The Mad Queen

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"I see the world. It has a past of blood and death. Its present is the same. Though people don't see it. The bloodshed has been hidden behind the manipulations of its leaders. Convincing the people that this is the best form of living. They are all so blind and cannot or do not want to see what is truly happening. Then, there is the future of this world. If people don't change and start thinking of others over their own selfish cravings for power or stop their infantile prejudices over any creature they deem inferior, then our world will only crumble again. The First War of Vivelle lasted for hundreds and hundreds of years. Countless lives were lost or made miserable. Visara put a stop to that. She united us. Yet here we are again. Rapidly racing toward war. This time, I don't see a way out. I don't see a happy end. I see only destruction. I see death not for some, but for all. A world stained with blood and barren of life. That is our future."

~The Ravings of Queen Orianna. A speech documented during a council meeting discussing wealth distribution. Evidence Piece Six in Queen Orianna's Trial.

I struggle to move under the weight of the beast. Though as its head lowers down to mine, I find myself going completely still. It sniffs at my skin. Almost as though it is curious. Curious about whether or not I could be dinner. It raises its head again and pulls its lips back. Revealing rows of brown stained teeth. More saliva falls onto my face and I close my eyes. It breaths heavily and I try not to gag on the rotten stench of the beast's breath. A  mixture of rotting flesh and dried blood. It slides its tongue slowly along the teeth. At the same time, its claws tighten against the skin of my arms and shoulders. I let out a groan of pain as a great stinging sensation fills my arms. Its eyes focus on me completely and it growls. I realise that the beast has made its decision. I am his dinner. It lifts its head to howl again. Pain hammers my ears as it lets out its shriek. I wonder why it's howling?  I am grateful though. Every time the beast delays it gives me a few extra moments to think of some way out of this situation. My sword is still in my hand, Unfortunately, the beast is completely pinning my arms to the ground and there is no way I am moving my upper body. Its claws burry so deep into my skin that I am afraid that if I move my upper body any more, both my arms will be torn off completely. I take deep quick breaths as I try and calm myself down. Adrenaline burns through my body, causing my stomach to burn with fear. If I wasn't pinned to the ground, I'd be shaking. My mind races with images of me being torn to shreds. Of how much pain I'll be in before I die. I think back to the images of my sisters and my stomach twists even more. I force myself to stop thinking about that and look properly at the monster. It isn't looking at me. It still pins me to the ground with its two front legs. Though it looks around. As though it's waiting for something before it devours me.

A deeper roar in the distance echoes through the forest. The creature standing on me stops dead. It is alert, standing up almost completely but for its front paws still pinning my upper body to the ground. This leaves a large gap between its bald underbelly and my lower body. I lick my lips nervously as I very slowly pull my legs in toward my chest. I move so slowly, not wanting to alert it of my movements. My eyes don't dare move from the creature pinning me to the ground just in case it snaps on to what I am doing. When my legs are completely drawn to my chest, I take a deep breath.

I snap my legs up with all the speed and strength I can muster. A screech comes out of my mouth as my feet connect to the almost solid underbelly of the beast. It realises too late what I've done. It goes flying off me. I spring up onto my feet and stare at the beast as it slowly crawls up onto all fours. I see it properly now. It is nothing like I've ever seen before. Cat-like but more terrifying. Its legs are long and thick with muscle. Lined with a ratty deep blue fur. Its paws are huge, the claws hanging curling over and digging into the ground it stands on. The body of the monster is long and again thick with muscle and its head is large and uneven in shape. Thin around its black eyes and bulky around its fang-filled mouth.

It crouches low, its sharply pointed ears pinned back. A low growl rumbles from deep in its body as it pulls its cracked lips back to expose its teeth again. I crouch slightly to even my balance and prepare for its attack. It lunges toward me. I let out a shout as I ready to defend myself. I scream as an even bigger mass flashes in front of me. It takes the first beast out completely. Landing on its body and tearing it apart. I feel relief for a few seconds before I hear another growl behind me. I turn around quickly.

