Chapter 6 : The Wizard Land

Remus rode his horse through the wild forest, the darkness swallowing his path even on broad daylight the deeper he travelled into the thick woods.

He shouldn’t be coming here, to the sacred land of the divine people but he has no choice.

Beasts like him aren’t allowed to step into this place unless they are invited by the natives and to think that his horse entered the perimeter of the forest is enough to tell him that he is meant to be here. Which also means the woman he witnessed last night mustn’t be a hoax.

He knew he can find the answers here.

He pulled the reins, halting the horse before a statue, the goddess of nature, standing tall in front of him with open arms.

Remus jumped down the horse, landing on his foot, his eyes staring behind the statue, at the colony of huts aligned perfectly in the middle of the forest.

He removed the baldric from his torso and tossed it over the saddle of his horse and knelt before the statue, clasping his hands together.

“I pledge my devotion mother nature.”

He pleaded with his eyes closed, begging the goddess to grant him the entrance into the wizard world and the statue before him moved to the side, showing him the path.

Remus bowed with gratitude, his heart pure as the fresh air in the woods and stepped into the premises of the magical place which is filled with the joyous laughter of people, the sunlight hovering over them even through the darkness of the forest like the warmth of the mother.

His eyes fell on the people wandering across the colonies, their faces plastered with happy smiles as they carried fruit baskets, engaging in refreshing conversations.

Remus felt his chest heavy as he saw the harmony of the witches, the purity of their hearts, their selfless service to the mother land for generations.

The beasts of his kind can never match to their sacrifice.

He brushed away the envy from the heart and continued his journey, his body becoming weak with each step he took closer to his destination.

His presence seized the laughter in the colony, making him sigh deeply and walked past the questioning eyes.

He came here to get answers, not to harm them but they made him weak for no reason. Witches never let any harm near to their kind. They’ll always be on guard, especially against the beasts like him.

He dragged his body into a familiar hut and immediately heard a woman’s chanting.

He walked deeper into the house, the smell of roses waffling in the air as he came across the woman he wanted to see.

She is floating in the air with closed eyes, her hands clasped together before her chest, her lips mumbling in gibberish language which he isn’t aware of.

The sorceress is busy with her witchy thing. Did he come at the wrong time?

With a sigh, he stood before her, waiting for her to acknowledge his presence and before he can give rest to his thoughts, the woman opened her eyes, her body slowing landing on her feet as she smiled at him.

“To what do I owe this pleasure Prince Remus?”

Her calm but rigid voice startled the man but soon smiled, getting fooled by her innocent question.

“Forgive me, Hecate. I shouldn’t have disturbed you.”

He apologised the young woman with a bow and knelt before her, showing his sincerity.

Hecate let out a soft chuckle and walked past Remus, her long golden hair brushing his shoulders as she made her way towards the flower basket lying on the ground and picked up a rose from it before inhaling it’s scent.

“How is the princess?”

She asked, turning to his direction and observed the tension in his shoulders.

Remus rose to his feet with a hunched back, confused about the sorceress behaviour.

She is the only living soul on the earth who possess the power to connect with the goddess, to see the future, to balance the nature but why is she not asking him about the unusual incident he experienced?

“The princess is counting her days. The royal physician said she won’t survive more than ten full moons.” said Remus thinking about Meliora’s health decay.

Hecate arched her eyebrow, amused by his words and grabbed her veil before putting it on.

“Take me to her.”

She said, covering her head with the hood and picked up the flower basket.

“I shall not let princess leave this world without purifying her soul.”

Remus frowned, confused by her words.

Purifying soul?

What does that mean?

But he didn’t dare to confront the sorceress and guided her to his horse, ignoring the burn in his heart.

The beasts are prohibited to enter the wizard world because the sorceress had failed to protect the innocent lives once despite the powers she possessed but he knew that the things weren’t like everyone thought.

He believes in the Moon goddess and the Mother nature.

They chose Hecate as the medium to connect to the earth.

There must be a reason for the silence behind sorceress’ actions in the past. With that thought, he brazenly took Hecate to his kingdom.

He attracted more pairs of eyes from the witch colonies when he tagged Hecate along while leaving their land because she won’t step out of her hut unless it’s dangerous to the mankind.

It happened only once. When the Lycanor King shifted into his wolf form for the first time. And it is happening now.

It worried the witches because they knew the aftermath.

To see that the sorceress is riding horse with Remus and is heading towards Fenrir Kingdom, something must’ve happened in the beasts world.

……………

Sigrid sat on the bed, looking at the two women standing at the foot of her bed, with hypocrite smiles playing on their joker faces.

She knew the reason behind their presence. They are here to force her to drink the disgusting medicine.

