Rise of the Dark Queen

Chapter 3

I awoke to nightfall and a bright moon in the sky. My body felt as if it were on fire and my shoulder was in agony. My head felt fuzzy and my body was stiff and sore. I slowly tried to sit up, I was weak and felt feverish. I must have slept through the night and the whole day, it was dark but the moon cast a faint glow over the area. I was alone in the cave. The events that led me here crashed through my mind and I began to panic that I could not see Vindex anywhere near. I didn’t want to think of what would happen if I was caught here alone without my wolfy companion for protection.

My stomach ached with hunger and my throat was so dry it felt like it was full of sand. I hadn’t eaten or drank anything since that morning at the inn. My head pounded as I thought about my predicament. Cold, injured and alone in the wilds with no food or water. likely suffering from sickness and infection due to the gash I suffered via sword and my not so great escape through the dirt and mud in the rain. Great, out of the pan into the fire it seems.

Out of the corner of my eye I caught movement. My breath stilled as I froze. Then Vindex lopped over to me, carrying a black rabbit in his maw, tail wagging like a dog bringing its master his slippers. Seriously I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to watching such a terrifying magnificent beast act like a clingy puppy. Especially when I’ve watch said puppy tear men limb from limb. I suppressed a shudder at the thought, best not to think too deeply of such things otherwise I’d stop my own heart with fright.

He laid the rabbit at my feet then looked up expectantly at me. I reached over and scratched behind his ears. “Who’s a good boy, you are.” I said in my best sing song voice. I felt weak and I needed food but like hell if I was eating it raw. Blessedly, the rain had stopped, so gathering wood for a fire was now a very real and necessary possibility. But first, I needed water.

“Ok Vindex, I need water otherwise I may actually die. You live around here, you must drink from a source of water near by?” I looked to his red glowing eyes. He c****d his head. I sighed. “Water,” I pointed to my mouth and tried my best to mime drinking water like a dog lapping at a river. He seemed to take the hint and yipped, coming to stand beside me I used his big furry body to help me stand. I was weak but I managed to stay on my feet, but walking seemed like I may be asking for to much, the first step I took my knees wobbled. I gripped his fur to steady myself.

He let out a whine then lowered his body to the ground, looking back at me expectantly. I slowly realized he meant for me to ride him. As if this ordeal could not become any more ridiculous, I was about to ride a shadow wolf through the wilds on the border of the dark elves realm. Why the hell not. I crawled onto his back with some effort, laying across his back and gripping the fur at his neck. He slowly stood and began moving at a slow trot. After a few short moments we came across a small stream, he lowered himself to the ground and I slid off his back.

I crawled to the edge of the stream and dipped my cupped hand into the clear water to drink. I know drinking water direct from a stream could be dangerous but with no way to boil the water and my other option being dying of thirst I figured it was worth the risk. After I had my fill I carefully cleaned my wound and tore a strip from my cloak to wrap it, the shadows no longer coalesced around it like when they had stopped the bleeding. My blood must have clotted enough to do it’s own healing but it would leave a nasty scar, that is if I didn’t die from infection first. I needed to get out of here and get to a healer.

Which gave me two new issues. Our village did not have a healer, none that could treat a sword wound anyways. I would have to get out of here, then get to the next village where they had an army outpost and a proper healer. Then there was the matter of the two men who no doubt hightailed it to said village with their own injuries and no doubt some made up stories of a crazed woman who attacked them in their sleep. I would need to get to Tiberius first so he could vouch for me, I know he is the only one who can protect me from the lies those men would spew to save their own sorry asses. I sighed, one problem at a time.

I then began gather twigs and branches that had fallen to the forest floor then climbed my way back onto my new best friends back. I was already more in love with this wolf than any boy I ever met back in my village. Not that that was saying much, as remote as we lived options weren’t exactly plentiful, but the wolf had already saved my life several times over by my count. Which is more than any man other than Tiberius had ever done for me before. And Tiberius was in his mid fifties… no thanks, he’s the closest thing to a father I’ve ever known. My mother never spoke of my real father, and I never cared enough to ask. As a teenager I just assumed he didn’t care or was dead. My mother could be secretive and I knew it was useless to pry, if she decided to keep me in the dark there was no changing her mind. She was a stubborn woman, must be where I got it from.

When we got back to our little makeshift camp I made quick work of the fire. You didn’t live in a place like we did without learning how to do such things for survival. After cooking my rabbit and eating it I curled into Vindex and drifted back to sleep. Even though I’d already slept a whole day I was still as tired and weak as ever. Chills wracked their way through my body. Besides, there would be no traveling at night through the wilds. Even with a shadow monster at my side I had a feeling it would be a mistake to try to navigate and avoid other predators during nightfall. Yes we would travel in the morning… my head grew fuzzy and I again drifted off to sleep.

I awoke with my head swimming and my body drenched in sweat. I heard muffled sounds, everything sounded as if it was underwater. I felt the absence of Vindex at my back. I cracked my eyes open, and slowly took in my surroundings, first noticing him crouched in front of me in a protective stance. I slowly and painstakingly rose to sit up and peer around him to see what had his hackles raised. I heard a muffled snarl and stifled shouts. I blinked and with a start noticed a very fierce and angry looking Tiberius, his sword raised as if to attack Vindex.

With a cry I crawled on all fours as fast as I could and wrapped my arms around Vindex. “It’s ok boy, he’s my friend.” I said with a hoarse voice trying to push aside my very real panic at the prospect of them attacking each other both in a misguided attempt to protect me.

