Chapter 111


    Maia


    ‘Maia,’ Grace says.


    Yes, Grace?” I smile at the young girl in front of me.


    Can wee to your forest and meet Ember one day?’


    ‘Sure. I’d love to show you my home. And I’m sure Ember would love to meet you, I say excitedly and


    smile.


    “Perhaps when this war is over, Vivian says, exhaling and folding her hands in herp. The girls nod


    and run off again.


    Vivian?’ I say, ‘Where’s your mate?’ I ask.


    Only werewolves have mates. Humans have husbands. I had a husband: it was love at first sight: His


    name was Derrick. We were married a few weeks after meeting and had our girls not long after. When


    they were two, he died in a mining ident. The mine copsed and killed him and twenty other men,


    Vivian says, wiping her eyes with her handkerchief.


    Oh. I’m so sorry,’ I say, watching her dab her eyes.


    ‘I don’t know if I could love another man. I know Derrick would want me to. He’d want the girls to have a


    father, but I just haven’t been able to move on. I’ve courted a few men over the years, but it wasn’t the


    same, she exins, and I nod, stand up, refasten the sp on my cloak, and tie the strings together.


    Tea has been lovely, Vivian. It has been so nice seeing you again. I must go home now, I say.


    The girls run up to me and squeeze me in a tight hug.


    Please say you’lle again, Maia, Grace and E chime.


    I will. I promise,’ Iugh, open the front door, and step into the cool night air.


    ***


    As I trudge through the forest toward my cave, a group of thirty men, dressed in the same armour as


    the men from Wellmore market, camp around a fire.


    Start at Darkpaw, and we’ll start at Mystic Pride. Then, after you’ve wiped out the small packs, meet at


    Ravencull vige, and together we’ll decimate the vige, a man with a very long beard in war attire


    says.


    Hispanions listen and nod, and I lose my footing and crunch a twig under my boots.


    Who’s there?’ The man says, and they all stand, poised, ready to defend themselves.


    Holding my breath, I stay as still and as quiet as possible. The men pull their swords from their sheaths


    and slowly approach my position. I run.


    ‘Get him!’ Someone yells.


    Running, I leap over rocks and duck under low-hanging branches before falling and hitting my head on


    arge rock. A hot trickle of blood escapes my forehead and runs down my face. I’m disoriented, and


    my vision is blurry,


    Three men approach me cautiously, staring at my dress, cloak, and bloody face.


    Her eyes are violet!’ One man shouts.


    “Who are you? Another asks.


    ‘My fair maiden. The gods have blessed us tonight!’ A third man says his expression one Thave not


    seen before. This man grabs my arms and pins me against a tree, breathing heavily near my neck. He


    ces his hand on my leg and runs it up to my thigh. I quiver and squirm,


    kiek tum or hard as Ioan between the legs, and he fails backward onto the ground holding his orotch.


    He yells and innoll again,


    I don’t get very far before I fall again, near a river, and a cliff-edge, with the men right behind me, their


    swords ready to kill. Instinctively, I throw out my hands, and a gust of wind knocks the men over. I


    imagine fire and fill a power surge through my body. My palms light up with a ball of me hovering in


    each palm. I throw the fireballs at the men, and mes engulf them both. They jump into the river to


    extinguish themselves. The rest of theirpanions have reached us, and they watch on as their


    ‘She’s the Forest Princess,’ someone shouts, and the men gasp.


    ‘I thought it was just a fairy tale,’ someone says.


    Over the cliff-edge surges arge river with a strong current; the drop is more than one hundred


    metres.


    This material belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    I have two options: jump and hope I don’t drown in the current or be captured. I jump off the cliff and fall


    into the river. I’m thrown around violently by the swells and the rapids, unsessfully reaching for low-


    hanging branches to cling onto. I am mmed into a rock and instantly lose grip when the water


    pushes me along. Not knowing how to swim, I instinctively take breaths when I can. It isn’t long before


    the world fades to ck, and I’m unconscious, floating along with the current.


    A soldier


    In Mystic Pride and Darkpaw, we talk about the Forest Princess. It will be interesting to see what King


    Fenris has to say about her. We knock down front doors and trespass inside pack homes, slitting


    everyone’s throats regardless of age or gender.


    We impale any who attack with our swords, ce their heads on victory spikes, and rft them on a


    small hill in the heart of the vige.


    Inside a house in Darkpaw vige, a boy of around eight years old hides from us underneath the


    floorboards in a bedroom. Myrades, hearing his crying, rip up the floorboards and discover him.


    His father, an Alpha wolf called Ezra, has just been ughtered by my kinsmen. We burden his neck


    and wrists with a gaol chain to contain him.


    Who are you, boy?’ | ask. The boy looks at his father lying in a pool of blood on the other side of the


    room.


    ‘Zayden, Alpha Ezra’s son,’ he says softly, tears streaming down his young cheeks,


    ‘An Alpha pup. We could get some good coin for you. You’d make a strong ve.’ I tell him, and we


    drag him behind us out of the house. The werewolf heads are spiked on the hill in front of us


    monumentally


    With the number of men we have lost, we decide to avoid Ravencull and instead return to West Wallow


    for more soldiers.


    On the way to West Wallow, we reach a town called Shadowguard, and the locals apud us for our


    victory. We’ve defeated two packs and the wolf pup we drag behind us is a testimony of our strength


    and power.


    An auctioneer auctions off orphan children to whoever can afford them. Most will be employed as


    maids and as farmhands. I go over to the auctioneer, with Zayden in tow.


    “How much for the boy?’ I ask the dishevelled, broken-toothed man.


    “Six gold for the boy – twice what ves usually fetch,’


    ‘Ten! He isn’t just any boy. He’s an Alpha’s boy. He’ll be much stronger than the average wolf,’ I


    exin.


    ‘Eight I have to make a profit too. Otherwise, you can wait here all week and sell himself yourself,’ the


    auctioneer says.


    “Done. Sold,’ I say, handing the chained boy to the auctioneer, who pushes Zayden into a cage and


    locks it with a key.