~Zayne~

'Cedric!


Deploy the search teams to check around the castle, NOW!"

I ordered Cedric, my voice stern.

'Okay I'm on it sir. But what about you?" Cedric asked me.


'Me and Rowan will check the forest for her. If someone kidnapped her. He will probably foolish not to take get away from the castle"

I said to Cedric, my back turned against him.


'Okay, I can come," Cedric suggested. Taking Cedric with us, won't be a bad idea. But I need him to head the search team in the castle, if Flora is indeed here.

'No, we're okay, I need you here"

'Zayne, I'm ready!" A distant voice reached my ears.

Rowan marched in my direction.

'OK, I will use your horse, right?" I said walking up to a white and brown and gently placing my hand on its fur.

I gently stroked its fur, my movement silk.

'Okay, after all Milkshake is the fastest"

Rowan named his horse Milkshake. It's been the longest serving horse at the castle. Rowan and myself included take it very dear to us.

'Okay come on let's go. The person who kidnapped Flora might still be in the forest" I got up on the horse.

Rowan joined and sat just behind me on the horse.

Hiyaa!!

With a swing of the rope tied to Milkshake, she took off at once heading straight for the forest.

Soon the looming structure of the castle faded into the sun and we reached the forest.

We rode on the horse through the narrow paths along the large forest.

Shadows loomed at every corner of the forest.

HOWL! HOWL!

My ears tingled as I heard the distant howls of rogue lycans.

'They're back. I thought they're all dead" I said to Rowan.

From the news I heard, all their tents and camp sites were burnt to ashes by my warriors.

I guess some survived.

'What do we do now? Do we go after them or do we look for Flora?"

Rowan asked.

'We look for Flora. The rogues can't possibly get to her.

Going after them is useless".

After a brief a moment to think for the best solution, I gave an answer to Rowan


As we ventured deeper into the heart of the forest, the air around us grew thick. An unsettling situation was beginning to stir up.

My shape ears picked up faint noises from the woods.

The soft crunch of foot marching twigs.

My eyes scanned through the shadows, Rowan glanced around nervously, we both could sense we weren't alone.

Suddenly, a low growl echoed through the trees.

We halted in our path, as we glanced around.

. 'They're coming for us, I can sense it!"

From the dense undergrowth, a trio of rogue lycans emerged.

Their fur was a glint blue colour, their eyes filled with a desire to tear at anything in sight.

'We need to….. '

But before I could finish, the trio of rogues surged toward us.

They moved like a tempest, a flurry of snarls and snapping jaws.

Me and Rowan managed to shift into our wolves, our instincts fired into overdrive.

Rowan lunged forward, using his bulk to tackle the first wolf, but the momentum of the pack was overwhelming.

I jumped right into their front, no fear in my eyes.

I pounced on one of the rogue wolves, my sharp claws sinking deep into his skin.

With me over his fallen body, I lowered my head and bit off his throat.

'Argh!!!"

I let out a light groan as one of the rogues bit my leg from behind me.

Turning behind me, a group of rogue wolves trooped in on me at once.

I swiped my massive fists at them, sending them left and right.

But looking ahead of me, more and more rogue wolves marched towards us.

'Rowan, stay close to me". I said to Rowan in a stern voice.

Looking over at him, his body was covered in rogue's blood.

'Charge!!!"

I screamed out.

Side by side, Rowan and I charged at the large pack of rogues.

Without relenting, we tore into them, biting off their flesh and bones.

We tore at them from one end of the pack to the other, taking a number of them out.

Rowan, we're going again! Stay close to me again!"

Standing by each other, our brows furrowed.

'Charge!"

I screamed again.

We ran at them again at full speed, no relenting. We tore into their middle yet again biting our way to the other side of their pack, where we first ran from.

We also took out a few of them.

My turning over to my side, my eyebrows raised in disbelief, my eyes widened apart and my lips parted open.

'Rowan!!!"

Rowan wasn't there.

My eyes searched around, looking for him.

'Oh no!"

Squinting my eyes tightly I managed to see him.

They held him up, grabbing either side of his arms and legs.

'I'm coming, buddy"

With an incredible speed, I zoomed off into the middle of their pack, grabbing Rowan and them zooming out.

The strong wind from my running is blowing off some of them.

They barely saw me take him, my speed was just too much.

'Are you okay?"

I asked Rowan, as I breathed heavily.

'Yeah"

He helped me back up to my feet, my body still weak to even stand up.

'Oh no, we're in trouble " I said to Rowan. We were surrounded by the rogue wolves.

They came in from either side of us and from the centre.

We were like sitting ducks to them, just waiting to rip into pieces.

I could barely move. I burnt all my strength, pulling off that extreme speed up to save Rowan.

I needed at least five minutes to recover myself well enough.

They were moving closer and closer to us in their great numbers.

I already accepted my faith.

I shut my eyes tightly, one of the rogues came up to my front ready to swipe his claws at me.

But after a while, I didn't feel anything. I gently opened my eyes, to see him dead on the floor.