“It’s ok Tiberius, he’s friendly, don’t hurt him, put your sword down.” I said placatingly

“Like f**k imma do that girl, it’s a fuckin shadow wolf an he’s snarlin right at us, he don’t look friendly to me.” He spat.

“Please, please, he won’t hurt me and he won’t hurt you! He is protecting me, aren’t you Vindex?” I tried ending on a soothing note as I addressed my murderous wolf. He stopped snarling but maintained his protective stance as he let out a whimper.

“What the f**k?!” I heard someone exclaim in shock. It was only then I realized we were not alone and Tiberius had come with help. Lots of help it would seem, there must have been 20 soldiers here. All wearing matching expressions of complete shock and terrified awe at the beasts seeming obedience to me.

“Please lower your swords, don’t hurt him, he’s the only reason I’m alive.” Tears gathered in my eyes. As relieved as I was to have a rescue party, the last thing I wanted was for my new friend to be hurt or driven off. We were a package deal, the thought of leaving him in these woods twisted at something inside my soul. We’ve been through a lot together these past two days, I felt bonded to him now in a way I couldn’t explain.

Grudgingly everyone slowly lowered their swords but did not sheath them. It was a start. Tiberius looked from the wolf to me, his eyes narrowed.

“Two days you go missin in these cursed woods and we find you through a trail of bodies with a gods damn beast as your new pet. What the f**k happened Coralleigha?!” He said gruffly.

I smiled weakly, “you think maybe we can save this conversation for the closest village with a healer?” I moved around Vindex’s body and nearly collapsed onto the ground with the effort. Tiberius rushed other to gather me in his arms, Vindex loosed a quiet growl in warning as he easily scooped me into his arms.

“Aye easy there shadow mutt, I’m helping her same as you.” Vindex huffed as he backed off to give him room.

Mid 50’s and he was built like he was still in the army. I sighed and went limp in his arms. My head resting on his chest.

“It’s a full days journey to the healer girl, why don’t you tell me what you got yourself into along the way, eh?” He said in a low voice as he carried me over to a group of horses and hefted me on then got on behind me. My faithful wolf following close by.

“Uh, Sir? Is that beast really coming along with us?” One of the men called out to Tiberius, his brows pinched in unease as he eyed the wolf.

“Well if you wanna be the one to run em off, be my guest, I have a feelin it wouldn’t work out to well for anyone tryin to separate these two. Besides, we got a full days journey ahead of us, I gotta feelin this guy might be helpful in keepin some of his friends away if ya know what I mean.”

The soldiers shared uneasy glances and began to mount their own horses. And just like that Vindex was here to stay. Moments later we took off at a steady pace, unable to travel faster through the forest while we were still in its dense area. Tiberius looked down at me expectantly, c*****g a thick brow.

“Ok, so where to start, may I ask how you found me and why there are two squads of soldiers with you searching for me?” I say softly.

“Well for starters you were taking way too long in that stable, I knew somthin was wrong so I went lookin for ya, I found blood in that forest in a clearing near the entrance.” He said gruffly, his expression going dark. “Thought the worst then I noticed the blood led outta the forest. Seemed strange you’d get hurt and not come to the inn, trail went dry when I noticed it was leadin to the next village. Whole thing stank to high heaven, I went back into them woods and I found a body. Wouldn’t happen to know anything bout that would ya?” He looked at me.

“Well let’s just say our unhappy customers decided to hang around and surprise me by the stables to show me just how unhappy they were.”

His expression turned murderous and his jaw clenched. “Go on,” he said through clenched teeth, “tell me everything, don’t leave nuthin out.”

I did just that, telling my story leaving nothing out. My throat tightened when I told him about the man I killed. His expression grew darker and darker as my story came to an end. He let out and angry huff and growled low, “I’ll kill those bastards when we get to the village. They tucked tail and ran back to the outpost with a story about how they heard a woman scream and went to investigate and a beast attacked them killed all but them. Whole thing smelled rotten from the beginning, I knew you wouldn’t have gone in those woods after doin your chores and those assholes looked more like they got stabbed not mauled by some feral beast.” He said then a dark smirk twitched onto his lips, “ guess I was right bout the stabbin, that leader of theirs almost bled out, said that’s why they went straight to the healer instead of coming to tell me what happened to ya.” He spit.

I let out a weak laugh, “yeah I did it just like how you showed me, twisted it while it was buried in his thigh.”

“Good.” He stated darkly. He continued, “come nightfall these men came to the inn looking for the bodies of the men they said was attacked by a beast. We found em all right, they wanted to turn back but my name still pulls weight in these parts, said I wasn’t going nowhere without ya. Took us a bit to pick up your trail and find ya. I sent a raven to the general himself before we left the inn, didn’t like how the story wasn’t addin up and figured I’d be needin the support of a big name to to call those men out as liars. I thought we’d be findin your body girl, I wasn’t gonna let them get away with your murder.” He said swallowing thickly. “I know he likes to make his rounds to all the outposts, with any luck he’ll have been at one nearby and will meet us back to the one we’re headed to before those assholes can try and change their story and make you out to be the one who attacked them.”

I let out a weak sigh and leaned more heavily into Tiberius. “Thank you.” I said, tears stinging my eyes.

“Aye none of that girl, just didn’t want to lose my best worker. Hard to find good help these days.” He said, voice rough with emotion.

I smiled as I closed my eyes then drifted back to sleep.