The Servant Queen

The Border Watchers' Meal

Ani

It was still night when I woke up. I rubbed my eyes and sat up.

"Are you awake, Walter?" I said.

He didn't answer and I didn't see him anywhere. The horse was still here and asleep, so I knew I shouldn't worry. I stood up and walked toward the nearby putrid-smelling river. It smelled even worse when I went closer to it.

Walter kneeled down beside it. His eyes were closed and face was relaxed.

He was reciting, almost like singing, "Akkey of the sea beyond,
Before he had gone,
Had always smiled and waved
At his people who loved him so dearly,
So clearly
But he swore to me,
That he did not lie
Of the fact the he'll one day die,
But, Akkey of the sea beyond..."

"Oliver's sister named her servant Akkey," I said.

Walter opened his eyes and looked at me. "Then, she's a strange kid. Akkey is a man of high importance. You can't just name people that."

"She's my age, not a kid."

"Well, I didn't know and I didn't have the pleasure to meet her either, reddie. She probably named him when she was a child then. Akkey is a legend that most people should know about. There's even dozens of books and stories about him. They said that he came here from beyond the seas of Stone Kingdom on a strange boat, and introduced everyone to new technology, improved weapons, skills, medical customs, and so much more. That's why the death rate of humans decreased and why we won the first great war against the demi-humans. At first, people thought he was a god, but he said he wasn't. Even the poem says, he wasn't invincible. He was human, like the rest of us, and he died like the rest of us."

My eyes widened. "So... he was real?"

"Don't look at me like that. I don't know, okay? It's called a legend for a reason. And frankly, I don't believe that there's more land in the sea besides Stone Kingdom. Some who ventured in the sea always came back nearly half-dead from starvation saying that there's nothing out there except water. Others just never came back."

"M-maybe the ones that didn't come back didn't want to because they found some place better than here!"

"True. Or maybe they died."

I was silent for a moment. "Well, I still don't...think that they died."

He glanced at me with a sneer. "If you continue talking to me with your nativity, I might actually start to believe that they really did find a place better than Stone Kingdom."

"It's not a bad thing to be optimistic though..."

I sat beside him, with a couple feet of distance while watching the black water flow past me. I used a stick and played around with it.

"Why are you here anyways, singing that song?" I asked.

"That song had always helped calm my nerves in the past." He fell backwards onto the wet grass and looked at the sky. "I have this feeling that something is watching us, and being closer to this disgusting water feels almost safer."

"Are you afraid of staying out here in the wilderness?" I said.

He turned his head and looked at me. "Hey. Don't misunderstand me, reddie. Something is really watching us. I can feel it in my bones."

"In your bones...?" I fell backwards on my back too, and looked up at the stars between the tree branches.

"Listen carefully..." he said.

"I already am."

"Not at me. The forest surrounding us."

I shut my eyes and tried focusing on a sound. Howling and snarls of multiple dogs was mixed in with the wind. I opened my eyes, and sat up quickly.

"Is it wolves?" I asked. "They sound nearby."

"So you do hear it too. I thought it was just me."

"You didn't feel like something is watching us with you're bones, liar. You heard the dogs!" I exclaimed.

He laughed. "I wasn't being literal earlier. You should know the diff-"

We both stood up suddenly when we heard the horse neighed loudly. Walter already took off running before me.

"Wait, Walter!"

He turned his head back. "Stay back, reddie. It's dangerous."

When I stumbled, I realized that if I pressed my feet hard enough on the ground, there was that awful pain again. I had forgotten that I pulled a muscle on my ankle. I leaned on a tree, waiting for the initial pain to subside.

The horse neighed loudly again. I started walking quickly toward it and the snarls of the dogs sounded closer. I took a deep breath and continued on. When I finally reached the camp, the horse and Walter weren't there. I turned in circles.

"Walter?"

A pair of red eyes came from the dark shadows. Then, another one appeared, then another, until there were at least ten pairs of glowing eyes surrounding me. I was completely trapped. My shoulders trembled, and I crouched into the ground covering myself with my arms. The wind stopped, and it was silent. Deep, snarls filled my ears.

I didn't want to yell out for Walter's name. The dogs seem like they'll move at any moment.

"Walter..."

One of the dogs slowly walked out of the shadows, one paw at a time. It looked like an abnormally large, black wolf. It barked once, then the rest of the dogs came out of the shadows slowly and started circling around me.

The first one leaped out at me.

"N-no!" I cried out. I instinctively grabbed a sharp, broken branch from the ground and placed it up in front of me. It pushed it away with the side of its head and opened its mouth to bite me.

A single gun shot sounded and echoed through the empty forest. I was in the jaws of the dog, but it stopped before its teeth pierced my skin. The dog released me and backed up in the shadows, leaving saliva dripping all over my body. The rest of the dogs sunk back into the shadows. I heard a horse's feet clop toward me. I looked up, angrily, at Walter.

"Luckily I came in time, right? You would've been the Border Watchers' food for today."

"What?" I said, startled.

A man with light brown hair and clean clothes smiled at me, kindly, instead. "Are you alright?"

Then where's Walter?