Chapter 28
1113 Words
Anya was beyond fatigued. Her muscles were worn out as the last dragon crumpled to the ground behind her. Four dragons vs. one human. She chuckled at the thought. These guards were meant to punish her, not the other way around. The sun was preparing to set.
The had tried beating her in human form but Anya was much more capable in using her spells so they shifted to their dragons forms. Failing their King was not an option unless they wanted to face much worse than a beating. The area right below her ribcage but above her hip was badly bruised. One of the guards had tried taking a swing at her and succeeding with slamming his tail against her body.
She walked out of the arena calmly and was surprised to see Darrold and Oliver waiting for her. She dropped her exhausted face and replaced it with a much more hardened one. "What were you two doing here?"
"How could we ignore the guards dragging you away?" Darrold says defensively. For being a man in his thirties he was very intuitive. Anya considered this dangerous.
"Well, there's nothing else to see here," Anya stated, not meeting any of their eyes. "I'm going to head back to our quarters."
Anya wasn't sure of how much they had seen when she fought with the dragons but it mortified her to know that they might have seen her feral out of control side. Darrold and Oliver promptly followed behind her but Anya was quickly intercepted by Luthor.
He looked worried, "I heard what happened. Are you okay?"
He examined her dislocated shoulder but Anya narrowed her eyes at him, "I will handle my injuries by myself. You don't need to do anything, Luthor."
Luthor scoffed, "Please, throw your brave front down for once and stop shutting everyone out."
She instinctively stepped away from him. Only he knew that she was like that and he had just revealed that to Darrold and Oliver. "I think that Kaida is waiting for you to go back to her."
"Is this what it's about? You're jealous."
"I couldn't be happier for you and Kaida so I can assure you Luthor that it is not jealousy I'm feeling," she cooly replied but inside she was screaming, 'You weren't there when I needed you the most.'
He sighed, "Let's go to my room and I'll treat your wounds."
There was a storm rising inside Anya but she pushed it aside. "I've already said that I'll treat my injuries by myself."
With that, Anya pushed past him but it seemed that the world wouldn't leave her alone because the King approached her angrily with a sentinel of guards behind him. "What do you want," Anya couldn't help but growl.
"Is it true you've killed my guards?" he hissed and latched onto her wrist roughly.
"I didn't kill them," she replied shakily.
The king laughed, "My dear, you're not so innocent."
"Keep your judgment for someone else because I've had enough," Anya warily put. "If I killed them then it's none of your concern because all you'll do is replace them."
He sneered, "But it's a crime."
"You're playing with fire, King Vulcan, and it's not the type you're accustomed to," she sneered back and took back her wrist. "Or have you forgotten what House Hydra will do when they find out what state you've put me in? We're capable of taking the throne from you."
At that moment he was enraged that he grabbed onto her neck and pulled her up in the air. "What are you going to do?" Anya taunted. "Kill me?"
He tightened his grip and Anya was certain he was going to snap her neck off so she pressed her palms against his wrist, "Freeze"
Ice began to envelop his wrist and he jumped in pain. Being iced alive is does not go without excruciating pain. Anya fell gracefully on her feet, "As I've told you...a different type of fire."
She was being resilient in having to deal with the King and every dragon in the palace. They were excruciatingly annoying for Anya and way too feral for her taste. Besides, they were scaly monsters. Of course, she did not know what Luthor, Darrold, and Oliver would think of her is she voiced this out loud.
Sick of this treatment when Anya reached the room she shared with Oliver she sank onto the bed. She could feel a rash forming from the King's hand on her neck. He was near enough to summon a ball of fire onto her neck. She felt this world always tried to start a war with her when she was nearing war with herself.
Oliver handed her a paper with his handwriting saying, "Do you need help with your injuries?"
Anya shook her head, "No, just give me some gauze, alcohol, and bandages."
Obliging, he handed her what she needed before laying down a blanket on the floor for him to sleep on. The sun had disappeared so Anya used a candle to guide her. She poured the alcohol on her cuts to disinfect them. She bit her lip to prevent her from hissing in pain aloud and to avoid waking Oliver.
She bandaged her sprained wrists. To her side, there was a bowl of water in which she washed her hands to get rid of the frost on her fingertips. But she had difficulty in propping her shoulder back in place. This, she hadn't learned before because she didn't expect to dislocate her shoulder.
Instead, she moved on in bandaging her bruised waist. Anya couldn't wrap it around her waist without hurting her shoulders and wrists. She fumbled loudly away whiling wearing a frustrated expression. Finally, she heard Oliver heave a sigh and retrieve his pencil and paper.
He wrote, "If you need help then you should learn to ask for it."
Anya huffed, "I don't like owing favors."
He hesitated before motioning to Anya to pull up her shirt to wrap the bandage around. She did so in an embarrassing state but he delicately wrapped the bandage around without causing her pain.
He wrote again while approaching her shoulder, "This will hurt."
Anya nodded and waited as his hands gently took her shoulder and propped it back in place with a pop. Unable to hold back the pain a low whimper escaped her lips but her shoulder felt normal again. Oliver adjusted her body so that she could lay comfortably before blowing out the candle.
He grunted lowly as he fell back on his makeshift bed on the floor.
"Oliver?" she called out. He hummed softly in response.
"Thank you."
- Writer
