Number 32

Ivy wrapped up her meeting with the king on a friendly note and headed out to begin her journey back to The Dead Pool.
“The queen would like to meet with you,” the same guard who ushered her in earlier walked up to her and said.
“The queen?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, pave the way.”
Following the guard’s lead, she found herself walking in the midst of grasses, into the forest. This part of the village was covered mainly by trees, a bit far from where there were residential buildings. They went deeper and deeper into the forest.
“Are we not there yet?” No doubt, she’d feel uneasy.
“We’re almost there,” the same reply he gave the last time, and the one before that.
About two minutes later, he announced: “we’re here”, and stopped.
The only thing that could be seen were the tall bushes surrounding the scene giving the serene an icky feeling, they were greeted by really minute presence except for the chirping sounds that could be heard from the trees. The evening hours of the day were already here, so vision was quite vague. But she didn’t fail to see the figure adorned in sophisticated robe who stood a few trees away from her, with her long black hair facing her instead. It was easy to recognize that was the queen.
“Roselyn!” when the figure turned around and finally revealed her face, she called out happily. Considering the informality in her address, one could tell the duo had quite the history between them.
“How dare you?!” She barked, explicitly turning down the friendly gesture with a really cold tone.
“I’m sorry, my queen,” Ivy bowed.
“What did you discuss with my Lord?” she asked, holding her staff with both hands in a way that eluded noblesse.
“Some matters concerning the land, my queen,” still bowing, she replied.
She gave a signal to the guard who stood behind her and he kicked her against her legs, causing her to fall on her knees.
“My queen!” she called out with a distressing tone. “I’m sorry, my queen for addressing you with such disrespect,” she apologized for the only crime she could come up with in the space of an instant.
“I ask again, what did you discuss with my Lord?” She repeated. Two other ware wolves emerged the thick forest from opposite sides, behind the queen and surrounded Ivy.
What was indeed going on? First and foremost, why was she asked to meet with the queen in such a secluded place with little eyes. Ivy began to feel a bundle of nerves, but still somehow managed to maintain her composure. She didn’t want to panic unnecessarily as she never imagined the worst case scenario that could occur there and then.
“Ivy I asked you a question!” The guard behind Ivy forcefully pulled down and hair facing her head upwards, as she had her face buried downwards instead of looking at the queen. “What…happened…in…there?” she tapped her violently with her staff with each word she uttered.
“My queen!”
“Let me have it,” she gave her staff to one of them to hold for her and stretched forth her palm in the direction of the other pack member who walked in earlier. He placed a long and thick log in her palm and bowed before returning to his initial post. “I ask again, what did you discuss with my husband?” Holding the log in one hand she tapped the log continuously on the other palm.
“My queen I…,” The queen shut her up by hitting the log against her head fiercely. Owing to the forceful impact incurred by the hit, she prostrated.
“M…m….my,” Ivy stuttered. She was slowly losing consciousness. She placed both palms on the floor, and tried to grovel her way out of that mess but oh well, the queen sure prepared ‘the worst case scenario’. She indeed intended to put an end to her miserable life.
The guards dragged her back and pinned her to the floor on her knees.
“You…are…a…pa…the…tic…lo…ser,” with every syllable, came a fatal smack on Ivy’s head that at the end of it all, she was already bleeding seriously, passed out on the floor.
Like all she had done did not suffice, the queen squatted a bit. Placing her index and middle finger on Ivy’s neck, she checked for a pulse and felt it faintly; she wasn’t dead yet. “Finish up,” she stepped back, ordering them to pick the log and finish her off entirely.
“Aaahhh!!!!” a voice screamed from the woods. She turned around and saw Oscar who had been here for most of the time. By then, Ivy was gone. “Leave us,” she ordered the guards. They bowed and excused themselves.
“What are you doing here?!” She exclaimed bug-eyed. Oscar was too dumbstruck to provide an answer, he walked to corpse to confirm who it was. “Oscar?” his mom called out again.
“Mom!” with every iota of disbelief portrayed in his tone and visage, he exclaimed.
“What are you doing here?” Ivy’s death was supposed to be behind closed doors, how did Oscar manage to slip through?
“Is that the question right now? You just killed someone!” he emphasized.
“I had to do it.”
“You had to…,” he paused and scoffed.
“Listen. Roman asked her to kill me,” she lied in her defense.
“To kill you?!” he asked awestruck.
“Exactly! Killing her was merely in my defense. You have to take up the mantle this time.”
“The mantle?” She spoke gibberish.
“Yes. Roman intends to shove you aside and covet this kingdom to himself. You have to stop him before he does.”
“Are you suggesting I kill my brother?”
“You don’t have a brother, Oscar,” she shunned. “Roman had turned his back on us. His only interest lies with the throne. You have to do the needful and take what’s rightfully yours, okay?” she cajoled.
“If that’s the case, I won’t sit back and watch him take what could be mine.” He finally spoke her language.
“Good,” she nodded.
“I’ll get rid of him even before he steps his feet back in this land.”
“Excellent,” she offered her appraisal.
***
It’s been seven days of waiting; waiting for Ivy who’d been dead for six days and some hours. Ivy was meant to deliver her message and come back at most, in two days if she wanted to feed her nostalgia. But now, it’s been a whole week already and yet no sign of her presence around the Dead Moon. What could possibly be keeping her for so long?
Not giving in to his curiosity and anxiety, he went on with normalcy, continuing with his training as usual, preparing for the big day – the war that was only in a few days. The countdown had begun. It was merely three days left.
A day to the D-Day, he summoned his pack members at their usual training site.
“Why have you called us all together here today?” one asked.
“Do you expect him to ‘tell’ you?” another chirped, sneering at him and they all laughed. Scratch that, he just wanted to know how ready they were just out of pure spirit of inquiry.
He took out a paper and a pen and wrote something down before handing the paper over to them.
“What’s this? ‘how are you preparing for the big day tomorrow?’” he read out loud, paused to look at his compeers before they all bursted into a hysteric laughter.
“What is wrong?” he signed.
“Who the hell do you think you’re signing for?” one hit him on the head. “Do you think we’re dumbasses just like you are?” he scoffed on.
“You’re not only dumb, you’re also stupid?” They made insulting remarks.
Sign language doesn’t work with them, so he remained quiet and let his facial expressions speak for him.
“Hey…hey,” their ringleader slapped his face with the paper. “This…,” he held out the paper to his face, “is nothing but just trash,” he completed, ripping it to shreds.
With his face he said ‘what are you doing?’ ‘Uh..oh!' his wolf exclaimed.
“You really should learn to get your facts straight before spreading malicious rumors,” he added.
“If all your stupid brain can do is think of problems, then just stay still and do nothing!” another cut in.
“The supposed war is in three days dumbass,” one of them concluded and walked out alongside the crew.
‘In three days?’ his wolf asked.
‘Shut up and let me think.’
‘There’s nothing left to think about. It’s obvious you’ve been conned,' his wolf mimicked an evil laughter dramatically.
‘Conned?’
‘Connect the dots Roman. Ivy’s not yet back, remember?’ the wolf spiked his suspicions. ‘Where are we going in such a hurry?’ he asked when Roman started walking in the opposite direction towards the residences in a hurry.
“Where else? To The Crimson Fangs of course” he voiced finally, walking out of eyeshot.