Attracted To The Shadows

Chapter 1: The Would Be King (Tobias)

The road was clear as my men and I traveled. It seemed the talk of monsters had most of the citizens hiding. I still couldn't figure out why my father had sent me, but this is how I got here. Riding through a small border side town with only a handful of men at my side, in the middle of the night. 

Alarm bells rang through the halls. I slammed my fist onto the desk I was standing over. The girl I had just been pounding into had jumped off the desk and was trying to get away. She could see the anger rising in me. My reputation of a quick temper had gotten around also the rumors of how people who crossed me either didn't live long or just ended up not being able to hold the good standing they had before. 

A smile played on my lips. "Get out," I commanded her sending a dark look at her. Grabbing the remnants of fabric that I had at one point ripped off her she ran out of my office not wanting to anger me further. "These blasted bells!" I yelled fixing my own pants. "What could be happening that required this many bells?" My voice carried out the door as one of my men stepped in. 

"I see you didn't get to finish." The man joked as he shut the door behind him the sounds of the bells dying down slightly. "To bad too. It seems like we have someplace to be."  It was my second in command, a man who had basically grown up with me inside the palace walls. 

My eyes looked at him coldly as I strapped my sword belt on. Two very detailed simitars hung on one hip while a quiver hung on the other. "Do you have any news on what is happening, Luka?" I stepped into the boots that had been discarded. 

"Only that your father wishes to see you," Luka said with a smirk on his face.   "You could have lead with that instead of teasing me about not being able to fully please myself with..." The damn girl's name left my mind as I stormed past him. I ran my fingers through my dirty blonde hair trying to calm any mess that may have happened while the girl had been wrapped around me. "My father is going to have my head if he knew you had waited for me to try and finish with all noise going on."   Luka just shrugged as he followed just a pace behind me to my father's war room. "Well, you should have kicked her out sooner. You know the king will want to see you if the warning bells are going off like they are." 

As we walked I could see down in the courtyard guards being hurried up the walls to keep watch. Wounded people flooded into the gates of the palace seeking shelter. Even from up on the walkway I could see the scratches and smell the blood. I picked up my pace as I noticed children looking for their parents. Who or what could do this to my people. I felt a growl work its way up from deep within me.   I pushed open the doors to the war room. "... Get those blasted bells to stop ringing!" The older man behind the table yelled to no one in particular knowing that it would get done either way. "Thank the nine dragons! The prince has finally graced us with his presence. Where the bells not enough to distract you from whatever dame you had bent over your desk?" He didn't even look up from the map in front of him. He pointed to a far edge and looked at the General. "Are you sure?"   I didn't have a chance to reply nor did I particularly want to. I knew that this was not the time to pick a fight with the old man about my lifestyle. We had multiple of them weekly as it was. I walked to the table and leaned over the map. "The people who are arriving now are from this village." The general spoke. "The survives are talking of a creature with the body of a lion, tail of a snake, and wings of a bat. They believe it is a..." 

The king held up his hand cut the man off. "Tell me, Tobias. What creature is that?" My father asked me. It was always a quiz. 

No matter the situation. He was quizzing me. It took me a moment. I had to dig through all the information of monsters that had been shoved into my head by my numerous tutors. "I believe what they are describing is a manticore." It came to me quicker than I expected and when the approving nod came my way the general continued. 

"They said that it slaughtered half the village. Should we send men to hunt it down?" The general looked at my father who had started to get a mischievous grin on his slightly wrinkled face. 

"We will send someone. Tobias." He looked in my direction and a sinking feeling started rolling in my stomach. "Pick three men to go with you. Bring me back the creature's tail. Maybe this will help teach you to keep your c**k in your pants." He looked at me as if daring me to challenge him. I had heard it all before. 'You have to stop sleeping around.' 'You need to choose a queen.' 'A b*****d can't take over the rule of a country.'   I was just over my 21st year. I should have taken the crown by now but the old goat wouldn't let me take over till I found myself a queen. In other words, I would not get it any time soon. I had no thoughts of finding the next queen. Nore the mate of the dragon that lived in me. So here I was, being taught a lesson about sleeping with who I pleased by being sent to hunt down a monster. Send a monster to kill a monster.  We made it to the village. It was just on this side of the border between our nation and our neighbors. I knew we had a peace treaty with them which meant hunting on their land would prove to be difficult. Hopefully, the monster stayed over here. "We will rest in one of the houses. It seems that everyone fled to the capital after the creature started its attack." The men nodded and started scouting the area. Luka looked at me before dismounting. "What is it?" I barked at him. 

"If the attack was days ago and the people are gone. Then the creature probably moved on as well." He said taking an uneasy look around.   "I don't see any cattle. It could be living on what was leftover." I said knowing that half of this creature's pleasure was the hunt. I knew the feeling all too well. It would have eaten the cattle quickly then continued on its way. If we were lucky we were a day maybe two from it. "We will rest then continue. If we are tired when facing it, I don't want to see what will happen."  As we settled in for the night I let my mind drift. What would be the easiest way to take this creature down? I should stay at a distance and try to take it out with my longbow. Luka was the best man I knew with a war hammer, so he should rush it and try to smash the legs of the monster. Niklaus was decent with his shortbow. He would have to be between the monster and me, giving me extra protection. Milos was very quick and best when not seen. He should hide in the shadows. If we could set up a trap for the creature somehow.

The battle strategy slowly left my head. It had been days without me giving pleasure to myself with or without the help of a soft woman. I hated to say that I was starting to want it bad. I groaned and rolled out of bed. If I stayed there too long I would get even more frustrated, in more ways than one. I walked out of the house we had taken over and looked up to the sky. The draw to the moon was there like always. I am sure it had to do with the dragon inside me. It was said that he took sides with the moon in the great battle. I pulled my eyes away to see Milos standing in the shadows keeping an eye out for danger. He bowed his head to me before going back to his watch. I walked past him to the edge of the village that the villagers claimed the Manticore came from.

The tracks that were there were days old. It was hard for me to pick out the tracks that belonged to the creature. With an annoyed sigh, I made my way back to the house. It wouldn't hurt to try to get some sleep before the sun rose.