The Curse of Sohcahtoa- Prolouge

Prologue: The Curse

The prisoner lay bruised and bloody on the cold hard floor of his castle. His hands and ankles were chained behind him; his face was badly swollen from the repeated blows he had received from his captor, who called himself the King of Shades. The prisoner rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling that towered 50 feet above him. The world around him was silent except for the sound of the King’s laughter.
“It would be wise for you to give up now,” the King of Shades sneered.
The prisoner rolled back over and looked deep into the King’s eyes. “Never,” he breathed and braced himself for another strike.
The King growled and kicked him in the face. “You are just as fool-hearty as your parents were,” he retorted.
“Do not talk about them like that!” the prisoner yelled. No one talks about them like that. I bet you had something to do with their deaths. The prisoner fought against his chains ignoring the painful protests of his body as he did so.
The King laughed. “Looking for this?” he asked as he waved the key in front of the prisoner’s face, “and the only way you’ll get the key is if you surrender the keys to your kingdom and in return I shall give you the keys to your life. A key for a key.” He flashed his rotting teeth in a wicked grin.
“I’ll never give you the kingdom,” The prisoner said stubbornly.
“Now let’s be reasonable Sohcahtoa, I promised to help your villagers; to keep them from harm’s way, in other words. I’ve promised to help get you started in the modern world. All I want in exchange for my generosity was your kingdom. What more do you want?” the man asked him trying to sound sincere.
Sohcahtoa glared at him. “I want you to free me and forever leave my kingdom,” he retorted.
The King laughed again. “You think it’s as easy as that boy?”
Just then two of the King’s henchmen walk in. “We got her,” one man said.
“Who?” Sohcahtoa demanded.
“Good. Throw her in the dungeon. I’m almost done with this one,” the King instructed and gestured towards Sohcahtoa.
“Yes sir!” the two men say in unison before exiting the room.
“Who did you take?” Sohcahtoa demanded again, his tone sharper and with a hint of dread.
The King turned to him with a wicked grin on his face. “Someone who won’t be able to help you anymore.”
Sohcahtoa again started thrashing wildly. A sharp pain shot up through his groin as the King kicks him again. Sohcahtoa laid there on the ground, gasping for air. He fought the urge to shudder as the man whispered in his ear. “Now I’m only going to ask you one last chance. Surrender the throne to me or I will take it by force.”
Sohcahtoa smirked. “You already are taking it by force,” he then added more seriously, “but I will never give it to you.”
The man roared in frustration as he picked up Sohcahtoa and threw him against the wall. “Fool! Now you leave me with no choice!” The man placed the tips of his fingers on Sohcahtoa’s forehead. “From this day forward I curse you and everybody else in the Shifter’s Kingdom. When the sun rises, you will walk the Earth as a beast. But when the moon is high, you will walk as a man. The land will eventually wither and die and I, the King of Shades, will truly reign supreme!”
Sohcahtoa felt his body convulse as he was forced to shift. Bones twisted and bent. His mouth and nose grew and fused together into a long, narrow muzzle. A tail tore its way out from the base of his spine in a quick, wet snap. Never had his shift been as painful as it was now. Sohcahtoa’s eyes rolled behind his head, and he thrashed wildly on the floor. His screams echoed through the halls of his empty castle. He felt the chains fall from his wrists and ankles as they shrunk into long, slender legs. His painful screams eventually turned into deep, throaty howls. When the King removed his fingers, the pain of the shift stopped and Sohcahtoa lay shivering on the floor. Before Sohcahtoa could react, the King bludgeoned him in the head, knocking him unconscious.
The two men re-enter the room. “We got the girl secured sire,” one man reported.
The King turned from Sohcahtoa’s still form. “Excellent. Now I want you two to take our sleeping prince to the outskirts of the land,” he orders them.
“Yes, sir!” the men acknowledge and fetched Sohcahtoa’s body. The King left them to their task. “Now I must go greet my other prisoner.” He laughed maliciously as he headed toward the dungeon.