Daughter of the Night

Chapter III

Uncle was right, the Alpha commanding the Rising won, the news broke in the morning, just as I woke up, as I sat between mom and aunt Irene, my father began telling the story of what had transpired the night before. 

“The were too many even for the guards to fight, Alpha Imperion leader of the Red Blood Pack, notorious for its viciousness is the new king, no one truly knows what happened to King Oscar and Queen Marjorie, but what we know is that a new king sits on the throne and whatever he says now is the rule”. 

Fathers statement was correct, whatever he said was the new rule. The new king was merciless, he led by fear only and his reign was clearly going to be the same. I didn’t understand back then why so many people followed and fought for a horrible man, but truth is that bad leaders are not made of fear, at least not at first, they convince people with hope, hope for the better, they take a terrible situation and in a moment of total despair sell themselves as the one true path to better life, and with that they win. 

Everything was getting somber and somber. When uncle Barron returned with only one of his sons ,Havor, aunt Irene fell into a deep sadness, as did all of us. Not only our house had been affected, but the whole country was mourning, their sons who had fallen at the war. Life was not what we once knew, father was a blacksmith and more and more people came to our house, trying to buy anything that could help keep them safe. Mother and I barely left the house, only leaving to go outside to feed the chickens and the only two pigs we had left. All we had now was housework and we barely saw father. With a little time nothing came to pass, everything was at a standstill. Even with nothing happening, it was like it was not over, everyone remained in constant fear of what was going to happen next, awaiting whatever disparaging insanity was going to follow. 

News came that the witches managed to create a test to identify what women could still reproduce, those women were taken and no one knew exactly what happened with them, rumors said they were taken to a center to later be sold to highborn wolves. Because of that, father was planning to flee, we didn’t know if I could bear children or not, or if my mom still could as well, but he just wasn’t going to wait and find out. The plan was to leave at night, go beyond the lands of east, closer to the deep ocean. Unfortunately, it never happened.

The night of our departure, a few moments before we were going to leave, they knocked on our door, soldiers from the palace. I was putting in one sack the only other dress I possessed along with my childhood rag doll, one mom knitted for me. With the loud knock and the strong voices demanding the opening of the door, mom and dad looked at each other, and before they could do anything the door came crashing down. 

“Grab them!” The man who entered first shouted, followed by three more, al in black clothes and boots, baring shining swords and the insignia of the new king. 

“Leave them alone” Father said and stepped in the way, two men grabbed him and while he screamed and struggled, they put him on his knees, with a small blade up his neck. Before I noticed, mom had grabbed me, she took my hand and pulled me towards the kitchen, trying to escape. We crossed the small kitchen, running as fast as our feet would allow and before we could open the door, two more guards busted it open, grabbing mom and I in the process. 

“Leave her alone! I will go with you, whatever you want, whatever you need, just let her go”Mom screamed. My heart was beating so fast in my ears I could barely hear what they were saying. The man grabbing me from behind took us to where my father was still kneeling on the ground, the two man behind him were still in the same position, but now there was someone else in the room. 

It was like she was a vortex in the room, sucking in every light that it possessed, the air around her seemed suspended and not like it passed through her but as if it moved solely by her commands, enveloping her skin. She was gorgeous, as she stood close to the guards I could tell that she was the most beautiful person I have ever seen, her chocolate hair contrasted with her almost grey eyes, and her dress was made of such a deep red, with gold on it, the only weird thing was that she was restrained by shackles in each wrist joined by a chain, they kept her at the guards mercy. 

“Bring them to me and chain the woman” She said, her voice was deep, and seemed ancient, I have never seen a witch before but I knew she was one. No creature could look so beautiful and dangerous at the same time. The guard holding my mother brought her to the witch and chained her to one of the beams holding our house. 

“This is how it is going to be. A little cut will be made on your hand, once a drop of your blood has reached my chalice we will know if you can still bare children. If the water remains the same you can not, which means you are free, but if it turns red…” The witch trailed of, smiling and pulling a small blade from her dress. 

“Then what?” I said, surprised that I could still talk at all, the whole room stared at me and her smile widened, taking my mothers hand and holding the blade against her palm.

“Then child, you come with us, to whatever future may awaits you”As soon as she finished talking, she cut a thin line on my mothers palm, not too deep but enough to draw blood. She placed mother’s hand above the chalice waiting for the blood to fall, when it did she let go of her hand and murmured a few strange words into the cup. She sighed. 

“As it was before, the water remais the same” I sigh of relief escaped my lips, before she turned to me “Now bring me the girl” the witch said and the man holding me started to move us, going forward to stand in front of the witch, who seemed even more beautiful and deadly up close. I could hear my parentes grumbling as she took hold of my hand between her long cold fingers. 

I wasn’t afraid of the cut, but I held my breath anyway. The same process was done, she cut my hand and placed it above the chalice, once the blood dropped she repeated the same words unto the goblet and this time she smiled, I shivered.

She tinted the chalice so we could see what was inside, the water was a deep red. Before I could understand what was going on, the man holding me started to push me towards the door, I began to scream as did my parents. 

“Amara!!! No, do not take her! You witch! You can’t do that! She is my child” Father yelled, as he tried to fight the other men

“Father, no, please father, don’t let them take me!”I begged and kicked and screamed to the guard holding me. 

“She was your child, now she is a Child of Ornum, and property of the king” the witch stated, turning her back. I could hear my mothers pleas and my fathers struggles fighting with two soldiers, he wasn’t an experienced fighter, as a blacksmith his specialty were weapons not fists, but he still managed to hit those men, hard enough that one fell and kept down.  

Father and the other guard began to fight for the blade, the man punched father in the face which made him punch him back making the man fall, father grabbed the knife and went to attack the fallen guard with it, but it he wasn’t fast enough to what was coming. 

“Behind you!”I screamed, as the other other guard, once on the floor stood behind dad, and before he could react pierced my father body with a sword. My mothers scream was deafening, or maybe they were mine, I’m not sure. 

I could see father, with half of the sword impairing his body, his eyes had gone empty and blood was spilling from his mouth, he slowly looked at mom, who was copiously crying and trying to fight her restraints, he slowly looked at me and mouthed ‘I love you’ before falling into the ground with a loud thud. His eyes were still open, but there was no life in them anymore. 

Mom kept screaming my name as I had gone numb in the arms of the guard, Father was dead. The guards had gotten out of my once happy home, leaving behind the body of my father and the my mother still chained. Before I passed through the door, I saw one last thing. My mother making so much movement trying to reach me and my fathers body, made one of the candlesticks fall on the floor. She looked at me one at the same time the flames began to spread. 

The house was burning now, I could hear moms screams as I was dragged from my house, the fire started reaching the windows, there was that pungent smell of smoke and the bitter taste of my tears. My body was hardly pushed into a carriage, I fell on the carriage's ground and my head reached the golden shoes of the witch. 

She looked down “Sleep now child” her voice commanded, and like velvet it fell around my skin, becoming engraved in my head, as darkness swallowed me.