NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32: Hot pursuit
The princess was watching the solideres of her fathers kingdom rush from barn to barn and house to house and occasionally she saw them carrying bodies away from those houses and most often, the people weren’t alive anymore, on some she could still see blood drip down onto the ground from cuts while others had no wounds at all and had died of a lack of air and although she had seen no such body, she had overheard a few soldiers talk about finding body’s littered with burns.
She felt both proud and saddened by what she saw, proud of the kingdom's men and how they worked together to protect the weaker citizens of the kingdom, but looking at all the suffering and carnage around her, she couldn’t not feel sad at seeing all of those peoples life’s get so completely destroyed or in extreme cases, cut short.
From time to time, she saw the cause of the problem, flashes of yellow fur running around wildly, with no rhyme or reason, like a headless chicken. She had read many things about the Margeenko‘s and how they could bring entire cities to the brink of ruin, she had always wondered how they were supposed to do such deeds, they were all small and almost always were they describe as dumb or down right idiotic. Now however she finally realised how they did it, they did almost purely accidental.
In their endless pursuit to find women, they would blindly run into objects in their way until it crumbled, or they died and once they found their women they would go and find the next, if you combine that with the fact that were thousands maybe even tens of thousands, it becomes quite apparent how they can destroy entire cities, but only if their numbers are high enough.
She knew she shouldn’t, but Fraya felt pity for these creatures existence, mindlessly running around to do nothing but breed and be slaves to others, as the Demons often used them for most labour intensive work, they called it brilliant, she and most humans called it risky at best, since if they weren’t under control things like right now could very well happen.
That is also why Fraya didn’t hold any sympathy for these creatures, she could pity their sad existence, but she wouldn’t defend them under any circumstances, they were like rats, sad creatures that needed to be dealt with before they reproduce to a critical mass and cause chaos wherever they would go.
She watched from afar and she saw another one of the furry creatures die to a slash of one of the knights blades, the blood of the creature slashing all around it, she quickly turned away, ever since that day in the old prison tower, Fraya avoided blood like a plague, it simply brought back the memories of what she had seen in that place and the manic grin on that small creatures face.
After she had reported back to her parents about the discovery she had made and the reaction her good friend Julia had upon seeing the creature it was reluctantly explained to her what the deal was with that creature, what it was and what it had done, it wasn’t easy for her to take it all in and she felt nauseous during many parts of the explanation, yet she gave her best to let it show, she needed to be able to handle such things if she ever wished to rule over he kingdom, if she ever wished to defend her people.
During the next few days she researched everything she could about this monstrosity, she hindered however that most books writing about these creatures were either far to old to be perfectly reliable and almost every book disagrees about the finer details, some claimed they had three heads and walked on 4 legs, while others claimed they hadn’t head at all and not a single one actually matched the description of the thing she had actually seen in the vision. It was driving her insane.
And then began the nightmares, multiple times a night she would wake up with a cold sweat and her breathing heavy, screams of dying men and the manic cackle of the Dark Margenko still fresh in her mind, at first she tried to ignore them, but they became ever more life like, more bloody and eventually she even saw the crying and bloody face of her good friend Julia, impaled on the claws of the monster.
That was the final straw and she needed to know that her friend was fine, that she wasn’t dead. She still blamed herself for what had transpired at the old prison tower and if Julia died because of it? Fraya would not, could not let that happen, she had been a terrible friend already, she would not let her friend suffer alone now and die because of it!
That had been the catalyst behind her journey here, to alleviate her worries, but in the end they only worsened. When she had learned from the messenger she and Trace had stumbled upon, that the Kathrin estate was apparently overrun with Margenko‘s and that no one had seen or heard anything from either Lady Kathrin or her daughter, Fraya had already feared the worst, a Dark Margenko‘s suddenly appears again after decades of people believing they had been extinct, it has somehow a connection with Julia and now a swarm of Margenko‘s attack the Kathrin estate? That couldn’t be a coincidence.
She started to aimlessly wander around, her own head to deep in thoughts to notice where her feet where taking her, in the chaos of fighting and trying to exterminate the pests that are the Margenko‘s, no one noticed how the princess quietly disappeared from their sights, as suddenly ever more Margenko‘s seemed to crawl out from nowhere and attack the knights.
And maybe because Fraya was lucky, she didn’t come across a single Margenko as she wandered around abandoned houses and barns, in one such barn she came across a corpse of one of the pests responsible, it’s own throat slit on a panel of glass it apparently crashed through. Fraya came here to escape her nightmares of blood and gore, death and destruction and to simply help a friend in need and yet, it seemed like death and destruction was following her with every step.
