002
1080 Words
The fight ends in a blur, and the next moment Father's guards are splayed on the floor, most of them naked and all dead and gutted. The air stinks of so much blood I feel lightheaded.
Alpha Draven takes a sword from the heart of a dead guard and stomps towards Father, who has been lying on the floor unconscious since the fight after being knocked out by him.
When he swings the knife at Father, I kneel in front of Father and hug him, shielding him from Alpha Draven's wrath.
“Please,” I implore in a wet and ragged voice, sobbing.
I gasp and freeze when the tip of the sharp sword stained with blood points at my neck.
“You and your father tricked me into marrying a maid.” His voice is deep but calm. “How would you like to be punished?”
“Whichever way that pleases my king.” My breath becomes frantic and irregular.
“Your king?” His voice rises a little. “Your king?!” I jerk when he roars and hurls the knife across from me.
He flicks his gaze to his female soldier, who's sitting on the seat Father once sat in, catching her breath. “Give him a taste of his medicine.”
She strides to Father and kneels across from me with one knee while I place Father's head on my lap as I repeatedly mouth the word please.
Ignoring me, she opens a phial, her fingers settle on Father's cheeks, and she presses it inward, forcing his mouth open.
“Zephyra was my favorite among the she-wolves Alpha Draven took to be his wife.” She lets three drops from the phial fall into Father's mouth. “Was she really called Zephyra?”
Sniffling, I shake my head. “That's my name.” My heart falls to my stomach as Father begins to convulse. I try to hold him down, my droopy eyes on the soldier. “W…what's wrong with him?”
“Don't know." She sighs, pushing to her feet and walking to Alpha Draven. “Maybe he's allergic to his medicine.”
Dread claims me as I watch Father struggle to fight for his life; brown froth foams on his mouth. “Make it stop, please!” I look over my shoulder to regard Alpha Draven, who's looking at a blue phial.
“This is the antidote,” he says, and I rush to him to take it, but the soldier pushes me off balance, and I fall on my back. “You have to work for it, and there's no other way to do so than to please me.”
Helpless and desperate to save Father, I quickly rise, panting. “Where do I start?”
“Lead the way.” He keeps the bottle in his cloak and looks at the half-unconscious dwarf, then at the soldier. “Help him up.”
I look at Father one more time before walking in front of them.
More soldiers stand in position but never dare to attack, knowing it will be worthless.
Their wide gazes are on Alpha Draven, their mouths agape, stunned that he's still on his feet after being poisoned.
The soldiers keep moving out of the way until we're on the threshold. Mother stands in the way, her eyes glistening with tears as she shakes her head. “You have to go through me. I won't let you go with him.” She whispers, “No.”
“Will you let Father die when I can save him?”
“Save him and lose your soul?” She takes cautious steps towards me, her finger caressing my face. “He made his choice, my love, and I won't watch you take his bullets.”
“Step aside,” Alpha Draven orders.
Suddenly, a chill races down my spine, and Mother's expression becomes cold. As if she's under a spell, she steps out of the way, her gaze fixed anywhere but on me, as if she lost interest in convincing me.
While I look at our castle for the last time and Alpha Draven climbs onto his horse, the soldier binds my hands to her black horse.
When she kicks the horse into action after letting the dwarf onto her horse, I keep looking behind me, seeing our castle for the last time. Tears burn my eyes as I spot Gunther, my brother, through the window for the last time.
Even when the castle is no longer in view, I keep looking behind me to see if Mother will come after us, but it never happens.
The horses turn onto a bridle road, and a few miles forward, Alpha Draven halts his horse and hops down. He dashes beside a tree, removes his mask as he quickly squats, and begins to retch his throat to let out the poison.
The soldier gives Lockwood a hand as he comes down before tying the horse and me to a tree across from where Alpha Draven is squatting.
I watch Lockwood give him water and regard him with concern. “You're sweating.”
He takes the water and spits it out, rinsing his mouth.
“We need to leave before the guards come after us,” the soldier says with urgency.
But Alpha Draven, wounded internally by the poison, gives them no response. I expect them to panic at his silence, but they sit facing him, the soldier's dead stare on me, silently warning me not to do anything stupid.
Darkness overshadows the sky while waiting for Alpha Draven to push to his feet. The soldier lights a fire and lies down, still looking at me, giving me her last warning expression before dozing off. Lockwood falls asleep, too.
Alpha Draven is still squatting when I let my claws out and begin to cut the rope. Now is the best time to steal the antidote and run straight to the castle since it's a few miles away. My blood races at the idea, fueling me with the adrenaline I need.
Stealthily, I pad over the path to where he is and stoop to his level.
Seeing his exposed face, I tilt my head to take a better look when a tree trunk collides with my head and knocks me to the ground. I let out a soft groan as it keeps coming down on me until my eyes become dark like the night sky.
- Writer
