The King's Concubine

Serena raced through the woods of River Forest, the water splashing up to soak her skirts through. Her tears matched the pace and flow of the water, streaming down her cheeks in blind submission to her acquisition. Her feet ran from memory, her mind on the fears that were boiling inside of her.

“Hanzori!” she screamed, hoping for the man she loved to come rescue her from this pain that her heart was bleeding from. She fell to her knees in the shallow waters of the river, her blonde hair falling into the waters and cascading into tendrils darkened by the wetness and mud. She stared unseeing at the ground beneath her, all too aware of the redness of her eyes though she herself could not see them through the murky waters. Why did the waters that had been so clear so many days ago appear murky and muddled now?

“Serena!” came the wolf-man’s voice as he slid from behind the trees, racing towards her without the grace that he usually held in his full muscles. He ran to her and took her in his arms, cradling her to his chest and she cried harder. It was not until she pulled away to wipe the tears from her eyes he noticed the taint. He was so frightened by what he saw in her eyes he stepped away from her. He stepped away from her so quickly she fell back into the waters, breathing it in before coming up coughing once more.

“What has that man done to you?” he snarled through fangs that looked pointier than usual. “What has he done?”

“I am his,” Serena replied sadly. “He made me his. I obey only his command. I listen to only his words. I… I belong to only him.” Her hands fell away from her lap and dragged along in the waters. She felt so helpless.

“Serena…” Hanzori said sadly. He stepped closer to her, leaning his head against her forehead, feeling the soft delicate skin that belonged to her body. He caressed the softness, the pure creamy whiteness very sadly. “I’m very sorry.”

Serena noticed the claws that he had unsheathed nearly too late. Her speed was cut down by the heaviness of her wet dress, her strength nil, but she had enough surprise in her to push him away and allow her body to fall back as he took a clean swipe at where she had been standing. “What are you doing?” she cried out, watching him slowly walk to stand over her, his friendly eyes gone and turn into those of the wolf. He was a hunter now, no amount of reasoning would go through to him, but she did not want to die by her ex-lover’s hands, or a man she had once hoped would be her lover.

“I’m killing you,” snarled Hanzori. “I have been ordered to do for if the plan did not go as it would.”

“Hanzori, I thought you loved me!” Serena screamed, trying to push herself to her feet. If she ran he would chase her, and easily knock her down for the kill. If she remained calm and patient he would not slash out again. His wolf instincts were taking over, and those were often stronger than his human instincts.

“I do,” he admitted to her, stepping a few steps closer. “That is what makes it so much harder to do what I have to do, but I do have to do it. Your mother thought you would have been the perfect scheme, but in the end you were not. You were too young, and too naïve. Perhaps she can have a child with more strength the next time.” He waited no longer, coming at her with claws bared. Serena kept taking helpless steps back, her tears streaming down her face.

“My mother wanted me dead?” she cried out, her back slamming into a tree.

“No, never,” Hanzori said, his body only a foot from hers. One quick movement and it would be all over. Serena began to prepare herself for death, but she wanted to hear him say it before she died. “Your mother loves you; it is why she wants to have you killed. Better to be dead than to be Orphen’s tool.”

Serena closed her eyes, waiting for the blow, but it never came. She opened her eyes to find a red barrier surrounding her, Hanzori’s claws scratching against it helplessly and unable to break through. Serena’s eyes widened and she watched Hanzori work at the barrier helplessly. “You will grow tired soon,” he was snarling.

He thinks I am doing this, Serena realized, looking around at the barrier. But she did not know how to make barriers. She did not know how to use any of her magic. She was just a helpless pawn in the game of her mother and Orphen.

“Does my mother really want me dead for my own sake?” Serena asked, suddenly thinking of something else. “Or is it that she is afraid Orphen will use me against her?”

Hanzori let out a very wolf-like growl and once more slammed his whole body weight into the barrier. Serena suddenly had a very strong urge to change her allegiances from her mother to Orphen. Neither alliance was good, but at least Orphen had only tried to destroy her free mind, not her entire life.

This was not how she wanted to spend her life.

“What do you think you are doing with my toy?” Serena and Hanzori both turned to see the king of the lands standing in the waters of River Forest, his arms crossed against his muscled chest, his sword sheathed at his side in a black scabbard that looked to be made of onyx. His black unruly hair fell in front of his eyes, hiding the gleaming hatred he felt for the werewolf striking at the barrier around Serena’s body.

