She whispered to the
darkness
and sang to the
sun
She called to the
shadows
until it all was
done
Cyane walked slowly while heading back to her room. Her cloak clung to her body like a second skin, she could feel its silk nature on her.
The night was cold and so she folded her arms within the cloak rubbing them with the hope of generating body heat to try and keep warm.
The better alternative would have been for her to shift into her wild but she was an unshifted wolf.
Carac walked silently behind her dressed in a guard's uniform which protected him from the cold weather.
He stopped once he got to the door and watched as Cyane reached for the knob and turned it open.
She had put only a foot in when a guard came to the corridor and signaled for Carac to follow him. Cyane became curious, she wanted to know what was wrong for Carac to be called like that
"Miss, I have to go, please don't leave your chambers"
"Is something wrong?"
"No"
Before she could say something else he was already out the door.
Cyane closed the door behind her and went to the bed. She took off her cloak and hung it on a cloth rack. She was so fatigued that she fell on the bed and slept off.
~*~
The morning sun flooded into the room, the curtain had done little to obstruct it. Cyane blinked her eyes then used her hand to block the rays of sunlight from her face. She turned and laid on her side and a moan escaped her lips. Her eyes flickered around then she shut them back and a second later they opened forcefully.
"Oh no" She got up from the bed then ran into the bathroom, she had woken up late.
~*~
Leondre sat at a round table with the rest of the royal family except Reuel. His hands were intertwined and they rested on his thighs. He had zoned out on their discussion concerning the recent attacks on their family.
"What do you think Leondre?" Magnus asked
"Huh?" He looked at Levi then Magnus simultaneously.
"What do we do about the Lords and Ladies still here?" He further clarified his question for Leondre, he could see that he was lost in their conversation
"The tournament is over" Leondre waved his hand in a bored manner.
"Are you saying we should let them go?" Cilian was curious to know what Leondre had in mind about the attempted assassination on his brother.
"No, not until we catch the assassins first" Leondre clarified his statement
"Now that the tournament is over and out of the way, we have to get to it already" Magnus chimed in.
"Well I don't see any progress" Cilian's main goal was to catch the people who had attacked his son. He may not have shown love to Reuel when he was growing up but he did care about him.
"There is progress Uncle" Levi was the one to speak now, "As we speak there are men on their trails, we have picked up the scents from the previous attack last night and they happened to have found something"
"Why am I only hearing about this now?" Cilian had a bit of anger in his tone
"That is because we were supposed to talk about it now"
"Watch your tongue boy" Cilian warned Levi and Levi smirked.
"What else?" Cilian asked again
"Cilian" Magnus' voice was low, he understood Cilian very well after all he was a father too. He could feel what Cilian was going through, "I understand that you must be angry about the incident with Reuel, we all are but we mustn't loose track on what the main issue is here and that is that our family is in danger. We are a target for them and we don't know who could be their next victim"
"If we decide to do something to the Lords that are currently in our Castle, a rebellion could arise" Levi finished his Father's words
"Magnus, take a glance at your son"
Magnus did as Cilian had suggested
"If he had gotten shot with a poisoned arrow, what would you do?"
"I would look for the attackers"
"And?"
"Make sure they die by my hands"
Levi shut his eyes and his gaze fell. Cilian was trying to provoke them and he was out for Leondre.
"Uncle, Reuel is my brother and an attack on his life is an attack on mine, I want to kill all of them but there would be a rebellion. Things would go out of hand and this is exactly what they want, for us to be at war with each other and we can't afford to be in conflict"
"What would you do, Leondre?" Cilian ignored Levi's words, he wanted to know what Leondre's take was on the matter since he was going to be King one day
"The King was also attacked and is currently fighting for his life right now, this affects us all Uncle" This was the first time that Issa had said something ever since the discussion began.
"Shouldn't you be gossipping with your maidens, Issa?" Cilian raised an eyebrow at her. Issa frowned, she wasn't happy with the sexist statement and if this were a different time and if he wasn't her Uncle then he would have been punished,"It would have been much better if it was your father that was right here"
He ended the statement with a harsh look towards her and Issa had no choice but to remain silent.
"What do you want me to do Uncle?"
Leondre finally broke his silence.
"I don't know" Cilian shrugged his shoulders, "What would you do?"
"Is there a guard out there?" Leondre raised his voice a bit so that he could be heard from the outside, the room they were in was soundproof and their voices were muffled incase if someone tried to eavesdrop.
A guard came in at once at Leondre's command and lowered his head
"Bring me the commander" Leondre ordered him
At once the guard left and few minutes later the commander came in, he bowed his head in respect to all who sat at the table.
"Commander" Leondre called
"Yes my Lord"
"I want you to go into the streets with a group of men" The commander nodded his head lightly taking in Leondre's words, "Go with drums"
The commander raised an eyebrow
Drums?
"My Lord, may I ask what would we be doing with the drums?"
"You would sound the drums in the town square and announce to everyone that whoever the assassins are should come out of their hiding place"
The commander was dumbfounded, "My lord?"
"What is it?"
"I don't-" He shook his head in disagreement, "I don't think this would help -"
"Why? Don't you want to catch the assassins?"
"Yes my Lord, I do want to catch them?"
"Then what's stopping you?" Leondre stared at the commander and feigned shock at his refusal to follow his command, "Sound the drums and tell them all to come out. What? Should we add dancers too?" Leondre asked sarcastically.
"My lord" The commander was still dumbfounded and he wondered what had gone wrong with Leondre, "It won't work"
"Why wouldn't it work?"
