The Princess Broken Wolf

7

The air was heavy with debris that flew everywhere. Half of the room had been destroyed by the impact.There was a buzzing sound in Rosamund’s ears, her muscles sore from the impact of the attack. Her eyes were unfocused, taking time to adjust to the darkness around her. She was still bound by the wire, her legs now crushed under a pile of heavy rubble. Jerking her face violently, she tried to refocus her senses surrounding herself. She couldn’t see her friends, but a faint groan gave her hope that someone was alive. It was hard to kill the Four Best Commanders in the realm, but even with divine power or, in her case, the lack thereof, a surprise attack had inevitable consequences. There was no doubt certain things couldn’t be avoided.The room was protected by a spell in order for anyone to detect the location of where they were, probably a measure taken by Edward so that she couldn’t get the gist of their precise location.

This kidnapping keeps getting bothersome, Rosamund thought.

With enough strength, Rosamund crawled under the block of what she came to see was wood, trying to free her legs from the pressure. She had to work quickly or else it would turn fatal for herself and her friends. Not being able to move puts one in dangers unknown.

“Rosamund?” Edward's raspy voice gained her attention.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?What about others?” Rosamund asked urgently, they needed to get out of here as soon as they could.

“I am ok. Demir has a wood slab stuck on his shoulder and Lizbeth has a broken wrist, but more than that, we are OK. I am trying to get this block of wood off of my hand.” Edward grunted as he tried to free his left hand.

“You need to free my bounds, Edward.” Rosamund rushed. There was a thumping sound now as she looked towards the destroyed half side of what used to be the hall room. The rain was pouring hard, the clouds dark and rumbled with an impending thunderstorm. The loud thumping of what she could only think of, a mystical creature, was getting near to them.

“LIBER!!” Edward shouted the release spell. In an instant, Rosamund’s bounds came loose. Her legs were freed from the magic block, her wrists unbounded within seconds. Freeing her wrist, she used all her strength to move the block from her legs. Within five seconds, she was standing on her legs, a bit unsteady at first. A wave of dizziness hit her. Probably from the chemical mist they sprayed on her earlier. With haste, she made her way towards the others. Edward was free, helping Demir take out the wooden slab on his shoulder. With a few divine spells from Edward, the wound stopped bleeding. Lizbeth has now healed herself already, rummaging through a chest at the end of the now broken bed. Taking out the swords of everyone, Lizbeth hurled Rosamund’s sword towards her. She caught while looking towards the open scene infront of her. Her body tensed when she saw what the said creature was.

She was correct in her assessment. It was a magical beast that had attacked them. The creature was as black as night, its eyes glowing blood red, its mouth wide with blood-red fangs in an uneven arrangement. Standing on it’s hinges, its two arms were the same as those of humans, aside from the knife-like claws that were also red. The creature easily towered over them by a few inches. With its eyes hollow, black eyelids covering the hollowness and mouth full of uneven fangs, its flesh torn in different places, making it smell like a foul corpse, Rosamund could only come up with one name to attach to the creature in front of her, The Rafflesia.

It was a creature found in certain parts of Draunkoom. Very rarely were they ever seen. It is so rare that only a handful of people have ever encountered them in their lives. Usually they were well deep in the mountains, creeping around near World Stone Valley.

“Where are we?” Rosamund needed to confirm their location. She adjusted her sword around her waist, unsheathing her sword just as her friends did. They stood side by side, standing in a defensive posture, their swords up in the air towards the screeching creature. There were two of them, circling the area, creeping with hesitant steps towards them.

“We are in the Land of the Fallen,” Lizbeth replied, swinging her sword in swift movements, testing her wrist's agility.

“What is this creature?” Demir asked, his body tensed when the creature crept a step towards them.

“The Rafflesia,” Edward replied. Among the knights, only Rosamund and Edward came across The Rafflesia during their first march towards the boundary dispute on the Draunkoom. Rosamund and Edward shared a slightly disturbed look at each other. Their bodies tense with new awareness of what kind of enemy they were facing. They nearly died the last time they met with this creature. It had taken them every ounce of their strength and training to get themselves out of the fight alive. If it weren’t for Pandora, they would have been dead long ago.

“WE HAVE NEVER SEEN THEM” Lizbeth shouted as one of the creatures ran full force towards her and Demir. Both of them,ready for attacking.

“WHAT THE f**k ARE THESE UGLY SHITS!!” Demir swung his sword towards the creature with such elegance and speed, one would have seen him as a flash rather than a man from a distance.

“YOU CAN’T FIGHT IT ALONE! AIM FOR THEIR EYES. ITS THEIR WEAK POINT!CLOSE YOUR NOSE AND BE WARE OF THE TAIL. IT HAS A VENOM THAT KILLS WITH ITS SMELL” Rosamund bellowed as she and Edward moved with synchrony towards the other creature that was also charging full force towards them.