Very strange.

They won’t show up in her room ever except when it is time to take down the potion and they even know how to pretend to care about Meliora in the king’s presence.

It only took a day for Sigrid to understand the trope of Meliora’s story.

Up until now, she never knew that the stepmother drama is real. She thought the hatred and envy is reserved for novels and movies but only now did she understand that the real life stories are what being written and filmed in her world.

She pities Mel. The poor woman is facing the same fate as Cinderella.

But the only difference is, the father figure is still alive but is oblivious to the stepmother’s conspiracies.

Lucky that Mel is mentally unstable whilst she might be suffered from the mother and daughter’s schemes.

“Open your mouth Meliora. Drink the potion.”

Griselda said with disdain contrast to her smile as she extended her hands which are holding the medicine bowl.

Sigrid dropped her eyes to the black liquid and bile rose in her gut as she moved her burning eyes towards the hateful women.

She had enough of the medicines and their dominance. There is no way she will let that poison contaminate her throat.

“No.”

She protested, folding her hands across her chest, challenging them with her attitude.

Tala frowned, surprised by her behaviour because Meliora never objected or raised her voice in her presence but lately she has been rejecting to drink the potion.

No!

She cannot let Meliora’s senses come back. She should make her drink the potion so that she stays sick and get married to the cursed king.

She snatched the bowl from her daughter and walked around the bed before sitting beside Sigrid and fisted her hair, yanking her head, making her yelp in pain.

“Drink!”

She commanded sternly, taking the opportunity of her vulnerability and poured the liquid down her throat but Sigrid struggled hard using every ounce of her strength and slapped Tala’s hand, making the bowl drop to the floor and the vessel broke into pieces.

Tala hissed, holding her stinging hand and glared at Meliora, gobsmacked by her actions.

This is the first time Meliora rebelled against her and her hit wasn’t gentle either.

The potion is supposed to make her bones weak but….

Griselda couldn’t believe her eyes as she witnessed her mother being hit by her sick stepsister and ran to her side, lifting her hand to slap her but Sigrid grabbed her wrist.

Agnes who is standing few foot away from them widened her eyes, covering her mouth with her hands as she stared at the princess in shock.

Meliora does hate the potion and often makes ruckus but once Tala commands her, she drinks it like a meek prey but today she retaliated strongly.

“What are you doing here?”

The loud voice froze the movements of the women and the four of them turned their heads towards the source of the voice and saw Remus standing in the doorway with Hecate standing beside him with a smile on her face.

Sigrid threw down Griselda’s hand and dusted her hands as if she is disdained by her and looked at Remus, feeling irritated by the interruption.

She would’ve taught her dear stepsister a lesson if he didn’t show up but again his presence reminded her of the beast she saw last night and immediately broke into cold sweat.

She never doubted herself since childhood but for the first time she questioned her own thoughts, brushing them as hallucinations because how can a human turn into a wolf?

But didn’t she experience an unbelievable and highly impossible time travel in her life?

And also she remembered the mythical stories from ancient books and the countless movies she watched. A Werewolf.

She voiced out her suspicions to Agnes and the old woman said their kind is blessed by Moon goddess which gave meaning to her vision from previous night.

She not only travelled to the past century but also into a world where beasts existed together with humans. A place where people like her aren’t supposed to set foot into.

Before she can pull herself out of her senses, she heard Tala’s squeaking voice and Remus's angry yells.

“Why did you bring the exiled woman into the Donjon?”

Tala chided her son, flabbergasted by his bravery.

The sorceress failed to perform her duty which is why the beasts severed ties with wizard people but her son dared to break the rules and brought the witch into their land.

Her husband would kill him if he got a whiff of his actions.

“She is here to give her regards to Mel. Step outside mother. Griselda, you too.”

Remus said anger dripping down his tone as he gestured Hecate to enter Meliora’s room.

Sigrid frowned, looking at the woman in the veil, whose head is covered under the hood.

Why does she feel like the woman is staring straight at her through the hood?

Tala and Griselda couldn’t argue with Remus as he forcefully locked them outside and stuck their ears to the door with their hearts hanging on threads because they are sacred that the sorceress would heal Meliora.

And if she gets to know about the things they have been feeding to Mel, the king would behead them both.

With no one to disturb, Hecate removed her hood and looked at the frowning woman on the bed with a smile and said “Your Royal highness.”

Sigrid’s eyes widened in shock when she heard her voice, the same voice which haunted her since childhood, the same voice which tortured her during nights, her peace, her life.

“It’s YOU.”

***********

Author’s note :

Hello cuties,

I am back with another amazing love story of Werewolf genre.

Please support me with your love and enjoy the story.

Love you all...