Page 9 of Her Royal Blood

“Then swear fealty to Lord Polonius, leader of Tobran and maybe you’ll be recruited off this island as his soldier, but in order to have the honor of that opportunity you first need to swear fealty to me,” he had the gaul to say and it was my turn to laugh.

“Um, no.”

It took no more than those two words to set the pack off. In a lightning flash the group was upon me throwing punches and biting with gnashing teeth. I came back with an equal amount of fury. I avoided most of their blows and all of their bites as my legs kicked out with powerful jabs landing hard on stomachs and groins. My fingers clawed at their eyes and orifices scratching and gouging, unleashing the anger and hatred I pent up. I was a force of nature as my hands slicked on rivers of their blood which exploded from wounds I’d made.

Sounds erupted around me with cheering and goading from my allies and grunts and growls from my enemies. I was being assaulted on all sides as every muscle within me grew taught. I was about to shift into my wolf when a gut punch doubled me over. Momentarily stunned, I stopped, but only long enough to whirl around to my assailant and head butt him then jab my hand into his abdomen hard enough to feel his organs shift. He screamed out with such agonizing pain it made everyone stop for a beat. The leader emerged through the blood and pounding flesh to address me again.

“This fucking joker,” the leader spat blood from his cut lip onto the ground. “Thinks he can best us,” he said and then there was more laughter, the idiots. “But I’ve been guaranteed a way off this island. All I have to do is kill Prince Lex Redveign of Navarrah City and I’ll leave here with my freedom and a spot in Polonius’ Crypt Claw army. So hold still while I fucking murder you, Your Highness,” he mocks as he rears back ready to ram me through.

He shifts into a massive black wolf and I spare no time to shift into my red one. I hear gasps and sounds of shock as the prisoners around us discover that I’m royal and likely the eldest son of the crown. Even the soldiers keeping guard have taken notice. Those who had been sparring with us backed away leaving just the leader and myself in the middle of the pit.

“Come on then. Kill me,” I taunted the beast through our telepathy.

“With pleasure,” he responded and leapt for me, traveling quite a distance to land on my back and drive a bite into my spine.

I arched onto my hind legs in pain, toppling him off of me, and then all I felt was heat, rage, and indignation. This wolf would die. I came back at him while he scrambled to his feet and bit his neck, but he angled out of range and my teeth sunkinto his shoulder instead. His legs kicked back, bringing us to the ground where I rolled with him trying to overpower me.

I pulled us back up to our feet and pummeled him into the wall, while I used a move Aria often employed which was to jump kick pulling my hind legs forward to deliver a lethal blow to his gut. My paws made contact with the wall, he was a very good fighter and had moved away just in time. Undeterred I raced the opposite direction, making him come for me.

Cowardhis mind called out, not recognizing my strategy. I waited until he was close and leaped up into the air and with his momentum unbreaking he plowed headfirst into the mud wall, likely shattering his muzzle. While he staggered back, I jumped on his spine and locked my legs around his neck, ready to choke him out when he knocked me so hard against the wall, I slid off of him.

A twang pulled my heart taught and for an instant, I felt Aria. She wasn’t anywhere near me, but her wolf was there, its spirit was calling to me, dragging me toward her. In that one brief fraction of time when I wasn’t focused on killing the brute he rammed into me and used his head and neck to toss me high into the air, then placed himself in the spot where I would land. There was no getting out of it, when I crashed he’d have the upperhand.

I did rain down in front of him and he lunged to deliver the fatal bite to my jugular vein but I clawed at his eye, gouging deep enough to feel the membranes sever under my claws. That bought me enough time to get out from under him and push him back to pounce. I stood on top of him with my hind claw lodged into his artery in his thigh. He jackknifed and jerked with pain knifing through his body.

I shifted back into my human form and picked up a jagged rock from the ground and lodged it into the hole my claw made.His wolf is panting, as blood from his eye and wounds I’d made on his body seeped over his fur and dripped onto the ground.

“I’ll make you a better deal,” I said to the brute and all those around us who were watching; listening. “Anyone who is willing to fight against Polonius with Navarrah City and Onyx Rah will be granted freedom without servitude. You may live in any kingdom you choose as repayment for your loyalty and service. Your only requirement is to help us defeat him. I am Prince Lex Redveign of Navarrah City and I promise you war is coming, best you not be on the wrong side of it,” I yell at the brute under me. “Die now by my hand, or live and fight by my side? The choice is yours.” I stared him down as he shifted back into his mortal form.

He was tall, with long black hair that fell over the might of his massive shoulders nearly touching the strange tattoos. He took a long time staring at me with one good eye, the other was quite possibly ruined, a remembrance of our fight in the pit of this island.

After much deliberation he spoke. “I’m Hawk. I choose to fight!”

“With me?” I dug the rock into the wound ready to drag it down and end his life. “Or against me?”

“With you, brother.” His voice was a thin rasp.

I took the rock out of his wound and eased back. “Betray me and there will be death,” I warned him.

“By my own hand, for when I make a promise I keep it,” he said as he struggled to lift himself off of the ground.

I offered my hand. “In that aspect we are equally matched, I never break a promise.”

As soon as Hawk was off of the ground, the crowd cheered.

“That’s it now, show’s over,” a guard from above said. “Play your games Prince Redveign, but you’ll die here with the rest of them,” the guard laughed.

I bowed my head to the ground so that only Hawk could hear what I had to say. “Should he be our first when the time comes?” I looked at his good eye and smiled.

“Definitely,” he returned the smile and a friendship was born.

“I’ve been in my fair share of prisons, no cage will hold me.” I told him as we joined the rest.

“I hope that’s true, because this one is impossible to escape.” Hawk admitted more to himself than to me.

We remained silent as we were given housing assignments and work details. Hawk was on weapons as his work detail, but I was not assigned a position.

“You won’t last the night,” the guard informed me. “No need to give you a job when you’ll be dead by morning. This guy here can clean up your mess.” He nodded to Hawk who grunted in response.

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