The forgotten beast, p.20
The Forgotten Beast, page 20
“We have to move tomorrow.” He stands and moves to the table, grabbing a spoon and two of the bottles. When he reaches my side, he says, “I think it would be a good idea for you to take these.”
“What are they?”
“This one is a kind of tonic to help you sleep. The more you sleep, the better for your wounds to heal.” I nod and he carefully pours some tonic into the spoon, bringing it to my mouth slowly to avoid spilling it. It tastes like some kind of berry and I lick a stray drop off my lips. When I look up, the beast’s multi-colored eyes are glued to the spot my tongue touched. “And this one is the same healing tonic they gave me. Normally, I wouldn’t recommend this one. All magic comes at a price that will have to be paid back, eventually. But since we don’t know what awaits us in the morning, I think it wise to take it now and we can both deal with the consequences later.” He uncorks and hands me the second bottle, which I drink and hand back to him.
“Thank you.”
“It won’t take away all of your pain, but it will drastically reduce it, for a time.”
It doesn’t take long for the tonic to kick in and I start to drift off. A big yawn escapes and I reach up to cover my mouth. I take a second to inspect the bandages on my wrists again. When I’ve settled them carefully back across my stomach, my eyes close involuntarily and I fall asleep.
Briefly, I stir when I feel the bed dip behind me. Warm arms draw me in, and I let out a sigh of contentment, relaxing into his arms and falling into a deep sleep.
CHAPTER 25
I Saw Three Ships
The next morning I’m awoken by sounds around camp. Best I can tell, they’re deconstructing the surrounding campsite. “Mmmm, good morning,” he says behind me, kissing my hair before releasing me. When I rotate onto my back, groaning as my bruises and ribs ache, but thankfully less with the potion, I see him sitting up and stretching his arms over his head.
“Good morning. I am so sorry to ask, but can you find the lady from yesterday? I really need to use the bathroom.” I’m beyond embarrassed to have to ask him for this, but I would be even more embarrassed to have him help me.
“Let me see if she’s still here.” He pulls a shirt over his gorgeously muscled back. He stands and moves to the door, peeking out and saying, “Has Althea returned to the castle yet?” I hear some muffled words in return before he ducks his head back inside the tent. “It seems all the women left together at first light.”
I let out a sigh, grunting as I try to get out of bed myself. When I look up, I see him extending a hand to me. I accept and he helps me to stand. “Chamberpot?” I ask.
He looks around the room and spots the pot under the table of salves. Bringing it to me, he looks away as best he can while helping me to lower over it. My bladder has never felt so full, or so much relief after a trip to the bathroom before.
When I’m finished, he helps me to stand again and brings me some clothes. I sit on the edge of the makeshift bed while he helps to get the pants up my legs. Then he helps me to stand and pulls them up around my waist. I tie the strings myself, leaving them slightly looser than previously, so they don’t press against my bruises too much.
When I lift my arms over my head to get my shirt on, I cry out as I feel my bruised sides stretch. “I’m so sorry, Callie. I wish it had been me. This never should have happened.” He reaches out to help me get my shirt on and tucked into my pants. Next comes my vest, which he also helps me get into.
“Hush now, if it had been you, there’s no way I could have carried you out of that place. I can’t even imagine how bad it would have been without the potion.” I reach my hand up to his face, rubbing my thumb back and forth across his bearded cheek. “You did everything you could. Now let’s get home.” I grin and he puts shoes on my feet.
“Would you like to walk, or would you like me to carry you?” he asks.
I test my weight on my feet, and take slow steps around the tent. “I think I can walk a short distance, but if I’m walking back to the castle, I’m not sure I can make it the entire way.”
He lets me lean on his arm and we make our way out of the tent. He helps me up into one of the wagons. I sit, watching while they finish taking the camp down, loading the equipment into the wagons. Finally, he comes to sit next to me on the seat and grabs the reins for the horses. Clicking and tapping their behinds with the reins, he is able to get the wagon moving.
At the first bump of the wagon, I wrap the hand not grasping the edge of the wagon around my torso. I try to hold back my grunts and groans of pain as we make our way to the castle. When we hit the particularly large bumps, I can’t help it. Several times I catch the beast looking at me and grimacing after any of the particularly big bumps. He starts to warn me when he can see them coming. It doesn’t help them hurt less, but I figure he feels like he’s helping, so I try harder not to make any noises of pain.
We finally get out of the trees and pop out onto the shore. The sun reflects off the water and I squint my eyes against the bright light. Suddenly, there is a little boy running up to our wagon, and the beast pulls back on the reins to stop the horses. “What is it?” he asks.
“Your… Majesty,” he pants. “I saw… three ships.”
“Are you absolutely certain?” he demands, and the boy nods.
“Yes, your Majesty… they’re just… around the bend.”
The beast reaches behind me and lifts the canvas-like material covering everything in the back of the wagon. He pulls out several blades, followed by my recurve bow and quiver.
“Callie, I know you’re still hur—”
“I can do it,” I blurt.
