“Don’t let her get away!”
“Where is she?”
“That way, sire.”
Some of the multiple men yell in the forest in pursuit of Daciana; as she tries to escape from the castle that made her ten years miserable. She's not good at running fast compared to the guards, but the way she covers her tracks and smell makes the most agile and smartest of trackers will take her hours or days to find her. She had to learn this skill in the castle while being ordered and tortured by many of her captors, except for the two male guards who were kind to her, and gave her food to eat, albeit it was only once per day.
Daciana felt a sting on her toes as she was running and dodging all these trees in the forest. She stopped in her tracks immediately and checked on what hit her. It was interrupted by one of the men who are after her; it's either one of the two things: get her back to the castle so the rumors won't spread about a lone survivor of an extinct pack or kill her right there and then.
She does not want any of those to happen.
The ragged lady tried to find somewhere to find, and she found a hole under a tree to her east. This must be a trap by a human hunter who left it wide open. She went inside the hole and covered her smell with a perfume she made for herself, covered the hole with a pile of grass on its side, and lastly, she covered her mouth so that she wouldn't get heard by anybody at all. Not even an animal can approach her.
The pursuers are beside the top of the hole where she was hidden. They are talking about which direction she might have been.
“I think she might have gone there,” said one guard, most likely pointing to the western part of the forest.
“What about there?” Asked another one, who was pointing to the eastern part of the forest.
“Why would she go there, that’s the outpost of the camp,” answered another. An argument ensued. As the guards who were once in unison started to get divided, a small ray of hope shone on her, for a while, until the commander of these guards broke their argument and started to lead operations.
"The girl does not know anything at all about this whole territory of ours, so she might not have gone too far, you hear?" Guards started to agree with him and spread out to catch her. When nobody was around anymore, she winced as she realized that a small piece of wood had pushed through one of her toes. It might be a little wood, but it will affect how fast she will run. Realizing that she has a hard time dealing with this, and the pain is slowly affecting her already, she let out a moan of pain, but quickly endures it; she does not want to experience the same sufferings over again.
The grass that was piled up earlier was removed, and she looked upwards. There was the guy who helped her a couple of times while being the personal maid of the so-called royalties. He held out his hand, but she was afraid to do so.
He is the commander of the guards, why would he try to help her get out of this?
“It’s okay,” he said in a fierce, yet reassuring tone. “Nobody’s going to – ”
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the traitor,” a deep voice said. “You know I can put you up with treason with that, right?” He pointed at the guard who was holding her up. Daciana felt fear loomed over her spine as the man who they are talking to is none other than Prince Artemis, the sole heir of the crown and is a sadistic and cold-hearted individual.
None of them moved as the prince walked to them. The sheer amount of fear and intimidation the prince exudes is enough for them to render paralyzed in their places.
“What are you going to do with her?” He asked. The guard, shakingly, pushed Daciana away from them. The prince smirked and looked at the guard who was raising his sword. “Oh, I see. Helping the captive get away from the castle. What are you going to benefit from it?”
He didn’t answer the prince. Instead of replying to him, he slightly shifted his head towards Daciana, who was on the ground. “Run, don’t look back,” he said.
With that short command from him, Daciana sprinted towards the exit of the woods. She does not know whether the prince will be slightly wounded when he finds her or not, but she knows one thing.
It won’t even be a battle.
Prince Artemis has set his sights on the traitor of the pack that he belongs. He was eyeing the woman who is a pretty fast runner, he did not even bother looking at this commander’s eyes.
He feels disgusted towards traitors.
“Look at your opponent's sire,” the commander yelled. He was swift on his feet and the blade almost reached his eyes. Being arrogant like he always did, the prince barely dodged the attack, and a small wound has formed in his right cheek. He glared at his opponent and is now focused on him.
“Now, you can look at me. You are arrogant like your father and mother.”
Artemis chuckled. “I’ve been called worse.”
“It doesn’t matter whether I win or lose, all that matters is that girl – ” the guard was cut short when Prince Artemis just ripped his head off; werewolves have enormous amounts of strength to spare. He looked at the head of the traitor and observed it properly. His expression was in shock, and blood was overflowing too. He looked at the direction where the girl was headed, he tried to sniff her smell, and he smiled as he smelled her blood.
He ran at an incredible speed and caught up with the girl. Daciana had her eyes wide open and stopped, he also did too, blocking her way out.
“Surrender peacefully,” he commanded quietly. “You can’t even fight, so why – ”
He felt a kick on his left cheek, causing him to drop on his side. He is being outmaneuvered by a lot of people lately. He stood up quickly and tried to punch their captive, but Daciana’s agility made her dodge the fast attack and he kicked the prince in the other side of his face. Prince Artemis let out a growl.
“So persistent, why are you fighting? There’s no one out there waiting for you, everybody’s dead.”
