Ch. 57

“Foxy”

I am awakened by the moving of Halfy off the bed. The bed groans in protest. Halfy stretches his face low to the ground with a yawn and his tail high in the air. Halfy shakes his porpoise skin, and it glistens in the sunshine that is shining through the sky light now. He walks toward the doorway, and I hear someone patting his head. I can count on one hand the people Halfy lets do that.

I pull the covers over my head and growl while stretching my own tired muscles. Every bone, joint snapping, and crackling. Nyx, I could stay in this bed forever.

“Lady Mihaela you’ll miss morning training. Devlyn requested you.” Chalia says so sweetly as she move across my room. I hear her dainty footprints shuffling against the wooden floor.

“Just tell her I got stuck in this bed…forever…a terrible tragedy.” I say as I fully stretch as much as I can. I dead weight back to the bed with a thud.

“I mean I can tell her that, but you won’t be getting as sweet of a wakeup call has this if I do, and you know it.” Chalia says and I can hear her picking up things from the floor from last night shenanigans. Nyx, the hobby room. I wonder if she has even been in there yet…

“On second thought, I have been out of training for a few weeks now, plus it’ll be nice to hit something.” I throw the covers off me and launch myself out of the bed.

“That took less convincing than I thought it would.” Chaila says while fixing the bed I had sprung from.

I need to move to quickly before Chaila can see the disaster that lays in wait of my hobby room. I’m pretty sure there was an arrangement of absurd colors splattered all over the ceiling.

I move swiftly to my bathing chamber, brush my teeth, wash my face, and throw on some active leathers, and make sure not to forget my opal dagger. I look at the view in the mirror before leaving. My ward burns are nothing, but faint spider web like bruises now, and my ankle is a hideous yellow color but is mostly healed now. Slowly fixing all the damage I put this body through over last few days. The faint pink lines on my arm catch my attention. Shit, I need to grab a jacket.

I exit the bathing chambers and I am met with Chaila staring eyes. Shit.

“Is the spot in hallway from something?” Shit I forgot about that, again…

“Yes, I’m sorry. I tripped over Halfy.” I say while trying to slip on my boots even faster and shoveling through my armoire. I grab a light jacket and quickly put it on.

“Are you alright?”

What a tricky question. Am I alright? Am I alright with the unweilding powers inside that are still changing? Am I alright having an inner beast that needs to be fed….and has been awfully quiet lately…Am I alright after letting said beast rip apart…what was is an…Oreli? Am I alright after listening to Oreli say something about how some they are coming for me? No, I guess I’m not alright, but I’m at least okay or okay-ish, right? Although am I really, okay? I don’t know, but I know hitting something will make me feel a little better even for a little bit.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I even manage a smile before I head out of my bedroom as quickly as I can after slipping on my other boot. I reach the hallway and noticed Halfy patiently waiting by the clawed marked door.

Nyx, I can’t wait to hit something, so very fucking hard.

---

Halfy and I make good time through the castle until we reach the outside the castle in the outside market area. We start making our way to training area. I can feel the late autumn air chill move past my hair, that I left down in a hurry. Good thing Mother will be busy this morning, so she wouldn’t be making another big display to shame me again. Hopefully Devlyn has something I can use to tie it up.

I try to ignore all the normal stares and whispers, but with the increased number of clans and their officials that are footling around the castle it is hard when they are literally everywhere.

Halfy…

Without missing a beat, he leans his massive head under me and tosses me over onto his back. They will keep staring and watching, but no one is going to stop an Akhlut on a mission with undesirable questions and comments.

I wrap my fingers with Halfy’s white fur. I take a deep breath and the late autumn chill cuts through me again. The sky is filled with rain-less clouds everywhere, visibly every inch is covered. Rounds and bubbly edges, making the sky look like a waves of the seas that separate all the great lands. The air is thick from last night’s rainfall. I can feel my hair start to cling to the sides of my face. A distant fog covers the market space far out of my view, but I can see the moments of others in the distance. Ranging in all, shapes, and sizes.

Halfy moves gracefully past some guards on mounts, actually there are a lot of guards out. A bonus of having some many shady clans in one spot. I wonder what, what was his name…Rolf… is doing? Or Nyx, the dwarves? The cute little faires.

Halfy stops and shakes his massive frame and I tumble to the ground. Luckily, I’m blessed with powers because my reflexes are shit if I’m too involved in my own head. I feel my wind push against my hand as I reach for the hard earth below me.

You could have just said, we arrived.

Halfy walks in front me and sits. He searches for my eyes, meets them with the sweetest of every ginger candy, and throws his head back and lets out a sound that is a mixture of a howl and long-drawn-out bark, a boof if you will.

You are so funny, aren’t you?

As I stand and brush myself off, I catch a flash of short wine hair at the edge of vison. Devlyn.

She is sparring with none other than Sadar. The size comparison only is almost comical, but each strike from each of them is deathly and precise. Devlyn is taller than me, and I haven’t found anyone quite as big as Sadar although some of Varcolac are pretty close. I hear the clanking of metal, oh Devlyn brought out her weapons.

Surprisingly the training area is packed. Most are watching the best fighters I have ever seen battling it out, but there are a few trying out the sparring dummies and sparring of their own.

Some dwarves, along the edge of the training area seem to be drinking some of the autumn ale and placing bets on the victor. Sadly they don’t seem to know the reputation Devlyn’s has. She fights dirty. I’m betting she is either go for the knees, or hurt Sadar’s pride or something, but we’ll see.

There are some Varcolacs circled around Sadar and Devlyn quietly watching whispering back and forth. I wonder if Sadar knows any of them. Rolf is among them looking like he sparred himself. A bruise along his cheek shining in the rising sun, a deep shade of purple, I can even see at this distance.

I feel that exposed feeling crawling up my mind. I scan through the crowd, up and down, past a group of nymphs who feel so out place in this crowd, a group of shifters tackling each as a bear and a fox that is nibbling at the bear backend, a group of what I guessing of witches and wizards just watching the area, and past them he stands across from Iamys.

They are sparring and it looks like Zanir is winning. Zanir’s eyes on me with a fangless smile and slip lip. Iamys takes the moment of distraction to his advantage. Grabbing for one of Zanir’s legs, but not gaining more than an inch.

“I was wondering when you’d get here?” I snap my head in the direction of the voice I have grown to love. Devlyn comes strolling over, with small cut along her forehead, a dagger that drips with a dark red liquid in on hand and in the other hand one of Sadar’s braids.

r one of Sadar’s braids.