047 The Night Visitor

Did Erebus just say "my King"?!!

Kitty and Metis looked at each other in shock, and to their surprise, Iapetus also looked very much surprised. Guess this is not something usual to them either. Kitty thought.

Erebus supported the King by his arm and led him inwards, but the King shook his hand lightly to refuse: "Right here is fine. I have to leave soon."

There they were, in the empty hall of the bar, with an old rickety man dripping from all over his hood and robe in the middle of the night.

This evening just got more dreadful and sullener.

"Erebus." The old King called his name slowly, as if speaking that word out took all his energy. But you can somewhat touch that trace of power and stateliness in his voice, that was the glory of his past shining through from the days behind him.

"Yes, my King." Erebus bowed to him.

"I don't have long." The old man said, using all the life left in him as he spoke, "I fear this might be the last time we met..."

"I won't let that, my King." Erebus said with firmness and a shred of danger in his tone.

The King shook his head with bitter smile on his face: "The fault is mine, my brother... And I deserve the fate awaits me."

My brother. The King called Erebus "brother", but it looked like he was old enough to be Erebus's grandparents' generation. What was going on?! Kitty watched the bizarre situation in front of her eyes, having trouble to taking it in.

"Is it the new queen? I'll have her head at your word." Erebus growled under his clenched teeth, and that was the first time Kitty ever saw him that mad.

"No, you cannot. I won't be able to remember any of this soon, or any of me, maybe." The Kind said with sorrow filled his eyes, "She is untouchable now, in title and in power. I came to give you this."

He put a small wrinkled parchment roll in Erebus's hand: "This, is our kingdom's last hope, and I deem you the only one who might carry it with my will. You will know what to do when the time comes."

"Yes, my King." Erebus held onto the roll, "Tell me how I can save you, my King."

"I'm beyond salvation now, brother. But you can save my soul, and while unreasonable, I do want to ask that of you..." The King said as his voice lowered and lowered, as if he was falling asleep.

"Yes, my King. Anything." Erebus held his arm and wait him to snap out of the drifting.

"Remember me as who I was, as the brother who fought with you in glory, and forgive me when you couldn't even recognize me, when I do you wrong." The old man said. Kitty still couldn't come to accept that he was somewhat the same age as Erebus.

"I will, my King." Erebus nodded. He felt his eyes sour and his throat pricking.

"No, I'm not... not finished yet..." The King said in a hurry as if in struggle, "and, and when I do the kingdom wrong, I want you to finish my life. I won't be myself by then..."

"My King!" Erebus exclaimed, "Stay with me, and I'll protect you!"

"I can't. I get conscious hours like this rarely. Take care of our realm, Erebus. It's in your hand now." The King was panting, "I have to get back before he knows where I went."

"My King, who is 'he'?" Erebus pulled him by the arm as the King headed out.

"'He' is me now..." The King simply said, "Stop here, I don't want any trace of you on me when he comes."

Erebus stood by the door with the parchment roll in his hand as he watched the rickety figure under the hood disappearing in the pouring night.

Kitty went up to him after a while and just hugged his arm into her tight, and put her head on him without a word. She could feel how much the old King meant to Erebus, and she didn't know if there was anything that could make him feel better at that moment.

Erebus didn't even say thank you. He simply turned around and took her into his arms tight. He just witnessed the fall of THE wolf, his alpha in front of him. He had never felt so powerless before in his life. At that moment, he felt like he was the young bird in the storm night, and Kitty's hug reminded him that the people around him, was the nest that was supporting him for a sound sleep.

"Why couldn't we just go and take down the queen?!" Metis said with anger. She could feel both the sorrow from her alpha, Erebus, and the desperation from her King. It was the first time Kitty saw her losing her cool.

"'She's untouchable in both title and power'," Erebus repeated the King's words, "The title would be her position as the queen, and power, I'm afraid, means that we won't be able to throw her over that easily."

"She's not even a werewolf!" Metis yelled with tears in her eyes. With the King fallen, the whole kingdom is now the delicate nest in a storm that was yet unknown to them.

"I have been investigating this for a while," Erebus said with a heavy tone, "and I think, she might be a witch."

Metis suddenly stopped and calmed down as if nothing has happened. Iapetus hadn't been saying a word ever since the King got in the door. Kitty lifted her head and looked at them in turns with confusion.

"Is that horrible?" Kitty finally asked.

"The Coven is not exactly friendly with the Kingdom." Metis explained.

"So, she needs to keep her identity a secret? If she's a witch that married a werewolf king?" Kitty asked.

"But as she's gaining power and even bewitch the King, I doubt she has to for very long." Erebus said sullenly.

"Could we just inform the Coven and let them solve this problem? Should this be a treason or something to them?" Kitty said.

"Not exactly." Metis said and turned to Iapetus, "You know this better than anyone."

"I guess so." Iapetus sighed.

"...why...?" Kitty asked, feeling something was unsaid.

"Because I'm a werewolf, but I was raised by a witch." Iapetus said, with a bitter smile.

Kitty was a bit surprised, but she could feel that that fact meant much more than the two werewolves in the room.

"She raised me to hate the wolves, and myself. I was confused and nearly teared in two when I was young, until I met my alpha." Iapetus said with his eyes low on the ground, not looking at anyone. It was a dark memory that he wasn't ready to touch.

"I'm sorry..." Kitty mumbled.

"It's okay." Iapetus said quickly, obviously didn't want to stay on that topic. "There's no law in both realms explicitly against marriage between a wolf and a witch. It's just, 'frowned upon'."

He made a quote sign with his fingers in the air.

"So why is this so horrible?" Kitty asked with hesitation.

"Because the werewolf Kingdom was never ruled by a witch, let alone an evil one." Metis said.

"So now we need to figure out how to defeat a witch." Kitty said, "That doesn't sound particularly hard, right? She is only one person."

"We need to be careful. The Kind won't worry over nothing. There must be more to it, and we need to figure out what her plan is, fast." Erebus shook his head. One witch won't be too scary, of course. What could have worried the King so much that he thought the Kingdom was falling?

"Okay, how about the roll he gave you?" Kitty asked, "Is it okay if we..."

"Of course." Erebus opened his hand and held the parchment roll in front of her, "You can look at it."

"Thanks." Kitty said with a solemn tone and took over the roll.

The roll had an ancient feeling when held in hand, and the content was in the ancient style too: simple and confusing--

It was a drawing, faint for the time it had existed, of only three objects on there:

A stone, a magic wand, and a ring.