"Because -" The commander didn't know how to tell Leondre that the plan would be a total failure.
"Say what it is that you want to say Comamnder, no one would hurt you"
"My Lord, this plan is -" He hesitated still finding it hard to say what was on his mind.
"What? Stupid?"
"Yes" the commander let out a breath of relief shutting his eyes in the process. Leondre had spoken his mind.
"How stupid is it?"
"It is very stupid, my Lord"
"What do you think about my plan Uncle, shouldn't I go ahead with it? It is after all a fast way of catching the assassins" Leondre was now asking Cilian who had made him suggest the plan
Levi was smiling at the scenario while Issa stylishly covered her mouth with her hand to avoid bursting into laughter in front of everyone.
They knew that Leondre had done this intentionally because of Cilian.
Cilian narrowed his eyes then got up from his seat and made his way out of the room.
"You may leave commander" Leondre dismissed the man and the man gladly left the place.
Magnus shook his head as a smile tugged on his lips," Leondre, you do know that if your father was present, he wouldn't be pleased with what you just did?"
"I'm sorry Uncle, I had no idea" Leondre feigned ignorance at the situation
Magnus didn't say another word then left the place and Issa finally let go of her mouth to laugh while Levi kept smiling.
Levi shook his head at Leondre, "You really had to do that"
"Do what?" Leondre once again feigned ignorance at the situation, he stood up from his chair and left the room leaving Issa and Levi behind.
"He knew what he did" Issa said once Leondre had shut the door and Levi smiled once again.
Leondre left the meeting room, at first he hadn't thought of doing that to his Uncle but he was pushed and had no choice but to let his Uncle know that they weren't supposed to act rashly unless they would loose the war.
It had been a while since he went to visit his Father and that was the place that he was currently heading to.
Leondre opened the door quietly as he entered. Cyane turned around swiftly, her hair flipping in the process. She lowered her head in respect and a frown found its way to his face. He was fed up with her bowing to him,"Don't do that"
"What?"
"That"
Cyane figured out what he was talking about. He didn't like her bowing to him
"It irks me all the time" He added
"I'm sorry, I didn't know that"
"No, you didn't, Can you do me a favor?"
"And what would that be?"
"Please don't leave this place" His eyes were begging for her to listen,
"Lerman isn't around at the moment, if you could-"
"I will" This was the first time that Leondre was asking her for a favor and she couldn't say no because it was her nature and he had also asked nicely.
She nodded her head, "I will stay here"
"Thank you"
~*~
The monastery was unusually quiet that said morning. The day which the Abbot had finally agreed to send the antidote to the castle. Three days was already up.
Prayers were going on in the monastery and the royal guards had grown impatient, they didn't want to wait until the prayers were done. Their King's life was at risk. The guards had arrived a day earlier from the Castle and had lodged in an inn the night before.
Antonio was in the infirmary and so were some other monks. The antidote was to be delivered that evening to the palace and they were looking for a volunteer.
Antonio had wanted to go but the Abbot had refused telling Antonio that his services were needed in the monastery.
At the end they ended up picking another monk for the journey, Malchus. The monk was to be accompanied by the guards who had arrived from the Castle.
Malchus set out on a horse back and behind him were the royal guards
"Monk" A guard called out to him and he turned, "It's going to be a long journey" the guard proceeded to tap him at the shoulder before he left to mount his horse.
Malchus placed the antidote in the bag which was tied on the horse's saddle before mounting the horse.
"You brought food with you?" Another guard asked Malchus sarcastically causing his colleagues to break into laughter
"I bet he brought fruits too"
The third person chimed in to continue the joke and they laughed again. Malchus was hurt but he didn't let it show.
The journey was as long as what the guards had told Malchus and he was almost worn out.
Night came in a blink of an eye, Two out of the guards had started a fire and they all surrounded it as they tried to warm themselves from the cold night.
They had also caught a rabbit and were roasting it. Once they were done they offered some to Malchus but he politely declined and they had to give him some apples that they had plucked during the little time they had gone out to hunt and he accepted them.
"Thank you" Malchus bit into his apple. The guards though had mocked him still went out of their way to get him enough fruits that would last him for the night and for that he was thankful.
They had barely gone through the meal before the guards stood up. Their enhanced hearing had picked up on running sounds.
They stood up and growled, their animalistic side trying to take over their mundane features. Their eyes had taken on another colour and their wild side was waiting for the order to fully take over their bodies.
The sounds stopped and the guards quieted down a little only for seven wolves to jump out and surround them.
Malchus was petrified, he had never seen a wolf before let alone someone turning into one. He began shaking and ran to his horse but as he released the horse, the poor animal had no choice but to run away leaving his owner stranded and terrified.
Malchus suddenly felt a cold metal on his neck and the fear he had felt only increased further.
"Where is it?" The voice was deep, he turned around slowly only to be met with a masked man
"What?" Malchus stammered, Hus lips quivered.
"Don't make me ask again" The man's eyes had an inhuman color and Malchus knew without a doubt that he was a wolf.
"There" Malchus pointed to the horse's saddle and the man signaled for Malchus to go to the horse and get it himself which he did.
Once Malchus placed the antidote on the man's hand, a sword ran across his neck and he fell to the ground.
He clutched his neck with both hands trying to apply pressure on it which was an epic failure. He was loosing consciousness and a lot of blood too.
He looked around in his last moments and saw his companions as they lay on the ground, two were in the wild while the other one remained human but they were all dead. His vision became blurry as he lost consciousness and slowly slipped into a forever sleep.
Predict the next chapter 😁