BLOOD OF THE FIRST

CHAPTER 04

I sat braiding Stacie’s hair. Poor girl was wincing with every touch. Those animals must have pulled on her hair roughly, but now, at least, we have been left alone. Suddenly, I felt Stacie freeze before I noticed the man who had come to us.

General Matt.

“And what do you think you are doing?” he barked.

I did not flinch a bit. I might be submissive to them, but I’m no fool. My "good girl" character is just so I can gather information and use it to our advantage, and right now, we have the wildcard.

“Braiding her hair,” I said calmly.

“And who gave you the permission to do that?” he said, making a show of bringing out his whip.

Stacie whimpered, but I held her shoulder in place to stop her.

“SHE DID!” I said in a cold voice, looking him dead in the eyes. He tried to mask the fear in his eyes, but he was too slow. I smiled inwardly.

Thought as much!

“Well, get your asses inside once you are done with it,” he said and walked away, defeated and obviously angry.

“Well, get your asses inside once you’re done with it,” I mimicked him, and Stacie laughed heartily.

“Do you think they will keep leaving us alone, Meryln?” Stacie asked in a small voice.

“Oh yes, baby girl, they will. We have the power in our hands now,” I told her.

Just then, both our eyes caught a figure walking towards the training field meant for the guards. Back straight, head high—that’s our savior. I knew she—

“What happened to Freya, Meryln?” Stacie whispered, even though no one could hear us.

“Freya is dead, love,” I told her gently. I sighed loudly and whispered into her ear. “That Freya—” I said, pointing to the figure that was about to disappear into the gate, “has been reborn, and she will save us all.”

“Ohh…” Stacie said and nodded.

“But is it true that she fought the Demon Wolf and won?” she asked again, turning to look at me this time. I laughed wildly at her question.

“No, Stacie. No one can fight the Demon Wolf and win,” I told her.

She paused to think about it, and I had the feeling I knew what her next question would be.

“Then if he’s all-powerful, how was he captured? Why did he allow himself to be captured?” she asked, her young eyes beaming with intense curiosity.

“That is fate, my darling,” I told her.

“Fate?”

“Yes, fate. Think of it like this: if the Demon Wolf hadn’t been captured, Freya wouldn’t have had to face him, and we wouldn’t have been free of our troubles,” I explained calmly.

“Okay…” she said, lost in thought.

We continued the rest of the hair in silence when we heard a commotion and stood up in fear. I held Stacie’s hand firmly, ready to run if need be. Then, we saw a brown wolf running towards us in wild panic. We stood rooted in fear, but the wolf stopped just a few inches from us and changed form.

It was Steve.

Steve is a young warrior and the only kind person here. He has never touched any of the girls inappropriately, and he’s always looking out for us in his own little way. He’s my little informant.

Something must have happened for him to be here in plain sight.

“You must warn Freya. Tell her to run, escape from here,” he said, his chest heaving heavily.

“Why? What’s going on?” I asked, confused.

He looked from me to Stacie and back to me, and I knew it must be something really big.

“Stacie—” I cupped the fear-stricken girl’s face to make her focus, “look at me, Stacie. I need you to run inside, find the others, go to the underground, and stay there. Don’t open for anyone that isn’t me. Is that clear?” I all but screamed into her face.

She didn’t even respond and took to her heels immediately.

Good girl!

I faced Steve, who had started sweating rapidly. Now, I was beginning to get scared.

“Talk to me. What is it?” I asked him.

“The men went out to fight. The Lycans ambushed us, and we are going as backup,” he said, but I still didn’t know what it had to do with Freya, so I pressured him.

“And Freya?” I urged him to continue.

“They’re going to kill her. I overheard Luke and Simon telling the others. They said they can’t risk her becoming a threat and that she has started making the rest of you act out, so they want to kill her. You must tell her to run,” he told me, a look of pity creeping into his face.

“Oh. My. God,” I said, a look of horror settling on my face at the discovery I’d made.

“Everybody GO GO!” we heard the distant cry.

I knew Steve had to go, so I nodded for him to go ahead. Looking around to make sure no one was looking, I ran madly to the training ground and saw Freya fighting imaginary figures, unaware of the chaos outside.

“Freya,” I called cautiously. We’ve all been scared of her since she came out of the cage alive. Whatever went down in there, only she knows, and she has not spoken about it. No one even dared ask her. Moreover, she has changed. She became cold and off. Even her features became different.

I stepped back in fear as she turned to me angrily, and I could have sworn I saw her eyes turn black for a split second before she relaxed when she saw it was me.

“Meryln?” she asked, a little tired from her exercise.

I stood rooted, unable to talk, but at her impatient look, I stammered, “You—you have to go. Escape from here. They plan on killing you when they come back.”

It took her a while to digest the information, and when she did, she laughed like a madwoman before turning around to continue training.

In anger, I whipped her around to face me, standing toe-to-toe with her and screaming in her face.

“Listen here, Freya. I don’t know what happened in the cage with the Demon Wolf, and I don’t know what lives in you, but in case you haven’t noticed, YOU ARE DIFFERENT. I just didn’t talk about it, but the other night, you produced claws, Freya. Long, white, SHINY claws. You have something great in you, and I won’t let you die here before you save us all. If you don’t believe in yourself or in anything I said, the girls believe in you. We are all rooting for you. So get your ass out of here and go fulfill your purpose. We will be waiting for you until you come save us.” I stopped, my chest heaving and my breath hot.

I was glad I got through to her because the next minute, she was running towards the gates in panic.

Beautiful Dumb girl!

“Over here!” I called out to her and took her to a secret path Steve told me about along the forbidden cave. I had prepared food that would last her until the next full moon, if she survives until then.

Upon getting to the Demon Wolf’s cage entrance, she hesitated, and I saw something shift in her. Right away, I knew what she wanted to do, and I was not going to stop her. I quickly told her my goodbyes and left, but stayed to actually confirm my suspicions. And as I suspected, she freed the Wolf from his cage. I couldn’t believe my eyes—how she was able to destroy the vines that kept him in place, and the fact that the wolf is undeniably the biggest wolf in history.

I turned back, a look of satisfaction on my face. The girls would be so thrilled to hear this. Now I’d have more stories to tell them so their stay here would not be entirely horrible.

I believe in Freya, I chanted in my mind as I skipped happily through the fields towards the basement.

History is about to change.