The Blood King's Bride

The Kingdom of Pres.

The King's Palace...

"Your Majesty," a guard said, running towards the throne seat with his head bowed. Once

he was close enough, he saluted the king by going on one knee.

"The warriors you sent out in search of the missing princess has returned."

"Really?" The king said, his face brightening. He looked at his wife, who sat on her

throne next to him, and smiled before looking at the kneeling guard.

"Bring them in." He ordered.

"Yes, your majesty." The guard stood up and ran out the same way he came, and after a

few minutes, shuffling of feet could be heard at the entrance of the throne room, and men, about twelve of them, filed inside. They walked majestically and proudly toward their king, but something was off amongst them, and the king noticed it immediately. Once they had paid their respect to their king, they remained on their knees, waiting for the king to speak.

"Where is your leader?" The king asked. The hall was silent, and the tension was as thick

as skin. The warriors looked at themselves, anger pouring through their features.

"He abandoned the mission, your majesty." One of them answered.

"What do you mean?" The king asked, frowning deeply.

"We do not know, your majesty."

"Narrate your experience." The king ordered.

"We found the girl at the kingdom of Neba. She was living the life of a commoner. Daruki was the first person to find her-"

"Daruki?" The queen exclaimed, cutting in. The king looked at her questioningly before permitting them to continue their story.

"Yes, my Queen. He was the one who found her first. Using the help of a man who was

the enemy of the person she was living with, we were able to capture her. She tried to fight us off but didn't succeed. We captured her, and Daruki hid her. He told us that we would not be able to move early to avoid anyone catching up to us, or tracking us back to the kingdom. We agreed with him, even though we didn't understand. A few days later he came to us and told us that he had released her. We were enraged as all our work had been for nothing. We asked him why he did that, but he just told us to pass you a message."

"And what message is that?" The king said scarily calm, though his hands tightened on the handle of his throne seat.

"What thou doest, thou shalt reap." The warrior said, quoting the message asked of him. The king, unable to rein in his anger any longer, stood up and walked toward the servant that held his goblet and wine. The servant held them on a tray, and so the king dragged it forcefully from the servant, walking back towards his throne seat before throwing the load over

the throne room, close to where the warriors knelt. A loud crash could be heard in the somewhat empty hall, yet the warriors didn't flinch. The floor where the tray landed was slowly turning crimson, as the wine jug had broken and the wine was pouring out. No servant stepped forward to clean the mess, to avoid partaking in the king's rage.

"I helped someone and he bit back the hand that saved him. Daruki, I swear you would

regret this." The king said, his face red from anger.

The queen sent out the warriors from the hall as the king was still sorting out his anger.

When they had left, the queen placed her hands on the king's hand, causing him to turn and look

at her. Even though he was fuming, he knew that he couldn't take out his anger on his wife.

"This Daruki that you speak of," the queen started, "... can you please describe him for me?"

The king looked at her curiously, though still angry just at the mention of the name. He didn't question her and described him as best as he could.

"Tall, lanky man. Very powerful. He has a huge scar across his face and so many injuries along his body."

"Where did you find him?"

"In the area between the Kingdom of Tush and the Wastelands. I had gone over there seeking who would help me in my quest for the throne, and I found him lying in the middle of the road, almost dead."

The queen had a strange look but continued her strings of questions.

"So you helped him?"

"Yes, I did. And after I was done, he swore to help me for saving his life. I told him that

he didn't have to but he was adamant about it. Knowing that probably wherever he came from wasn't safe, I brought him here, to this kingdom. Wanted to give him a house but he agreed on staying in the forest. Haven't called on him since then and when I finally do, the bastard betrays me and gives me a damn cryptic message!" The king said, getting riled up again.

The queen was silent, deeply going through her thoughts.

"How did you know he was powerful?" She asked. All he has told her was of how he

found Daruki, but not of how he knew his powers.

"I visited him one day in his log abode and saw him practising. His sword dance was

beautiful as it was mysterious, casting an androgynous feel of softness mixed with pure strength

and power, elegance filled with destruction. I do not know why I felt that way, but I knew immediately that it would not be hard for him to kill off a hundred men at once."

The queen nodded, keeping her face stoic.