“It’s better than being your captive. Anywhere is better than here,” she replied with a lot of conviction in her heart. Artemis saw that through her eyes, so he smiled and stood up, in his fighting stance. It was a long time since he saw a fighter with a heavy will, most of his opponents back then were lifeless dolls who only yearn for battle.
“Fight me,” he commanded.
Feeling weak, Daciana willed herself to approach him and attack using her right hand. Artemis intercepted it by tilting his head to the left side and holding her arm, intending to break it. Feeling his grip got tighter, Daciana quickly kicked him towards the right side of the face again, but the prince threw her down to the ground and restrained her.
“Kill me,” she silently said.
Artemis couldn’t hear it, so he motioned his head so that he could hear what she had to say.
“Just kill me, please.”
The begging in her voice sounded differently. He might release her to the city, but it might risk her getting seen by other packs and it might cause a war. As a man of conviction and is steadfast at that, he carried the woman who was light to carry, because they feed her once every three days.
Approaching his castle, he thought of something: are they right for doing this?
His father and mother greeted him outside the castle, Alpha Remus and Luna Ylva. Instead of greeting his son and motioning them to move to the plaza, Luna Ylva slapped his captive, causing Artemis to let go and let her fall on the cold, hard ground.
A grunt could be heard from Daciana, and she felt that Luna held her face with anger and clear disgust. Used to this kind of treatment, it is better to fight for a short while. She spits on her face, letting go of her, and Daciana laughed at the brief satisfaction she had.
Luna tried to stomp on her, but the Alpha stopped her and ordered the guards to get her to the plaza. She did not fight back; her life was already over when she got back to this castle. She could only look at the clear sky, dreaming what would have happened if she had just killed herself.
She was being put down by the guards on a steel pole and she heard a guard readying a whip. Classic, a whip as a punishment for her, it’s not new for her to be treated like that. She looked at her side and she saw one of the guards who was sitting at an electric chair. Their eyes crossed and the guard looked at her not with disgust or regret, but with dissatisfaction and sadness.
“Be strong,” he shortly said and without announcement, he was being electrocuted. With the screams the man did, Daciana could only look at him and the whip had not much effect on her. This is the second time that people have died in front of her, and she wouldn’t want that to happen anymore; yet it happened. After the whipping, she couldn’t feel anything at all and just sat there because of fatigue.
“Where should we take her?” the guards asked.
“Put her in the dungeon!” Chloe said as she suddenly came up to join them. “It would be a shame to still give her a decent room after causing us all this trouble.”
“Please don’t!” Daciana pleaded. She knew being taken to the dungeon would take away the very little liberty she needed to feel dignified.
“Come to think of it, you actually deserve it.” Luna Ylva seemed to agree with the suggestion of her daughter.
Chloe was satisfied by this. Daciana always got on her nerves by the way she kept on insisting for a freedom she simply didn’t have anymore. It made her very delusional in Chloe’s eyes. She smirked and spat on Daciana’s face.
“Guards, take her to the dungeon!” Luna Ylva commanded.
"No... please. No..." Daciana repeatedly begged while trying to fight the guards who were going to carry her. From her anger, she kicked and put down the two guards who removed her from her shackles. She set her sights on Chloe, and when she was about to attack, Artemis moved in quickly and punched her in the stomach, causing her to be weakened and fall to her knees.
“I will take her to the dungeon. Clean this place up,” he ordered everyone and immediately followed his command. Alpha Remus quietly walked towards his room, and it was clear that Chloe and Luna Ylva were quite shaken by the glare of their captive. They thought she couldn't fight anymore.
Daciana couldn’t resist any more when she was being carried by Artemis; his rock hard body and tight grip was too much. From the bottom of her vision, she could only look at the lifeless body of the guard who saved her and taught her how to fight.
It was a long walk from the plaza to the dungeon which is located at the backmost part of the castle. Prince Artemis was accompanied by a guard who was tasked to watch over her. The woman seemed to be quiet already, though he could still feel the mix of tears and saliva on the shoulders of his shirt where he was carrying her.
“Tell me,” Prince Artemis glanced at the soldier who was following him. “Will you betray us?”
“No sir,” the guard firmly said fast. From that quick response, Prince Artemis already confirmed his loyalty to the crown and will not doubt him… for a while.
They opened the door to the dungeon, and it was filled with dust, cobwebs and a dark, spiral staircase.
“This is disgusting,” the prince commented. The guard just replied with a grunt and from there, they descended into the dark staircase with a flashlight. They are waving their hands randomly because of the formed cobwebs around the walls down below.
When they finally took the last step, the guard immediately ran and opened the cell and Prince Artemis carefully put her down instead of tossing her around. Her bones might have been too brittle already from all the whip that she endured earlier.
“Guard her here, and wherever she goes around the castle. Never let her out of your sight,” Prince Artemis commanded the guard and headed upstairs. Daciana overheard that even though she feels weak already, as if wanting to sleep.
