Commander Nella

1). The Wolf

"Commander Nella".

Janella spun around just as Captain Richard walked in through her door. She gave him a questioning look.

"The wolf attacked again at dawn,"the captain said in a grim tone. "Nancy's little daughter was injured."

Nella kept a straight face. "Is this why you deem it fit to barge into the manor unannounced, Captain?" She tilted her head. "Surely, you know better than that."

Captain Richard bowed his head and clasped his hands in front of her. "My apologies. It would not happen again."

Nella folded her arms. "So how is Phoebe holding up?"

Richard shifted on his feet. "The physician has stitched all her cuts but she's down with a fever."

"She'll be fine,"Nella said. "She should not have been out in the woods at dawn. Everyone in Fresno knows about the wolf. Nancy should keep a closer eye on her daughter. I will speak to her about that." She cleared her throat. "I need you and your men to move around the tribe and make sure there were no other casualties."

"The people are worried that the wolf will never be killed,"Richard said. "The beast has done a lot of damage in the last eight years. Your people want to know when it will be killed."

"I'm the Commander, not a soothsayer,"Nella replied firmly. "Go and do as I say. I'll pay Nancy a visit."

With that dismissal, Richard bowed and left.

Nella let out a loud exasperated breath. Her parents had died when she was only twelve years of age and ever since, she'd taken on the role of Commander of her people as she was the only child and therefore only heir to her father's title. Her father, Frederick Brighton, had taught her all she needed to know before he died. At the young age of twelve, she'd already been training with the Fresno army.

Now, she had pressing issues that even her father’s tutelage could not help her resolve. The wolf. The wolf that has haunted her people for eight years. It struck again at the wee hours of the morning and it hurt a little girl.

She ran up the wooden stairs to her room. She sat in front of the ornate mirror that had once belonged to her mother. Thoughts of her mother had guilt clawing at her heart. She still had nightmares about her mother's death. How she'd been cut and bloodied by the wolf. Though there was no love lost between her and her mother, she'd watched with a burning mix of grief and guilt as her mother suffered until death.

She stared at herself in the mirror. She was evil. She didn't deserve such beauty. Eyes the colour of the blue sea. An enchantingly beautiful face. Small, rosebud mouth. Long, luscious black hair falling in soft layers down to her waist. A shapely, feminine body.

She wore dark breeches and a leather brown tunic shirt which came down to her waist. She grabbed her sword from the table beside her bed and sheathed it. She grabbed her knife from the table and strapped it to her leg. She ran down the stairs and out of the manor.

She closed the door behind her and ran down the short flight of wooden stairs. She paused for a while, examining the vast spread of land before her. The Fresno lands were beautiful. Green vegetation. Brightly coloured flowers. Most of the houses were far away from the Brighton manor which was the largest building in the whole of Fresno. She walked to the side of the manor where she'd tied Ranger. Ranger had been her horse since she was ten. They'd practically grown up together.

Nella untied Ranger and saddled him. She put her left foot in the stirrup and swung her right foot over. She grabbed the reins and pulled. Ranger broke out in a run. Nella's hair was blowing wildly behind her, her eyes set and focused in the direction she was headed.