Chapter 19 Consequences

Upon reaching the planet of Corribus, Mogor stood upon the commander's deck with Cossack at a distance from him. Haggar stood to the other side supporting her hunched form on her staff. A wicked smile came to her face as she waited for the moment her newest demonic toy would be unleashed upon the planet. She could hardly wait to see how the Dragon of Azrinos fared in its first test, although it would hardly be a challenge. Corribus would serve as both a show of the dragon's hellish power, and set an example to anyone else who thought about bailing out on King Zarkon. As the ship approached the planet's atmosphere, Mogor looked toward Haggar. She gave an evil cackle. Mogor looked toward the screen.

"Release the dragon!" He barked.

From the belly of the ship hovered a huge coffin. The container began to glow and suddenly burst apart. The dragon of Azrinos opened its monstrous wings and let out a deafening roar. The beast had been caged for quite some time now. It was hungry for destruction and chaos. It had been shrunk in size to fit the ship. Now free of its confines, it grew to its full monsterous size. Haggar looked on with demonic glee as her pet soared toward the planet's surface.

"Go fourth and destroy!" She exclaimed.

Within the royal palace people began to panic as they looked out the huge windows and saw the terrifying monster that was heading straight for them. Servants began to scramble dropping whatever they had in their hands. In a state of desperation, people began running frantically often crashing into each other in an attempt to escape.

"We're under attack!" Yelled the captain of the guard.

"Stations!" The lieutenent shouted.

Scores of soldiers rushed to their fighters in an attempt to protect the castle and the king who dwelled within it. While the squadron had numbers on its side, it was still no match for the dragon. With one burst of flame, every ship and pilot were incinerated. Haggar laughed insanely watching the ships reduced to nothing but cinders. Mogor looked to Cossack.

"Make sure the footage is being recorded. King Zarkon wants every planet within the empire to see the dragon's power." He commanded.

"The ship's recorders are getting everything. Although this does seem a little extreme for one planet." The second in command pointed out.

"Are you questioning King Zarkon's methods of damage control?" Mogor questioned with a menacing tone.

"Of...of course not. It just seems this isn't much of a challenge for Haggar's lizard." Cossack answered with a nervous gulp.

"It isn't meant to be a challenge you twit. We are setting an example. Those who do not side with King Zarkon are against him. And those who are against him are his enemies, and therefore are our enemies as well. Understood leiutenent?" Mogor said sternly.

"Yes commander." The leiutenent replied.

The dragon sprayed the land with fire reducing much of the landscape to ashes. People who ran practically evaporated under the dragon's lethal breath. However many buildings were made of stone and metal and did not burn easily. The dragon descended to the ground and lumbered toward the imposing stone palace. With one swipe from one of its powerful arms, the top of the building was reduced to rubbble. Seeing the terrified occupants scrambling for their lives, the dragon drew in a mighty breath and rained fire down upon the castle's interior. All within were reduced to cinders.

Haggar laughed with devilish glee as the royal forces made a pitiful attempt to ward off the monster. Cannons were fired at the thing, but the shots only bounced off like rubber balls hitting a steel wall. The dragon took one swipe with his deadly claws and scooped the canons and their shooters up. They were hurled hundreds of feet to their deaths. A second squadron of fighters raced toward the beast shooting it with everything they had. But the lazers bounced off the dragon's body, many of which were deflected back at the vessles. The dragon extended its wings and knocked many ships out of the skies. It lashed around with its gigantic tail knocking down one building after another.

Monstrous plumes of black smoke filled the sky turning day into night. The dragon continued its hellish rampage destroying everything and anything in its path. Mogor watched with grim satisfaction as the destruction continued. People were either burned, stomped to death or even eaten. The nightmarish roars could be heard on the other side of the planet. Pictures of the chaos were broadcast to King Zarkon's control room on planet Doom.

"King Zarkon will be much pleased. You've created a true nightmare Haggar." Mogor commented.

"I do my best." Haggar said with a wicked laugh.

Back on Planet Doom, King Zarkon watched the events unfold on Corribus as the dragon destroyed every living thing in its path. Upon his face was an expression of sadistic pleasure as he watched the planet being descimated. It eased his anger as he watched buildings being destroyed and people being killed. He rubbed his hands together in wicked anticipation knowing this scene would be played out again. Only this time, it would be the people of Arus being terrorized and exterminated by the dragon's wrath. He imagined seeing the mighty robot Voltron being melted down into a worthless pile of scrap by the dragon's fire. He licked his lips. Soon his greatest enemy would be out of the way.

"Haggar's creation is most impressive, your majesty." Said Sylvana as she approached the king and bowed humbly.

"Yes. Let's see if any other planets in the empire want to reneg on their alliance with me now. Corribus made the most grievious of errors in judgment when they turned their backs on me." Zarkon growled.

"What of the traitors, majesty?" Sylvana asked.

Zarkon's mood suddenly turned dangerous when the question was asked. "I will deal with them soon enough. Soon, they will all pay. I will wipe out the remains of Keltor's blood line in one stroke. And I will see to it such weakness is never allowed to flourish again." The old king snarled.

"Of course. Will you be requiring anything of me, sire?" Sylvana questioned.

"One of my guards fell asleep while he was supposed to be watching my queen. I want an example set to the other sentries that this will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Make it clear to them what will happen if such foolishness happens again." Zarkon ordered.

