Ch. 32
“Determination”
I am at the guard post when I hear the alarm horns thundering around me. Echoing through the forest that surrounds the castle. Devlyn should be close, and I need to move faster. I’m leaping up the guard post wall without a second thought. I hear a purr within my skull. My claws digging into the stone bricks of the guard post. I feel my claws splitting. The muscles of my shoulders screaming with each hoist of my large powerful feline body. I can hear shouting from the top of the guard post and feet hitting the stone. I reach the top and my heart is racing as I climb over the wall.
I make eye contact with one the guards. A young-looking man. His dark hair cut close to his skull. His ears are round. Freckles lining his sun kissed cheeks. His face is stern, but his eyes are filled with panic. His expression is fighting between what he was trained for and what he truly feels. Not many humans come and live within our walls, or even join the guards.
I give him a quick once over. My lavender eyes, dilating as the sunlight hits them while at the top of the post. He is a large man for a human. He’ll need that if he is ever to truly face what is beyond these castle walls…or within them. My canines peeking out from my lips as I speak.
“Never run…or the enemy will be the least of your worries.”
Guards take an oath, and every guard has the oath carved into their skin to help remind them. Any guard who breaks that oath is hunted down and eliminated. Mother is a ruler and welcomes almost all, but she takes the protection of her people with no flaws or weaknesses.
His expression falls and he makes the mistake of looking toward the area where stairs start to climb down the inside of the guard post.
By the time he looks back I am already running down the thin wall that connects the guard posts together. A span of roughly thirty or forty feet between each post. The wall itself is no more than three feet across. This feline body is coming in handy. I can feel my tail straighten and high while balancing this massive form.
After passing and moving through three more guard posts and more stunned faces, I reach the final guard post. I can hear the humming of the wards that protect the people within. I can feel the sparks as my paws land on the now charged walls. The final guard post connects an even smaller wall edge to the entrance of the castle, an enormous stone door. The post is empty. Mother knows for sure of my arrival now.
I move as quickly as I can in this big feline form along the small wall edge until the large stone door stands below me. I can hear the commotion of the market, people, the lives, behind me, but the wards and magic hide them from anything until they are granted permission to enter. Since Mother’s blood is the one that fills the wards. The noise of my home blesses my ears, and no one else, but the images of my home are still hidden. A glamour effect Mother, powerful wizards and witches put around the castle to keep any unwanted visitors out.
I am not able to simply jump over the wall into the market below because of the wards and magic, so jumping down the entrance stone door is my only option. Even though it is more than six or seven heartbeats down.
I can smell Devlyn before I see her pounding down the stone road that leads to the castle from the forest. One built many moons ago, mostly used for imports and exports, merchants, royals, and leaders of other clans that come to visit and talk politics with Mother.
I need to jump down now, or I will lose this stupid race. This ridiculous distraction Devlyn laid out for me, but knowing I needed it. The teacher does know her student pretty well, sadly.
I hear footsteps crawling up the stairs to the top of the guard post behind me. Guards. I quickly move to the edge of the guard wall. My claws gripping the edge. Barely big enough to hold these massive paws. My whiskers jerking in the breeze. The wind is much stronger the higher you go. I hear Devlyn’s claws clicking against the stone. She is close.
I take a deep breath in and a shaky breath out. My poor lungs. My poor body. Please forgive me.
I use my powerful back legs to send myself flying. I feel the wind screaming in my ears as I fall. Devlyn’s claws hitting the stone. I close my eyes and I feel weightless.
Like the handful of times my body has given out in the last week or so. My mind for a rare moment is quiet, just the sounds of the wind moving around me, through me. No ice filling my veins, no warmth burning my skin, no Samca giving more me questions than answers. No Balaur blood washing over me. No white voided mind. No voices.
I open my eyes and the stone ground is growing, closer and closer. I can no longer hear Devlyn’s claws. I feel my bones popping and shattering taking on their true form. My feet hit the ground, my ankle snaps and I stumble over. My ankle snapping is different than when I shift. Raw, crunching, popping. Pain shoots up my leg. My hair is blowing around my face, the braid I had long gone.
I am hit again, as I am trying to move my hair out of my face. Not by the ground this time. A wince leaves my lips. A large powerful body knocked into me. My shoulder hitting the stone door and the ward sending sparks down my arm and my back, sparks hitting back to the ground. My skull bouncing twice before coming to a stop. Clouds fill my eyes.
“What did I say about that hair Mihaela…” Her voice makes every part of me freeze. Years of disappointments, years of failures, years of cavalier glances, years of apathetic expressions, years of empty detachment.
Her powerful white glowing paws push into me. A beast bigger than Halfy and most creatures that fill the endless forest. Her beast could have taken the Balaur down easily by itself, no doubt. One of her paws is pushing into the shoulder that collided with the warded door. I know my shoulder has charred marks to match the scarred dragon teeth marks now. A snarl leaves my mouth. Pain filling every inch of me now. One flick of her wrist could take my arm clear off my body. The other paw pushing into my chest. Her paw covers my chest completely. The weight of her mighty body stealing air from my lungs. Choking, and holding. Her mauve colored eyes glaring into me, into my soul, leaving me nothing more than a speck of dirt beneath them.
