Outcast

9. Intruder

Sorry it's been so long!! I've been so busy with  a new high school and vacations that I haven't had ANY time to write. All credit of song to Adriana Figueroa. Thought the lyrics fit.  Comment and Vote Please.  These chapters are going to be longer. At first this story was just a writing test for myself but since it is being loved and I'm getting great constructive criticism I'll try and  improve the flow and length. :)  Enjoy~
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Riyah woke up in a mess of cold sweat, his breath coming out in ragged gasps as he sat straight up on his makeshift bed made of poky straw. His white blond hair sticking up in all directions from restless sleep like a fluffy cat after a unwanted bath. He propped himself into his elbows taking deep calming breaths.

  The nightmares were resurfacing from his short lived childhood. Playing over and over again on repeat every night. Of warm embraces, loving kisses, and a blurry faced perfect family. The dream would last a while until everything he had ever loved would shatter around him and he would shift into a monster and look down to see scarlet blood on his claws-his family's blood. The sky would go from a serene blue to dark red. He would see their terror stricken faces directed at him, words thrown full of hatred and malice, his parents holding a knife to his neck. The blade point over his racing dream pulse. From love to hate at breakneck speed. And as soon as he felt cold metal at his skin he would wake up. Riyah never had a night without a nightmare and it was exhausting. The dark bags under his eyes living proof of his sleep deprived state. 

   Riyah wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand before sliding his feet over the side of the straw bed and standing. He shook his head as if to shake away the nightmare and slipped on a long sleeved light brown cotton shirt he had brought from the village by trading meat he hunted. As he stood he raised a puzzled brow at the furry pelt that had fallen from his sleeping form and onto the cavern floor. Then it all came rushing back to him, a flash of memory that in his early morning daze he had forgotten. A Prince. Swords. His secret out. Bloody hell , he thought ruefully. Why did the Prince help him, he pondered chewing on his lower lip anxiously eyes slanting in suspicion. 

" I tried to kill that idiot. Despite that he still helped? Tch. He either is brain dead or too nice." Riyah muttered to himself, as usual talking for no reason or no person so he wouldn't go crazy all alone. Glaring down at the soft fur blanket crumpled on the ground, he picked it up inspecting it between his fingers. Bear fur, fuzzy and dark brown, thick and warm. Useful for the cold months- and expensive to buy. Money was tight and Riyah had to hunt with his dragon's claws to provide food and trade for himself. Despite not being able to pass away peacefully the hunger pains still inconvenienced him. 

"I bet he is both. Prince Idiot more like." Riyah hissed. "Might as well keep it. Hn. It would be a waste for it to not to go to use." Dropping the fur on the straw he stretched, arching to crack his back and release a tired sigh. His bare feet padded against the cold stone as he walked over to the silvery freezing water that snaked through the cave, crouching before splashing his face. Cleaning his dirty cheeks whilst waking himself up in the process. He looked down for a brief moment, the icy water reflecting his rippled image. Cheeks cleansed yet his hair fell shaggy and long down the nape of his neck due to no trimming, the a white-blond strands falling softly around his deep green eyes, a monstrous unnatural hue. Riyah glared down at his mirror self, the same angry image looking back up at him. Sometimes he wished that reflection was just the human boy he saw looking up at him in the undulating surface, just a simple boring human living a simple boring life. To Riyah, that was what he always tried to grasp yet could never reach.  Feeling more refreshed but bustling inside the shifter walked over to the agape opening in the jagged walls. Not unlike the inside of the cave, dense mist overshadowed the snow blanketed forest below, the same dark fog clouding in the sparsely lit hole. The sun hidden behind a fluffy curtain of dark grey clouds only releasing foggy faded morning light into the darkened cave barely breaking through shadowy cloud-like air.