Chapter 11

Kai

A wet sensation slowly pulled him out from down under and his aching body treated him forward into a sitting position.

His chest heaved as he looked around in the dark, trying to decipher where he was.

Just to look right into the mouth of sharp teeth.

He went to grab his sword at the side of his bed, just to realise there was nothing but air.

Because he was not at home.

The wolf tilted his head at him, his one eye blinking as he seemed to smile at his panic.

“It’s you,” Kai whispered, looking around to see that they were at the edge of a smaller forest, the only thing in sight was a brick building surrounded by iron gates turned rusty by the rain.

The wolf let out a concerned whine, pushing his snout against his neck.

On instinct, Kai started to pat his head before he noticed the stinging sensation in his left side. He was hurt and he passed out, he remembered. But where was—his head flew to someone whistling.

There.

At the side of the brick building she stood. Her white hair flew in the dark like it was strung out of moonlight.

He froze when he saw her for the first time. When she drew the string of her bow and shot the hawk precisely in the head in the forest.

He couldn’t believe his eyes. He thought he found her. But on closer inspection, Kai knew it was not her. Her eyes were black like the fur of the bear and not the colour of ice.

As the whistle brushed past her lips, a blur of red fire appeared at the window, high up in the building. It was a small girl, her hair the colour of flames, her skin glimmering bronze. The building looked old, it was made out of rust-coloured bricks. Ivy climbed up the loose rain pipes. The lower windows were barred with iron and he was creepily reminded of a dungeon, where prisoners were held.

The two girls whispered something to each other, as Kai continued to absently pat the wolf’s fur.

“She saved me.”

The wolf released what sounded like a scoff.

Kai turned to look at him. “You both did.”

Even though his side was burning, he searched his cloak for the small satchel, pulling out a few strips of dried beef.

“I know this is nothing compared to what you did for me—”

Rather than letting him finish talking, the wolf already munched on the meat.

Kai released a small chuckle that turned into a wheeze. The wolf glanced at him in concern. Kai watched the redhead girl throw a satchel down, the woman who saved him catching it expertly.

“I’m back when the sun is up, promise,” she called to the girl and made her way over to him.

He tried to sit up straighter, to portray a more intimidating stance but who was he trying to fool? He was currently bleeding to death and she knew it.

“Hi,” his voice broke slightly at the end as she reached him.

She raised a brow at the meat the wolf was munching on.

“That’s how easy you’re to win over? Do you accept meat from every stranger?” She raised a brow expertly.

The wolf glared at her.

“What’s his name?”

“How should I know?” She grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet. He hissed as more blood oozed from his wound.

“Isn’t he your wolf?”

“He doesn’t belong to anyone,” she muttered darkly and started into the forest.

He followed her, limping slightly to keep his weight off his bleeding side.

“Is she always like that?” He looked at the wolf, now trailing beside him, grunting agreeingly. As far as a wolf could grunt.

“Hmm, let’s see, what would fit you?”

“Do not name the wolf,” she called from the front. He ignored her.

“How about Ralff?”

The wolf growled unhappily. He thought so.

“I know that one was bad. Oskar?”

“I dare you, don’t name it,” she growled, and Kai couldn’t help himself from smiling, even though he felt like death on two feet. “Why not?”

She turned around, her hair whirling in the night air. Kai stumbled at the sight.

“Because you are going to get attached and it is going to doom you.” Something shined in the black of her eyes, a faraway memory of something she had once lost.

“He saved my life. He deserves a name.” They stared each other down, no one willing to let it go.

“For an injured man, you seem to be able to talk very much.”

“I’m used to worse.”

She scoffed and turned through the thicket. Her form disappeared and he followed quickly before whispering, “How about Spike?”

The wolf opened his mouth in what seemed to be an attempted smile, canines glinting in the moonlight.

“Spike it is.”

Diving through the bushes revealed a small farm beside a field of dead harvest. Carrots who only grew to the size of his small finger lay abandoned on the dry earth, half-eaten heads of salad strewn around.

They were right, the lands were dying. A claw wound around his lungs, squeezing until he felt the need to breathe.

It was spreading like a plague, infesting the land and therefore the people’s lives. Soon there would be nothing to eat anymore, no way to survive. The kingdom would fall into a crisis of famine and there would be no people to rule over anymore.

“Follow me.” The woman flew elegantly over the oak-coloured fence, approaching the barn.

With a few grunts, still holding his side, he climbed over the fence, Spike squeezing beneath it.

“Listen there, I am going to stitch you up because apparently, the wolf holds a liking to you. Afterward you’re going to piss off from where you came from, all right?”

He sputtered again. Not ever has a woman talked to him in that way. She narrowed her eyes at him, waiting for an answer.

“If that is your wish.”

She rolled her eyes before pushing the door to the side, wincing in the process. Kai had already noticed that she seemed to be in some kind of pain. He could not recall the bear striking at her though. Something did seem to be wrong about her back, or else she would not hiss with every pull at her shoulder blades.

