symbol.

Rachel closed her eyes gathering momentum,obviously trying to start a session of sorcery.

Quentin was breathing heavily. He looked helpless. He obviously didn't know what to do.

Rachel had started mumbling with her eyes still closed. She kept increasing the intensity of her chants.

Quentin groaned in pains. He held the mark on his neck that seemed to be widening as Rachel continued chanting.

He dipped his hands into his pocket and brought out a knife. He threw it at Rachel whose eyes were still closed.

Rachel fell down with her hands on her belly. Julia rushed to help her. She was not hit. She caught the knife before it could get to her.

Quentin had disappeared in the little space of time.

"Where is he?" Rachel asked furiously.

"He had ran away" Michael answered her.

"And you let him go?" she questioned him angrily.

"Father is dying. We have to get him to a healer right now" Michael took to his heels carrying his father that was soaked in his own blood.

The Alpha King was half conscious. He was too weak to talk.

"Stop!" Rachel bellowed. "He is magically wounded. He can only be magically healed. Just lay him down on his back" she instructed.

Michael laid him down as she had directed. Rachel went and knelt beside him. She removed his armor and tore his shirt open.

She held together the opening on his body. Like she used to do, closed her eyes and started her inaudible mumbling. The wound was gone when she took off her hands.

"He will be well by the time he wakes up" she sighed.

"Thank you, Mrs Sorceress" Michael appreciated.

"My wife, that is what he called you. Why didn't you tell us you know each other like that?" Julia challenged her.

"You asked me if I remember the two of them and I replied you I know them better" Rachel said slowly.

"What happened between you and who is your only daughter that you talked about?" Michael intervened. He seemed to have been extremely bothered by that.

"Quentin was my husband. He taught me sorcery and we were both practicing until he went dark. He sacrificed our only daughter to garner more power" she explained briefly. It seemed she didn't want to talk about that.

"So, Julia is not actually your daughter" he asked again.

"She is my daughter but not biologically" she rectified. "We should get the king back to the Kingdom" she warned.

"There is another problem. We didn't get the remedy to James poison. We will be lucky if Father did not behead us for that" Michael supposed.

"Can you prepare that for us, a poison antidote?" Julia inquired.

"Quentin is very powerful. There are only two ways to cure his poison. His antidote or his death" she listed.

"I think we have none" Michael moaned.

"I can still put him to death, you just get your father home" Rachel declared.

"There is no way I am letting you go after him. He will kill you" Julia fumed.

"Shut up. I almost had him" Rachel was being headstrong.

"And he threw a knife that tossed you off your feet. If that had hit you. I think you will be worse than dead by now" she reminded her.

"The remedy, the remedy" the Alpha King coughed. He had just woken up.