Chapter 34: Predator or Prey (Exclusive)

Rose Elken

A smile graced my face as it felt the warmth of the Sun. My ears tingled as the sound of birds and various woodland creatures filled the lush forest around me. I closed my eyes as I ran my fingers across the soft green herbs covering the forest floor, trying my best to ignore the loud complains raging behind me.

“Rose, the entire village is in the town square celebrating and being well…happy while we are here trudging through mud in long dresses digging up plants!”

“I told you, Jessamine, I see no joy in the celebrating the deaths of thousands of people. What is there to celebrate about war? Whether you win or lose, there will always be death. Besides, these plants help put food on the table.”

“Well… I am sorry that I’d rather celebrate the deaths of the people who tried to kill us than mourn the deaths of my friends.”

I sighed as I continued to pick at the herbs to put them in my basket while the storm behind me continued to rage on. My sister never agreed that all life held the same value, and no one had the right to take another’s.

“The King himself is there celebrating with the people! Do you know how long it will be till we see him out in public again? Never! He never leaves the palace unless there is a war!”

Of course we wouldn’t. He cared for nothing, but bloodshed. Only showing his face to his people to parade around the deaths he caused... it earned him the name, The Beast, from the villagers. Those men had families too, they were soldiers under the order of a king like himself, yet he took them away to show them off in chains, leaving their families in ruin.

“Oh, the tragedy.”

My sister did not seem to catch my sarcastic tone. She had thought I had finally agreed with her perception of war.

“Exactly! So, I can’t believe that you are still sitting here in the dirt instead of getting your derriere to the town squ…”

I sighed as I turned around ready to give her a piece of my mind. I came out here to find some peace and quite, away from the roaring festival in the town square. My mouth opened, but nothing came out as I saw her face. It was as white as a sheet, her hand trembling as she raised it to point behind me. My heart froze as I slowly turned around, a lump forming in my throat as I saw the cause of her fright.

There right in front of me stood a hulking mass of dark fur, its gold eyes staring straight at me. Its maw hung open as drool dripped to the ground. I couldn’t move my body as it lifted its front leg to take a step towards. I would have been entranced with its beauty, if it didn’t look like it was about to pounce on me.

My mind is racing as I pray to whoever up above that I don’t end up as a meal for this creature. Its body moves forward with the step and I braced myself for the pain when nothing happened. My eyes widened in surprise as I see it fall to its side, an arrow sticking out from its back. The poor thing, it was trying to run away. I remained rooted to the spot as Jessamine grabbed at my arm trying to pull me away.

“Thank god it is dying! Rose, let’s get out of here before Death loses its grip on it.”

I don’t know what possessed me to pull my arm from her grip and walk towards the injured animal on the ground. Those golden eyes showed no anger or aggression, they were just… sad. My hand trembled as I reached out towards its large head, cautious in case my fingers started to remind him of sausages.

“What on earth are you doing, Rose? Do you have a death wish?”

“It’s hurt, Jessamine. We can’t just leave it here to die.”

My sister let out an exasperated scream before pacing up and down behind me.

“Oh god, she has finally lost it.”

There was no growl or snarl, it just kept still as I ran my fingers through its dark fur. Gold eyes watching me carefully, it was more afraid of me as it was vulnerable now.

“You are not so bad, are you?”

“She is talking to the wolf… she is trying to hold a conversation with the beast.”

My eyes looked at the arrow that was lodged deeply into its flesh, with the shaft almost all the way in. It was going to be a nightmare to remove, and the infection it would cause would be extremely hard to treat. My eyes narrowed as I noticed the colour of the feathers at the end of the shaft… I knew exactly who this arrow belonged to.

“Rose, you touched the creature without losing your fingers, now can we please lea…”

“We need to help it. Jessamine, help me lift it so we can bring it back home.”

“I am not going to drag this beast back home so that it can eat us.”

“Jessamine, it is hurt.”

“Why do I even try?”

I ignored her once again as I ran my hand across the fur of its large head. I smiled as it closed its eyes at my touch.

“I am going to help you, but its going to hurt. Just promise that you won’t try to bite me.”

“Now she expects the wolf to understand us. Rose, are you actually expecting an answer or…”

My hand tore at the hem of my dress as I tried to staunch the bleeding.

"I just mended that dress!"

The arrow was lodged in too deep and I knew better than to just pull it out. Doing so would shred through its organs, and cause it to bleed to death. All I could do at this point was to try and stop the bleeding as much as I could while different ideas flashed through my mind on how to extract the arrow. I had once watched my mother deal with a soldier who had a similar injury, it should not be much different in this case. This was extremely difficult as a one-person job and I couldn’t rely on the rambling mess behind me. My sister was still pacing, talking to the air... yet she said that I was the one who had gone mad.

“War and death bother her so much, yet she sits on the ground with a wolf while its blood pours all over her clothes.... and she is not going to be the one to wash it out.”

My brow furrowed with concentration before the sound of hooves caused my sister to stop her incessant rambling. I shivered as a chill ran down my spine, the last thing I needed was for him to show up. Not now… please not now. I placed myself closer to the wolf as I watched the King’s Guard ride into view, their large chargers boxing us in.

“Well…well, what are you two lovely ladies doing here by yourselves?”

My jaw clenched as Sir Maxwell, the King’s Head Commander, stepped through the human barricade. My body tensed as the soldiers around him nocked their arrows, pointing them at me…or rather, the wolf behind me. Jessamine immediately ran to my side, she might not always agree with my choices, but she will always stand by me.

“I don’t believe a stroll through the woods is a crime, Sir.”

“Well, you should be out celebrating, you two ladies would have been a lovely addition to the party.”

“Celebrate what? The deaths of thousands..."

The rest of my words never left my lips as an arrow flew right past my ear before burying itself deep into the tree behind me. Jessamine pulled me to the side just as I saw the face of who almost killed me. The King himself was standing before him, I knew that it was his arrow that injured the wolf, but I thought he would just send his minions to retrieve his prey.

“You’ve got quite the mouth on you, my lady. It could get you hurt.”

“Thank you for the advice, Your Majesty, might you consider taking your own ad..."

I hissed as Jessamine stamped on my foot, I yanked it out from under her. She gave my arm a pinch as I glared at her.

“Rose, hold your tongue.”

I opened my mouth to retort to my sister, bur felt silent when I heard movement from behind me. The wolf had stood up and started to slowly make its way in front of us, placing its body as though a shield between the King’s Guard and us.

“The beast chooses to protect you.”

“The only beast I see is you, Your Majesty.”