He jumps down from the wagon and places all of his blades on the seat, motioning for me to come to him. Carefully, I stand and move past the seat without knocking any of the weapons off. He places his hands on my waist and helps me down without further injury. I try to keep any pain off my face, and take a relieved breath when I’m back on the ground.
He then reaches up and starts bringing the blades down one at a time, strapping them to us until he’s gone through the whole pile. “We don’t have your armor. We weren’t able to find it in the tunnels.”
“I’ll do my best to stay back then.” He nods in confirmation before helping the boy up into the wagon. I’ll also have to be very careful not to get slapped by the bow’s string without the protection of my armguards.
“I want you to ride straight back to the castle. Take the safest route. There should be someone to help you put the horses away when you get there.”
The boy nods in return.
We move back into the trees and stay just inside the tree line as we make our way to where the boy indicated the ships had been spotted. When we get to the very edge of the trees, he motions me forward, pulling me into a crouch. “Be careful,” he whispers, brushing my cheek with the back of his fingers.
“You too.” The smile I plaster on my face is a complete and total lie. I’m terrified of being captured again. I’m terrified of being beaten more. I’m terrified of never seeing the beast again.
He stands and draws two blades. I clench my teeth against the pain as I reach back and pull an arrow from the quiver on my back and nock it. We step out of the trees at the same time, the large ships clearly visible at the edge of the water. Men, filthy pirates, and women make their way from the ships, armed and ready for battle.
Our people are there and waiting, already engaged in battle with whoever makes it within view. I immediately make my way to the other archers and join them in their barrage of arrows. After the first few shots, adrenaline flows through me, dimming the pain in my sides. My aching arms and shoulders protest at the motion of firing my bow over and over and over again, but I know I would regret standing on the sidelines. I would regret not helping. I would regret not being here if, God forbid, something were to happen.
According to the men who captured me, all of this is because of me. How could I just stand by and let a battle be fought because of me?
CHAPTER 26
White Winter Hymnal
Arrow after arrow I shoot. I ignore the soreness in my ribs, arms, and shoulders. I pull out my blades when I run out of arrows. I ignore all of my aches and pains, taking deep breaths to keep oxygen in the muscles that are fighting to defend the beast’s kingdom.
When we have finally defeated anyone who has emerged from the ships, some people from our side board the ships and kill any remaining enemies.
The beast comes back to my side. He glances over at me as if to make sure I haven’t been captured again.
“I’m still here.” I look up at him.
He wraps his arm around my shoulders and gently pulls me to his side.
I feel him kiss my hair and I wrap my arm around his waist, being careful not to nick him with one of my blades. We turn when we hear the sound of horses coming from beside us, the opposite direction from where everything started just a few short days ago.
I recognize some of the men leading additional horses behind them from the village. “We have to travel around the water, make sure that there aren’t any more getting ready to attack,” the beast tells me. I nod in confirmation. “Will you be okay to come, or do you need to go back to the castle?”
“I’m coming.” Quickly, I slide my blades back into their sheathes and move to one of the horses in front of me, attempting to get my foot into the stirrup. My muscles protest the movement.
“Here, let me help you,” he says behind me. When I turn around, I see the beast kneeling down and offering me his hands to use as a step. I place one hand on his shoulder, and the other on the saddle horn, step into his hands, and he helps me onto the horse.
I shift my weight in the saddle, trying to get in a comfortable position. The beast quickly mounts his horse and rides up next to me, reaching out between our horses. I take his outstretched hand and he squeezes my fingers. “Keep a long blade in your hand, the shorter blade tucked away in case we’re thrown from our horses.”
Briefly, I pray that doesn’t happen. I’m not sure if my body can take being thrown from a horse after all my other injuries. I nod to him and pull a blade from its sheath, holding it against my thigh and grabbing the reins in my other hand.
Our group splits in two, going around the water in either direction to make sure we find any stragglers from the other side. We all travel just inside the tree line, barely within sight of the water, to avoid being seen by anyone walking along the shore. The beast comes to my side and stays near me the entire trek.
We follow the rest of the pack, and when we’re about a quarter of the way up our side of the water, we see them. In front of us, in the trees, is a group of men. They’re circled up around a fire. Unlike the pirates from the ships, these men are all dressed warmly for the snowy weather. They’re bundled up and even have some kind of scarves wrapped around their necks.
“Do we have to kill all of them? What if we can make some kind of deal?” I whisper to the beast. He shakes his head at me in return, motioning with his finger for me to be quiet.
I face forward again and continue to follow the men in front of me.
We stop moving, and my group moves back just out of sight of the men. Some of the people dismount and draw their weapons, attempting to sneak up on the enemy men. I remain on my horse, unsure if I could handle having to dismount and remount again.
The beast dismounts and joins the rest of his men. From my position, I hear shouts and the clashing of blades, but can’t see anything happening. I look around me to see what I can and the other people remaining on horseback do the same. It’s then I spot them, a second group of men coming straight for us, blades raised.
“Get ready!” I yell, bringing my blade up, getting ready to strike.
