He hesitates.

You tilt your head up, looking into his eyes as you ask him about Claire. You see his eyes shift back and forth before quickly gazing into yours. Still kneeling down next to you, he moves his other hand toward his great sword in the dirt next to him, gripping it in his hand, his eyes never straying from yours.

"Just tell me..." you pause briefly. "Just tell me that Claire is okay..." you repeat as you look at him.

His eyes go wide. He's staring directly back at you. "how..." he stutters.

It's weird, this normally confident warrior is stumbling on his words. This normally beast of a man can control anybody with his passion in his voice...You know something is up.

"How do you..." he pauses briefly, clearing his throat "How do you know of Claire?" he asks

Your eyes are looking at his directly. You're breathing deeply, knowing you probably don't have much time to live, you don't want to tell Commander Rixx everything as it could put Lady Karisi in harm, but you need to know that your sister is safe. "She's my..." you huff between breaths "she was one of my best friends when we were kids..."

He's looking at you, his body starting to tremble. "Claire...." he mumbles "The King..." he starts

"What did the king do?" you cough a few specks of blood. "Tell me!", you push your body up a little bit, raising your body with your elbows, no weapons near you, at the mercy of Commander Rixx.

"I...." Rixx pauses "I...I trained her..." he stumbles on his words "I trained her for 3 years...every day of my life." his eyes move to the ground "She started to become something special. She started to become one of the best warriors in all of the lands. Claire was..." Rixx throws his right hand into the ground, punching it hard "Claire was..." you can see his body shaking. "three god damn years...three god damn years I was with her....three god damn years I trained with her day and night. Three god damn years she was the only woman I ever saw." his fist starting to shake. "It doesn't matter anymore..." he nods his head toward the ground, sucking in a giant deep breath of air through his mouth before letting it go through his nose.

"Rixx...what happened?" you shout to him, it's barely audible from all the crowd shouting.

His head still looking into the ground. "Traded to the Syndicate...for peace...and to command the Sunriders."

Your eyes go wide as you stare at him. "Traded her? To the Syndicate??" you question "She's in Sicilian?!?!"

Rixx stands up from the ground, looking down at your still kneeling body. "She doesn't go by Claire anymore...she hasn't used that name since the day she came back to Rathkin" he starts "...Rathkin..." he chuckles to himself "For Rathkin!!!" he shouts as loud as possible, holding his Great sword high into the sky.

At that moment, his leg pushes into your chest, your body flies backwards, your upper back hits the gravel floor and it causes your head to whiplash into the ground. The instant your head touches the ground, your vision fades, your body goes limp, you lose consciousness.