Julitta was dropped to the ground and she went silent. She waited until the bag was taken away from her eyes and she looked around to see where she was. She was inside the castle and she could tell since the walls were too rich to belong to a dungeon.
She looked around and found some warriors staring down at her with their swords drawn. They seemed to be waiting for an order. She tried to feel her hands and she noticed that she was tied. Her mouth was full and she couldn't make any noise. Not like she would have made any noise.
Her eyes darted around the place, and she could see that the only means of escape was the window by the left. But for her to get there, she would have to tackle several warriors. There were fifteen of them in the room and if they weren't werewolves but human soldiers, she would beat them up totally.
She narrowed her eyes as she felt her fingers. She was still able to move them. She turned her back to see that she was set close to the wall and there were so many warriors behind her. She smirked. Her fingers moved to her back pocket where she hid her small dagger. It looked like a pendant if one didn't look too closely.
Rather than wearing it, she always had it in her pocket. She took it out and began to cut the ropes loose. She was quiet, slow, and steady in her movements. She didn't want to alert them. Staring at the warrior opposite her in the eye, she wondered why they hadn't freed her mouth.
The door opened and a man walked into the room.
"The king is on his way." He said.
Julitta's eyes widened a little. Calhoun was coming? Well at least, she could see what he looked like closely. She would know if he looked like Coco or not.
"Hey!" She tried to yell in a muffled voice. The man who had entered the room turned towards her. He smiled sheepishly and went to take the cloth from her mouth.
"Ah." She breathed in relief. "Thank you."
The man nodded. "What is your name?" He asked her. Julitta stared at him wondering if he was sick in the head. He had just kidnapped her and tied her and yet he had the guts to ask her for her name?
"Why should I tell you?" Julitta asked in return. She was careful to not show any emotions in her dealing with them. She wasn't exactly afraid of werewolves, she was rather fascinated by them. And it was all thanks to Diana.
"You had better start talking before King Calhoun comes in." The man ordered.
Julitta scoffed. "Tell him to come if he's man enough."
The warriors gasped. They never did find such bravery among the humans.
"You... You are a werewolf right?"
"I'm not an animal," Julitta said. An easy way to get to know your opponent was to rile them up.
The man raised his hand to hit her and the door went open.
"George," Calhoun called. "Were you about to hit our guest?"
George shivered in mild fright. "Not at all my king, she just called us animals and she said you weren't man enough."
Calhoun hummed. He turned to her, his eyes looked dark and scary yet Julitta was fascinated.
"Why do I have this feeling that you aren't afraid of us?" He asked her.
"Maybe because I am not." She said.
Calhoun nodded. "Untie her hands." He ordered.
Julitta raised her hands. "I freed myself while your soldiers were being pretty."
She got up from the floor and stood, placing one hand on her hips.
"You are smart. But not smart enough." Calhoun said.
"You think? I am one soldier that cannot go missing from the camp. My commander will find me and she will kill you." Julitta threatened.
Calhoun chuckled. "You think a woman is a match for me?"
"Oh, wait till you see her. I promise you, you'd freeze at the sight of her." Julitta said.
"Is she subzero or what?" Calhoun mocked.
"I hope you have this cockiness when you see her. I'm leaving." Julitta said.
Calhoun watched her walk around. He wanted to see how well she can get away from the room. It was the seventh floor of the castle, how would she be able to jump?
"If you can beat my choicest soldiers, I will allow you to leave," Calhoun said.
Julitta smiled. Of course, she would accept, she didn't plan to leave. She planned to escape.
She took out her small daggers from her pocket. "Bring it on."
The fight began. Calhoun instructed them not to fight in their wolf forms but to fight as humans, using strategies.
Julitta wasn't bothered. Wolves were big and fast and strong but their first mistake was that they always underestimated their human opponents.
Her goal was easily seen by Calhoun and he was too excited to stop her. Julitta had beaten five of the soldiers and she finally got to the window. She was pulled back and tossed behind. She smirked. She ran up against the wall and jumped, doing a speak dive.
The warriors dodged, expecting her to hit the wall and break her legs but at the last minute, she raised her legs higher and broke the window glass, sliding out the window just like that.
It was when she got out that she saw how high up she was. It was too late, she was already in the air. Just as she was falling, she felt herself fall into someone's arms and the person set her down.
"What the hell were you doing?" Diana huffed silently. Julitta raised her eyes to see the window she had just jumped out from. Calhoun stood there, watching her.
"Skydiving." She answered. She pulled Diana and they returned to her tent. "Did Eugene come here?"
"No. I heard him searching for me in the woods but he didn't find me." She said. "Julitta, what were you doing there? Did you sneak into the castle?"
"No. I was snuck into the castle." Julitta answered. "George and his soldiers, they took me away when I came to find you."
