The Prince's Mate

14 Leaving Morhaven

Passing the last gate coming from the castle Lifa had to hold on to Cecelia as she immediately became a child in the face of what to her looked like a piece of heaven designed for fans of fantasy novels, the woman grabbed hold of the window frames and stuck her entire torso out as she saw a large green man at a stall laughing with a girl with fur covering her skin and cheetah spots across her arms and exposed legs, she saw tall armored men with tails as long as their bodies and heads like lizards, she saw itty-bitty people walking along the stone paved ground no taller than a foot, Lifa pulled her back in when an elephants rear came dangerously close to her head and she almost got her face crushed by the ass. "Lady Cecelia control yourself." Lifa held her hands again and stared her in her eyes, but Cecelia was staring outside even then, completely oblivious to how close she was to becoming the resting place to a mound of elephant turd. "Lady Cecelia!" Lifa snapped her fingers before her eyes, causing her to look around at her annoyed. "Please pay attention, unlike the respects you showed to the royal highnesses yesterday this has to be real, this is another family, a family of nobilities tied as close friends to the king and his family, princess Naomi in particular, you cannot afford to humiliate them."

"What's your point here?" Cecelia looked outside again when she saw a human woman holding hands and kissing a man who had the head of a tiger, and between them was a small boy with ears atop his head. "Can't we talk about all this when we arrive there?" She asked, again and Lifa shook her head and snapped her fingers before her again, not caring that it was rude in all respects.

"Would you please just listen to me?" She pled, but Cecelia was completely distracted as she saw creatures she had never imagined could ever exist, and animals that stood upright and spoke straight coherent words, it baffled her beyond what she'd expected, and this was only seeing from a distance, she couldn't even imagine what they were like to speak to up close and personal, and even though most of them seemed scary in her mind, that same mind was welcoming the sight of them, telling her that they were harmless, incidentally she'd get a funny feeling every time she saw certain persons or creatures, but most of them seemed harmless to her.

"Is all of this really Morhaven?" Cecelia asked after they'd passed through the initially massive town by the foot of the castle and reached a large hill that could see everything in every direction, what she saw were more buildings, lined across for as far as her eyes could see in every direction, and a lot of them reminded her of the modern buildings she'd grown used to, and the more she saw the more she questioned whether she'd been dreaming or not, but every time she thought that, she would be reminded that she was not by the pain she still felt in her stomach as it convulsed without warning every now and then in reaction to her prior pain, not only that, but the mark the wizard had left on her back had a strange feeling to it the further she went from Lucas, obviously she was thinking about never returning the entire time, but her son was there, and it would be a disaster if she couldn't return to him, they would probably use him the same way they planned on using her and she wouldn't be able to live on knowing her only child would suffer for only god knows how long in her stead.

"Lady Cecelia please pay attention." Lifa sighed and released her hands then dipped into a chest she'd prepared for the journey knowing she had a trial ahead of her. "In a few hours it will be nightfall and we will no longer be able to progress so, bare with me until then at least."

"Alright already, fine." Cecelia huffed and calmed down looking away from the outside and staring at the elf as she quickly prepared a small table in the slow-moving carriage. "Buy for the record, there's nothing you can teach me now that I will not know." She pointed out with a smug smile.

"That so?" Lifa asked knowingly, and as their time together slowly moved at the same pace as the carriage Cecelia slowly went into a state of depression and distress, to her what pics was teaching was the most boring thing in the world and she couldn't stand it, but at the same time the elf kept spilling new a d unknown information that was leaving her lost at every turn, meaning even though she didn't want to she had no choice but to pay attention and actually learn, it made her wonder what would have happened if she'd arrived somewhere else, preferably somewhere that was not related to any kind of royalty and nobility, because this kind of life was sure to either exhaust her to death or drive her into insanity; it was nothing like the way she'd been living before and the adjustment made her feel like she wasn't herself anymore, as the sunset lanterns began illuminating the roads and paths all throughout Morhaven, it reminded her of earth because they were so plentiful that they have the same light as utility poles and street lights, and just like any other city or town she'd known, it also had darker areas where the lights would be more spread and one of those areas was currently where she was going through.

"I don't trust places like this." Cecelia pointed out before anyone else could say anything, like before when she was leaving the castle she had a bad feeling in her gut, if anything happened to her out there nobody would come to her rescue she presumed, all the people and creatures she was seeing all seemed sketchy in some way or another and it creeped her out, kind of like the slums, except it was on the path to the place they were headed, and apparently they'd be leaving the safety of Morhaven in another few minutes, crossing through a specific forest that had the driver of the chariot slightly worried, as he'd explained to them earlier the place was known for "accidental" misfortunes happening to people, especially at night. "Lifa, are you sure we can't wait until daylight to go?" Cecelia asked and the elf have her a worried glance as even she realized that the apparently strong-willed Cecelia was being overly cautious, she wouldn't have taken anyone else seriously, but Cecelia was no ordinary person, she didn't even believe she was human, human beings didn't glow, and they certainly didn't have glowing tears, so she started getting freaked as well.

"If we postpone now we will have to rush at daybreak." Lifa challenged their timing and reached for the small window that they spoke to the driver through, but while she was in the process of reaching Cecelia suddenly gasped and grabbed her hand dragging it back, as it was nothing happened for a second, but before Lifa could raise a word from her mouth four large claws pierced through the window, four big bloody claws that sent the mentioned blood splatting in droplets across both their faces, Lifa grabbed Cecelia in return and threw her out of the carriage before jumping out herself just in time to avoid as the vehicle was crushed and a loud roar sound out on top of it.

"What the hell-what the hell-what the hell!" Cecelia immediately freaked as her eyes made four with a pair of large blood red eyes glowing in the dark, and that's when she realized that they were already ways outside of Morhaven on a deserted road. "Lifa!" She tried standing but froze like a deer before the large eyes in the dark.

"Lady Cecelia, do not move." Lifa came and boldly stood before her, flashing her hands to the ground and summoning a pair of small blades from her sleeves.

"You are in the presence of a Lycan."