Sapphire A Huntress no more (Sapphire Book 1)

All good things come to an end. After the heat from yesterday night today felt like a cold shower on a winter day. The hunters bombed the gates and the towers instantly making their presence known. The white-brownish fields were now a battlefield. The stronghold was in ruin. Black smoke rose from the earth and ash fell from the sky replacing the pure white snow. Men and women on each side were falling one after the other. In that moment on that field there was no such thing as mercy. The men were angry and determined to eliminate their foe while the werewolves were menacing but calmer taking into consideration their surroundings. The men had one single task and that was to exterminate the opposing side. On the other hand, the wolves wanted to protect themselves and their pack.

A black wolf bigger than any other on the battlefield stood tall and menacing in the midst of what was, two or three days before, the stronghold’s garden. He was snarling so viciously that the hunters who, some with silver sabres some with guns and daggers, driven by instinct pulled back a few steps. On each side of the wolf were two others, one champagne blonde wolf and another ash blonde one protecting him. They were ripping through the hunters letting not even one pass by them. The three of them bled from the gunshots made by the hunters before them. So were other werewolves who were trying their best to protect their king and at the same time the entrance to their outpost. As I looked upon the sight before me I remembered about the sapphire, a blue precious gemstone that resembled royal blood. Most thought it to be just a stone with nothing to it but the fancy form. Cole once said that my eyes were like sapphire jewels and when our enemies looked into my eyes or when his people did so, all felt inferior under my gaze. But was it like that though? Or were they only indulging me because I was his right hand? Either way to me sapphire was a simple stone. A vain object that had nothing I could want.

Various people thought the colour of the sapphire had the origins from the sky, some thought it was created by royal blood spilled in battle. In the matter of sapphire being made out of royal blood, or coloured by it, things were far from reality. The wolves fought off their assailers and killed as many as possible, the same was for the hunters who were fighting in pairs. Charles and the elders were in the front lines easily breaking the hunter troops. Saul was with him protecting his king. Their blood was far from blue.

Saul wanted me to stay inside. As soon as the walls came to a halt, after the tremor of the bombing, he kissed me passionately and asked me not to go outside. I think he saw something in my sapphire eyes that told him I won’t do as instructed. He was right too as I was now on the battlefield, a bow in my hand, against Stephen’s back. With the corner of my eye I saw Saul looking my way and shaking his wolfy head. His fur is fluffy, do you think? It appears to be. If it were not for Stephen, an arrow would have killed me instantly.

‘Pay more attention, would you?’ He said annoyed.

Yes, Saul sent him. Of course, how could I not? I may not know you for long. Well...his pause made my face turn red. Sorry about that, not the time now. What I am trying to say is that I knew you wouldn’t listen and come outside. How long have you been reading my thoughts? I asked pretending to be mad at him. Not long. I began when I saw you came outside. You’re a cheeky little boy. I heard that. And you know for a fact I am not little. At that I shot him out of my mind embarrassed. How he could find the time to joke about that in this scenario was beyond me. But what surprised me most was the fact that I trusted him so much. How come I came to be so close to him in just a few days? Has he put me under a spell? You’re a silly girl. Nire said laughing in my head. It is due to the mate bond. Cassidy and I told you that soulmates are made for each other. We are made for Saul......and Saul is made for us. She may be right but I was yet to align my mind with my heart. I have never had such feelings. My life before was that of a heartless huntress. I was what Cole trained me to be.

Rain poured with cats and dogs making the earth a natural trap. The woods were dark and wet, a blanket of wet and muddy leaves made each movement slippery. Training in this kind of weather was mandatory for hunters. Rainy days were preferred when attacking the enemy, it made it harder for werewolves to fight or so Cole and the instructors had said. My twelve-year-old mind had another theory, one that was never spoken. We chose rainy days due to the fact that on such days, werewolves gathered in one place and thus were an easy target. The other theory I had was that hunters were cowards and chose the easy way. I was in favour of the second one, of course I had never told a soul about this. I might have been young and naïve but I not stupid. For twelve years I had been near Cole and saw what he did to those who questioned him. I did not have a death wish, oh no. Until I reached the age of eleven he had trained me personally, far from the other hunter children or men and women. I had learned how to shoot with guns of different sizes and how to use a bow and arrow. He taught me the art of marksmanship since I was able to walk. Fighting lessons were on second place until I was eleven. From then on, he made me train with the adults. With no knowledge of face-to-face combat, I had a hard time adjusting. Every single day was torture.