"Why did you come to find me?" Diana asked as they entered her tent. "Sit."
"Well, I overheard Eugene try to convince Jasyn that the girls and I were lying about you being injured so I had to do something. He wanted to make sure you were wounded."
"You should know me, J. I don't ever make a plan without preparing for it."
Julitta shrugged. "I guess I just feel overprotective of you."
"That's fine," Diana said. "I feel overprotective of you too. We are more than friends, we are sisters."
"I have to return to the camp. My experience will rile Jasyn up the more and he will plan a more severe attack against Calhoun and his warriors."
"That's better. Yesterday's fight was bordering on boring."
Meanwhile, in the castle, they were also having a similar discussion.
"My king, what do you think would happen now that the girl has escaped?" George asked
"That depends on if she survived the fall," Calhoun said, knowing fully well that she did. He had watched her being caught by another soldier and the person dragged her away. He watched them disappear into the trees.
"What if this causes a tougher and more severe battle than that of yesterday's?" George asked.
"Then that's fine. Yesterday's battle was bordering on boring." Calhoun said. "I can't wait to see what those humans have planned for me"
"Surely they couldn't have come without a backup plan?"
Calhoun was in thought. The only thing that bothered him was the fact that they might have a backer. Someone stronger than even the werewolves together. Someone who was probably using all of them as pawns in his game.
And Calhoun hated being used as a pawn at all. He hated having to do someone else's bidding, whether knowingly or unknowingly. He hated it. That was the only thing that made him so interested in the battle against the humans. He wanted to give their backer enough time to plan.
He loved a good battle as it always made him excited. Thinking about how well the battle could go for them, he smiled.
"There is no rest for the night creatures. We can just go into their camps and feed on them alive. But that would be unfair." Calhoun said.
"My king, since when did we play fair?" George asked.
Calhoun thought for a while. That was a deep question. Since when did he play fair? He never did. Why was he adamant about doing so now?
"Since when there was a chance that there is a bigger boss who feels superior like he can control everything and everyone to play whatever role he pleases in his game."
"Like a god?" George asked.
"Not exactly a god. Gods cannot be killed. This man can be killed. You could say an ancient power or something else." Calhoun said. Even he did not know what he was up against. But his thirst for blood made him eager to fight an unseen enemy.
George nodded. "Then shall we go out and still prepare for the battle?"
"Prepare?" Calhoun reiterated. "No no, don't get me wrong. We go out and wake them up once it's morning."
"How so?"
"Two of you, into the woods, find their tents, and growl for the others to come along. Don't worry, take your time in doing it." Calhoun said.
"We have an edge over them for being night creatures but we won't use that yet. I don't want us getting tired when the real enemy shows up."
They nodded and left. Calhoun stood before the window, staring at the snow. The white snow was calling out to him but this wasn't a time to answer. He decided to make a round of his castle one more time before he got carried away in the battle.
As he began his walk, he could hear different whispers from the servants. He wasn't bothered. He knew they were humans and were bound to turn on him one day. All he knew was that if they ventured to do anything bad against him, he would rip their heads off their bodies.
He wouldn't take any form of defeat whether it be from an attack on his throne or to kissing kingdom, or even his personality. He would never accept defeat.
He continued his walk, ignoring their whispers. His mind kept drifting to the lady he had seen. She looked so much like Diana and although Thomas's words were plausible, he couldn't help but feel like he had been lied to.
Thomas. He could go and ask one more time. Perhaps begin the question by saying, he had seen Diana.
He went to Thomas's quarters but couldn't find him there.
"Looking for me, my king?" Thomas asked from behind him. Calhoun smirked as he turned to stare at Thomas.
"Tommy." He called cheerfully. "How now?"
"How now? What is this, the stone age?" Thomas asked. "My king, is there a particular reason why you were looking for me?"
"Yes, there is," Calhoun said. "I saw Diana. Earlier today during battle."
Thomas did not react whatsoever. "You did?"
"Yes." Calhoun affirmed. "she was so glorious on the battlefield, I never knew she was that skilled in battle."
Thomas nodded. "Diana used to learn some skills from her mother when she was a child. She and her mother would do this for a while and I would get jealous."
Calhoun smirked. "It leaves me to wonder, was she the same person who came that night of the banquet? Maybe she wanted you to think she was the cousin and not her."
"It could be, I have no idea," Thomas said. "My king, you have to know that Diana might be here, but she's not here for you."
Calhoun got vexed instantly. "Not here for me?!"
"Yes," Thomas said. "And you can't hurt me because she has seen me. If you did anything to me, you would ruin your chances of ever being with her again."
Thomas stared Calhoun in the eye.
"Goodnight, my king. I pray for victory for Wisteria."
Calhoun watched Thomas enter his room, he was seething in rage.