Itchy Feet

Chapter 4

[IFy-Trivia]❔

*⛄ Werewolf - {Human} PR; ** - Human shape-shifters bound by the moon. Transforms into a giant wolf, with raw brutal force. They form the might of the Borren's forces.

☁☁☁

Chapter 4

Dark clouds loomed in the sky with the smoke rising. Day seemed to mourn with the Kingdom as the King's body burned to ashes beneath the pile. Rain drops began falling, like a reminder of our damned fate in this world. A fate bound by time and the laws of nature to our very ends, an inescapable fate.

My wrists hang heavy with fine black linen with golden stitches trailing down to my thighs to match with the rest. The crown's elite guards identity. Or perhaps was it my heart that was weighing me down?

The gorguem girl standing beside me never looked any more comfortable than I was. Fidgeting and scratching.

The newly crowned Queen Caryna had her eyes fixated on the flames, keenly watching every flicker and every splinter as if she was expecting a message from the dead. The masses stood still, quiet, solemn. Witnessing the end of an era and the beginning of a new reign. But the circumstances promised a heavy burden ahead of Queen Caryna's reign. The promise of war. For even in this moment, only a day after the terrible ordeal the kingdom had been dealt, we all started to hear it. The faint sound of a drum beating slowly, steadily. Bang-bang-bang.

It got louder and louder by the second like a heart beat. The air shrouded around the kingdom became thicker and thicker, with the tension rising. The city bell suddenly erupted, desperately crying out to all to run for cover and brace for another run in with the reaper.

"It's the Borrens! They have all lined up below the dam! It's a whole army sir!" A soldier screamed. Each scream echoing desperation and despair,in his voice.

"Get the Queen back to the palace!" ordered General Vorn.

"No!"

But she protested, "Take me to the city wall."

"But my Queen-"

"Take me to the city wall," she insisted, "I am your Queen, General Vorn- the leader of my people. I need to see for myself what my people shall be facing."

"They can surely protect me, right?" she turned to her elite guards.

"As best we can my lady." The other boy answered quickly, "But you'll have to forgive me if I have to forcefully remove you from the wall if things get desperate my Queen..." he continued.

"...even if I have to touch you, inappropriately..."

He was the failed monk, a pervert.

"I promise you'll regret it Song," she replied with a slight smile, "I will entrust that to Kouda," as she turned to me.

"Yes my Queen."

Passing through the city you could feel the fear assert itself among the civilians. An ever-present force since I arrived within the walls of Uz-Lor. The light trickled down in the west horizon, taking with it all hope. Only despair remained in the mud as the rain intensified.

The city wall was high enough to get a picture of the valley below, all the way down to the Dam. A dark patch of men littered the earth from the distance, beside the bridge. With the drum beating, bang-bang-bang!

Suddenly a flame lit up from the front, a small light that inspired others to sprout. A never-ending trail of flames as long as it was wide lit up in front of us. The drum got even louder and louder. Bang! Bang! Bang!

The Borrens started chanting with the rhythm as a few of our men said their last prayers. I followed the queen as she walked among her men, her soldiers, her guardians. But it was clear there would a battle brewing on more than one front, there would be another, of the mind. They lacked a spark of inspiration.

Suddenly, silence.

No drum, no chants, just dead silence. We stood in arms clenching our swords, shields, spears and fists, waiting for the call. The order that would condemn us all. It never came. The lights slowly got sucked into the abyss of darkness, until there was nothing left.

No drum, no chants, no army.

"What happened? Where did they go?"

---

"That's it?! "

Queen Caryna paced around aimlessly in the palace, visibly livid.

"Not that we should be complaining..." Song mumbled to himself.

"They think they can do whatever they please with us- first they kill my father, and now they think they can intimidate us?! Have us living like dogs, cowering in fear? Waiting for the day we die?! I'm going to have them all slain for their sins."

"I like her spirit, she reminds me of the Wijha rat from our homeland. Once a predator destroys its habitat, it swallows poisonous fruit and offers itself to the creature, as a means to an end."

The mysterious girl was unsurprisingly morbid to the core.

"Okay now we have to agree that it's obviously not a good thing when Zenah starts to reason with you." Song on the other hand was truly moronic.

"What do you mean by that?" Zenah asked.

"No offence Zenah, but you are demon spawn." he replied. But Zenah was genuinely blushing.

"Forgive me for interrupting, but what was the purpose of this meeting my queen?" General Vorn seemed to be the only other person feeling the immediate need to know, beside me.

"I need you to find me a way to get to Aeripot undetected," she said.

"The tyrant's kingdom my queen?" General Vorn's concern grew instantaneously.

"Yes."

"But that's just insane, what would you do even if you got there?" The General was incandescent, "Besides that is absolutely impossible, we would never get there. The roads are ridden with the Borrens and the same goddamn Aeripots, you're trying to get to as well!"

"I know that much general, that's precisely why we are here! For you people to figure out how to get me there, or we are all at a loss in this kingdom."

"The Aeripots? Are we that desperate? We get you to them, and they will just hold you hostage." General Vorn continued his protest.

"No they won't."

"And why not?"

"Just trust me, and trust that it's what's best for the kingdom," she said. "For a long time we've known that the Borrens' thirst for blood can never be resolved any other way- all they seek is conquest. And it's time we prepared ourselves for the day."

The general took a moment to think, "The boy..."

"You think that boy is going to help you? He's even worse than his father! Reckless, egotistic, immature and a bastard!" The general lost all bearing on manners.

"And the only son of the king!" The queen retaliated.

You could literally hear the emotion flaring in the silence that followed.

"Besides," the queen continued, "I hear he has changed."

"Changed?" The general smirked, but he seemed to have conceded at that point, "For our sake, I hope you heard right."

She looked around anxiously. Almost in disbelief that General Vorn had conceded so early. Or perhaps she was getting to grips with her decision. Even I knew all about the Aeripots' reputation. "Who can get us there?" She asked again.

"I can." I replied.

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