The Moon Goddess' Chosen

351 Letter to the King

A grey wolf with dark brown spots at its feet and silver eyes that flashed amber every once in a while dashed through the woods, stopping every now and then to take a drink or to hunt. Her goal was still far from reach and she didn’t dare buckle under the pressure of having run so many leagues following the Great Sirius river upstream.

Beatrice hadn’t gotten much sleep or rest for that matter since she’d run from the rogue king. It had been three days since the day she’d run off. Her muscles were starting to ache with fatigue. Her sense of distance had become greatly distorted by how much she’d been running through the woods and her mental state was starting to suffer the effects of isolation.

She lost count of her estimates on the evening of her second day of running and just kept to the river. It was all she could do to keep herself from succumbing to the emptiness that threatened to invade her mind.

With her mind link having gone entirely silent, she was not sure how long her wolf and her could last before the insanity got to her, ‘Damn, how does the Lone Wolf do it?’ she cursed, remembering a time that the alpha of the Golden Moon pack had told his son to disconnect from the mind link for a mere one hour.

The boy hadn’t been able to last the whole hour and yet this woman had now gone three days, not to mention all the time she’d spent as a captive of the Rogue King. This hadn’t bothered her as much then as she had the rogues to toy with, but now... there was no one. It was just her, her wolf, the forest and the monotonous sound of the flowing river.

Nonetheless, the grey wolf pressed forward, pushing through with what little strength was left in her limbs. ‘I have to make it to the capital. There is no other way. I have to warn the king.’

These thoughts were wiped from her mind when her ears picked up on sounds from the forest. It was not far from the river and the longer she paid attention, the more she felt slightly relieved. Her nose picked on a scent and the rest of her senses flared up as she entered a pack territory. She’d come across a human settlement. She broke away from her path along the river bank and made it for the small town.

It was not a large town and it wasn’t noisy either. The buildings were simple, however, the business in the town was bustling. The sound of the people within the village was more lively than those at the Golden Moon pack. If the woman was to guess, this town was much more prosperous than the pack she was from and probably inhabited some humans as well.

Without clothes to wear, she couldn’t shift anywhere as the royals could. She circled the settlement and finally set her eyes on a cloth line. Beatrice shifted when no one was watching, stole a few clothes from the line and sauntered into the town, barefoot and started her search for relief.

.....

She wanted a way to get to the capital faster. She had no money with her or any way to identify herself, but if she could get a vehicle going to the capital, she could figure something out. There was hope.

Beatrice was walking for a while before she came across an inn. The establishment was rather humble and had been painted completely white, ‘Maintaining this can’t be easy,’ she thought to herself before entering the inn and seeking out the receptionist, “Good afternoon,” she greeted. What she hadn’t accounted for, however, was her appearance.

Beatrice’s hair looked like it had taken a trip through a sandstorm and without much nourishment, her skin had long lost its normal glow. Her fatigue cast a look of madness in her eyes and the dark circles around her eyes didn’t do her any good either. She was a mess.

“Oh, good afternoon. Err, would you like me to serve you with something?” the woman asked her, replacing her initial look of shock with a warm smile. One look at her new customer and she could tell the woman was not from their beloved town, “What brings you here? This pack is not usually welcome to unexpected guests.”

“I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I don’t want to get into any trouble with your townsfolk, so if you don’t mind. I would like to know which way to Sirius and if possible get some transport if isn’t much trouble,” Beatrice tried in the politest way she could muster. The scents coming from the kitchen didn’t do her any good. After having eaten raw rabbit for breakfast, the craving for some nice bread and a nice cup of herbal tea clawed at her insides.

The receptionist stared her down. From her messy hair, fresh clean clothes that barely fit and bare feet, her warm smile didn’t last, “What are you running from? I doubt you have the money to pay for anything. Would you happen to be from one of them breeding houses?”

Beatrice was visibly offended by the woman’s suspicions. While they were valid, she couldn’t allow their implication. Her politeness was gone, “No, my situation is much worse I’m afraid. I would like to talk to the king at once. Is that too much to ask?”

“Yes, it is too much to ask. The king is not in Sirius at the moment. He went off to a coronation in the kingdom of Lycaon. It’s such a pity really. Losing the King of Lycaon yet his son was only coming of age. That man was lucky his son had a mate at the time too,” the woman clicked her tongue and grimaced, showing her pain towards the king. Although this was only idle chatter that barely interested Beatrice, the receptionist was now stalling and it was visible.

Since Beatrice had crossed into this pack’s territory, she had got a feeling of danger creeping into her mind. The silence in her mind did not help her situation as it magnified the slightest of suspicions into irrational fear. The woman grabbed the receptionist’s arm and squeezed it tight, trying to regain her self-control. The receptionist looked displeased by the sudden action and wore a look of disdain. The malnourished Seeker was too weak to even bruise her, but that didn’t stop the action from offending her, “Unhand me at once.”

Reluctantly, Beatrice let go of the receptionist and tried again, “If you could just point me in the right direction, I’ll be on my way.”

The receptionist was even less inclined to help her now, “Why would I let a cloth thief out of my sight now? That would make me quite the citizen now, wouldn’t it?” the woman smiled at her, a smile that did not reach her eyes.

Nothing seemed to be going in Beatrice’s favour since the two had begun talking and the more they spoke, the more the woman began to feel something wrong was about to happen. She hadn’t stopped running this long since escaping the rogue king. Beatrice finally stood from the counter... to leave.

“I’m sorry for having bothered you. I shouldn’t have come here, to begin with,” Beatrice said to her, rushing towards the door. Men that had been watching the argument immediately blocked her exit.

Beatrice turned to the receptionist with a pleading expression. She was getting desperate. Sighing, “No, she’s alright. Let her through.” The men relaxed at the woman’s orders and let Beatrice through.

As soon as she had gone through the door and the men took their seats once more, a pair of two entered the store. A man and a boy, wearing suspicious sunglasses. It was a disguise that anyone would find suspicious.

The pair took a seat at the counter, “A beer if you may,” the boy uttered first.

“The beer is for me... My nephew will have a cup of hot cocoa, if you may,” the man spoke up, barely sparing the glaring boy a glance. Despite appearances, these two radiated very deadly auras. Then inn went deathly quiet and the tension was so thick it was tangible.