Her mind started to wander again as she unconsciously stepped closer to the corpse, was she perhaps cursed? Or was it something different entirely?
Her hands absentmindedly went through the dirty fur of the creature, it was soft to the touch and somehow the repeated motion of her hands going through the fur calmed her mind, calm enough to start thinking back to before everything started, better and easier times. She remembers how she had spent time with her friends when her busy schedule allowed it, how she played with chess with her mother in the evenings.
It all just… stopped when the expedition to the old capital returned. Both her parents seemed to always be tense like there was something constantly on their mind, more and more nobles visited the royal court and held private meetings with the king and queen and rumours started to circulate around the royal servants.
Then a group of famous adventurers disappeared and the one send to find them also disappeared, next a large group of well known criminals disappeared as well, with only their old leader being found, who constantly rambled about a blond haired monster and fire. No one knew how to cure is apparent insanity, even the court magician, the most skilled magician in the kingdom didn’t know what to do.
There was a period of silence after that, until the disaster of Querum, where Julia was injured and the Dark Margenko believed to have been slain, until suddenly the entire village burned down and only a single young boy survived to tell the tale. Ever since that day, even the everyday citizens where aware that something was out there, causing chaos and destruction.
Fraya was suddenly ripped out of her thoughts as her hands made contact with liquid, looking down, Fraya realised her hands, that had subconsciously continued to stroke the fur of the Margenko, wandered down towards the pests throat, where it made contact with blood that was dripping from the wound continuously onto a towel that was positioned right beneath it.
The blood was warm to the touch and it was dripping far to frequent for this Margenko to have been here long, so it had to have died only recently, but there was no one around, no Knight who might have killed the pest. Suddenly there was a loud scream of pain and the sounds of windows breaking apart in the distance.
And suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder.
"Princess, thank goodness I found you at last, the captain would have my head otherwise."
Behind her a man from the knights appears, he was one of the men that were tasked with keeping the princess save while Trace was leading the men that were trying to investigate the mansion from which the seemingly endless sea of Margenko had originated. In The chaos, he only noticed the absence of the princess once she was long gone and he was simply lucky he took the same path she took, or maybe, he wasn’t lucky at all.
In the corner of her eye the princess saw a familiar head of blonde hair, at first she thought she was imagining things, that her nightmares started to affect her outside of her dreams, but in the end there was no mistaking, it was here. Fraya stumbled backwards, frightened, her eyes were blown wide and sweat was building up on her forehead. She watched as the thing haunting her dreams was walking from ruin to ruin, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, followed by a small horde of Margenko, who were carrying a unconscious person, and a person hidden by a large black hood.
Of course this was the cause behind all of this, what else but this abomination could be behind all of this, a sudden ice cold claw gripped her heart and she couldn’t move, her limbs refusing to obey her, as pure horror rushed through her body. She felt the hands on her shoulder, she felt how she was shaken back and forth, she heard the how her title was repeated over and over again, but she couldn’t move away, her eyes would not stop staring at the place where but moments ago, the cause for all the suffering brought upon the people living here, was standing talking to the hooded person, before disappearing behind a wall of a nearby building.
Only after the last Margenko disappeared behind the walls of the now abandoned house could Fraya move freely again and only then did she realise her breathing had grown quick and erratic, she tried to calm her body, but the simple image of that blonde head was enough to kick her emotions into overdrive.
"Princess are you ok? Princess answer me please! We have to get back!" The solider was lightly shacking her by the shoulders, he was clearly desperate to get her back to Trace and the others, she couldn’t blame him, you didn’t want to be the one who lost the heir to the throne after all and she herself was itching to get back as well, her body screaming at her to get out of here, away from the evil that was walking just a few roads away.
But in her mind she knew if she let that beast get away, she could never forgive herself, she knows where the beast is and she couldn’t let it escape, it needs to be stopped right now this was her best shot at it, for once they had the element of surprise.
If she lets it escape and cause more suffering for her people it would be her fault, she had let it escape despite the fact it was her duty to protect her people, she would have failed in her duty and she couldn’t let that happen, she had seen the horror of this monster and she couldn’t, wouldn’t allow it to keep its reign of terror any longer.
She fumbled around her clothes for a few moments, much to the confusion of the solider that found her, until she finally managed to pull out what she was looking for: A crowing signal Trace had given her before coming here. She knew it was an extremely dumb idea, it barley constitutes as a plan and she was terrified to all heaven, but she knew this was her best and possibly only chance, and she would take it.
With the crowing signal secure in her hands, she took a deep breath and started to run towards the barns behind which the Dark Margenko had disappeared behind, much to the shock and confusion of the unlucky solider send to bring her back. He followed her as soon as he got over his shock at seeing the princess, who but a few moments ago seemed to have almost stopped breathing and simply stared at a nearby wall, suddenly run away from her own safety.
