"We all got demons a bit of darkness
That's what's left from all the scars trying to drown our hearts
We all need heroes someone to guide us to get away
From all the pain and open our eyes again"
~ My Beast - Smash Into Pieces
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I took a sip from my water and grumbled some incomprehensible curses not meant for children's ears under my breath. I can't believe Therion is not back yet. I rolled with my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose.
Actually, I can.
It's fucking Therion we're talking about here. No surprise there.
I again rolled with my eyes before letting my gaze scan the crowd gathered in the ballroom where I was sitting on my throne. They were talking, eating, dancing, and enjoying themselves. Now and then, someone came up to me to ask me for a dance, but every time I politely declined.
I've always hated these formal gatherings with a burning passion. I'd much rather be out in the beautiful nature Rolyra has or roaming down Karmina and especially it's market. I've always loved the market. The smells of the fresh spices and herbs, the joyful sound of chattering and children's laughs, the sound of the splashing water of the fountain, and last but not least, the musicians that honor us with the pleasure of their art.
My gaze stranded on the closed oaken door at the other end of the room. I kept staring at it. Hoping that my husband would march in and put me out of my misery.
But he didn't show.
Oh, in the name of the Mother and the Nine Gods, where the fuck are you, Therion?! It's been hours!
A sharp pain in my side made me drop my chalice of water. A groan of pain kept lost in the back of my throat. The pain was so terrible that my eyes quickly watered up.
Everyone went silent in the hall, and I didn't need my blurry eyes to know that everyone's stares were directed at me. Siraye immediately found her way beside me and started stroking my upper arm. "What's wrong, Your Majesty? Are you okay?" she asked with her beautiful angelic voice. I shook my head and sucked in a sharp breath.
"Therion," I said. "Therion. He's hurt." My breathing faltered when another wave of tremendous pain hit me. "I need to get to him. I need to help him," I said, gritting my teeth. I pushed myself with some trouble out of my throne and stumbled, but Siraye was there to steady me. I gave her a thankful smile and walked with a powerful stride past all the people currently in the ballroom.
Some tried to stop me, but I didn't listen. My mate, husband, and father of my six weeks old daughter was hurt. I had to help him. I had to save him. I couldn't lose him as well.
Before I knew it, I found myself in the Royal Stables. "Get my horse ready," I ordered the first stable boy I laid my eyes on.
"Yes, Milady," he said, making a quick bow.
Not even a minute later, I sat on my black, Friesian horse called Tarabuja, Tara for short, and stormed out of the stables, through the gates separating the castle from the city Rolyra. I always hated the fact of being separated from my people by gates, so when I became Queen, the first thing I did was open them, and I never closed them again.
Tara raced over the stone roads of Rolyra. We were going fast. So damn fast I could barely make up my surroundings. I noticed people jumping out of the way to make room for me. Tara wanted to slow down when a market stall blocked the way, but I just urged her to go on and let her jump over the stall. We landed safely on the other side, and I urged her to go even faster.
We had to go faster.
Before I knew it, we found ourselves galloping over the grasslands' sand paths leading towards the Malsonee Mountains. I screamed when another wave of pain hit me. Tears streamed down my face, and I had to wrap my arms around Tara's neck to keep myself from falling out of her saddle. Tara seemed to go only faster and faster after my scream of pain and desperation for my husband's life.
Once the pain ebbed away, I grabbed the reins again and focused on the enormous mountains, maybe fifteen kilometers away. The place where my husband is. The place where he got injured.
A life-threatening injury because I could feel his pain. Something soulmates could only do if the other got injured so badly they were on the verge of death.
"I'm coming, Therion. Please, just hold on."
I gazed away from the growing mountains when the sound of more galloping horses filled my ears. I looked over my shoulder to see four fully armed knights of Therion and my Royal Guard. They quickly came riding beside me. I almost immediately recognized the four knights as the four highest in rank. The captain of the Guard and my best friend Kayol was galloping on my right.
His dark skin glimmered with sweat under the scorching midday sun. His narrow, labradorite colored eyes scanned every inch of my body, looking for any injuries. Injuries I didn't have. His intense gaze found mine again, and he nodded at me. I nodded back and glanced forward again.
"We will assist and protect you, your Majesty," Clarissa, the under captain of the royal guard, said while riding at my other side. I gave her a quick smile before urging Tarabuja to go as fast as she possibly could.
In no time, we arrived at the foot of the enormous mountains that separated the entire east side of Rolyra from the rest of it. I gasped, and his name left my lips in a desperate scream when I saw him lying there between the corpses of the knights he brought with him on this stupid quest of him. Tears streamed down my face as I jumped off my horse and tried to make my way towards my barely breathing husband, but Kayol grabbed my arm and pulled me back. I trashed around in his embrace, trying to break free, but his grip on me only tightened.
