The First King
Chapter 18

The sound of snow crunching underfoot filled the air. As the wind howled through the trees, Prew could not help but shiver as she pulled the blanket tighter around her body. It had been a day and a half since leaving Pedarus, but the snowstorm was still raging above them. Nero walked alongside Meeka, and though his paws were cold, the rest of his body was still pleasantly warm. But one quick glance at Prew turned the quiet journey into a struggle once again between the man and his wolf spirit.

“Stop worrying about her,” Nero growled to Konrad. “She is not your responsibility to care for.”

“She is my wife… our wife,” Konrad argued as he fought for control over their wolf form. “We have a duty to protect her.”

“Duty? And what of our duty to Lorelei? We are meant to love her and only her. And yet, here you are, falling for the human girl.”

With a furious scowl, Konrad forced Nero deep within his soul. It now meant that he had control over his wolf, and with it, he shifted back into his human form. He looked up at Prew, noticing the redness that went across her cheeks and the tip of her nose.

“Why don’t you let me ride with you?” He questioned softly. “I can help keep you warm.”

“Meeka will buck you and me both off if you even attempt to get on him,” Prew replied with a sigh. “But thank you for the offer. We should be home by nightfall. I will survive until then.”

“Are you sure?” He inquired as he put his hand on her leg. As he walked alongside the horse, he ran his hand up and down, doing his best to warm her up.

“I am,” she assured him with a smile.

She wasn’t lying about Meeka. He would be angry if anyone other than her were on his back. But, at the same time, she wanted to take Konrad up on the offer. She missed his warmth more than she cared to admit. When they camped out on the roadside the previous night, Konrad had joined Prew in her tent again. His excuse was that it was too cold, and he wanted to use her to keep warm. But in reality, he didn’t get cold, not like a human did. His body temperature was naturally higher, and his skin radiated warmth. It made Prew blush to think about him lying beside her, holding her.

While lost in her thoughts, there was a rustling in the tree line, causing everyone to freeze. Prew quickly dropped her blanket, giving her access to her bow, as Konrad shifted back into his wolf form. He stepped forward, growling as Nero sniffed the air. There were others there, hiding somewhere behind the trees. And the scent, it was not human nor wolf. No, the smell in the air was familiar to Konrad. It sent ripples of blind rage and fury through his body. He mind linked to the wolves to surround Prew. There were witches hiding in the woods.

Nero pressed his feet into the ground, preparing to lunge as soon as the witches came into view. Suddenly, a man and a woman wearing strange, white outfits, came out from behind the trees with their hands raised in the air.

“Hold!” Prew commanded to the wolves as she watched the witches sink to their knees. Nero’s head instantly snapped to face her with a snarl. She glared at him as she slid off of Meeka. “I said hold!”

Nero quickly shifted into Konrad as Rowan and another wolf surrounded the witches.

“What do you think you are doing?! That is the enemy! How dare you command us not to attack!” Konrad bellowed as he stormed to Prew.

“They surrendered!” She yelled back at him as she pointed to the witches. “They are unarmed and on their knees. When was the last time you encountered a witch that did that?!”

“Witches are to be killed on the spot, no exceptions!”

“Not when they are surrendering!” She argued. “Aren’t you even the least bit curious as to what they are doing?”

“Of course I am,” he grumbled as he glanced over his shoulder at the two witches.

“Then how did you plan to get answers from them if you killed them on the spot?” Prew countered as she stared at him with raised eyebrows. “Unless if you have the ability to talk to corpses that I don’t know about?”

Konrad growled as he turned around. The two people before him still had their hands in the air, but their faces did not convey fear. In fact, the man was smiling as he met Konrad’s gaze. This caused anger to boil in his veins. He stormed over to the witches, his stomps causing them to flinch.

“You have one minute to talk before I kill you!” He snapped.

“My name is Jude, and this is my partner, Sofia,” the man said as he looked up at Konrad. “We are the High Priest and Priestess of the Coven of the Lode Star. We have been searching for you, the King of Kings and the Queen of Queens.”

“Why?” Prew questioned curiously as she stepped forward. Konrad placed his arm out, blocking her from getting too close.

“We don’t align with the Coven of Stardust,” Jude explained. “None of the other covens do.”

“So why seek us out in particular?”

“We heard of wolf packs and human kingdoms joining forces under one human and one wolf,” Sofia answered. “At first, we were all in disbelief. Never once has anyone, human nor wolf, agreed to such a large endeavor. But, much to our surprise, we found the information truthful.”

“Time is ticking,” Konrad warned as he interrupted the woman. He wanted them to get to the point, and quick.

“Our coven wants to join you, to help you with the Coven of Stardust,” Sofia stated quickly.

“Why go against your own kind?” Prew inquired skeptically.

“Because they are tipping the balance of the realm,” Jude replied with a worried frown. “We have seen from a distance what they are doing. And, when we confronted them, we lost members of our own coven. Not only that, but they have started to hunt not only us but witches from the other two covens.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Konrad said as he looked at them, confused by what was being said. “What do you mean by tipping the balance of the realm?”

“After the meteor crash, some of us could feel a shift in magic,” Jude answered as he and Sofia exchanged worried glances.

“Meteor crash?” Prew repeated as she furrowed her brows. “That happened well over a thousand years ago?”

“Not that meteor. No, another crashed on this continent nearly ten years ago.”

“I didn’t hear of a meteor falling. Did you?” Konrad questioned as he looked at Prew.