My small body was thrown to the ground with such power that for a moment I was out of breath. It was not fair for me to fight two people at a time, not fait at all. The sweat made me blind for a moment. I had been training since early in the morning with no break. The rain made it so much harder. I will have bruises all over my body, again. I had been training with the others for a year now and the only improvement I had made was the number of bruises I had. Someone came out of the shadows and as if they knew what I was thinking they said.

’It does not matter what gender you are, what age you are. You have to be able to kill your opponent no matter if it is one or ten. Nothing is fair in war.’ Cole’s cold voice made me shiver. I was the youngest there. The only twelve-year-old training alongside thirty-year-olds or twenty-year olds. Cole was angry with me. I had not exceeded in martial arts combat at all since he made me train. His anger was most likely subsided by the fact that I was good with weapons, but he still punished me. He was harder on me than on the others, not as angry but his punishments were a torture.

’You have to watch your foe closely, never let them out of your sight. If you do, you will die. Your enemy has weaknesses, harness those and you will succeed. To make the most damage to an enemy kill their leader. That applies to every foe we have. Be it vampires or witches, be it werewolves, if you kill the leader you kill their hope. Smash that hope and you will have victory.’

I remembered that rainy day so well as I killed another hunter. Stephen was right I had to pay more attention. If what Cole taught me all these years ago was right then if we kill him the hunters will back off. I saw him and another man on the same hill I went to a few times before. He had the posture of an executioner awaiting orders. The man he had kneeling at his feet looked familiar. Where have I seen him before? Only when he looked up did I remember. He was the man in the dungeon. He had been there for a long time. I saw him once when I was escorted into one of the chambers in the dungeon to receive my punishment from Cole, a torture and be tortured game he thought off. I still had the scars on my back. I am curious what Saul thought of them, he said nothing when we lay together. I came back to reality when the man changed letting his brown wolf free and escaped Cole’s hold, not before taking a bite at Cole. He evaded him easily but in doing so, Cole let go of his hold on the silver chain that surprisingly did not break when the man shifted. Cole swore but let the wolf go. Why do you thing he let the man go? He has something else in mind, I think. No matter, now that I knew where he was I had to face him. Five men were fighting with Stephen, now shifted into his wolf. He had multiple gunshot wounds on him, nothing threatening, and yet looked much better than his opponents. The five hunters fell one by one under the force of his paws. I left him deal with the rest of the hunters near us and went to help Saul and the others.

I felt him before I saw him, Francis had charged at me out of nowhere but due to my werewolf senses I rebuffed his blow and took a charge at him as well. He was good, Francis new where to hit to make the most damage. He was one of the people who knew me best. I used to train with him and Robin from time to time. The two of them were the strongest but I was maybe the only one who knew that, Cole paid no attention to them.

‘Why have you turned your back on us?’ He said while he took another swing of his sword, this time slashing my right arm. ’Why did you choose those animals?’

‘They are not just animals Francis.’

‘How can you say such a thing? Look at them, these beasts are ripping us apart and you say they are not animals.’ He had a point the werewolves had no mercy as they snarled and charged at their enemy.

‘They might be beasts, but so are we. Francis...what Cole told us about werewolves was just one side of them.’ I tried to make him understand. But I realised that no matter what I said he had no intention to listen. He saw red in front of his eyes just like a bull. What I said made him angrier. He took out his gun and shot at me, I somehow managed to avoid the first shot but not the second one. I fell on the ground holding my leg, blood was all over. Distracted by the pain I did not react on time and his sword cut me again hitting the same arm as last time, this time deeper. I had the strength of a werewolf but I was yet to trust it and because of that my reaction was slow. I was about to be hit again when a wolf jumped in front of me taking the next attack full on. The wolf rose from the ground its right eye slashed by Francis’s sword making their champagne blond fur turn garnet. Francis cursed under his breath and retreated just in the nick of time as another wolf joined us. It was none other than Saul. His wolf was big and feral. His eyes were yellow instead of their usual forest green colour and I felt his rage flow through my veins. But that was one of the emotions he had, there was worry and love mixed with that rage and when he was sure I was not in danger anymore he shifted and took me into his arms.

‘This is why I told you to stay inside. Why won’t you listen?’

‘Why do you think I did not listen? I know you want to protect me but don’t you see? I want to protect you as well.’ Saul looked into my eyes and said nothing. He knew I was right.

‘Will you be alright?’ He said kissing me on the forehead. How come he is so warm?

’I will be. Go to Charles, he needs you more than I.’

Reluctantly, not before he stole a kiss from me, he changed into his beautiful wolf and took off.