I spun myself around in his hold, so I was facing him, all with the intention to yell straight into his face, but when I saw his concentrated glare scanning our surroundings, I knew I needed to be a good girl for once in my life and stay put. I took in a few deep breathes and turned myself around, letting my gaze grace over our surroundings as well. As far as we knew, the person who was responsible for the catastrophe in front of our eyes could still be around. Watching us.
When Kayol was sure I wasn't going to do anything stupid, he let go of my arm and took a cautious step towards my husband and the fallen knights around him.
I, on the other hand, wasn't that careful. I sprinted past him and jumped over the corpses of the fallen ones to get to my husband. I threw myself on my knees beside him crying. I couldn't care less about the fact that I ruined my favorite dress with this action. The thick blood from my husband, as well as the six knights surrounding him, got sucked into the baby blue fabric.
A sob left my lips while I pulled my unconscious husband onto my lap. His face was ashen and bruised up, his nose broken, lip cut. My gaze traveled further down. More tears found their way over my cheeks when I saw the damage done to his torso. He had three long, thick, and deep cuts starting in the middle of his chest and ending by his hip. The cuts almost looked like claw marks, but they couldn't be. There is no animal that big that could give him these injuries.
I sniffed my nose and quickly ribbed a big piece out of my dress to bandage his torso and keep my husband from bleeding out. I can't lose him. I need him with me. I can't do this without him. I need him. Elin needs her Dad. We can't lose him.
I'm not going to lose him.
Once I had bandaged my husband with the help of Nigel, who knew a thing or two about healing, a loud rumble sounded and made the ground underneath us shake. I pulled Therion tighter against me.
"What was that?" Nigel asked hesitantly. His long blond hair got carried with the breeze that blew today. The Fae warrior had his hand on the handle of his sword on his side and let his eyes travel the enormous pieces of grey stone, painted with blood spatters.
"It's what Therion was here for. That rumble sounded yesterday night as well. They left to look into it," I sniffed and pulled my mate even closer to my chest. His breathing was shallow, but I could feel it against my skin. His chest was rising and falling slowly. I pressed a kiss on his bloody temple. "I'm here. Everything will be okay. You will be okay," I whispered in my husband's dirty hair.
Kayol, Clarissa, and Allen all stood beside me with their weapons on hand. Clarissa had her twin swords, Kayol his katana, and Allen his crossbow. They were all standing with their backs turned to me. Protecting us. I grabbed a better hold of my husband and rose from the blood-stained earth with the help of Nigel. I groaned under my husband's weight, but I managed.
"We need to go," Kayol announced. He made his way over to me and took over my husband so I could get on my horse. Once I sat in the saddle, Kayol lifted my unconscious husband in front of me. I let Therion lean against me, wrapped my arms around him to keep him steady, and grabbed the reins.
"He'll be alright, Nives," Kayol nodded. I smiled sadly at him. My face was stained with tears.
I looked over my shoulder in shock when the rumble sounded again. No, it wasn't a rumble, I realized.
It was a roar.
A roar so powerful that it shook the grounds. A roar so loud that it was audible in the castle kilometers away. The roar sounded again, this time followed with a scraping sound—the sound of metal scraping in stone.
Nigel, Clarissa, and Allen, who all sat back on their horses, immediately drawn their weapons again. Ready to fight. Ready to protect their King and Queen at all cost. "Go!" Kayol ordered while he ran towards his own horse when the beast came in sight.
No, it wasn't a beast.
It was a machine.
Well, part machine. I gasped for air and could only stare at the thing in fear. It had the body and head of a lion; a snake-like tongue; rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth; big, curling, black, horns like a Devil; big, ripped bat-like wings; and a scorpion tail. A manticore, I realized. As if facing a fucking Manticore wasn't bad enough, this creature had pieces of it made entirely out of iron.
This thing was made. It wasn't from a mom and dad. It was made. An experiment. A killing machine. Literally.
"What the fuck is that?!" Allen yelled in pure horror, looking at the thing.
"Go!" Kayol yelled again.
I seemed to awaken out of my trance and urged Tara to take us away. Something she did gladly. She galloped away as fast as she could. Dust rose behind us from the dry grassland. Clarissa and Kayol were quickly by my side. I glanced over my shoulder to see how far behind Allen and Nigel were, which was about fifty meters. Nigel reached for the rosewood double-headed battle-ax engraved with runes strapped on his back where Allen's horse seemed to be wounded or exhausted.
