The King, The Burglar and The Guardian

Chapter 3

Word Count - (1,416)

The boy was dragged to one end of the ring, and Adelaide to another. The crowd was shrieking in excitement to see changers this young in the ring. The orcs unchained her, and she rubbed her neck trying to relieve herself from the burning pain it left. The orcs scampered out of the ring and the children were left staring at each other. Immediately, the boy shifted into a small mountain lion. Adelaide already knew she was bigger than him, so she was confused as to why he'd wish to take an offensive position.

The lion approached her as the goblin started to throw rocks at the poor girl. One sharp rock had hit her in the back, making her tear up. She was very scared. There was no light, there were scary creatures everywhere. The lion looked like he wanted to fight, and she just wanted to find her dad. He'd help her right? He'll protect her. She was sure of it.

The lion swiped at the girl, cutting across her face with its claw leaving a scratch. Realising he was serious, she quickly shifted into a bear. She towered over the tiny cat. He seems to cower in her shadow as she swipes back, hitting much harder than she meant to and the lion's head collides with the stone floor. Giving a slight growl as a warning, Adelaide tries to walk away and find a way out. The feeling of something tugging on her fur made her look back only to find the lion on her back trying the bite through her neck. Bears have a very thick layer of fur and fat that keeps them from sustaining serious injury, she guessed this boy wasn't aware of it.

She had jumped around like a bull trying to loosen the mountain lion's grip. When he finally fell off, she snapped her jaws at him and started to advance. She didn't understand why he was being so mean. He had just met her, what did she ever do to him?
The lion was backed into a wall now. Adelaide saw the twitch of his eye the second he decided to attack. The cat advanced very quickly, but Adelaide simply put her head in the way of its trajectory, and when the cat collided with her massive skull, he laid still and unresponsive. Adelaide hadnt meant to hurt him. She tried nudging the boy a few times, and stomping close to his ear seeing if that would wake him up. The crowd had grown restless and started to yell. It took her a moment to realise, but their verbal attacks were aimed at her. They kept repeating the same phrase, she was really hoping she heard it wrong.

She would never do that to anyone.
She didn't even mean to hurt him, she certainly wouldn't kill him. That couldn't be what they wanted, she convinced herself she heard them wrong.

Hearing the screech of the iron cage door opening, a bulky orc stepped out with a rusty axe already covered in old, dry, blood. That day Adelaide learned, unless she killed her opponent, they would suffer a fate much worse when left to orcs.

The boy was cut into pieces. Some pieces were eaten, some were used for cloth, like his skin, and others were hung up as trophies. Adelaide vomited all her stomach carried when she heard the first crunch of the boy's bones under the pressure of the axe. She didn't sleep for a while after that. Her father could only guess at what she had seen, at such a young age no less.

60 Years later

Adelaide sat in the back of her cage, knees drawn close to her body, thankfully she was given clothing after cooperating with the orcs. Turns out, the faster you kill your opponent, the faster your needs are met.
She had her left hand cupped, while her right had traced the item in her grasp. Her mothers tooth. She had long ago figured out what actually happened. Her mother was never sleeping. Nor was she ever going to wake up. It was a miracle she's been able to keep her tooth a secret for so long, as the orcs had found and taken her rocks.

She has grown muscular and rough throughout the years. She's grown up behind bars, with her family kept away. She sees her father often, but they aren't allowed to communicate. It doesn't mean they don't still try. Her hair is long and matted. She's filthy, but somehow kept healthy and fed. The orcs wouldn't want to be punished for keeping his favourite pet weak.

Azog and a few goblins have taken a liking to her. Due to Adelaide's size she was a very powerful machine to fight against. They would often put orcs in the circle with her. She'd have to tear them to shreds otherwise, she'd be whipped. Adelaides back has been put through enough though. She had a very noticeable scar running down the right side of her face. It stretched from her forehead, down to her jaw. For weeks she had blood leaking into her eye, but she still had to fight at peak performance otherwise she'd be given no water to clean it.

Her eye was missed in the assault, but her eyebrow had a bald spot of scar tissue in the middle. Beorn has a rough time looking at his daughter with that scar. It only reminds him of having to give her that scar. They had been pinned against each other only once. Neither of them wanted to hurt one another, but they had to fight. Fortunately, they both collapsed at the same time. Leaving no losers. Beorn has 3 long gashes across his ribcage from that fight. Sometimes the two of them joke around and say they give each other scars out of tough love.

Then Adelaide remembers how sad that is. How true it is. One of the other visible scars on her flesh wrapped around her neck in an angry red line. It was scabbed for months as the orcs continued to wrap the lead too tight around her neck. Adelaide was shaken from her thoughts when her door swung open. As a reflex, she tucked her mothers tooth under her clothes left in the corner, and shifted quickly. The orcs beckoned her out of her cage and she left with no resistance. Noticing the interval, he father was entering his cage the same time she was leaving it.

It seemed to click in their heads simultaneously.. Two giant bears, unchained, with four orcs to fight....Immediately Adelaide eyes flicked to her fathers black ones and he let out a snort of agreement.

The both of them immediately charged out of their cages and mauled the orcs in a matter of seconds.

Turning back into her cage, Adelaide carefully grasped her mothers tooth in her own and ran out of the tunnels with her father in pursuit. Adelaide had grown to be the same size as Beorn when he was a bear. They almost didn't fit down the tunnels because of their shoulder width. However when Adelaide was human, he still stood a foot and a half taller than her.

Running towards the daylight Adelaide stopped for a moment looking towards the abandoned cages of other Skin Changers. Beorn had to push her along before they were caught. They don't know if any others were still alive throughout the tunnel, but they didn't have time to check now. Even if they were alive, they wouldn't be for long. They'd be starving and ill due to the fact they've never beaten the bears in a fight. They don't get rewarded with food for losing.

Many orcs tried to stop the bears from the rampage, but they did very little in slowing them down. Finally, they had reached the tunnel's end.

Breaching the exit, the wind flew through their fur as they continued to run as fast as they could. The grass was a forgotten feeling under their paws. For what feels like forever, it has been rough dry ground with sharp edges. Now, they could feel the Earth's life. The sun was a big adjustment, they had to keep their gaze down to avoid seeing the light for too long.

There were birds and squirrels that crossed their path. There was water flowing, moss and trees everywhere. Every step they took they felt free.