Blaire's Pov
Having treated Indrik's back, I handed him a jar of water which he gulped greedily. I grimaced as I watched him. He had never been one to joke with his belly and now, he was restricted to eating only once in a day? Keeping this in mind, I had packed lots of energy food like legumes and whole grains. I watched contentedly as he gulped them down. Soon, he was done and he grinned his thanks. A fuzzy feeling consumed me and suddenly, all of the stress was worth it. "I'll just go attend to the others." I muttered half-heartedly. Even in the semi-darkness, I could see his eyes grow darker but I had to, for his sake. Picking up a sackbag, I headed out. Reaching the first cell that was not his, I was hit in the face by a horrible stench. A mix of dried sweat, rotten food, and a whole lot of other things that I felt much more comfortable not thinking about. "Hey!" He drawled and it took everything in me to not kneel over and puke all over his face. His breath stank like rotten eggs that had been mixed with festering mud. In the dim light of the torch, I could manage to see his face or what remained of it. He hadn't had a bath in what might have easily been forever and his beards had grown so long and twisted that I feared for the razor that tried to go through them. Being a wolf, I was able to see better in the darkness but I wished I couldn't because that meant I could see his black teeth that had chipped and cracked, leaving uneven pieces looking lifeless in his mouth. He got off his haunches, an unseemly sight of skin desperately holding onto bones and crawled toward me. "Beautiful." He whispered, inhaling deeply. "And fresh too." The thought of being checked out by this smelly man irritated me to no end as I reached into my bag and pulled out a small bowl. I did not dare to open the door so I bent it slightly so it would fit in the crack between the iron bars. Luckily, the plate was not too big. I was about to withdraw my arm when I felt something huge and scaly close around it. It took me a moment to realize that it was his arm which was not any less scary than the first thought that crossed my mind of it belonging to a massive rodent that ate flesh. "Come in here, beauty. It's been so long since I've been with a woman." I wrestled against his arm which was surprisingly strong for a bony man such as himself. "Let me go." I cried as I dropped to my bum on the floor, struggling with all I had against this dirty monster. "Come on beautiful. It will be good. I promise." His voice was hoarse, like he hadn't spoken for ages and now his vocal pipes were only starting to become used to the exercise again. "Let me go, you bastard." My voice rang even louder and for a moment, I wished I had listened to my friends and stayed away from this dastardly place. "Blaire? Are you okay?" That was Indrik. "Help!" I called without thinking. This man seemed to have the mind to smash me against these iron bars till I was crushed into jelly. Indrik rushed out and quickly found me with the aid of the light that had fallen to the ground. He reached me in a flash and stomped on the hand as hard as he could. The man inside snarled as he withdrew his hand. I hurriedly crawled backward, as far away as I could get from that horrible monster. Indrik picked up the torch and walked toward me. I shivered and shook his hand away when he first touched me. "It is me!" He whispered softly. Looking into his sad eyes calmed me as I allowed him pull me into his arms. I remained there for a while crying my eyes out. "You should go!" He said when my shudders finally started to get better. I couldn't have agreed more as forgetting everything else, I barged out of the cell ignoring the annoyed cries of the other prisoners. I almost ran past Ulo before he grabbed me and pulled me toward him. His worried eyes ran over my panicked ones. "Are you okay? Did something happen in there?" He questioned, his right hand tightening around me while his left reached for his sword. "Let's just leave!" My voice was cracked and I could see his nostrils flare as his eyes dilated. He could see that something was wrong but thankfully, he figured that I did not want to talk about it. Not here, at least. "Fine!" He muttered softly as he guided me out of the dungeon. I was still shaken from my experience when we met Jamil. Ulo shook his head and he nodded grimly, understanding that something had happened. We didn't have any interruptions till we reached our quarters. I still couldn't speak as I opened my door and started to walk in. "Will you be okay?" Ulo questioned, placing a warm hand on my shoulder as his eyes fell to my right arm which had taken the brush with the prisoner. Luckily, it had not been a very deep wound and had quickly healed but there were still bits of mud that I had a feeling was not just that as well as a horrid smell which my sensitive nose made even more prominent. My eyes were blank as I stared back at him. Would I be? I gave him no response as I slipped in completely, shutting the door behind me. I walked into the bathroom and prepared myself a bath, clothes and all, wanting nothing more than to wash that stench off my body but something told me it would not be that easy.Ulo's PovI stepped away from the door, my heart simmering with rage. I wanted to punch something, rip something or just cause damage. I hated myself for having let her go in alone. What was I thinking, letting her go into that dangerous place all on her own. Sure, she would have wanted to see Indrik but I should have gone with her. Maybe then, whatever had happened wouldn't have. Seeing her like that l, so weak and vulnerable got me feeling so mad and useless. If only I knew who had made her feel like that, I would have gone to them right now and hacked them into a million pieces. "What happened with her?" Jamil asked, gesturing toward the shut door. "I don't know!" I snapped, starting toward the backdoor. I wouldn't be able to sleep now. All my tiredness and exhaustion from earlier had vanished in the wake of my anger. "Come on, Ulo. Not you too!" Jamil groaned as he came after me. "Something definitely happened in there to shake her up that bad. What....""Listen, I don't know,