The first one who reaches us is taken down by a woman holding her sword in both hands as she brings the blade down. Her single strike decapitates the man entirely, and I gasp as his head bounces off the back of his horse and lands at its feet. His body tumbles off shortly after, his foot caught in the stirrup as his horse takes off at a run, dragging his body behind it, a trail of blood left behind in its wake.
When finally one of them reaches me, the woman’s teeth are clenched as she tries to bring her blade down on me. I strike first, hard and fast, adrenaline masking any pain in the rest of my body. Somehow my blade hits where I’ve aimed, at her neck, and she tumbles off her horse.
Before I have much time to look, another one comes at me, and I’m knocked from my horse, hitting the ground with a grunt. At the sound, one of our men turns and helps me up before continuing to fight. I run between the horses, ducking and slashing out my blade at any enemies I see. My maneuvers do not take down anyone but, I do see several get taken down by the next person they come into contact with. Their injuries from my blade distract them enough they don’t notice the next guy they run into.
When there is a small break in the attack, I pull a second blade from its sheath. I look up just in time to avoid my head joining the others in the snow. Instead, I slash out my blade and slice the leg of one of the riders, causing him to yank on the reins and the horse bucks him off, kicking the rider in the head as he runs off.
What seems like hours really only takes us a few minutes and we see our other men coming back to us. From what I can tell, they all survived their part of the attack. The beast leads them back to us, and he approaches me slowly. “Are you okay?” He pulls me to him and scans up and down my body.
Finally, I look around at the damage we inflicted on the riders that came at us. I approach the woman I slashed at the beginning of the battle. Her gasps growing more shallow.
Vomit rushes up my throat so quickly, I barely have time to bend over before what little remains in my stomach is heaved onto the snowy ground. The beast runs his hand up and down my back. He also attempts to pull my hair out of the way while I continue to heave. Standing back up, I glance around at the remaining bodies.
For the first time since I woke up this morning, tears flow from my eyes. “I’m so sorry. It was my fault,” I cry.
“It was not your fault, Callie. This is war. These things happen,” the beast says, resting his hand on my shoulder.
I jerk my shoulder away from him, angry at his nonchalant behavior. “These things do not happen in my world!”
The beast gestures for me to hand him my blades. He reaches down and wipes them off on one of the fallen men’s clothes before helping me to secure them back in their sheaths.
I move to my horse and attempt to get back in the saddle. It’s on my third attempt I notice red out of the corner of my eye. I look over and see the blood pooling in the snow from the woman I killed.
What makes me do it, I’ll never know, but I look around the rest of the clearing and search for the other blood pools staining the snow. I move to the woman and kneel beside her. “I’m sorry,” I whisper to her corpse.
Around her neck, I see a necklace, and I quickly remove it, shoving it into one of the pockets in my coat.
The beast helps me to mount my horse again and we have to continue traveling the rest of the way around the water through the trees.
“Someone will come back to bury the bodies,” the beast tells me.
I glance over at him and nod. Facing forward again, I do my best to ignore the excited chatter all around me. Inside, I feel anger, sadness, and a mix of other emotions I can’t name. I can’t believe I’ve killed so many people in such a short amount of time. I’m not sure I’ll ever be the same again.
We stand just inside the trees, a small distance away from the land bridge to the other side’s castle. Finally, the other group who went around the other side on the opposite bank from where we started arrive.
We all dismount to discuss what to do next. They tell us they also encountered men, but theirs were all on foot.
“What about Hook and Peter?” I ask.
“Who?” the beast replies.
“They’re the ones who captured and tortured me. At least, they said they were the ones in charge. I don’t believe I saw either of them at the boats, or in the woods.”
“What do they look like?” Steve asks, part of the other group.
“Peter has boyish features, and Hook wears a ridiculous hat, and has… well, he has a hook instead of one of his hands,” I gesture above my head in some pathetic imitation of his hat.
They ask around to see if someone encountered anyone matching their descriptions. No one remembers seeing anyone like them.
“Maybe they never left their castle,” the beast says.
“So they’re cowards,” I reply between clenched teeth. “Only willing to join the fight if their opponent is chained up.”
The beast rests his hand on my shoulder. This time, I don’t shrug him away. “They may have never left the tunnels they took you to. We’re not exactly close to where we found you.”
Two of our men come running up, out of breath. “It’s abandoned,” one of them says.
“There’s no movement at their castle, no smoke can be seen in the air. It’s as if they all just… disappeared,” the other one finishes.
“Did anyone notice these guys seemed a little disorganized? Almost like they weren’t entirely prepared for any of this,” James states.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Remember how our group was lined up at the beginning? We were all together, and while they approached us from behind, we were quickly able to disarm and kill them,” Steve says.
“Okay, if you say so. What does that mean?”
The beast looks down at me and responds, “It means, that all the things they were preparing, the last several weeks they’ve been crafting weapons, there’s no way that the men that we’ve taken out today were carrying all of those. There is either a stockpile of weapons somewhere, or a larger army waiting. Probably both. This felt like they were testing the waters, seeing how prepared we are.”
