The Red War

Chapter 8 | The Cripple

| The North,
A Week After The Queens Death |

A loud roar snapped Francis out of his deep sleep, he looked around in a panic but couldn't see any type of creature near, must of been in his head he thought. It took him a moment to realize that something wasn't right, something about this room was off. Like an arrow in the back it hit him, the pain of knowing what happened to his Uncle returned, the kingdom, all gone. His memory was a scramble after the whole ordeal, it was just to traumatic for a kid of his age. After mourning over the lost he thought of where he was. Going off by the items around him he could tell he was somewhere of great wealth, the design of the room was much different then what was seen in Evanora, this design was more Elvish and elegant while Evanora's was normally more straight to the point and sharp. Slowly he tried sliding off the bed and onto his feet but he couldn't, they were stiff and locked up. His first thought was to call for help but he knew things wouldn't be so easy, he had no idea if this place he was ruled by Octavian or not.

Echoing voices grew greater from outside the door, in a flash he flipped over onto his stomach, quickly shutting his eyes and pulling the blanket back over himself. His vision was completely black, all he could do now was go off by sound, good thing he was a wolf. The voices died down once the pair reached the door, the wooden door creaked open and two pairs of footsteps entered. All was silent for a few moments till one broke the silence.
"We should let him sleep, he has already gone through so much." It was a woman's voice, hard to tell if she was old or young but his best guest was more on the young side. A voice of authority responded to her.
"There is no need for more rest, he's been in bed for four days." His ears twitched when he heard this, there was no way he believed everything with the demon happened three days ago.
"Besides, he's already awake." His body went completely still, not wanting to believe that his cover was blown. Once a pair of foot steps came closer he knew he had to cut the charade. He quickly flipped himself back over and faced the two of them. The lady closest to him was a familiar face, Laura, also known as the Queen of the North. The last time he had seen Laura in person would of only been when he was ten, only thing he could remember from their encounter was that she was one of great beauty, his memory didn't lie. From the look she gave him it seemed she had no clue of who he was, best it stayed that way he thought. Stood near the door was the other woman, a hood covered most of her face, she wore a dark red outfit with heavily little bits of armor on her shoulders and chest.
"How did you know I was awake." Was the first thing that came to his mind, Laura just looked at him with boredom and responded with.
"I saw your ears twitch when I said four days." The look on her face remained blank, his however was one of confusion.
"But how could it have been four days ago..." He spoke quietly faced his head down, he thought of what to ask next.
"Are their any survivors besides me." He looked back up and glared at her, tears filled his eyes and his voice had the sense of urgency to it. The blue haired lady turned towards Laura and waited for a response.
"Sadly, no. But you can help us find what group did this." His face went from one of sadness to one of anger in a second.
"It wasn't a group, only one." Laura stepped closer, egger to know more.
"It waited for the right moment to strike and stupidly we gave it one... I gave it one." His hands shivered just thinking about the Demon.
"Whos, it?" Laura was now beside him, she had knelt down so they were eye level. Francis struggled with his next words, he wanted to forget about it but knew he would never be able to.
"A Demon, it's been around for hundreds of years according to Echo whos dead now. It took my Uncle... It took his body." Francis broke down again, there was no more anger, only regret and sadness. Laura knew she could get no more answers from him, she did her best to comfort him but knew it wasn't doing much. Laura and the other lady shared looks, within moments the blue haired lady walked over and sat on the end of the bed next to him.
"Leave us alone Laura, I'll calm him." They both shared looks once more, Laura took her advice and left, leaving the door slightly open on the way out.