Luna's PovI was going crazy. Or, that was how my mind wandering aimlessly made me feel at least. Never in my life had I been this holed up. After the breakfast turned interrogation session, I had remained in my room doing nothing other than sleeping and thinking, none of them doing me much good. I had managed the entire day inside my room and now, I felt I was going to go out of my mind if I did not get out. A major reason I did not want to go out was because of the two people that were just waiting to hack off my head. That and the fact that I was still a very unliked stranger but eventually even those were not good enough. I looked out the window and saw the moon glowing not so brightly overhead and thought about going out to the backyard. However, I had barely opened the door when the three friends came bustling in. I was in no mood to get into another fight so I simply stepped back into the room however, before I could shut the door, I noticed the usually very composed Blaire lo
Luna's PovMy ears must have grown beet red with the amount of blood that rushed to my face from the embarrassment of being caught spying. I had turned my back on them to take in more of the environment and now, I couldn't bring myself to come face to face with him again. What would I tell him? I had sneaked after them to avoid dying from staring at my room walls all day and night? They were going to have me hanged without a doubt. "Luna, it is you!" He repeated like I hadn't beaten myself up enough and I desperately wished the ground would open up to swallow me whole. I imagined the two men glaring at me with hatred and felt the blood pounding in my ears. I jerked when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around slowly wishing that I could just turn invisible. "What are you doing out here this late at night?" He questioned and I noticed with relief that he did not have a resentful look in his eyes. "I don't know. I just stumbled here, I guess." I tried to sound uninvolved but t
Blaire's PovI woke up feeling rather disoriented, a feeling that was becoming more and more of a norm with me. I blinked as I sat up on the bed, trying to rub the sleep out of my eyes. It took about fifteen seconds for the memories to come rushing in. I looked at my hand where that man had grabbed me last night and shivered involuntarily. The grime was all gone as were the bruises but I could still feel the clammy hand on my arm, pulling me against my will. Sunlight streaked in through the open window and I moaned in pleasure, glad to be reminded of my freedom. I got out of bed and saw my image out of the corner of my eyes. The sight was enough to make me draw closer to take another look. My hair looked like a snake had made a nest on one end and an eagle on the other. Sometime in the night, they had discovered each other and had an epic battle which left me looking like, well, take a guess. I brushed my hand through it absentmindedly until I heard a faint knock on the door. I ignor
Blaire's PovI paced around my room worriedly as I tried to remember if I had cleaned up after myself yesterday. I remembered opening the doors to the dungeon and Indrik's cell but I could not remember if I had shut them before leaving. I ran to the small bedside shelf and opened its lowest drawer. In there, lying peacefully was the bunch of keys that opened the dungeon. I almost exhaled in relief when I realized that the keys could be removed without locking the doors. If I by any chance had not locked the door after me then, Indrik would be in trouble without doubt when the guards came for patrol. The fear of Indrik getting into more trouble courtesy of me was a horrible weight that was pressing heavily on my shoulders. What made it even worse was the knowledge that I could not go to confirm it, not now at least, without making everything worse. Much worse. I was still pacing anxiously when a knock came on my door. I panicked, wondering if Indrik had already been caught and they we
Luna's Pov"Do you always eat together?" I asked Jamil as we made our way toward the palace gates. Seeing three members of the council sitting together had made me slightly uncomfortable but luckily, they had not seemed to even notice my presence. Despite my discomfort, there was someone who their presence seem to unsettle even more. Blaire. Throughout the meal, she had spent all her energy focusing on avoiding her mother's gaze. I had looked around, wondering if anybody else noticed the awkwardness but either they all pretended not to notice or they considered it perfectly normal as everyone focused on their meals. If there had been any doubt, the way Blaire had ran off once she was done proved it. Shortly after her, Ulo had left as well, then Leon. I suddenly hated that I had asked for so much food. I had been feeling extremely hungry when I had arrived but now, knowing that three very suspicious eyes were fixed on me, the food suddenly lost its taste and became drier than a desert
Luna's PovThe only thing I knew about this territory was the outline which I had seen from atop a hill. This was probably enough reason for me to let Jamil ride ahead so he could guide me but that was so not happening. Not if Lea was to be the judge at least. Her feet were moving in perfect sync as she leaped large areas in bounds. Soon, we were in the heart of the pack and given that we were already closing in on noon, most of them were outside, going about their daily businesses. Before they could wave and say hi though, Lea had taken another huge leap turning them into tiny blurs in the distance. Jamil was trying to catch up on his stallion but Lea wasn't giving them any chance. My hair had been scattered in the billowing breeze, spreading into my eyes, nose and mouth so that I constantly had to brush them away. Rather than feel terrified though, I was elated. With the world zipping past, I felt like I was at the top of the world. Like...I was free again. Riding always did that to
Blaire's PovIt was with great relief that I welcomed the arrival of dusk. I had taken great care to avoid running into Ulo and Jamil which was rather easy considering that none of them had returned to our quarters after breakfast. Watching the huge ball sink in a golden blaze of colours, I was filled with an equal measure of dread and anticipation. Using the cover of darkness, I found my way to the kitchen where I slipped some food that I was pretty sure wasn't going to be missed. With the ease that is gotten from having done the same thing for the past three days, I meandered my way to the dungeon. I had hardly gotten in when the prisoners started their protest which was even more intense now given that I had more or less dashed their hopes the other day. Well, we would have to live with that because there was no way I was stepping an inch away from the center of the path. They raised their voices but I was not going to give them the satisfaction of looking at them. I could see t