The Broken Egg (Discontinued)

Chapter 17

Riu awoke slowly, rubbing her eyes. Her metal-bound hands clanging at the motion.

"Oh, she's awake," a calm voice hummed. Her eyes focused and a pair of deep blue eyes appeared in front of her, too deep to be Alliah's. She jerked back and hit a stone wall.

"Oh yeah," she remembered. "I lost." She narrowed her eyes at the three girls standing in front of her. Two were the girls Kaya had told her to attack. One was the girl that had appeared and turned the tide in their favour.

"Hello," the shortest said. "I assume you know our names?"

"I don't need to know your names," Riu answered. "I just needed to kill you or at least disable you." She smiled. "And looking at how you're holding your side and the fact you two are here and not in the forest, I think I at least did some damage." The short girl growled.

"Shut up," she snarled. "No one gets to hurt my friends and smile like that." Riu only continued smiling. "My name's Savior for your information and the friend you attacked is Rayla. The one who ended up kicking your butt is Luma."

"I only managed to get there is because one of Rayla's owls managed to find me," Luma said. "Owen I think it was." Rayla frowned.

"I told them to stay at home," she said.

"They were following you." Rayla smiled to herself.

"Aww, how sweet of them."

"So I lost to an owl," Riu muttered. She giggled. "Too bad, I've always loved owls."

"Who sent you?" Luma asked. "Who told you to kill my friends?" Riu went silent.

"Come on!" Savior snapped. "Why were you trying to kill us! Are you the same people that stole Princess Dream! Tell us right now!" Rayla put a hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down Savior," She whispered soothingly. "There's no need to yell." Savior took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry guys." The girls hummed their forgiveness.

"Where's Dream?" Rayla asked. Riu remained silent. "Who's your boss?" Riu suddenly chuckled.

"Oh yeah, my boss," she giggled. "She'll have to come for me, won't she? Poor little guardians, you're so obvious. An open book for her."

"Who is your boss?" Luma asked. Riu shut her mouth and just giggled softly to herself.

"We should just leave her," Rayla said. "We'll try again later." Riu lay her head against the wall, still giggling, and watched them walk out of the room.

Dream basked in the morning sunlight as the sun rose higher into the sky. The slightly ajar door was letting light filter in, allowing her to recharge and it felt good, like a breath of fresh air after a stiflingly hot room. She opened her eyes curiously as she heard a thud from outside and the sound of soft footsteps. The door creaked open and a curious, grey snout peeked in. Dream froze. A wolf pushed its way inside, its amber eyes searching the small house for food. It growled as it noticed her sitting on the bed and tensed its back legs, ready to jump. Dream reached out a hand, her arms shaking in fear. The wolf pounced, its front paws ready to scratch at her. Dream spoke before she was aware.

"Wait-!"

Killer trudged the rest of the way to his house, towing his newly found supplies over his shoulder.

"I shouldn't have picked that girl up," he growled. "She's only trouble... and she's got that really annoying smile. It's like she thinks everything's sunshine and rainbows and there's no such thing as sadness." He rolled his eyes. "Pathetic." The sun was well and truly up now so making his way home had been easy, easier than it would've been if he'd gone out at night when he usually did. Picking up Dream had taken up quite a bit of his time last night. Killer froze as he arrived at his house to find the door wide open. He frowned, putting his bags of herbs and vegetation on the ground. "Dream couldn't have opened it," he thought. "Her leg's too messed up. Which means..." His eyes narrowed. "Something got inside." Making sure his footsteps were silent, he snuck up to the little building he called home and peeked through the door, ready to attack if need be. He blinked in confusion at what he saw. There was a wolf lying on Dream's legs, a little away from her injury, receiving pats from her like a trained puppy. Dream smiled as she noticed him.

"Oh hello Killer, I didn't think you'd get back for a while," she said cheerfully. "Did you get what you needed?" Killer frowned and rubbed his eyes a few times to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"Not to be rude Princess but why the hell do you have a wolf on your legs?" He asked. Dream shrugged.

"All I had to do was make him believe I wasn't a threat and he was happy to get pats. They're like hugs but for animals. You can't just hug anyone, they need to be your friend, right?" Killer frowned in confusion.

"Great, but... how?" Killer asked, gesturing to the wild animal. Dream smiled.

"My magic," she answered. Killer sighed.

"Of course you're a magic-user," He muttered, his hand going to his forehead. "Go on, give me the rundown on your abilities. I don't want anymore wild animal surprises."

"I can make any living being with emotional sentience feel positive emotions," Dream explained, still petting the passive wolf. "I can also manipulate dreams and make people fall asleep but so can my brother. I need to touch them for any of that to work though." Killer frowned and held up a silencing hand.

"Wait, your brother?" He asked. "You have a brother?" Dream blinked, her mind blanking for a moment.

"My... brother," she muttered. Her eyes widened. "Oh no! He'll be looking for me." The wolf yelped as she suddenly tried to stand up. Killer ran over and held her down, accidentally pushing the wolf to the floor.

"Hey! You can't move right now; your leg's too messed up," he yelled. "You can try finding him after it's healed." Dream relaxed.

"Sorry, I'll wait," she apologised. Killer let her go and took a step back.

"Good." There was a growl from behind Killer and Dream opened her mouth to warn him. His eyes sharpened as instinct kicked in and he dodged just as the wolf pounced. He bit his lip in annoyance as the wolf skidded on the ground where he'd been. His right hand grabbed the wolf's scruff and the other hand scratched its ear. The wolf fell to the floor submissively, its tail wagging. Killer groaned.

"Great, now we have a pet," He mumbled grumpily. Dream stared at him and the wolf.

"Was that magic?" She asked. Killer nodded.

"I can tame animals," he explained. "Unfortunately that means they'll be my pets for life, so there's no getting rid of this mutt unless we kill it." There was a long silence and Killer looked up at his guest in confusion. She was staring at the wolf pet, her golden eyes practically twinkling with enthusiasm.

"So we have a pet now?" She asked quietly, her voice almost shaking.

"There's no us here Princess but yes, I have a wolf pet now," Killer answered. An excited smile spread on Dream's face.

"Does that mean I can give him a name? Please? I've always wanted a dog!" She begged, her hands clapping together as if she were praying. Killer stared at her, still crouched next to the newly tamed wolf.

"Well it's a her but..." he trailed off in surprise at her enthusiasm. "...I guess." Dream was grinning excitedly from ear to ear as she reached down to pat the wolf.

"Then I want to name her Hazel," she said firmly. "It's my favourite name." Killer kept staring at her and she gulped. "Oh... do you not like it?" she asked, suddenly worried. Killer shook his head.

"No, it's fine," he replied, his voice still soft with surprise. "We can call her Hazel." The smile was back and all Killer could do was stare. "Damn," he thought softly. "She looks pretty when she smiles."

Betty opened her bedroom door to find a servant standing outside.

"Sorry Miss," The servant said. "But I've been told to tell you breakfast is in an hour and your mother would like you to be ready to host our guests." Betty nodded.

"Thank you, I will be out in a few minutes," she replied, shutting the door. She opened the closet and right on time the presence floated out of the room. She looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of it, if only for a moment. No dice. Betty sighed. "I wish I could see you," she muttered wistfully.

Is this two chapters in a row you see? Yes it is!!

Time and inspiration is golden

A wonderful start to the new year one might think