Chapter 3: The Sighting of the Stormbringers

Joanna J

Property of the Alpha Prince

(Face book page: Joanna J)

Chapter 3:

The Sighting of the Stormbringers

Cory awoke hearing the pack warriors of Prince Hayden's court singing loudly. She got up hoping that Hayden's bad mood had burnt out. She shuffled out of her tent.

The men took no notice of her but kept on singing loudly and out of tune around the outed camp fire. Not one of them looked sober. Cory turned and saw Hayden coming towards her. He had on a blue riding outfit. She guessed he was going hunting with some of the men. She hoped he would not take her with him. She hated to see defenceless animals pursued and trapped even if it was needed for tonight’s dinner.

"Here," said Hayden once he had reached her. He put a bundle into her hands. 

"You can bathe and change by the springs," he said quickly without looking her in the eye. 

Then, he stalked off leaving her confused and miserable.

"Where are the springs?" she called after him.

He turned around. 

“Oh, um, they're just down that way,” he said pointing in the same direction as the lake. 

“They're before the lake. You remember the way. You just go east and…,” he stopped seeing the perplexed look on her face.

"I'll take you," he muttered. “C’mon."

They rode Blaython to the springs. Cory could tell the future alpha was still angry with her. He also looked pale and clammy like he had not slept at all the previous night. He did not say much to Cory if he could help it. He turned his back to her while she dipped into the cool springs.

When she was finished, she put on the dress that was in the bundle Hayden had given her. It was loose fitting and the same blue as Hayden's riding outfit with gold embroideries and a gold fringe. She figured Hayden had bought this in Campherri. It was probably originally intended for Madame Grosse, one of his father's advisors.

"You can turn around now," she told him once she was dressed and on the bank.

He turned around. He looked like he was going to grin at her but then he stopped himself and tried to look indifferent.

When they got back to the camp, Cory ate breakfast in her tent by herself.

Hayden ate with the men to spite me, she thought.

It was probably true. Normally, Hayden would stay with her all the time if she knew no one but him where she was but now he was angry with her.

"I didn't even do anything!" she fumed out loud to herself."He was the one who wanted me to meet Averina."

After breakfast, Hayden went with most of his men on a hunting party like Cory had predicted. He did not even say goodbye. Cory ate fish for lunch that a friendly old man had cooked. His name was Jon but the men called him Maddy. Truthfully, he seemed a little out of his senses to Cory when he offered the tree stump some fish as well.

Hayden and his men came back near sunset. Cory could scarcely wait for the night. She had been thinking about meeting Averina, Daisy and Desper all day. So much depended on it. Cory was going whether Hayden would take her or not.

When Cory heard Hayden and his men outside her tent, she did not come out to greet Hayden. It made no sense as he was determined to be angry with her. To her surprise, someone pulled back the curtain of her tent. It was Hayden.

"Can I come in?" he said.

She thought about saying no but she wanted them to be on good terms again.

"Sure," she said. 

Hayden stepped inside. He sat next to her on the cot. He seemed to have made up his mind about something.

"I wanted to talk to you," he said. 

Cory said nothing.

He looked at her. 

"I'm sorry I ignored you. I was just worried about you."

"Worried about me?!” said Cory incredulously.

Without warning, Hayden's arm draped itself around her, drawing her close to him.

"You're always putting yourself in danger," he whispered fiercely in her ear. "I don't want you to go to Averina tonight. I don't want you to go hunting that Mother Beast. You'll get yourself killed. Why would you risk yourself like that? You know it's impossible to defeat the beasts. I don't want you to get hurt. Please don't go!"

Cory's brown eyes looked up into Hayden's blue ones. She did not know what to say. How could she ignore this chance to rid her people of the beasts whether they had left without her or not? And then again, how could she not do what Hayden asked after he had travelled so far to see her, had saved her life and sheltered her?

She considered all of this and then made up her mind.

"But Hayden," she said, pausing so that she could choose her words as carefully as possible so as to not further incense the Prince. 

