Unexpected Ever After

Chapter 4

Warning:!!!This chapter will include:

-blood

-violence

-possibly death or near death experiences

A/N I will put a warning just before the paragraph it starts in.  Hope you enjoy.

Time ~ Early Morning ~ Carter's POV ~

Location ~ Outside of the Kingdom of Swords Main Village ~

     As I passed the last few houses of the main village surrounding the castle I wondered what could have had my parents so worried about my safety.  Even though I know that there are things in and around this kingdom that could very well kill the inexperienced traveler.  I just don't understand what could hurt someone like me who is the best there is in sword fighting and all things combat.  What on earth could have had them so worried.  I mean its not like anyone from the Kingdom of Flowers could hurt me.  Maybe there was some monster that I didn't know about.  As I kept thinking about what they could have been worried about I didn't even realize that I had already arrived at the forest.  When I finally looked up I saw the flowers that our kingdom took so much pride in because even though they weren't the best for romantic gestures they were still ours and the stuck up Kingdom of Flowers could never take that away from us.

     My thoughts came to a stop when I heard I sound that I forgotten about long ago.  As I checked my surroundings I didn't see any immediate danger so I just continued forward with my horse Sir Jefferson Silverhooves.  I thought that maybe I had just been hearing things since it was very rare to even encounter what I had believed I heard but then I heard that sound again.  It was one of the most dreaded sounds in the kingdom.  The loud high pitched howl that I had been hearing rang out for a third time followed by a low growl and that's when I knew that I had two options.  I could either stand there and die or get away with my horse as soon as possible.  I chose the second option.

     I took Sir Jefferson Silverhooves away from there as fast as I could but it wasn't fast enough.  I very soon saw a glimpse of white fur in my peripheral visions.  I began to panic.  There was almost no one who saw our kingdom's wolves and lived to tell the tale.  These wolves killed everything they saw in cold blood which is why they're known as ice wolves.  I had to think of something fast or these wolves would kill me and my horse.  I got off of my horse and sent him in a direction away from the wolves.  I took out my sword and braced for an attack.

Warning!!! Things listed at top will begin in this paragraph!

     The first wolf that came at me was clearly inexperienced so it was fairly easy to kill it.  My sword was easily able to stab through its chest leaving the wolf lying limp on the ground.  Its white coat now stained with the crimson blood.  The second wolf was not as easy to take on.  Just as I had been filled with the boost of confidence from killing the first wolf I felt a sharp pain in my calf followed by a feeling of increased pressure.  I turned around to see a second wolf latched onto my leg.  When I tried to pry him off his only tightened and the pain became almost unbearable, but I didn't give up.  I decided that if I couldn't pry him off then I would just have to remove him with my sword so I removed the head with my blade and watched the light in its eyes dim.  I was pleased with my work and was going to try and take on the next wolf until I noticed how much I was actually bleeding.  When I first looked at the wound I thought that it couldn't have been that bad but then upon further inspection (aka he saw all the blood coming out of his leg and started to feel a little light headed) I realized that it was in fact not just a minor wound.  As I began to try and limp away one of the larger wolves approached me.  It took note of my blade which was still covered in the blood of two of its pack members.  Seeing this it was a bit more cautious than the previous wolves but this would not stop the wolf from attacking him.  Luckily I quickly learned that the wolves preferred to attack creatures without help from the pack.  Possibly to prove their worth or make their rank in the pack higher.  They were actually very similar to my kingdom's society.  At least I had the fact they only attacked one at a time going for me.

     At this point I just didn't feel like I was going to able to handle all of the wolves but something unexpected happened.  After a good bit of fighting that wolf and finally defeating it I was getting ready for the next attack, but it never came.  Instead the wolves ignored me!  Me of all people and instead began eating the fallen members of the pack.  Even though I was offended I still took this opportunity to make my escape before they began to focus on me again.  I limped away from that horrific scene and began looking for my horse.  Hopefully he wasn't too far away from my current position.  After I was a good distance away I stopped focusing on looking for my horse and began to tend to my injuries.  By the end of my fight my left leg was in horrible shape and I could barely move my right arm.  I was about to bandage my injuries when I remembered that everything was with my horse so I continued my search.  Thankfully my horse was pretty close by and I was able to tend to my wounds and afterwards get far away without hurting my leg further.

End of Previous Warning

     This sadly was the first of many obstacles that I would have to face on this journey but none of them could have prepared me for the shock I experienced when I finally reached the place where the princess was held.  Before that moment I had and even more interesting experience.  For now though I will focus on the current timeline and tell this story in order or at least summarize those events in order. 

     It only got harder from there.  After that I faced off against robbers, sink holes, bears, and much more.  Eventually I arrived at the location the map described and I wasn't the only one.  There was another guy there who I assumed was from the Kingdom of Flowers from the way he was acting.  He didn't even notice that I was there.  How much more rude could you get.  Besides the fact that he was a horrible person he looked ok I guess.  He had very pale skin with hair the color of a raven which I guess was kind of attractive but not as attractive as me of course.  He was of course shorter than me and unsurprisingly he didn't have any sort of muscular build.  In fact if anything he was more on the feminine side of the spectrum.  In any case he didn't look half bad but that didn't matter my goal was the princess.  I was worried for what might happen once I entered the cottage she was in.  I turned to the other guy and said, "May the best man win."

     His response was, "Yeah.  You probably will win."