What? How?

'Zayne, your saviours have arrived!" Cedric's voice reached my ears.

Turning behind me, I saw Cedric riding on his horse and behind him a few other warriors.

They shot arrows at a few Lycans, damaging them, but not killing them, but it served as a distraction for us.

' Rowan! Let's get to Milkshake"

We managed to sneak out of the battle field, walking up the forests to where we left Milkshake.

We found her in that exact spot, as expected.

'Come on girl"

We got up on Milkshake, whispering soft words to her trying to keep her as calm as possible.

'Let's go back!"

We rode Milkshake back to the battle area. Cedric and his warriors did a very good job, neutralising the rogues, but their number was just too much, they just kept on coming back.

'Cedric, we're leaving here! Now!" I clouded out.

'Okay sir!" Cedric answered.

We turned Milkshake to the other direction and ran as fast as we could away from the rogues.

We managed to dodge past branches and vines.

'Zayne keep up, they're still at our tails"

Rowan said, referring to scavengers of Lycans behind us.

'We're almost there!"

I could see the light coming up ahead, the leaves began to part open.

They kept at us until we left the forest and rode back to the castle.

'Thank you Cedric!"

I said coming down from Milkshake.

'NO problem sir!"

Cedric is my third in command of my warriors, after Thorn and Rowan.

But up to me, I get him over Thorn anyday. Thorn might be a better fighter, but his attitude worries me.

It's hard for me to trust him, the contrary is the case for Cedric.

He might not be the best fighter we have, but he is trustworthy and loyal to the end.

'Rowan, come with me!"

I walked to my room and Rowan ran to meet up with me.

'So Zayne what are we going to do?According to Cedric the search was unsuccessful and we as well didn't get anything in the forest. So what now? "

Rowan asked.

'Flora isn't in the forest. She is here and I'm sure of that"

I lowered my voice as I spoke to Rowan.

'I'll tell you everything in my room"

We walked together to my room, not saying a word till we were behind the four corners of my room.

I locked the door behind us as we entered.

'What's wrong, Zayne?"

'Flora is here and I'm sure of it. I had a feeling the person who almost killed Flora, hearing the news of Flora being awake would come back for her.

Maybe to kidnap her, so I hired my most trusted men at the main castle gates.

They didn't sleep all night, to make sure no one left the castle.

So the person who took Flora is definitely in the castle right now and so is Flora"

'Wow! So what now?" Rowan is unsure of our next move.

'Call in the people at the castle, no one leaves the castle until Flora is retrieved!!"

~Emily~

I was up in my room, just sitting on my bed all to myself.

The scene outside was disastrous. Everywhere was rowdy, everyone scrambling and losing themselves on the news of Flora's disappearance.

The feeling of insecurity stirred up among the people in the castle.

I can't come down there, that place is a madhouse.

'Where's Zayne?"

I asked myself. His kingdom is a madhouse and he's not here.

Suddenly, the faint but persistent noise from outside disappeared.

What happened?

I walked to my window, peeping through. I saw a few warriors arrive at the castle on their horses, including Cedric.

And then arriving behind them.

Rowan and… Zayn, speak of the devil.

They didn't retrieve Flora from the forest either. So where could she possibly be?

She's too innocent to go through all this.

KRANK KRANK

The loud noise of the castle's bell thundered through the whole castle.

What could be the matter now?

Has someone found Flora already? Or worse, dead?

I could only think and hope for good news.

I got dressed into my maids wear and walked downstairs.

There was already quite a crowd gathered at the courtyard.

Their loud chattering could be heard from quite a distance.

I cornered myself to one end of the yard, and I remained to myself.

I don't really have any friends here beside Rowan and Flora.

Rowan is busy right now and Flora is missing, so just me.

'Good day my fellow Lycans!"

Rowan stood on an uplift to dress the crowd, his voice loud and firm.

'I have come on behalf of the king, Zayne to address you"

Is Zayne too busy to send his information himself? Why is he sending Rowan?

'By direct orders I have come to tell you that from now until at least we find Flora, no one is allowed to leave this castle premises no matter what"

What? Is Zayn crazy?

Murmurs exploded from various areas of the crowd.

Their voices were disgruntled.

'I'm sorry for the inconvenience it will cost you but please know it's for the best.

And if anyone goes against this rule. He or she will be punished before being interrogated.

Thank you"

Rowan stepped down from the uplift and walked away from the crowd.

I walked back to my room and collapsed to the bed.

My eyes were a bit heavy.

I gently shut my eyes closed, and then opening them, a strong wind shivered my spines.

What? How?

Glancing through the window, to my surprise. A thick darkness covered the sky and it was already night.

I overslept, I must have been really tired.

I gently walked to the window, my foot glided across the floor.

I inhaled the fresh wind that blew across the sky.

The castle was empty, the silence was almost uncomfortable to me.

What is that?

I squinted my eyes tightly, noticing two figures leaving the castle gates.

Reta!! And Steph?

h