"Fuck," I whisper. Slowly walking from the fog are more of the cat-like creatures. They circle me and the new beast, walking slowly toward us growling and teeth bared. I look back at the new monster. It has finished with the first beast and is growling at the rest that are surrounding us. I can only glance at this new creature. It is huge. Bigger than the cats. More like a bear.

I look back at the cat creatures and grip my weapon tighter. I take a few steps back and feel myself knock into something. I turn my head slightly and realise I am back to back with this new beast. The beast doesn't attack me. Instead, it focuses on the creatures that now circle us. There are twelve in total. One leaps toward me, its mouth wide open ready to clamp down into my skin. It is a horrifying image. Its teeth are too big for the mouth that holds them which has caused bloody cracks to split in the skin around its muzzle. I let out a loud grunt as I swing my sword. It slices through the air and buries into the neck of the cat creature just before its teeth reach me. The creature lets out a pained yelp as the momentum of my swing sends it flying off to the side. It lands on the ground and rolls around before going limp. Blood pouring from the gaping wound on its neck.

"Come on you fucks," I snarl and I ignore the burning pain in my shoulders from the claws of the first creature. Wounds that I have aggravated more by using my weapon. I can feel my own blood dripping down the skin on my arm and soaking the clothes around it. The rest snarl and begin to leap toward us. The beast behind me lets out an all mighty, deep roar. So loud that I can feel the ground vibrating beneath me. This stops the creatures for a few seconds. But they then start toward us again. The first one to get to me I kick out of the way. My leather boot slams into its face with as much force as I can muster. I hear a sickening crunch as it falls to the ground and yelps in pain. The next is on me in an instant. I lunge forward, burying my sword down its throat. Quickly, I pull the sword out ready for the next attack. It comes only seconds later. Out of the corner of my eye, I see something flying toward me. I duck. I feel the creature fly over my head. It skims my hair landing on its feet next to me. I swing my sword up, slamming it into the underbelly of the next creature that had tried to jump toward me. Quickly, I stand up again. My breathing is heavy as I look around me. There are still six left and they are coming at us fast. I

In my few seconds of distraction, a creature sneaks up on me. It slams me into the ground. I let out a scream as pain shoots through my back again as I land on. Though this time, I am quicker to act. Before the creature can get a proper hold on me, my feet are slamming into its stomach. I use the momentum of my fall to kick it off. It goes flying behind me and not even get a chance to land before the monster has caught it by the throat by its teeth and is ripping its head from its neck. I jump up to my feet quickly. The monster shakes off one of the creatures from its back, throwing it toward me. I slice my sword across its stomach as it flies. It crumples to the ground awkwardly. Landing in a bloody leap. When I see no more attacks coming toward me, I allow myself to look around properly. There are three left. Their ears are pinned back and they snarl. They walk away from us slowly. Walking backwards as to not take their eyes from us. They slowly disappear into the fog and with a yelp, I hear them running from us. I take quick, deep breaths as the adrenaline begins to subside and the pain of my injuries begins to sink in. My shoulders burn and there is a heavy ache in my back. I wince as I turn to face the monster that saved me.

It is huge. Like a bear but bigger. It stands on all fours with paws the size of my chest. It has two long fangs poking out of its mouth and hanging over its jaw and a coat which is pure black and matted with blood. It looks at me with piercing blue eyes. I gulp. My mind begins to wonder. Did this monster only save just so it can kill me itself? I raise my sword slowly though with my burning shoulders, it is hard work. The bear creature lets out a huff before standing on its hind legs. I frown, confused.

My eyes widen as the bear begins to shrink and its fur changes. Its whole body shape changes.

"What?" I whisper to myself.

A man stands before me. He wears a long black coat and a hood that covers his face. I am speechless. I remember a man changing into a beast from my vision. I just had no idea it was actually real. I keep my sword raised as the man lifts his hands to his hood. He removes it and my eyes widen.

"Hello, Princess," he says with a cold smile.