Before he could attempt to rush to her help, she pushed the squeaking door open, revealing the inside of the barn.

With a look around the abandoned farm, Kai followed her inside the lion’s den.

The first thing upon his notice was the godsawful stench surrounding the place.

Kai dry heaved for a moment, clutching his churning stomach.

It felt like the scent of decay crawled into the cracks of the walls, burying into the dirty ground. After taking a few deliberate short breaths through his mouth, he straightened up to scan the place.

The barn stretched on for approximately 120 square metres, the ceiling so high he wondered what one needed it for.

The left and right walls were filled with windows that appeared every 10 metres, frayed curtains hanging from crooked curtain rods.

One couldn’t look outside the windows anyway; they were coated in thick layers of dust, cobwebs woven over like the iron bars at the house they just were at.

The floor was filled with mountains of hay and an abandoned pitchfork leaned against the corner, the wood of its handle bitten into repeatedly.

What was the hay used for? Kai couldn’t make out any animals on their way here, he doubted anyone used this abandoned place.

A soft sound ripped him out of his observations.

The woman cleared her throat, raising a pale brow. “Finished with your inquiry?”

He ignored her question. “Is this your place?”

He did not want to sound condescending but to be quite frank this place was a disaster.

Her gaze narrowed and she took a few steps forward. He backed away, almost stumbling over Spike. The wolf huffed at him.

“Do you want to get stitched up or not, Charming?”

Charming?

He made a disgusted face at the place. “I would rather not. The wound might get infected…with decay.”

Like a seething viper, her hand shot out and squeezed his injured side.

“Fuck.” He slapped her hand away, wincing as the burning dizziness made his head spin. It felt like a fire spread from the wound, poisoning his mind with so much pain he saw black spots mar his vision.

“Can’t get any more infected than this. Now sit down, I really don’t have the time to drag your corpse into the woods and bury it.” She pointed over to a small wooden stool, one leg shorter than the other two.

Kai refrained from making a face, the pain too bad to protest any further.

The stool toppled dangerously with his weight but once he was balanced it was all right.

The woman dropped to her knees, carefully opening the satchel beside her.

“Get the jacket off,” she said without a glance at him. How could someone this soft-looking be this brute?

Under immense pain, he started to undo the buttons on his jacket, wincing with every movement that stretched the slashes on his side. With an exasperated sigh, the woman slapped his hands away.

She looked up at him, the depth of her eyes holding him captive for a moment. Not the eyes he hoped for.

One after one she got rid of the buttons before leaning closer to push it off his shoulders. With a groan he tried to help her, the scent of hyacinth wafting around him.

She carefully slipped her hands along the waistband of his trousers, pulling out the hem of his shirt, to finally reveal the wound.

“Oh hell, I think I’m going to pass out.” He swallowed as the dizziness grew at the sight of it. The flesh was red and angry, creating a stark contrast to the black blood that crusted all around the slashes.

A sharp inhale from the woman. “Did you get poisoned?”

“No,” he gritted his teeth as she prodded lightly at the wound.

“Why is your blood that colour?”

“How should I know, isn’t that your expertise?”

A cold glare was her answer.

“Well, you might want to get this checked out by a healer once you return to the palace.”

Kai gave her a non-committed nod. Her fingers ghosted over the wound, trying to see where she should start stitching. When she didn’t prod the wound, the cold from her skin was almost welcoming to the angry-looking flesh.

She pulled out a small vial of clear liquid and Kai watched the way a few strands slipped out of her well-made braid, tickling the hard edges of her cheeks. Her skin was flushed from the cold, coating it in a lovely tint.

Kai came across one or two witches in his life but never once did they look the way she did. He guessed it was due to her being a bastard, magical blood mixed with human one. He could tell by the human colour of her eyes that she was not a full-blooded witch.

She uncapped the vial, throwing a quizzical look at him.

“What’s your name?” He asked.

“None of your business.”

“Are you always this charming?” He tried one of his crooked smiles at her, knowing no woman could resist it.

But her eyes only narrowed further, before she grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and ripped it off.

“Hey! That was my favorite jacket!” Kai protested, wanting to get up but she quickly pushed him back down on the stool, towering over him like a vengeful angel.

“It does not matter if you know my name, since after today we will never see each other again. Now open your mouth.”

“What?” he asked, getting annoyed by her rudeness.

“Open. Your. Mouth.”

“Why should I—”

She shoved the ripped part of the sleeve into his mouth. How dare she!

A muffled curse released from his throat as she grabbed his chin roughly in her hand, making his teeth chew down on the fabric.

“Good boy. We wouldn’t want you to bite off your tongue, would we?”

Without any warning, she poured over whatever was in the vial—Kai guessed it was Satan produced—bathing his whole body in hellfire.

A groan vibrated through his throat as excruciating pain consumed his whole body, burning the flesh off his bones and peeling the marrow out of them.

His eyes rolled to the back of his head as another wave hit him and for the second time that day, everything went black.