“You,” snarled Hanzori. “You are the one who destroyed her.”

“No, I believe you were trying to do that when I came along,” Orphen pointed out. “I, on the other hand, only took control of her.”

“It is all the same,” Hanzori snarled through fanged teeth. “And for it, I will have your death as well.”

Hanzori charged at the king, using the barrier around Serena as balance. He charged at him, the king drawing his sword in preparation for battle, but the sound of a voice of a royal queen, but only a lowly visionary, stopped them both from striking. Hanzori fell to all fours into the water and Orphen flicked the sword back in his scabbard at the entrance of the esteemed Lena.
“What are you doing to my pet, Your Highness?” she asked, arms crossed against a nearly bare chest. All she wore was a simple blue robe, that left little to the imagination, and even less to her modesty.

“I am destroying him, for nearly destroying your daughter,” Orphen admitted, not in the least intimidated by the woman who had silently ruled over him for almost twenty years.

“My daughter’s death was of my own command,” Lena snapped, walking up to the barrier that stood between her and her daughter. Lena brought in a dagger, from where no one could tell, and slit a small laceration through the barrier. “Innocent magic you did not even know you controlled, all will be destroyed by this dagger,” Lena explained. “I am sorry, I did not want to be the one to bloody my hands with your death, my darling daughter, but Hanzori seems to be less in servitude than I thought.” She continued to slide through the barrier as she spoke, leaving a gap wide enough that her hand would be able to strike at her daughter without tearing away the entire barrier. “I was sure he did not love you so much, considering he seemed fine in bedding me while he waited for you, but apparently his love for you is stronger than I estimated.” A small part of the barrier fell away and Lena found her opening. She pulled her hand back, ready for the blow. Serena ducked her head into the grassy waters, not wishing to see the blow that would kill her, but it never came.

Serena slowly looked up to find Orphen’s sword at Lena’s throat, his body positioned behind her. “You always did like this position,” Lena smiled, not in the least worried that her life was in danger. “Was he good, Serena darling?”

Serena opened her mouth to retort something awful to her mother, but her voice never came out. Instead, she turned to Orphen and asked, “I can not even answer simple questions?”

“Not by other people,” Orphen admitted, then shrugged. “I can always ask you for her, was I good?”

“Of course, master.” Serena was not sure if she said it because it was what Orphen willed, or if she wanted her mother to see her submitting to the king. It pained her mother to hear the word ‘master’ from her daughter’s mouth, it pained her more that Orphen seemed to be winning.

“I can’t believe you would come after her,” Lena gurgled, the sword pressing into delicate skin and leaving a trail of blood. Orphen was not relenting his grip. “I believed you would leave her to die out here.”

“She is valuable to me, Lena,” Orphen said, running his sword along her neck so that the blood flowed a bit faster, but not enough to kill her. He was only deliberately causing her more and more pain. “She is more valuable to me than you ever were. Even before I fucked her innocent body, and took her visions, she was more valuable.”

“You are incapable of caring,” Lena sneered.

“If that was true, would I be here to rescue her from your evil clutches?” Orphen kicked the woman away from him, watching her land into the rivers of the forest. Where she lay the waters stained red and he knew it would be attracting predators of the waters soon. Things that even scared the visionary who was doing her best to push herself upwards.

The kind quietly walked over to Serena, gripping her hand and pulling her upwards, but he did not steadily land her on her feet. He swung her so her body went around and she was suddenly standing behind the Elvin king. Orphen’s sword was out and meeting Hanzori’s claws within moments. Orphen would win, his sword was mightier, faster, and stronger, than Hanzori’s untrained claws, but Hanzori was tenacious, and ready for action.

Orphen kicked the werewolf away from him and into deeper waters with a strength that surprised even Serena. Orphen’s head turned back to Lena as he sheathed his sword and placed one arm possessively around Serena’s waist. “This means war between our world, Lena,” he stated. “By trying to kill my property, by trying to destroy my visionary, you have called war to you and your people. Prepare to face death.”

Lena smiled and pointed to the trees, where darker creatures than wereanimals stood in wait, bows and fangs ready for the two on the ground. “If you can make it back to your castle alive, do your worst,” she said, “but I am guessing you will not survive this battle. It’s a shame, all of this hard work and here you both throw it all away. It will take me another thirty years to find a king to manipulate, but that is a shame. Farewell, my daughter, I do love you, I am doing this for your own good.” Lena toyed with the tip of the dagger and threw it with astounding speed so it came barreling down on her daughter.