Reina: Return of the Princess (*COMPLETE*)

Chapter Eleven

It was a bright sunny day. Birds sang happily in the trees. Corinne closed her eyes, and enjoyed the warm sun on her face. When she opened them, the Elf stared at her with a curious look on his face. "What are you doing? Are you falling asleep, or do Siri always close their eyes when birds sing?" he asked, really wanting to learn more.

"Do you always sneak up on people like that? Is that one your many abilities?" she replied.

He stood his ground and the top of his lip curved up. "You didn't answer my question, ladies first."

She ignored him and laced up her shoes. This had already started off to be a long day.

Corinne purposely walked slowly behind Calix. "Isn't he gorgeous?" Bria whispered, as she leaned closer to Corinne. "He is just so easy on the eyes. I mean look at him."

Calix's ears perked up at the mention of his name and he listened intently to their conversation.

Corinne said a little bothered, "Shhh! Bria I don't like him and I don't trust him and you shouldn't either. I don't care if he is good looking; for heaven's sake, he is an Elf. He is all flattery and nothing more. Can we please talk about something else?"

"Good looking? How about gorgeous! I have never seen anyone or thing like him. He is also so nice and thoughtful and..." Bria's voice trailed off in the distance as Corinne's mind wandered. The majestic mountains towered to the side of them. Everything was much more sharp and colorful in this world. She saw the most amazing bird-like creatures fly above their heads. They had long blue bodies with white feathers. Their beaks were incredibly sharp and their tails had long feathers that drooped down as they glided through the air. Their wingspan was over six feet long.

"What are those Calix?" Corinne wondered as she cranked her neck back while looking up into the sky.

Calix suddenly stopped her and said, "Get down." Corinne's heart dropped. "They are coming, a pack of six or more."

"What are coming? Those birds?" Corinne asked.

He sharply turned his head, "Wolves."

Corinne had only seen wolves in movies, never before in real life. She had horrible images of them ripping her arms off when Calix said, "I will take care of them, just stay perfectly still down below that tree stump."

This time she was going to listen to him. She sat down next to the tree stump, pulling her legs against her chest. She could hear loud howls as she clenched her jaw. Bria squatted down next to her trying to get a good look at what was coming. Corinne had no fighting capabilities, or at least none that she knew of. All she knew was how to kick, scream, and use a can of pepper spray.

Calix was acting totally normal and just waited out in the open for the wolves to arrive. Four large animals appear from behind a thick grove of trees and surrounded Calix. These animals were nearly double the size of wolves on Earth, dark brown with a black stripe running down their backs, and were ferocious. Corinne was frozen with fear and felt like her heart was beating so loudly that it was echoing off of the trees. Surely the wolves could hear it. The wolves circled Calix while sniffing the air. Why had she put on so much grapefruit body lotion this morning? If her pounding heart didn't give her away, her lotion would.

The largest of the four wolves let out an ear piercing howl and all of wolves froze and stared at Calix. Without warning, the wolf behind Calix lunged towards him to attack. Almost as if he had eyes in the back of his head, Calix side-stepped the wolf's lunge and drove his sword straight through the wolf, which fell to the ground with a thud. The other wolves paused, confused by their companion lifeless on the forest floor. Calix glanced in Corinne's direction and once he got her attention he winked.