The Princess Broken Wolf

8

Rosamund was utterly confused by Marcus’s presence. He wasn’t the enemy, so far she could only determine it. But what he was, she couldn’t answer the question. It's been too long since they met again, precisely 13 years. With haste, both Rosamund and Marcus made their way towards the other Rafflesia. Edward and Demir were able to log a dagger into one of its eyes, successfully getting them away from the unmoving form of Lizbeth. Lizbeth, Rosamund mumbled silently, she was worried sick. She didn’t know what antidote was used for the venom of Rafflesia. Hell she wasn’t even sure if there was one. Keeping her disturbing thoughts aside, she quickly jumped on the creature. Marcus had also jumped and just as she pulled out the dagger from the eyes, she forcefully plugged it in while Marcus did the same with another dagger. The revolting smell of rotten flesh made Rosamund’s stomach quesy. Surpressing the urge to empty her stomach, she rushed towards Lizbeth where Demir and Edward were already giving her the small bottle of antidote for every poison in the realm. It was a solution that was said to cancel the effect of every poison. Rosamund knew it wasn’t going to work. Her grandmother had once shown her a book of unidentified poisons that were unknown or lost among scholars a long time ago. There was no antidote to these poisons. As far as she could recall, the venom of Rafflesia was among them.

“Its not working!!” Demir exclaimed, his face taunted with frustration and concern.

“I don’t think it will work.” Edward said, his left hand bleeding from the embedded claw of the Rafflesia.

“It will not work.” Marcus mumbled slowly, making his presence known. Everyone tensed, because of his voice, Edward’s hands going towards his sword and, in one instance, both Demir and Edward had their pressed against the neck of Marcus.

“Who are you? When did you appear?” Demir demanded, his grip on his sword tightening.

Marcus looked towards Rosamund, who was now lost in thought while gazing at the unmoving body of Lizbeth. Stupid girl, he sneered silently in Rosamund’s direction. Taking his gaze off of Rosamund, he looked back at the problem at hand. He knew he had to help, there was no bloody reason for it. His heart beat a little faster when he saw Lizbeth. Her hair wet from the rain, her beautiful brown eyes unfocused. He could feel his heart clenching painfully. The young girl was once full of smiles and odd-looking beetles. His once infatuation. From the irregular beating of his heart he could fully assume she was still his obsession. He wanted to bring back the creature that was responsible for her state and kill it again and again until his anger satiated. Clenching his hands tightly, he signaled Rosamund silently while meaningfully looking at her friends and pointed swords towards his throat.

“He will be able to help,” Rosamund said, her voice laced with uncertainty.

“But who…?” Demir tried protesting,

“I can heal her. Let me to her. Now” Marcus' serious voice seemed to do the trick. Both three of them stiffened but let him pass to Lizbeth. He silently crouched down beside her, putting her head on his lab. The rain was pouring hard, the rotten smell of the creatures was dense in the air. They were in great danger of attracting an unknown creature. The Rafflesia’s red claws and fangs were made of World Stone, Marcus was told. And wherever there was the World Stone, there was an array of beasts and creatures drawn towards it. It was better to hurry and delay any further.

“She was on the ground 15 minutes and 46 seconds ago.” Rosamund stated, coming closer to them with a leather pouch which Marcus could tell was water.

Marcus silently nodded, acknowledging and somewhat grateful for the information. It was no less what he expected from the first commander.

“Move 5 steps back from me.” Marcus commanded silently while taking a crimson, bladed dagger out of his pocket. All three of them did as he commanded, surprising him with their lack of protest. His eyes connected with Rosamund, seeing her trust and helplessness simultaneously.

“Magmon da goof. Magmon de mor. Magmon da gom.” his silent chant created an explosive disturbance in the surrounding mania. Mania was the unseen power of everything in the Realm of Wasiz. Every living or lifeless thing had a certain amount of mania stored in itself which could be used when performing magic of great difficulty or risk. Many divine powers come with an immense amount of mania, that are said to compliment each other.

Chanting silently, Marcus builds up the explosive mania, taking mainly from the dead Rafflesia, while plucking the dagger through his hand and connecting the blunt end with that of Lizbeth’s forehead. Rosamund saw the red blood from Marcus turn to white, Lizbeth’s breath increasing. All of them stiffened when a loud cry came from Lizbeth, her body convulsing painfully. Marcus was holding her down while his chant got louder. From the corner of her eyes, Rosamund saw Demir with tight fists. His knuckles turned white and his green eyes cleared with concern and jealousy. Intruiged, Rosamund returns her gaze towards Lizbeth, who has now gone limp in Marcus' lab.