“Good to see you, too... Mother…”
Ch. 32
“Determination”
I am at the guard post when I hear the alarm horns thundering around me. Echoing through the forest that surrounds the castle. Devlyn should be close, and I need to move faster. I’m leaping up the guard post wall without a second thought. I hear a purr within my skull. My claws digging into the stone bricks of the guard post. I feel my claws splitting. The muscles of my shoulders screaming with each hoist of my large powerful feline body. I can hear shouting from the top of the guard post and feet hitting the stone. I reach the top and my heart is racing as I climb over the wall.
I make eye contact with one the guards. A young-looking man. His dark hair cut close to his skull. His ears are round. Freckles lining his sun kissed cheeks. His face is stern, but his eyes are filled with panic. His expression is fighting between what he was trained for and what he truly feels. Not many humans come and live within our walls, or even join the guards.
I give him a quick once over. My lavender eyes, dilating as the sunlight hits them while at the top of the post. He is a large man for a human. He’ll need that if he is ever to truly face what is beyond these castle walls…or within them. My canines peeking out from my lips as I speak.
“Never run…or the enemy will be the least of your worries.”
Guards take an oath, and every guard has the oath carved into their skin to help remind them. Any guard who breaks that oath is hunted down and eliminated. Mother is a ruler and welcomes almost all, but she takes the protection of her people with no flaws or weaknesses.
His expression falls and he makes the mistake of looking toward the area where stairs start to climb down the inside of the guard post.
By the time he looks back I am already running down the thin wall that connects the guard posts together. A span of roughly thirty or forty feet between each post. The wall itself is no more than three feet across. This feline body is coming in handy. I can feel my tail straighten and high while balancing this massive form.
After passing and moving through three more guard posts and more stunned faces, I reach the final guard post. I can hear the humming of the wards that protect the people within. I can feel the sparks as my paws land on the now charged walls. The final guard post connects an even smaller wall edge to the entrance of the castle, an enormous stone door. The post is empty. Mother knows for sure of my arrival now.
I move as quickly as I can in this big feline form along the small wall edge until the large stone door stands below me. I can hear the commotion of the market, people, the lives, behind me, but the wards and magic hide them from anything until they are granted permission to enter. Since Mother’s blood is the one that fills the wards. The noise of my home blesses my ears, and no one else, but the images of my home are still hidden. A glamour effect Mother, powerful wizards and witches put around the castle to keep any unwanted visitors out.
I am not able to simply jump over the wall into the market below because of the wards and magic, so jumping down the entrance stone door is my only option. Even though it is more than six or seven heartbeats down.
I can smell Devlyn before I see her pounding down the stone road that leads to the castle from the forest. One built many moons ago, mostly used for imports and exports, merchants, royals, and leaders of other clans that come to visit and talk politics with Mother.
I need to jump down now, or I will lose this stupid race. This ridiculous distraction Devlyn laid out for me, but knowing I needed it. The teacher does know her student pretty well, sadly.
I hear footsteps crawling up the stairs to the top of the guard post behind me. Guards. I quickly move to the edge of the guard wall. My claws gripping the edge. Barely big enough to hold these massive paws. My whiskers jerking in the breeze. The wind is much stronger the higher you go. I hear Devlyn’s claws clicking against the stone. She is close.
I take a deep breath in and a shaky breath out. My poor lungs. My poor body. Please forgive me.
I use my powerful back legs to send myself flying. I feel the wind screaming in my ears as I fall. Devlyn’s claws hitting the stone. I close my eyes and I feel weightless.
Like the handful of times my body has given out in the last week or so. My mind for a rare moment is quiet, just the sounds of the wind moving around me, through me. No ice filling my veins, no warmth burning my skin, no Samca giving more me questions than answers. No Balaur blood washing over me. No white voided mind. No voices.
I open my eyes and the stone ground is growing, closer and closer. I can no longer hear Devlyn’s claws. I feel my bones popping and shattering taking on their true form. My feet hit the ground, my ankle snaps and I stumble over. My ankle snapping is different than when I shift. Raw, crunching, popping. Pain shoots up my leg. My hair is blowing around my face, the braid I had long gone.
I am hit again, as I am trying to move my hair out of my face. Not by the ground this time. A wince leaves my lips. A large powerful body knocked into me. My shoulder hitting the stone door and the ward sending sparks down my arm and my back, sparks hitting back to the ground. My skull bouncing twice before coming to a stop. Clouds fill my eyes.
“What did I say about that hair Mihaela…” Her voice makes every part of me freeze. Years of disappointments, years of failures, years of cavalier glances, years of apathetic expressions, years of empty detachment.
Her powerful white glowing paws push into me. A beast bigger than Halfy and most creatures that fill the endless forest. Her beast could have taken the Balaur down easily by itself, no doubt. One of her paws is pushing into the shoulder that collided with the warded door. I know my shoulder has charred marks to match the scarred dragon teeth marks now. A snarl leaves my mouth. Pain filling every inch of me now. One flick of her wrist could take my arm clear off my body. The other paw pushing into my chest. Her paw covers my chest completely. The weight of her mighty body stealing air from my lungs. Choking, and holding. Her mauve colored eyes glaring into me, into my soul, leaving me nothing more than a speck of dirt beneath them.
“Good to see you, too... Mother…”
