Chapter Two: Hero
Freedom was different for everyone. My kind of freedom could be tasted in the air, felt brushed against your skin, and heard in the chirps of the birds that I nearly forgot existed.
A moment of clarity happened when I stepped out into the world again. The fresh air filled my nostrils so deeply with each inhale that I was growing lightheaded from hyperventilation. The feeling of the cold wet grass bunching up between each toe tickling the sensitive skin, I wiggled them gleefully possessed by the feeling that was so foreign. Birds and butterflies flew around the summer air without a care in the world.
Their wings flapped gracefully as if they owned the skies. Everything about the courtyard was beautiful. Vines grew up on the sides of the cracking stone buildings. Flowers embedded themselves into those deep cracks thriving so well there that they were overflowing like a river spilling onto the outside creating an array of different colors.
A under ground water fountain laid in the center of the square ran solely by magic, no mortal mechanics were needed. The water was nearly as blue as Milady's realm. It gave the courtyard the humidity it needed to feel as though we were walking by a river.
The warm sun rays started to beat down on my nearly translucent skin, warming it in a way that I have missed dearly. The sky lit up with different arrays of oranges, yellows, and reds. That year and a half have made me forget how colorful Ouiswell is, everywhere you turn a different color shines bright.
Right along the stone walkways fruit trees grew heavy from magic apples, oranges, and pears. My mouth began to water at the thought of eating something so juicy that hadn't touched a floor.
Despite the WarLord dragging me through the yard with barely any time to cherish the moment I tugged against his hold and reached for the biggest pear on the tree. My fingers scrape against it but I miss it. I tried once more, my fingers finally finding a good grasp and pulling it down as I heard the thin branch connecting it break.
"You are looking at that fruit like it's a medium rare steak." The WarLord jokes as he tugs me towards the steps of the castles with a tight grip on my forearm.
I mentally protested the idea of leaving the open air but didn't let the thought go passed my mind. This was the deal, save the queen and be granted my freedom a week early. It wasn't like I wanted her to die anyway, she was a pretty merciful queen despite her dead eyes and red attire. She is even the monarchy that set the Mortals free of slavery or at least made them get compensated for their work.
I was a Mortal but my Teller abilities gave me a way to make my living as where others were forced to Serve the Privledged that once held their ancestors in chains. Working for the bare minimum just to survive and feed their family.
The dark of the castle halls surrounded me and the cold licked my skin chasing away any former warmth the sun had left.
"Don't let her kill me." There wasn't a lot left in me anymore, I had withered away to skin and bone. "I don't have very much blood to give." Vampires tended to have a hard time stopping once they started drinking a Mortals blood.
"No promises." His following chuckle was hideous and for just a moment I think I might hate him just as much as he was disgusted by me.
The long hall leading to the staircase was lined with a red rug with gold flower designs edged into it catching in the light. This was my first time in the castle.
There was portrait after portrait of the royal family each with their birth and death date under it on a mantel. I made the mistake of running my fingers along the cool gold metal of the first portrait.
There was a battlefield of thousands of Beast stretched out for miles. Swine, Feline, Anphepion along with many more. All of them clouded with purple smoke making it hard for me...
For The First King to see...
They all rushed at him at once, he was alone. Terror floored me and I wanted to run but The First King stood firm. I get his determination running through my veins. He had people depending on him, a family behind those walls he built. They would not get through.
My body moved on its own accord and in a fluid motion I was chopping off the head of hundreds of Swine Beasts, my magic was dropping the twisted form of the Feline Beast to the ground. Dead.
He slaughtered every last one of them...
I get the pain and fatigue that consumed him as if I was him instead of just living in his skin through a vision.
He fell to his knees and smiled up at the sky, "I am ready."
Lightning boomed from the storm-covered sky and hit me. It wasn't painful, just empty.
I jerked my hand away as if the mantel had burnt my fingertips. "What did you see?" The WarLord spoke gently, they idolized the first king for his bravery. He was the symbol of all of their armor. The tale did little justice to how magnificent what I had just witnessed was.
"There were thousands not hundred as the tale claimed. He never second-guessed himself, he wasn't even scared. He welcomed death after he slaughtered every single one of the beasts." I turn to him with doe-like eyes amazed by what I had just seen. Never had someone died with so much grace in my visions. It was inspiring and I understood why the Warriors worshipped him as well as followed his direct descendant, The Commander into war time and time again.
"What I wouldn't give to see it." He dragged me along the hall leaving behind the portraits only leaving enough time for me to spot the deep grey eyes and dark brown hair. A true man of honor.
I wish that I had an ounce of his courage but my limbs were shaking from the thought of those sharp vangs piercing my tender skin.
Anything was better than that cell, though. Even letting Queen Juva drain me dry.
Guards grew more common the closer we got to her quarters, stationed every four feet or so. They didn't bother even glancing in my direction. He probably used their connection to warn them that he was bringing me here because they seemed unfazed.
Her bedroom door was old and creaked when the WarLord opened it, the henges probably original or nearly as old as the Queen herself.
Her four-poster bed had white cloth drapes hanging down from the top shielding my view of her, she had many plants in here making the air a little less dusty.
The carpet was ancient with similar gold designs printed into it. The entirety of the room seemed as if it was from many decades ago but it wasn't outdated it was classy. Elegant with its ceiling-to-floor curtains and designer wallpaper. Her ceilings were high to accommodate her looking height, a chandelier hanging from the center, the little glass orbs dangling from it gently.
It was a very fitting room for a Queen.
"Bring her here." Her voice was raspy and frail giving away just how sick she was.
"Be easy on her mother." The Princess came from behind me with so little noise it caused me to jump.
"I'm not going to hurt the child." Queen Juva protest the very idea of harming me. I had heard that the royals had soft spots for humans, unlike the privileged.
It was rumored that The First King's wife was human, the reason she wasn't standing by him at The Battle of Worlds.
The WarLord pushed me forward and let me do the best of my walking on my own which I was grateful for.
Step by step I grew closer and closer to her bedside willing the fear away by convincing myself it was a better fate than spending one more day in that hell hole of a prison.
The cloth was pulled away by one of the servants and she gave me a sorrow-filled look which didn't help my fears considering she had two teeth marks on the side of her neck. She knew the pain that was sure to occur.
The Queen's frail arm shot out and gripped my small wrist as she pulled me to her.
Her eyes were the first thing that I noticed, a ruby red color I had never seen in person. Skin paler than mine and hair so long it flowed past the foot of the bed. Her facial structure was beautiful and her smile of gratitude made me easy in her grip a little. "She tiny. I won't be able to take much. Did they tell you how much, dear?" She addressed me now which was considered untraditional. Most of the citizens in Ouiswell barely regarded us at all.
"No, your majesty." She sighed before pulling my arm to her mouth and biting onto it deeply.
The pain was sharp and deep, but the painful part was when she began to suck the blood from the wound, it instantly made me queasy and weak. I almost fell forward but one of the warriors grasp me to keep me on my feet.
A few seconds in and I was fainting. Down into a deep deep slumber I might never wake from.
My pear fell to the floor with a thumb that echoes in my mind until I was fully unconscious.