"Why are you curious, though?" The king suddenly asked. The queen immediately gave

him a charming smile, which made the king smile back.

"Of course to help you, my king."

*****

Later during the night, in the silent comfort of the queen's room, the queen sat by her dresser, brushing her hair and waiting for the king's presence. She thought of what the king had told her earlier, and she paused, bringing her hands along with her brush down to her lap. "Daruki?" She whispered. "It's impossible." The candlelight on her dresser illuminated

the malevolent features that etched her face, a strange yet evil presence suddenly surrounding

her.

*****

In the Dark Forest...

Days had passed since Calhoun, and his group walked through the dark forest after defeating the strange being. After assuming their rest that day, they continued their journey straight, deeper into the forest. Calhoun regretted not asking the being for a shortcut before killing it because their journey was beginning to seem endless. They were almost out of food supplies, and they hadn't seen anything edible to eat in the forest. Not that they could even eat it if they did find, with their trees floating and the leaves being black and dark grey, one would not

be that desperate to eat anything that grows out of it except expecting death. They hadn't seen nor

heard any animals apart from the birds, and that was during the fight with Damianos. Ever since he had killed the being and absorbed his blood, he had difficulties burying his power. His power fought for release within him, fighting for control and wanting to be let out. He wished he had a private place he could go work himself out. Back at his kingdom, he always did strenuous tasks till he bled or fought beasts five times his size in the forest surrounding his abode without releasing his powers, all just so that he could bleed. It was the only way he could beat his power down under his control. He couldn't do that here, though, because no strenuous work could cause him to bleed, and there were no beasts he could fight. He doubted that even if they were present, he would be able to carry it out without scaring off his crew. His guards might act all strong and mighty, but they were still young and yet to perceive the scent of battle. He sighed, placing his hand on his face as he massaged his forehead. He was on his own on this journey. If his father had cared about his safety, he would have given him more able bodied guards, but he gave him the ones he would have to protect.

That damn man. Heaven knows what roam his mind.

He could understand his father to a point, though. He wouldn't want to use his powers on an occasion where it would hurt those with him, so that's probably why he gave him the guards. But truly, he wouldn't want to hurt those with him, regardless if they were strong or not. But it

would have been a special Bonus if they were strong. Especially as they were going on a dangerous journey.

His powers burned again, and he grunted silently, folding his hands tightly on his horse's rein. He didn't want to alert his companions, so he galloped a bit further from them, but not far enough that he couldn't see or help them should any danger come again. The surging was getting worse, and he finally understood his father's hassle for him to get a wife. He couldn't wait to get out of the damn forest. Hopefully, his ancestors would be merciful to him and show him his Bride immediately he steps foot out of the forest.

After spending so many days with Calhoun and his crew, Firoza grew comfortable around them. She was beginning to express herself more and laugh at the guards' jokes, feeling freer than she had ever felt. She didn't know their true identity, but she was okay with that because they had been good to her. She has picked up from them that their leader had to be a person of power, as she had overheard his guards on occasion call him 'My lord.' She began to consider herself a part of them slowly and silently wished, no matter how wrong it was, that they stay a little bit longer in the dark forest just so she could be alone more with them... With him.

She couldn't stop the silent attraction for their leader that fostered rapidly within her. She was beginning to notice everything about him. He was always deeply pondering, how his face scrunched up when he studied something, how he winced as if he was in pain and then covered it with a blank look. She had asked him if he was okay and injured anywhere, but he denied the claim. She stopped asking him because she felt her concern was making him uncomfortable. But she wished she could do more for him, though. She didn't understand the burning need within her that be with him. She had asked him for his name once, and he told her to call him Calhoun. Calhoun, the name fits him perfectly.

She almost purred whenever she was next to him, and when she was close enough that their skin brushed, it was like she was in heaven. The ecstasy she felt was enough for her to moan. She had done that once, and she doesn't know if he heard her or not, but she hadn't been able to come close to him since then. She tried getting close to his guards to see if she could learn more about him. She wanted to know his likes and dislikes, his dreams and aspirations. She wanted to see if he could learn to love... love her. All she wanted was to be wrapped in his presence, and it felt like that was all she needed. Just her and Calhoun, together. She had never had a serious dream before, but she had one after getting to know the handsome Lord;

Make him hers.