Werewolves"You may go, my friends. See you tonight, at the gates," the queen's voice sounded full of authority and weight, on her shoulders the responsibility of a realm, from a young age, while she looked, from her simple wooden and leather throne to the group of her most intimate friends in front of her.
Her friends bowed their heads, before turning around and leaving, when the queen could only see their backs, she sighed and made a signal to another woman that was waiting in the shadows at the back of the throne, her smell of white lilies, cinnamon with hints of smoke had alerted the queen to her presence, she approached the queen and the light hit the colorful dress that she wore, made with strange patterns, beads and shells, her curly red hair free flowing on her back, she gave a respectful curtsy to the queen, before looking directly in her eyes, with big bright green eyes, filled with a wisdom and a touch of madness.
"My Queen," the woman started dressing first to the queen as the societal protocol demanded.
"Diana, how many times do I need to ask you to call me Alexa?" the queen sighed, after a question that she had made many times over.
"And how many times, my queen, have I told you that would not be befitting?" the woman smirked, while adjusting her body to be as straight as possible.
"Maybe in front of other people, however, when we are alone, please call me Alexa." She bore the look that Diana gave her, dismissing her words, Alexa sighed again, knowing that Diana could be as stubborn as a mule when she wanted, and while in the throne room, the other woman would behave like a subject, when she was more than that to the kingdom and to Alexa, who considered her a friend, "What news do you have for me?"
Diana was a sorcerer sent from the Merchants Council to oversee the treaty between the werewolves Kingdom of Zulcan, from which Alexa was the Queen, by birth and power, and the vampire kingdom of Elatre. Since Alexa was a teenager, Diana had come to Zulcan and became a tutor and a friend to Alexa and under their duties was the advisory role using her powers to best advise the queen.
"I'm afraid that I'm the bearer of bad news," she started and changing her demeanor for a concerned looked she continued, "you should reconsider your decision about your pack."
"No," Alexa stood up, and approached the sorcerer, crossing her arms in front of her chest, a frown was crossing her forehead "I will not make any more werewolves, my friends did not had that choice, we were too young and that decision was made by our fathers, and now they need to live with this curse," she sighed before turning her back to Diana, "I will not inflict this to anyone!"
"I understand, Alexa," Diana pressed a hand onto Alexa's shoulders, leaving all the formalities aside, "However, the royal pack should have at least twelve people and yours only has six. That is only half of what is considered normal or efficient for the defense of the kingdom," Diana walked in front of Alexa to peer into her eyes, "If they knew that your pack is half of what it should be, they would attack."
"It doesn't matter, Diana! When and if that happens, we will deal with it," Alexa moved away to one of the chairs on the wall, Diana followed her and both sat down next to each other, Alexa's fists were closed and her lips closed on a thin line.
"Think this through, Alexa, I beg of you. People from the villages have begun to talk. You've reached the age that you need to complete the pack and find a mate, yet you didn't do a single step to organize a tournament. People are afraid, that you either will choose without giving them the option to participate or not or that you will not create more wolves and probably never get an heir, leaving the kingdom defenseless."
"Nor will I give any thought to organize a cruel and savage tournament," Alexa took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "The first tournament was bloody and many children got injured for life and it was a luck that no one died."
The tournament was a competition to decide who would be part of the pack, they tested agility, strength, combat, survival skis among other skills and capacity. The tournament was organized in two times the first one when the heir to the throne manifested the wolf for the first time, usually around the age of twelve or thirteen and this one would choose five teenagers that the heir needed to transform and they would grow up with the prince or princess through their teenage years.
The second tournament should take place when the heir to the throne reached twenty one years old and was intended to complete the pack and choose a mate for the royal, as to ensure an heir to the throne in the upcoming years, but the tournament was usually more brutal than the first one.
Even though the tournaments were often cruel and deadly, almost everyone eligible would participate, because along with the curse of the werewolf came the stature of nobility, the life in the castle and the riches allocated to the families, so the people of the villages would talk and wait anxiously about the announcement of the tournament.
"Alexa, this second tournament is not children, it is adults that we are speaking, willing participants…"
"They don't have an idea of what the prize is," Alexa hissed through gritted teeth. "All they see is the statue and the riches that this will bring them, thy don't see the curse, they cannot understand what it is to become a mindless monster every full moon, to be in control of every emotion at all times because the risk is that the monster will overcome you. They only see what befits it brings not the responsibility that comes with it."
