Head Wolf

Chapter 4

Buzzing was everything Blenda heard. Her body was numb, from the freezing tips of her fingers to the black and blues of her body. Blood painted her busted lips and several other cuts. It trailed from her eyebrow and over her swollen eye to stop somewhere on her cheek where it got smeared to the side. Her knuckles were raw, blood dripping on the ground.

Blenda didn’t know if the spinning figures of the fighters scattered around the bailey was caused by the nausea, or was she swaying as she struggled to rise from the ground where she blacked out moments ago.

It was past midnight, the bailey was dark—at least that was what she saw from the little gap between her lids.

Muffled voices assaulted her ears which her brain didn’t bother to decipher.

After a day long of fighting, and only half an hour of rest between fights, the combats lacked skills and precision. The fighters looked like a bunch of drunkards fighting in a dark parking lot.

Blenda closed her eyes as a wave of nausea hit her. Her empty stomach contracted as she dry heaved, disturbing her bruised ribs. They didn’t give them any food all day.

The head judge stood from his chair. He patted the shoulder of the last man standing, sending him to his knees. She didn’t catch what the judge said as she battled her physical pain and the burn of defeat. Her predicament saved her from hearing what the second judge, Alonso, said to the long gone wolves.

“Participants and lucky winner, you can’t relay on your luck for so long. Your sloppy combats were a disappointing start. My advice to you is to work hard to make up for the lack of skills and strength.”

Then he disappeared in the darkness of the hallway.

Blenda flopped on the ground, not caring to go back to her room. The sky was dark and clouded, blurring in front of Blenda’s heavy eyelids.

A cold drop of water poked her cheek, then rolled to the side of her mouth. It stung as it slipped between her lips, reminding her of how thirsty she was.

Another poke to her eye, to her forehead, to her nose and her cheeks again. They became faster, but Blenda was defenceless against them.

In a state between consciousness and unconsciousness, she floated in the air, secured by a pair of strong arms. Air brushed against her as she moved, freezing the wet spots on her skin.

She swayed in a non rhythmic way, sending her brain in a maze of dizziness.

She gripped the closest stable thing her hand found and snuggled closer to the steady heartbeat.

A soothing scent patted her nerves causing a soft whining to erupt from her wolf. Warm lips pressed against her forehead and a soft command was whispered. She didn’t comprehend it, but her brain seemed to do as it submitted her senses to the darkness.

🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻

In a spare of seconds of this world, but hours of the world behind Blenda’s closed eyes, a flame of awareness lit Blenda's brain, but was flooded with confusion as exhaustion and pain pinned her to where she lay.

She only felt this pain once in her life when she was six years old. Without a proper training she'd wandered in the undiscovered lengths of the mountain to hunt for her starving pack who was attacked by the unforgiven winter of the Alps.