Sylvana got an evil smile upon her deep red lips. "No guard will ever fall asleep on duty again after I'm done." She said.

"Good." Zarkon replied with a low growl.

Sylvana bowed again and left the control room. She walked with a hurried stride anxious to get to the dungeons. It had been a while since she'd had a truly satisfying experience torturing someone. While she basked in the chance of having riches and power, it was the pain of others she loved most. And now she had the chance to indulge in her twisted vices. The king had a small section of the dungeons set aside as Sylvana's private torture chamber. The only provision being he would be allowed to watch her at her most wicked anytime he wished. She certainly didn't have a problem with that. She appreciated those who had a taste for sadism as she did.

She reached her special 'playroom' where the unfortunate guard had been taken and prepared. A small troop of sentries had been gathered for the gorish spectacle she was about to put on. As the king had commanded, Sylvana would make sure no other guards fell asleep while guarding the queen. They watched as she gave an order for the unit to stand aside while she entered the torture room. They all watched with nervous expressions as she looked at the array of menacing implements on the stone slab. With a turn she looked at the almost naked victim strapped to a wooden slab. It stood upright but could also be turned horizontally if desired.

She turned back to the stone slab and looked at the torture instruments wondering which she would use first. She picked up a cat of nine tails. Unlike an ordinary one, this one had sharp wire barbs sewn into the leather strips. Sylvana eyed it with sadistic hunger and then looked toward her victim. She strolled toward him as he looked at her with wide and fearful eyes. He began silently praying to the druel gods that they would spare him from Sylvana's twisted hungers and bargaining that he would never fall asleep on duty ever again. But those prayers would go unanswered.

She raised the whip and viciously brought it down against the guard's chest. He let out a loud cry of pain as the metal barbs slashed across his chest leaving jagged lacerations on his blue skin. Again she brought the implement down upon his skin making more painful cuts to his flesh. Streams of blood poured from wounds. Ever slash of the metal barbs was pure agony to the victim. He felt his skin being torn, the sensitive nerves being tormented by the fiendish instrument. He felt like he was being slapped with thorny vines. The sensations were agonizing. The barbs were sharp enough to cut flesh, but not so sharp that the sensations would end quickly. The device was meant to let the pain linger even after the assault had ended. It felt like his skin was burning with intense heat.

Again and again Sylvana brought the barbed whip down upon her victim's flesh choosing key points on his body. She flailed him on his chest, arms and legs, especially his upper thighs. She instructed two guards to unstrap the victim and turn him around so she could flog the back of him, which she did with ruthless pleasure. Every time he screamed put her in a state of exctasy. She licked her lips relishing his agony. He could feel the stinging sensations all over his body. He was covered in streams of blood from all the jagged wounds. He writhed in pain which only caused more torment as he inadvertantly rubbed his lacerated skin against the wooden slab.

Keeping his back facing her, Sylvana put down the barbed whip. She then picked up what appeared to be a clawed hand on the end of a stick. The claws were blunt and wide. She walked toward the guard and began rubbing the lacerations with the thing. Slowly she began to dig the blunt claws into the wounds causing a most exquisite agony. The nerves that had already been exposed from the flogging were being punished anew by the slow gouging. Slowly, ever so slowly Sylvana dragged the hand against the lacerations as if probing the wounds. The victim screamed and wailed feeling the unimaginable pain. The other sentries winced knowing it could very well be one of them who was next if they transgressed as their comrade had.

Sylvana worked her way down his back until she reached his buttocks. She repeated the action only she forced the longest finger of the clawed hand hard into a particularly deep cut. Her victim tried to struggle and push himself away from the torturing action only to grind his shredded chest against the wood which left splinters in his already stinging flesh. All he could do was scream and wail. Beads of sweat poured from his body. The salt of it seeping into the open wounds only making the hellish torment worse. He felt as if his whole body was on fire and the burning would not stop. But that wasn't the end of the torture yet. Sylvana still had several ideas she wanted to implenment upon her victim.

Many of the guards strained to keep watching when they saw what Sylvana did to her victim next. She took a metal rod that had been sitting over a bed of hot coals. They fought to keep from doubling over when they saw exactly what she did with it and more specifically, where she inserted it. None of them dared to look away fearing that even such a minor offense would warrant such punishment. The victim's howls echoed through the castle. The pain so exscruiating the victim expired from blood loss and internal trauma. Sylvana was dissapointed her victim had not lasted longer. But as she looked upon the repulsed and extremely unnerved expressions of the sentries, she felt satisfied that she'd proven her point.

None of the men could believe how a woman could be so absolutely vile and love every minute of it. She looked at her handywork with an almost orgasmic expression.

"Pity. I would have expected a druel to hold out longer." She said with a small hint of dissapointment.

"I want every one of you to look at this pathetic excuse for a sentry. I hope you burned his screams deep into your minds. Let them serve to remind you of all who fail King Zarkon. His queen and the offspring she carries are of vital importance to him. They should be just as important to you as your ability to keep them safe will determine just how long you live. And how painfully you will die if you should fail." She warned sternly.

The guards knodded in unison before Sylvana dismissed them. She looked over the corpse strapped to the wooden slab. "I should take notes myself. I want the next time to last much longer." She said to herself.

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