“I would have been ten,” she stated with a frown. “Even if it were discussed, I probably wouldn‘t have been around for those conversations.”

“Even if you were an adult, the Coven of Stardust did their best to hide the existence of the stone,” Sofia explained. “The Gathering of the Wicca attempted to learn more about the meteor, but we were always denied access. It was curious, but at the time, we assumed it had something to do with Nyx, the Goddess of Darkness. But, after a while, we began to notice the kidnappings and devastation that was happening around Thresnora.”

“Why not stop it then?” Konrad growled as he stepped closer to them. “You saw what they were doing and just let it happen?!”

“There was nothing we could do,” Jude stated warily. “There are laws-”

“You could have warned us!” Konrad yelled as he grabbed the collar of Jude’s shirt. He pulled him up, forcing the witch to be face to face. “My parents died because you were too weak to do anything! You hid away in your cozy castle while my kind were kidnapped, tortured, and sacrificed to the gods that you worship!”

“Stop it! Don’t hurt him!” Sofia shouted as she stood. She tried to reach for Konrad, but Prew stepped forward with an arrow aimed at the female witch.

“It’s fine! I’m fine, Sofia! Please, sit back down,” Jude pleaded as his eyes darted from his partner to Prew. As soon as Sofia sat on the ground, he looked back to Konrad. “I am sorry what happened to your people, truly. But you must understand, if it were a wolf pack that was sacrificing people to Bil, would you step in and stop them? No, right? Your packs observe similar laws to our covens.”

“But you could have warned those who lived near Thresnora!” Konrad asserted.

“Yes, but by the time we realized what was going on, it was too late,” Jude insisted with a shake of his head. “I’m sorry, for your parents, for your pack, for everyone who has died. But I cannot go back and change the past. All I can do is try to change the future, which is why I am here, right now, with you.”

Konrad growled as he tossed Jude back to the ground, causing him to hit the back of his head. Blood began to pour out onto the dirt from where his head made impact. Sofia crawled over to her partner with tears in her eyes. Her hands hovered over his head as they began to glow. Not understanding what the witch was doing, Prew stepped back with her bow still aimed at them.

“What are you doing?!” She questioned.

“I’m healing him!” Sofia snapped as she looked up at Konrad angrily. “Why did you hurt him?! We are not your enemies!”

“All witches are my enemy!” Konrad quipped with a snarl.

“We… don’t want… to be,” Jude gasped between breaths. He attempted to sit up, but Sofia held him down firmly. “Please.”

Prew and Konrad exchanged glances before looking back to the witches.

“How do you plan to help us?” Prew questioned. “If you did nothing in the past, how can we trust you to do something now?”

“Trust, all I am asking for is trust,” Jude replied as Sofia finished healing him. “But I know you cannot do that so easily. I would question your leadership if you did. So, why not just give us a chance to show that we can be helpful? Some of our coven members can heal, like Sofia. Rather than losing your soldiers and warriors, we can mend them so they can continue fighting. And some of us, like me, can generate weapons. We can fight alongside you, all while lending you aid and support. Please, just give us a chance.”

“What do you think?” Konrad inquired of Prew. She lowered her bow as she turned to him.

“We could use the aid,” she stated with a sigh. “Between all of us, we still have less than 400 people who can fight.”

“How about we bring these two back to Guilford? See what the Leader Council wants to do?”

“Can we trust the witches around our people?”

“What other choice do we have?” He countered.

“We can leave them tied to a tree and see how long it takes for their friends to come out of hiding,” she huffed as she pointed at the witches.

“No one is out there. While we have been here talking, I had two of my wolves out in the woods searching.”

“Oh,” she murmured as she looked around. She counted everyone, and indeed, two of the wolves were missing. She had not even noticed that anyone was gone. With a scowl, she turned back to Konrad. “Fine, let’s take them to Guilford.”

“Any objections?” Konrad inquired of the witches. Jude was the first to shake his head, but Sofia still glared at him. She was still angry that he threw her partner onto the ground, injuring him. A thought crossed Konrad’s mind, causing him to purse his lips. “What injuries can witches heal?”

“Almost anything,” Jude answered. “Minor scrapes, broken bones, internal bleeding. As long as it isn’t a curse or a lightning strike, it can be healed.”

“What about bruises?”

“What?!” Prew interjected, instantly knowing what he was going to have them do.

“I can heal those,” Sofia stated with a nod of her head.

“Oh no!” Prew hissed as she looked at Konrad. “I don’t want her touching me!”

“Please? I know you say that you don’t mind them, but it hurts me to know that you are in pain.” Konrad pleaded as he stepped close to Prew. His hands went to her arms gently as he stared into her copper eyes. “Please?”

“Fine,” she mumbled as she turned away from him.

“Thank you,” he whispered as he kissed her cheek, which sent a shiver up Prew’s spine. He turned to look at Sofia. “Can you please heal her? It would go a long way to building the trust that you are seeking.”

Sofia nodded her head as she stood. Her feet moved slowly as she approached the human woman. Konrad rolled up Prew’s sleeve and the hem of her shirt, exposing the large, dark bruises. Sofia placed a hand over each of the wounds. Her hands began to glow white as her healing magic seeped into Prew. After a minute, both bruises were gone, leaving behind clear, tanned skin. Prew finally exhaled the breath that she held. The pain that she had felt only moments before was gone. As Sofia stepped away, Prew could not help but give her a grateful smile. She was still wary of the witches, but this was the first step toward mutual trust and respect. All she could do was hope that these witches were genuine, and not playing an elaborate ruse on them.

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