"Princess please stop, this could be dangerous!" He exclaimed the moment he caught up to her, despite his armor, he was still a trained solider and he easily caught her, however the princess simply turned around and her look was filled with determination and sheer willpower, in that moment she truly looked like a leader, fearlessly leading her army into battle.
"This isn’t a question of this could be dangerous, this is dangerous, but we have to stop it right now, before it can cause anymore suffering. So if you follow me you have to stay quite at all costs, we can’t let her know we’re here yet."
The poor solider was completely confused at that point, he was send here to confirm whether or not the fleeing farmers of the surrounding lands had spoken the truth about a sudden Margenko attack and if it was true to exterminate them as quickly as possible, the fact that someone from the royal family and the captain of the royal guard was there as well, was already an idea so crazy that the man couldn’t even dream of it, but here they were.
And now the princess was asking him to help her take down some sort of enormous threat, after the princess had run off towards the area of destruction the Margebko‘s had left inside their wake, to say he was completely under-qualified for this situation was an understatement, he was a simple man, raised in the capital city by a middling tavern owner family, as the second of 5 children, his brother would take over the tavern, so he and his other younger siblings had to find other work and he simply chose to join the royal army since he didn’t show any particular skill that would qualify him for another profession, in short he was a simple man who was supposed to be a guard around the city or nearby areas, nothing more and nothing less.
He sighed, he knew this was a stupid idea, but returning to the others and letting the princess be alone was definitely a far more stupid idea, he took a deep breath and started to take off his heavy and noisy steel plate armor to reveal his padded leather clothing underneath, coloured in blue and white stripes and adorned on his chest was now the gold and silver eagle of Fahrgust.
"I will follow you princess, but please stay behind me."
The princess nodded and together they started to silently run down the dirt paths that connects the different barns and houses, looking through the Windows of the deserted barns and homes they stumbled over the occasional dead man or woman and sometimes even the body of a deceased child, more often however they came across corpses of Margenko‘s who killed themselves in their uncoordinated attacks on the different houses, but then Fraya noticed another anomaly, hanging from a broken window was the body of a Margenko, it‘s body still twitching, as blood gushed forth from its head and torso.
As they approached they heard a few barley audible murmurs coming from it.
"B-big sister, sc-scary… Ma-Magek…"
Drawing his blade to end the things apparent misery, the solider was interrupted by a loud shout further down the street, it was a terrible scream, filled with anger and hatred, the solider was so surprised by the scream he almost dropped his sword, he also had to jump back in fright as the half dead Margenko suddenly started to twist and thrash about violently, continuously blabbering on about this big sister, it didn’t even notice how it continuously slashed its own body on the sharp edges of the broken window, until it grew quieter and quieter, probably passing out or dying of blood loss.
He turned away from the dying monster and looked upon the princess, who was looking towards the way the scream had came from, further down the road that led to the nearby forest, she was shacking like she did earlier and her breathing was clearly laboured and heavy.
He rushed to her side and just like last time shook her until she snapped out of her terrified panic attack, luckily it was much quicker then last time.
“Princess we have to go back, this is clearly far to dangerous for us alone and if something were to happen to you, the entire kingdom would be devastated! You have to survive for the kingdom.“
Fraya however shook her head in deviance.
"No! If we let that thing escape it‘s far worse for the kingdom then my death, if it means that I can ensure the safety of my people, of our kingdom, through my sacrifice I will do a thousand times over!“
She didn’t even realise she had raised her voice, until the silence of the solider in front of her greeted her back, he closed his eyes and grabbed her by the shoulders. Under normal circumstances this would be an grave offence and the man could get jailed for touching her royal princess in such a fashion, but right now they were both simple people, fighting for their kingdom and it’s safety And not common solider and royal heir to the throne.
"Very well, we shall continue, but if anything goes wrong you will flee for your life and you will not look back for me if I stay behind."
Fraya, still not comfortable with the idea of her life being more valuable then his, wanted to argue, but before she could he spoke once more.
"I took And oath to protect this kingdom and its people when I joined the ranks of the standing army and if necessary even with my own life and that includes you princess, do not make me break my sworn oath because you decided to stay behind, despite certain danger, if I sacrifice myself for your safety, do not sully it by not living out the rest of your life."
Fraya looked into his eyes and saw both fear and dread, this man didn’t want to die, he probably had a family to care for back home and yet he was ready to die if it meant protecting the people of the kingdom, he was truly a brave solider of the kingdom.
And in silence she nodded, but silently promised that she would not let this man die.
And they both took off down the street towards the forest and towards a very, very livid Hanna.