Heir To The Iron Crown: Dyrith

45 - Fjörutíu og Fimm

Werewolves are strong, lethal creatures that live much longer than a human ever could. But although they can withstand a lot of pain, they need the same things humans do to survive.

A social circle, a pack.
Food, water.
Air.

Take away one of these things long enough, and the werewolf will essentially die.

The guard stood right outside the cell in shock of what had just happened. Perhaps he never saw a werewolf will vines from the very earth before. Or perhaps he was contemplating the consequences of an unwarranted death on his watch.

Either way, the guard stood still, watching Mordekai's now lifeless body, before slowly turning to face me.

He looked almost, afraid, but not quite, as I could tell only by the tiniest quiver of his lip.

I was still on the other side of the bars, yet the only thing keeping them shut were the vines under my control.

I willed the vines to retreat into the ground, leaving the cell door unlocked. I took a step towards it.

"Don't," the guard said. His voice contained authority for someone who should have been terrified.

He took a cautious step closer, the keys jingling in his hands.

"Get on with it human," a rough voice said.

I placed the voice right in front of me, from the cell opposite to mine.

Human?

It was now that I saw fear on the face of the guard. Instead of taking another step towards me, he backed away, before running down the dark hallway, calling out to his fellow guards.

I walked over Mordekai's body, pushing open the cell door, and was about to make my way out when the voice stopped me again.

"I know who you are," he said.

I paused.

I didn't have time to chat with this man in the cell, and I couldn't let him distract me from my escape.

But his words caused me to stop for a second and try to look into his dark cell. I could only make out a dark outline of a man and nothing more.

My moment of hesitation was enough for him.

"Don't leave just yet, they have this place surrounded by guards. Not all of them are human. Some are even worse than us werewolves. Besides, you're drugged. Your senses are down and you can't shift," he said.

I could hear the approaching voices of near panicked guards getting closer.

"I have to leave," I told him sternly.

"They will come for you soon enough. They will take you out of your cell all on their own. That will be your best bet," he said.

"I need to leave, now," I repeated, deciding there was no way I was going back in that cell. Valente's face flashed in front of my eyes for a second as I said those words.

I'd fight my way out of here. Having killed a full-grown wolf without lifting a finger gave me a boost of confidence.

"Rayne, I think he's right," Imadis said.

I heard only a chuckle from my neighbor's cell, before seeing at least five guards make their way around the corner of the hallway.

Ignoring him and the voice of my wolf, I braced myself for a fight.

Two of the guards shifted into big grey wolves as they ran towards me, while the other three seemed formidable all on their own.

I willed the same thick, thorny vines from the rough earth right in front of the wolves, but they tore through them with their teeth, barely stopping.

Shit.

I tried again, but it barely seemed to slow them. One of the wolves jumped, landing on my torso, and slicing through my skin before I even fell.

I shrieked and fought back violently, but it wasn't enough.

The other guards carried silver weapons, but they had no need to use them.

Whatever they used to inhibit my wolf, also inhibited me, in a way.

My only defense was anything my Dryad self had to offer, but it was something I didn't understand well enough on my own. I couldn't use it against them.

Not right now at least.

I stopped fighting. The wolves stepped off my limp body, giving way for the three other men.

One of them picked me up by my sweatshirt, and dragged me into the cell.

Another one hauled Mordekai's body and walked out, the third locking the door behind them. I heard their collective footsteps starting to leave.

A look at Mordekai's wide-eyed face caused a twinge of guilt in my heart before I shut it down by reminding myself of the crime he had committed.

But I knew, and Ima knew, that perhaps it was more than that.

He wanted me in a way I didn't want him to. I was the reason he betrayed Fathilagt, and I hated that.

I questioned Valente's actions for having killed mercilessly in the past, and for throwing Eidis in the pits for her treachery without second thought.

Turns out, I wasn't too different from him after all. I hadn't spared this traitor his life either.

I am flawed, perhaps in more ways than one.

As I lay bleeding from my slowly healing wounds on the cold earth, I looked up to see the outline of the man behind bars of his own.

He was watching me, perhaps debating whether he should tell me, "I told you so".

"I thought you'd be stronger," he said.

I got up slowly, pain shooting through my body intensely, but I couldn't express any sign of anguish. I was too proud for that.

"Who are you?" I asked him, now sitting up.

He didn't move, or make any effort to show himself.

"My name is Tei," he said.

"You said you know me?"

"I believe so."

"You're not sure?"

"I am. But a little skeptical, you could say. It's very rare to find a Dyrith alive in or even near the Palace. And it's even rarer to find a Dyrith who is part wolf, part Dryad, given how rare Dryads are to begin with."

I looked closely, trying to make out a face, or anything at all that could link him to someone I knew, but nothing gave him away.

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"You just displayed your Dryad abilities. Weak, but skill nevertheless. And if you weren't a wolf, they wouldn't have put you in these silver cells," Tei replied.

This man wasn't being condescending, I could tell. He was just very straightforward.

"You said you know me. But I don't know you," I said.

There was silence from him for a minute. And then,

"Maybe that's why they put you in that cell and not another."