"Zulcan's Regent always did the tournaments! The pack is the ultimate defense and people want that defense to be effective," Diana took Alexa's hand into her own, "It is tradition, one as old as the first treaty, and in the second tournament is where the royal mate is chosen. It was in the second tournament that your father choose your mother and assured that the throne had an heir, people want stability they want to rely in the future,"
"Diana," Alexa pushed her hands from the sorcerer's and raised her voice, straightening her shoulder's, "let's leave things as they are, please, what else do you have to tell me?"
"The King of Elatre sent an emissary. He arrived yesterday during the night, and wishes to speak with you as soon as possible," Diana lower her head, accepting defeat for the time being in the question of the tournament.
Alexa closed her eyes and massaged her temples, a sigh of tiredness escaped her mouth, "what did you saw in our future?"
"War, blood, and destruction but I can't see how it happens, the path to that future is foggy, as if waiting for a decision to be made to be set in stone." Diana nodded her head, "Maybe, after your encounter with the emissary from Elatre, I will be able to see what the future has in store for us."
"At nightfall we will see what the emissary wants."
"Alexa, please, I know you don't want to hear about this, but think about the pack." Diana placed her hands in a pleading position, "the vampires are not happy with the sanctions imposed by the Merchant Council after the last war."
"They aren't happy with it?" Alexa placed her hands on her waist, "guess what? Me neither, I'm not happy with the last sanctions either. I was but a little girl when my own mother sacrificed herself, so we could have peace," she laughed, a sarcastic one, her eyes cold emotionless, her right one was holding the pommel of her sword, knuckles white, " She left me a kingdom and a pack as a legacy when I barely knew how to control my wolf," she took a deep breath with eyes closed tilting her head upward, "While I'm alive, I will keep the peace with Elatre. The sanctions were imposed by Council, how can Elatre blame me for them?"
"The vampires might not think like that! I know for a fact they don't see it like that! They blame the pack. They always have!"
"Diana, trust me, please, I'll be careful with my choice of words, when I meet their emissary! Ask Charles and Andrew to be at my side for this meeting, " Charles and Andrew were the ones considered more leveled headed and diplomatic oof the whole pack, they avoided confrontation whenever possible, exactly what Alexa needed for this meeting with the vampires, "I'd rather not show the emissary the full extent of my pack, but I can't show up alone, ask them to come as advisors and not warriors. Ask as well for some noblemen to be present. I don't want to give any reason for them to pick up arms and break the treaty.!
"I'll do that, anything else I can do for you Alexa?" Diana nodded her head .
"No, that is all. I'm going downstairs to have breakfast and I will meet them here an hour before sundown."
Diana made a curtsy and turned her back to leave the room from the door behind the throne room, Alexa went ahead to the principal door of the room, and although it was against the protocol, she walked to the kitchens, it was something that she always did since a she was a child, long before the weight of the responsibility of the kingdom rested in her shoulders, making her shudder of exhaustion and frustration with a twinge of sadness, she just wanted to be normal, as any other woman in the kingdom, and the escape to the kitchens gave her a little bit of that.
Many of her tutors had tried to stop her from going to the kitchens, but they couldn't understand her state of mind after a full moon, when the wolf was more present, his instinct more at surface his blood thirst running through her and that only heightened to an unpredictable and dark humor if she spent much time alone or only in the company of her pack, after all, their wolves were in contact with hers.
In these days, she craved for the company of normal people.
Unlike the members of her pack that were all bitten into werewolves, she had born as one, making her a Natural Wolf and an Alpha, since that only she had the ability to create new werewolves.
Two types of werewolves existed, the Natural Wolf, a born werewolf and the Bitten Wolf. A Natural Wolf had the power to create new wolves through the bite, they could resist the call of the full moon and had control over the wolf form, they were also able to control the other wolves on the pack.
A Bitten werewolf couldn't create more wolves, they lost all power once the wolf that bitten them died and they weren't in control under the full moon, their wolves would take over their minds and became mindless beasts, outside of the full moon they could call forward an half-wolf form that they were able to control.
As an Alpha, Alexa could control the other wolves, if needed, however the process was exhausting having to battle not only her wolf but the other wolves, so they used the walled forest to let go of their wolves, it was the reason that it was built years ago.
As she reached the kitchens, she grabbed a piece of fruit and a kitchen knife and began peeling it off, the worried cook come closer and tried to call her attention, "my Queen, will you need anything?"
"No, Zelina, thank you!" Alexa smiled to the cook, "I can't eat anything more, at least until lunch," the taste of raw meat still lingered in Alexa's mouth from the stag that the pack had hunted and feasted on during the night.