These creatures have tails like a scorpion that has a deadly venom. It could kill a person even if they were to only smell it. It was such a rare creature that many books about all the mystical beasts have forgotten to mention it. They lived deep within Draunkoom, in places no one could have known. As much as she has information about these creatures, they hated the dry cold that The Land of the Fallen has to offer. The cold made them agitated and frustrated. They can’t breed in the cold season. Why were these creatures here, Rosamund pondered as she swung her sword towards the eyes. Edward was also going for the eyes as she was. He moved swiftly, his dagger stabbing into the creature's arms, making it a ladder as he moved towards the eyes. Someone must have captured them and left them here knowing very well that these creatures were attracted to even a little divine power. But who could have known their location? How were they even able to capture it in the first place? It was impossible for one of her fellow commanders to have told anyone about her location.

Her senses prickled by the presence of someone else. Not a creature, but a person with an immense amount of magical power. What magical power, she couldn’t detect. Whoever it was, if they were her enemy, she would have a damn hard time fighting.

Lizbeth and Demir were struggling. Their swords were thrusting into the creature but no blood or any kind of fluid was coming out. The creature was ugly, its head bald with its flesh smelling like rotten flesh. It was revolting to be near it. As much as they tried, the creature kept its eyes protected, its tail swinging, trying to inject the poison into Lizbeth. Both of them had stopped breathing, they were trained to withhold breathing for an extensive amount of time, precisely five hours. During which they can exchange gases through the pores on their skin, making them conscious and awake with all their body functions working normally even without breathing. We are struggling, Lizbeth thought, a bit surprised and angry as she stabbed the creature with her dagger. Demir was bleeding from the claw marks of the creature. To be able to get a hit on Demir, this creature could possibly pose an extraordinary danger to them.

“LIZBETH!!WATCH OUT!” Demir screamed just as the tail swept her off her feet. She landed a few meters away, a puff of air passed through her lungs. She had involuntarily breathed through her nose again and the tail was only a few meters away. f**k! She thought as she struggled to stay awake. Her vision was blurring out, her muscles cramped too badly for her to move, she could hear the lub dub of her heart slowing down in defense of the poison. I might die, Lizbeth thought in astonishment as she began losing control over her senses. She could hear the distant shouts of Rosamund. Demir's shouts for her to stay awake were proving annoyingly good. Just as she was about to give up the struggling and fall into oblivion, a smack across her face startled her awake. She found herself looking at Demir’s distraught face countered with unease and anger,

“WAKE THE f**k UP BEFORE I KILL YOU!!” Demir screamed in her ear.

“f**k” she whispered back, her muscles tightening with each movement.

“GO TO THEM, EDWARD!! I WILL f*****g KILL THIS FOUL PIECE OF SCUM!”Rosamund shouted when she said Lizbeth down, the creature unsteady on its legs because of the impact of Demir’s sword, which was a heavy axe.

“BUT….!” the rain made it difficult to communicate. Rosamund could sense the unease increasing in everyone. With Lizbeth only having 30 minutes to live, everyone was going bloody mad.

“GO!!” Rosamund screamed just as she swung her sword at one of the eyes of Rafflesia. Both the eyes had to be destroyed in order to kill the creature. It was no easy feat. They had been fighting for approximately an hour now and were able to hit only a single eye. Rosamund was tired, her body was beyond its limits long ago, but she had to fight or else everyone would die. Telling Edward to go to Demir and Lizbeth was the right decision. Edward was able to get a hit on the eye of the other creature. Heaving heavily, Rosamund walked around the creature that was now snarling at her. It would be difficult to kill the creature, but it wasn’t impossible, she just had to be fast enough or else Lizbeth would die. Her mind has automatically set a timer for Lizbeth. Rosamund had to kill this creature within 5 minutes. Just as she was preparing herself for an attack, a swish of the wind made her aware of someone behind her. The very same person she had detected earlier who had now been quiet and motionless. Not helping them but neither harming them.

“Let me help.” the person said, his voice husky and rough. Rosamund looked back at him only to make eye contact with white eyes that reminded her of Pandora instantly.

“Marcus.” Rosamund whispered, a name she never would have thought to say out loud. The person, Marcus' face hardened upon hearing his name.

“Rosamund,” he spoke, his eyes focusing back on the creature. It was time to do some killing of the hideous creature that was going mad right in front of their eyes. Without any words, Marcus and Rosamund positioned themselves before the mad creature and, with precise movement, both of them struck the eyes on the creature simultaneously, killing it in an instant.

One down, one to go.