“How is she?” Demir asked, his voice devoid of emotion.

“She will be alright. She needs rest and a bath with Achillea Millefolium as soon as possible”, Marcus replied. His attention suddenly moved towards the dark forest. The rain was still pouring heavily, no sign of it stopping and, from the sounds of distant stomping nearing by each passing minute, everyone knew they were on borrowed time before every kind of creature would be upon them.

“We need to get out of here now.” Marcus said, slowly standing while carrying Lizbeth carefully.

“There is a town half an hour from here.” Edward moved to fetch the things from the rubble of the woods.

Everyone moved as fast as they could without making a single sound. There were three horses when they moved to the front of the house. Mounting each with ease, Marcus settled Lizbeth with him while Rosamund had to ride with Edward. Both Edward and Demir demanded that she should not be left unsupervised because of her condition. In just a span of three days, her face had gone from clean fair to sporting a big scar from the Rafflesia, her legs were wobbly from the wounds when the roof fell on her. As much as she wanted to heal faster, the lack of food and rest for the last 72 hours had made her body scream at her. The magic spell always put her at risk. No one knew why the spell would be more effective on her than everyone else. She was highly sensitive to magic and spells. Burgendudly, she mounted the horse with Edward and they made their way towards the town with haste.

Within 15 minutes, they were settled in an inn on the Poali. It was a small town with a small population, remote from the beautiful cities of Marigold kingdom. Demir and Edward chose to settle the horse. Rosamund was sternly shooed away to her room that she shared with Lizbeth. Rosamund had changed Lizbeth into a simple wool night gown and bundled her with blankets made of bear skins and wolves hide after a bath with Yarrow herb. Lizbeth was Lizbeth was in an induced coma as stated by Marcus to make her recovery faster. Changing into her own night gown, Rosamund washed and made her way towards her own bed when a knock sounded at the door.

Opening the door, she came face to face with Marcus, who was looking at her with hard eyes and a straight mouth.

“ I need to speak to you,” he said gravely. Nodding silently, Rosamund left the room with Marcus. Edward had put a protective spell on Lizbeth and the room they were in. Making their way to the balcony at the end of the hallway, Rosamund faced Marcus while he was looking at the horizon. She took her time looking at him. Rosamund had first met Marcus when she was 11 years old. He had been sharpening the sword, a swany lanky boy with odd pague eyes and white hair who always stayed silent. Everyone said he was mute and blind and it was later that she came to know he was neither. The boy had always been left to his devices, no one questioning his whereabouts because he had an excellent talent for forging daggers of every shape and size. It was only on her last day at the palace before going to war that Rosamund first heard him say something.

“There will come a woman with eyes that have been blinded by the sun, hair like moonlight. She will help Marigold win the war and will bestow upon her a new Queen. Tell her when you meet her, and you will, that Marcus said he forgave her because he understood. Understand the reality of lies and the hoax of truths. A debt, I ask of you, Rosamund Marigold, and a favor you may claim whenever you wish.” before she could have asked, the boy had disappeared and she was summoned to the war afterwards. His words were proven true when she first met Pandora. Marcus had grown to be a handsome man. His opaque eyes with thick black eyelashes that contrasted against his white hair. His once small build now filled with hard muscles and a roughness Rosamund never thought to have seen. There was a mysterious air around him and she could detect he was a strong magician or, at least, she hoped he was a magician. From his aura, it was yet to be determined what power he actually yields.

“You need to go to Karkonz.” Rosamund stiffened at his voice.

“You know.” her uninterested reply came when her insides were in turmoil.

“You need to marry Ruslan.” his hard eyes looked directly at her own. There was panic in his eyes, a fear of something that made goosebumps rise in his body.

“Its unfair.” It was the first time she had ever acknowledged unjust treatment. She felt she would start revealing her secrets if she stayed long enough with Marcus. He made her want to trust him.

“Listen to me, Rosamund. You may be able to stop this war by replacing yourself with someone else, but you…we need Karkonz on our good side to fight a bigger war. A war that will kill half of us. You might as well be our last hope, Rosamund,” he said, with such panic and sincerity that left Rosamund breathless.

There was something big waiting for her and she couldn’t begin to get herself steady enough.