“If I succeed, we will be rid of the beasts and the people of Traketen and all of the neighbouring villages will never have to evacuate their homes ever again. Think about all the people those beasts have killed and all the people they will kill if left unchecked."

"I'm just fine as long as you're not one of those people," said Hayden stubbornly, pulling her closer.

Cory felt strangely flattered for a moment but then she felt sick with herself for feeling that way.

"How can you say that?" demanded Cory. "Don't you care what happens to all those people? And even if we did leave the towns forever, the beasts would follow and settle somewhere else so they could feed. They will never stop hunting the innocent. Don't you care about that?"

"Not really," said Hayden harshly, letting go of her suddenly and standing up. Cory could not believe what she was hearing.

"I'm going to see Averina tonight whether you like it or not," Cory yelled at him angrily.

"Go then!" he bellowed just as angrily.

"I'm not taking you. Good luck finding the lake," he yelled and with that he stormed out of her tent.

Cory lay in the dark on her cot. She was still fuming about Hayden. Part of her was flattered that he cared so much about her but most of her was disappointed and angry that he did not mind the deaths of so many.

She lay still, listening to the court men outside. Only three of them were still out there: the gruff-looking man who had asked her if she was the girl Hayden had come to Traketen for, the old peculiar man called Maddy and Prince Hayden himself.

She was starting to worry. How would she find the lake without Hayden’s help? She pondered on her predicament. Suddenly, an idea struck her. She would of course have to wait for the three of them to go to bed. Then she could sneak out of camp to where Blaython was tethered and slip away unnoticed. Hayden usually just spoke the name of the place he wanted to go and Blaython would race towards it. Maybe Blaython would do the same for Cory. He certainly seemed to like her. She would bring him some sort of treat with which to bribe him.

Eventually the gruff-looking man who was called Titan went to bed, leaving Maddy and Hayden by the camp fire. Maddy began to sing a song "for Prince Hayden" he said. After a while, Cory heard Maddy snoring. He had fallen asleep right in front of the camp fire. She was almost certain that Hayden would go to bed now but he did not. He stayed by the camp fire. Cory had been afraid of this, that he might keep watch so she could not leave to see Averina.

She got up as silently as she could and peeped around the curtained entrance of her tent. There was Prince Hayden only about twelve feet from her, sitting on a log in front of the roaring camp fire. Cory wondered if she could sneak past him or if she should just go and beg him to take her to see Averina.

Fortunately, while Cory debated on what to do, Hayden outed the camp fire with a bucket of water and went into his tent. Cory's heart leapt for joy. She waited a few minutes and then stole out of her tent with a lantern she had gotten from Maddy.

The night was windy. The cool breeze tossed Cory's black hair back and forth. She breathed in the fresh air deeply.

Suddenly, a pair of arms snaked around her waist from behind. Cory turned, startled. It was Hayden. She relaxed a little. She had expected something like this. Hayden took the lantern from her hand and placed it on the ground. He wrapped his arms around her again.

"Why, Cory?" he whispered.

Usually, this would have been the part where Cory would have flared up and stormed and raged at him for trying to stop her. However, she looked up at his worried face and found she felt no anger.

"Because I have to save my people," she whispered.

She buried her face in his chest.

"Why can't you just let me go?" she murmured into his shirt.

She looked up at him. He was looking down at her.

"Why?" she whispered.

Their faces were barely an inch apart. Hayden leaned forward. Cory inhaled sharply. Their noses brushed. Cory's heart was racing. Their lips could not have been any closer without touching. And then…

Maddy gave a deafening snore and woke himself up: "Wazappening?"

Cory and Hayden jumped apart and Hayden let go of Cory so fast she almost fell over.

"Ay," said Maddy, his wrinkled face staring up at them, "is that you Cory? Prince Hayden?"

