HUNTING GROUNDS

I am not a queen because I rule. I rule because I am The Queen.

Birthed in my heart. Alive in my veins…

****************

Nadezhda readied her weapon and quickly fired at the masked man who had briskly turned from the soldier to her.

She was clearly the one he wanted.

Her fletched arrow hit the tree the man had dropped from, missing him.

The soldier tried to grab a hold of the man but another masked man dropped from the tree and held both his hands to his back. Now there were two of them.

She fleetly plucked another arrow from the quiver at her back and loosed the arrow toward him, but his body moved like someone born to narrow escapes- his limbs coiled and released with the precision of a frog’s. He sprang upward, dropped low, and vaulted again.

Nadezhda tracked him, exhaled, and fired as he landed- but he was already in the air again. She aimed too late. Her shot went wide.

As he descended, her gaze locked onto him.

She readied another arrow, bending back even as he closed the distance between them. The string twanged. The arrow flew. It struck his forehead- but met the hard shell of his mask. He didn’t falter and crashed into her with full force.

The soldier that was behind them lunged in, yanking him off before the man’s poisoned curved blade could reach her face. But not soon enough because the tip nicked her arm.

She hissed as pain flared and the two men tumbled into the bush, swallowed by the slope. She pressed on the cut, blood trickling on her fingers as she looked around for the other soldier- the one who had been attacked first.

He was nowhere in sight.

Her eyes went towards the trees to see if there was any unusual figure lurking to watch her let her guard down. She was already feeling terrible for the states of the soldiers and then there was this burning sensation from the cut.

But she couldn’t flee the hunting grounds, not without them, not when she was the reason they were here in the first place.

She went towards where she had last seen the beaver and looked around.

The rustle of leaves stirred from where the soldier had grappled with her assailant. She ducked behind a tree, cloaked in breathless dread. A glance, a held breath, and then a dreadful breath shattering.

Her soul exhaled.

It was the other soldier and as she stepped from hiding, she could see relief unfurl from his desperate gaze.

Her presence quelled the storm behind his searching eyes.

‘‘My deepest apologies My Lady, I lost him.

What may I do?’’ he inquired as he glanced at the cut on her arm.

She clenched her jaw, catching the concern etched across his face. She withdrew her hand, steeling her features even as pain pulsed and her molars ached with every biting twitch of the wound.

‘‘We’ll get our comrade, then we head back immediately’’

They set to searching right away and within half an hour, they found him – sprawled in the dirt, gashes on different parts of him. Nadezhda pressed her hand to her mouth, her thoughts a storm of fear, the question that pounded in her head too dangerous to voice.

The soldier wasted no time, lifting him onto his back and moving swiftly away from the hunting ground. Nadezhda trailed behind every step heavy.

The moment they crossed into the Palace grounds, Nadezhda spotted her chambermaids huddled together, approaching the soldier to inquire about her. When they caught sight of her, they hurried toward her, but before they could speak, she caught the unmistakable powerful strides of a colossal figure. Recognition hit her, the same moment her sight swam. She blinked and fought back the whimpers of pain her body was passing through.

She pushed herself and when he neared, she sent a punch calculated for his jaw. Her hand crashed against the solid armor plating of his chest and she gasped, stumbling backward. Before gravity could claim her, he grabbed her, steadying and cradling her in a firm hold.

‘All of this… because of him. Had he told me he would take the crown, I would have turned away. I would have spared myself the pain and spared others, too. I wouldn’t have let my anger fester and choose to spill it on creatures that didn’t deserve it. I would not have brought ruin to that poor soldier.

With a trembling whisper, her eyes falling shut, a tear sliding down, she sputtered, ‘‘Curse you, Zorgan of Valcresh.’’.

Zorgan’s thumb slid the tear off her cheek. “It’s a strange kind of joy seeing you again, My Enchanting Rebel,’’ and he lifted her towards their home, his heart hammering a furious rhythm.

*****************

Consciousness returned with the slowest of tides, and with it came a voice – sharp, biting, drilling, and pained.

A man stammered in response, his voice brittle with fear, definitely tethering on the edge of panic.

She blinked her eyes open, the movement slow.

‘‘M-My Lady!’’ Astrid’s cheerful but tear-filled voice broke the tension in the room.

Aida and Camille cried directly after in that same manner, ‘‘My Lady!’’

The sound of their rushing steps reached her just before they dropped by the side of the bed. She slowly turned to their swollen faces with tracks of unrelenting tears. She smiled but she was soon assaulted with bouts of cough.

‘‘Grab the water!’’ Zorgan’s voice commanded, and Aida, who was closer, took hold of the cup of water from the bedside cabinet. Camille helped her to gradually sit up before the water was given to her. She felt relief in her throat, her bones, and her head.

‘‘Thank you,’’ She said softly to them, and they nodded, tears still falling off Camille’s face.

Zorgan moved to the foot of the bed, his eyes taking her in. Her chambermaids noticed him, his presence taking up all the energy around and Camille immediately laid her back to rest.

‘‘Rest now, My Lady.

We’ll return soon with something warm to eat. The Physician says your body needs time- it’s still battling the last spread of the poison’’

A sharp throb pulsed in her temples, but she instantly forced herself upright. ‘‘Poison? I was poisoned?

And how much time? Tell me, how long have I been in this state?’’

“Today is the fourth bloody day, and yes…yes, you were poisoned, Nadezhda’’ Zorgan’s angry retort boomed.

He was in a loose awkward white shirt, noticeably oversized, the straight-cut neckline stopping just above his first rib. All who had seen it on him considered it ridiculous and not even Dorian had been able to tell him of it.

His usual calm and friendly expression has been simmering with a promise of violence since he had carried Nadezhda back to the house.

The pain in Nadezhda’s head was swiftly consumed by a rising fury as her gaze locked with Zorgan’s blazing eyes.

‘Whatever madness has you wrapped up, it’s nothing compared to what I’m about to bring on you’ Nadezdha thought.

‘You’ll answer for choosing to hunt like a godforsaken predator’ Zorgan seethed silently.

Without another word, Astrid, Camille, and Aida bolted from the room, the very air crackling with a heat that threatened to incinerate them.

‘‘Valcresh stands tall again with your return, Crown Prince Zorgan’’ Nadezhda spat, tone laced with mockery.