Princess Axelia
A thick snow begins to fall while the sky darkens as though a storm is approaching. By the time I enter the forest, the temperature drops nearly ten degrees.
Regardless, I steer Aries in the direction I thought I saw Leonidas fall to, and my confidence grows with the body count.
Men have lost their heads, throats and seem to have stab wounds in their abdomens. We rush past a dozen of them before finally halting as Leonidas shoves the last soldier up against a tree. His wings in full extension and veins rising up his neck as he leans into the man's muscular neck.
Refusing to do down without a fight, the solider grasps an arrow still protruding through Leonidas' chest and twists it with what strength he has left.
Leonidas releases a groan-like cry while his wings stiffen into the shape of an arch and his head drops. From the way his hair dangles, it seems to be drenched with sweat and blood.
"Die," the solider grunts before laughing as he twists the arrow in the opposite direction.
Instantly, the elbow of a wing juts forward in a punch-like motion to the soldier's throat, and the forest seems to quiet as the man's head topples from his shoulders.
As Leonidas lowers to his knees, I dismount Aries, running up to him but stopping when the feathers of his wings ruffle and stiffen as though they prepare to strike again.
"Leonidas, it's me," I announce, and wait until the feathers completely smooth before cautiously closing the space between us.
His arms are stained red from slashes and gashes along his forearms and biceps as well as from the blood of his victims. There are also a few cuts on his cheeks, but his major injuries are various stab punctures in his lower abdomen and the pole-like arrow running diagonally up through his right lung and out from under his left shoulder blade.
Now that I'm closer I can hear his shallow wheezing, unable to fathom how he could fight until one of his wings avoids a step I take by slipping along the snow out of the way. Not a single feather appears to be lost except for the one he gave me.
"We need to get this out of you," I mutter more to myself than to him as I lower into a squat assessing the best way to go about it. He doesn't even bother to glance up as his body shudders and a few coughs of blood leave him grimacing.
Most of the two-meter arrow is sticking out of his back where the tip glistens with his blood. I decide he could hold the bottom still while I cut off the top and after I share my plan, he offers a half-nod before taking hold around the bottom of the arrow while I pull my sharpest dagger from its holster.
Just as I get a firm grip at the top and start cutting, his wings arch and I freeze.
"Those won't take off my head if I do this, right?"
A frail smirk tugs at his lips but he doesn't offer me an answer.
"That soldier's head is still rolling over there," I whisper with a scowl.
Thankfully, that's not actually true, but his wings can apparently decapitate people.
"Hurry," he rasps with a wince. "More are coming."
Anxiety swells in my chest when his wings ruffle as I place the blade against the arrow, so I shut my eyes and saw at the thick wood until I finally hear it snap.
The top falls to the snow while he settles one hand to the ground and pulls the back of the arrow in a grotesquely slow manner that causes his face to twist in a grimace as his muscles contract. He groans, pausing as every visible part of his skin flares with an array of colorful veins. "Get back," he warns, cheeks withering so deep his eyes are nearly black.
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Royal Renegade
Fantasy"Let me have your throat again," he beckons, and despite how airy and thin his voice is, it's still powerful enough to possess my soul. •◇••◇••◇••◇••◇• Princess Axelia is a human and warrior. She fights for her Kin...