The following day dawned as gloomy as Cory felt. It rained from morning to midday and did not stop there. The heavy rain turned the forest floor into streams of mud and reduced Cory's hope of defeating the marsh creatures to naught. She had not gone to see Averina the night before because Hayden would not take her and she had had a better chance of sprouting wings than finding the lake in the dark without Hayden and Blaython. The rain also scared her a little. She could not help wondering if it fell because the creatures were drawing closer. Perhaps, the Stormbringers, as Averina had called them, were on the move. Cory knew they would need to feed soon and all the villagers had gone. They would have to venture in the direction of the forest for food unless there was food for them beyond the marsh lands.

While she was still speculating about the creatures, Hayden walked into her tent, wearing a black cloak with the hood pulled up over his head. He was soaking wet. She could tell he had been pondering about the creatures as well.

"We have to move," he told her. 

"The men are packing up. We're heading back to my father's kingdom."

"But-" began Cory.

Hayden guessed what she was thinking: "There'll be time to reunite you with your family later, when we've located them. One of my men spotted three creatures on the slope this morning."

Cory's heart plummeted. The creatures were on their trail. Hayden dropped a black cloak like his next to her.

"Put it on. Hurry!"

Cory did as she was told and followed Hayden out of the tent into the pouring rain and lashing wind. The men were yelling to one another and dismounting the tents and loading them onto horse-drawn wagons.

Eventually, they got the job done. Hayden led Cory over to Blaython and settled her on the snow white tiger while thunder boomed above them. Men were swinging themselves onto their horses. Hayden got onto Blaython behind Cory. She grasped Blaython's leather collar as Hayden shouted to the men to move out.

The journey through the rain was long and difficult. They did not have a true destination at the moment. They just had to get as far away from the beasts as possible before they decided on an area to set up camp. Blaython had to go slower than usual so as to not leave the men on the horses behind. Cory felt sick. Her stomach felt like it was a pit of writhing snakes. It must have shown on her face for Hayden kept telling her not to worry.

"It'll be fine. You're with me!" 

He grinned but Cory could tell he was worried too. After what felt like three or four hours, the rain began to lessen and eventually subsided. Despite this, Hayden kept them going for another hour or two until they were out of the forest.

They came to a wide open meadow that stretched for miles over hilly land. It looked as if it had been very beautiful before the rain but the heavy downpour had battered the flowers to the ground and there had been a mudslide on the hill. The slanted landscape boasted several trees, four of which had slid from the top to the bottom and lay on their sides in the muddy meadow, covered in muck and grime.

It took them a while to cross over the fallen trees in the meadow. Hayden told them there was another forest beyond the meadow where they could rest. Cory's bones ached horribly even though she had barely moved in the past hours. She figured it was the biting cold. 

The men were elated when they came in sight of the other forest. Hayden was glad as well but Cory could not help feeling miserable. She doubted she would ever know how to defeat the Mother Beast. She would probably never see Averina again. Hayden tried relentlessly to cheer her up.

"You'll love it there," he said, stressing that four-letter word. 

"It's beautiful — the forest. All sorts of creatures live in this forest. My father told me about it. I'll take you on a tour as soon as you've rested."

He grinned cheerfully at her as they came closer to the forest's edge. From the distance and through the mist, it looked like a joyless dark cluster. Cory bit her lip. Without warning, Hayden leaned over and gently pressed his lips to her cheek. Cory felt her cheeks blush reluctantly as warmth flooded through her body.

"Cheer up, Cor," he pleaded, wrapping his arms around her and nuzzling his nose in the silk collar of her dress. He sighed into the periwinkle blue dress collar.

"I wish you would…"

But what Hayden wished she did not find out as one of the men, Titan, shouted: "Shall we proceed into the forest?"

Cory and Hayden, startled, looked around only to realize that they had let go of Blaython's collar and he had halted and sat down quite comfortably, blocking the men behind.

"Oh, um…" said Hayden, turning a dark shad of magenta.

Titan ,along with the others, was grinning suggestively at Hayden.

"Yes, let's proceed."