She was laying on her stomach and couldn't move her arms. Or her legs. Panic swept through her when she realized that she couldn't escape, that her arms and legs had heavy weights on them tying wrists and ankles in place to the bedframe. There was pulsing waves of agony digging down her back that made her regret any movement at all.
Those facts that ceased to matter in the aftermath of the realization that she was laying there without a stitch of clothing on. Only the sheet twisted underneath her protected her modesty. Someone had taken great care to keep everything except her back covered.
Followed by that realisation was a fresh wave of agony the length of her back. It felt as if someone had poured burning oil on her and left her to burn. A terrified whimper escaped her. No! How would she be able to run, to hide? What did they plan on doing to her?!
"Sh sh, dearie. Don't try to move. You're going to pull the stitches out and undo all our hard work in putting you back to one piece." Maisie's voice sounded muffled; distorted sounds that only vaguely made sense as words. Aydra lay there, gasping in short pants as more waves of pain rolled through her.
"Turn your head this way, dearie." Maisie said gently, and her hand swept under Aydra's cheek to help her turn her head with her other hand placed on Aydra's shoulder, holding it in place. Aydra blinked her eyes open slowly.
It took her a few moments to register what she was looking at, and when she did, she nearly fainted all over again. Aydra's breath caught in her throat and she wheezed. It was insanity! It was a hallucination brought on by the attack, maybe. Or, she was dead and this was the penance for whatever misdeeds she had done and not repented for.
Laying on the bed at her side with one big, clawed paw resting on the mattress near her face was the direbeast. His chest had a bandage crisscrossed over it, almost like a vest. Dotted along that were stains of blood seeping through.
She held still, hardly daring to breath as she tried to make sense of what was happening. Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she flinched back, but it was only Maisie bravely prodding at a set of wounds on the direbeast that were stitched but not bandaged.
At the sight of her foolhardiness, Aydra tried to scramble away, even while knowing that she hadn't a chance of outrunning a direbeast - even a wounded one! The only thing that happened was a harsh reminder that she was bound to the bed and fresh pain surging through her body.
"Be still! You are going to rip your stitches again and start bleeding afresh and that will be sure to set the beast off." Maisie scolded. Slowly, the older woman's words sank in which caused a fresh wave of fear to sweep over Aydra. The last thing she wanted was to attract the direbeast to freshly spilled blood – especially hers and when she was tied to the bed!
A voice rumbled from nearby and Aydra froze as a different sort of terror welled up. She knew that voice! That was Captain Tobias and where he was, Lord Fyn wasn't far behind! Her eyes closed in despair. They would kill her! A sob escaped before she could stop it.
"Is their camp near here? Is there a special meaning to why they chose here to hide?" Tobias's hard voice sounded much closer. He was insistent and when she didn't respond, he put his hand on her shoulder and shook it. Jolting at both his touch and the realisation that it was her that he was speaking to, she turned her head enough to be able to see him. He stood next to an empty chair by the bed, his cold gaze locked on her.
"The people that stole you. Is their camp nearby? How did you get away from them? Or did they set you free?" Tobias didn't even glance at the beast lying on the bed next to Aydra. That seemed further proof that she was hallucinating.
"What?" She whispered, confused. His words didn't make any sense. It had been a direbeast attack, hadn't it? Or had it been a nightmare and her mind twisted it with reality?
"Answer me!" Tobias snapped, intensely annoyed now, shifting to lean closer to her and his eyes narrowing menacingly. It scared Aydra into a frantic response despite her pain and terror.
"I don't know what you are talking about!" Aydra cried and struggled to get away from him. Instant streaks of white-hot pain rolled through her and an agonised cry escaped. The pain was so sharp she couldn't do anything but wheeze as her muscles seized up.
Instantly, the direbeasts eyes flew open wide and his lips curled back from glistening fangs as a low rumble vibrated along his body. Was he a hallucination or was he in fact real after all?! Aydra thought desperately, gasping frantically. Maisie was there again, one hand pressed down on one of Aydra's shoulders with the other on the direbeasts shoulder, making an irritated sound as she did so.
"Don't move! You will cause the bleeding to start afresh and the smell of your blood upsets your beast here!" Maisie then did something to Aydra's back and the pain spiked a heartbeat before suddenly easing off.
The relief from the pain made her head swim and she let out a little groan of thankfulness. The direbeast's snout smoothed out as he shifted his head on the bed next to her, lightly touching the tip of his nose to hers. That was too much for Aydra's senses to handle though; her eyes fluttered closed and her senses fogged.
"You will get no sense from the girl now, lord captain. Unless you'd rather make his lordship cranky by hounding her while injured and ill?" Maisie said tartly.
Aydra didn't understand anything by this point and wasn't certain if she cared at that moment anyway because the strangest thing was happening. The illusionary direbeast was nuzzling his snout up against her face and a gentle rumbling sound rolled from his throat. This should have been terrifying but she was strangely calm. Her body seemed to hum with a strange buzzing feeling that started from her nose and rolled down to her feet.
Everything should have been frightening. As was the fact that his sharp teeth were close enough to eat her face off before anyone could even get breath to scream. Instead of frightening her, she felt soothed by the direbeasts closeness and soon all she was feeling was drowsily relaxed. The pain ebbed and sleep swept her away from the concerns of the world.
YOU ARE READING
The King's Justice
Romance**Incomplete** Aydra is a sheltered young girl, raised for one purpose only - to raise her family standing with a good marriage. The man chosen for her is Fyn, who is infamous as the kings right hand man. Nothing is easy - or as it seems!
