Shadow Princess

Chapter Twenty-Three: Endless Wishes

 Callista watches the trees around her, looking for any sign of life. The forest is the calmest she has ever seen. It has been two days since the female coyote left her to make her way through the dark forest. The shadow figure still sends chills down her spine when she thinks about it. The voice sounding so much like her mother, it hurt. Her black dress is ripped and is starting to shred apart. She has been chased by many horrible animals, all wanting her blood.

Her latest opponent was a wolf, a pureblood. It was silver and a huge as a horse. Three diagonal claw marks scrape her shoulder, the only wound she abstained from the fight. It was a test for endurance and stealth, that she passed with a great price. The wound throbs as she jostles her shoulder to hide closer to a tree. She'd woke up this morning with it patched up and a tub of salve beside her. Callista is pretty sure she is just going in circles, and she isn't sure on what is supposed to happen.

A slab of concrete is in the middle of the forest, surrounded by old oaks. Like gnarled arms, they reach for her. Beckoning to her to see what today has in store for her. Chains are attached to the sides, dangling. Dried specks of red sprinkle the concrete and on the chains. Whatever happened here, happened a while ago. The trees stood tall and proud, like warriors. In a way of the supernatural, they were.

The oak trees are a barrier of protection. You plant them around a city or village, and they will link up to form an invisible barrier of protection. Callista faintly remembers the schooling lessons from when she was little. The young face of her brother still exists, but she knew the male has changed. From her brother to the king of werewolves. The task must've been grueling, keeping his people at bay to not fight a war he could not win against the Vampi Kingdom. But he knew the risks of accepting an alliance, for he thought her dead and gone like their parents.

Callista must get through this forest, to her brother and what lays with him. The Warrior Princess isn't something that her line would be proud of her to walk away from. Her mother, the Warrior Princess before, noticed the moment she was born. Her mother grew serious and took her training very quickly.

Her training consisted of hunting, socializing, and ripping open portals. The magic came from the Warrior Flame that resides in an obsidian sword. She seen it about three times in all of her childhood. Callista knew how to handle a blade, but a demon blade forged by the king himself was one she has been preparing for. Only a demon blade crafted in the realms of hell can send the demon back to its homeland.

The sword is missing from the slight edge in Philip's voice when she said it's what she needed. A part of what she needs. These tests and training she is going through, is to help her in the oncoming weeks.

The forest before her bends a little, before a flash of light scatters her sight. On the slab of concrete lies a body. A slim body packed with muscles. His face is lined with age, but his mouth is open in a scream as his silver eyes fall to her. The same silver that rings the iris in her own eyes.

Her father is chained to the concrete, the blood on his arms and torso, dripping on to the smooth surface. Agony lines in his face and his arms twitch as if trying to reach for her. A choked sob lodges in her throat. A dark figure moves, and the light of the sun reveals its face. The creature had no eyes and its mouth is sewn shut. Blood drips from the puncture holes that led her to believe that they are recent. A long, stone club hangs in his left hand as he circles her father's beaten body.

Looking at the patterns of his wounds, the jumble of bruises and cuts that litter his whole body. The creature's nostrils flare and his head whips to her, standing close beside a tree. Her scent mingles with the wind and he caught it, his eyes taking in her spot by the tree. Panic floods her and she crawls closer to the tree. A cruel, inhuman smile twists his face, blood dripping down his chin as he reaches forward, plucks her from the ground like she is a flower.