"Watch out!" I screamed when that thing came after them. It jumped at Allen and his injured horse. Allen could barely escape the iron claws by jumping off his horse. He rolled down in the dry grass. Nigel turned his horse around and went back to get his mate, who was seconds away from being that beast his next meal.
"Grab my hand!" Nigel yelled at Allen, who was still on the ground. His voice trembling with fear for the faith of his husband. They both reached out to each other but couldn't reach each other. Nigel turned his horse around for another try while Allen crawled away from the beast that was currently feasting from his horse. A look of pure horror and fear was written all over his face. "Allen!" Nigel yelled again with an arm out for his mate. Allen pushed himself up from the ground, and this time he managed to grab the outstretched hand from his husband. Nigel pulled Allen on the back of his horse and urged it to go faster.
"Faster!" Clarissa screamed in horror at the two when the beast stepped away from the dead horse. His head covered in organs and blood. I gagged at the sight of it. "Faster! Get out of there!" Clarissa yelled again. Nigel looked over his shoulder to see the beast chasing them. He cursed loudly and urged his horse to go even faster.
Allen carefully turned himself around on the horse while Nigel got ahold of his thigh so he wouldn't fall and put an arrow on his crossbow. He aimed, and not even a second later, the first arrow split through the air. Straight in the beast's shoulder. It let out a low growl and slowed down a bit. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding and looked forward again. The city walls came in sight. Just a few kilometers and we would be safe.
We were almost there.
I immediately looked over my shoulder again when I heard Allen scream out in pain. "No!" I screamed with a breaking voice at the sight of both Nigel and Allen on the ground and the horse running the other way in total panic. Nigel, his head was bleeding badly, and he seemed to be unconscious where Allen laid beside him with a leg at an unnatural angle.
"Fuck!" Kayol yelled, and he urged his horse to turn around towards two of his best men.
I screamed and cried when I watched the beast dove his iron forelimbs in the chests of the two mates lying on the ground. Allen let out a scream that ran through the bone. His wide-open eyes lost their radiance as the life drained from him until there was nothing left. "No! No!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face.
"It's coming this way again!" Clarissa yelled with a face wet from tears. Her blond hair got stuck to her face and neck from both the tears and sweat. I tightened my hold on Therion and bit the inside of my cheeks to keep myself from screaming and crying. There was no time for that now.
"You girls go! I'll hold him off!" Kayol yelled from behind us. I immediately stopped Tarabuja from running. She almost pranced from the abrupt stop, but I sat firmly in the saddle, and my grip on Therion was firm as well. "Nives, what are you doing?!" Kayol yelled at me when he saw that I'd stopped.
"Milady, we need to go!" Clarissa urged me from a few meters in the distance, where she stopped as well. I decided to ignore her and locked eyes with the captain of the Royal Guard.
"I can't lose you too," I said.
"You won't lose me, now go! I'll hold it off!" Kayol's intense labradorite colored eyes stared right into mine. "Go!" he yelled when I made no move to leave. Therion groaned in pain even though he was still unconscious in my embrace. My gaze was drawn like a magnet to his bandaged torso, which started to turn red once more. I grumbled some curses under my breath and urged Tara to start running again. Something she did gladly.
I glanced over my shoulder to see Kayol standing beside his horse, waiting for the beast. "Just don't fucking die!" I yelled at him. Kayol gave me a quick smirk. I looked forward again and didn't look back.
Clarissa and I let our horses gallop through the gates that closed behind us. Locking Kayol and the beast out. I bit my lip while tears streamed silently down my face. Therion groaned again what caused Tara to run as fast as she possibly could through the narrow side roads of Karmina. The shortest road towards the castle.
Once we raced through the gates, Tara reduced speed. The second we arrived at the courtyard, we were surrounded by servants. "Get a doctor!" I screamed with a hoarse and cracking voice from the crying and screaming.
Therion was lifted off my horse almost immediately and brought inside to the infirmary. I stared at the door that closed behind him. I found it hard to breathe. Tears were still running down my face. My red hair got stuck to my wet cheeks. My skin was covered with blood, sweat, dirt, and dust. My dress was ripped and bloody. The first sob escaped my trembling libs before I completely broke down.
"Milady?" I turned my gaze from the closed-door at which I was still staring to see Clarissa. She was a mess, just like I was. The white from her beautiful pale light brown eyes was red.
"I'm so sorry, Clarissa," I sobbed.
"It's okay, Milady," Clarissa said, smiling through her tears. "It's okay. It wasn't your fault."
"I'll promise you, Clarissa, that I'll make them pay. So, they didn't die for nothing. None of them. I'll make them fucking pay."
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