The tent was empty, not a single soul in sight.
Books were stacked neatly on a desk of sorts, a special place in a corner reserved for armor, swords, basically artillery for battle, a makeshift bed in another corner,
Kendra went outside, but the kind giant was nowhere to be found, and it was almost morn, but there was still a little bit of darkness in the skies.
She felt excitement seep through her bones.
She could go through his stuff!
Nobody had to tell her twice.
The female-beta went through the general’s stuff in a rush, trying to find anything that could give her a hint as to who he was.
She needed to know how she was going to interact with him after all… and if she could obtain some information concerning the witch in the process, she told herself that maybe, just maybe, she’d start believing in the gods a little bit more, and so she ransacked, and ransacked, until she heard a low deadly, “Who are you and what are you doing in here?”
The words caused her to freeze in her tracks, and she prayed for the ground to open up and swallow her up, or better yet, for a cloak of invisibility to cover her up, so she wouldn’t be in this uncomfortable situation. She didn’t even turn to face him, her heart beating in trepidation.
How hadn’t she heard him come in?
“I believe I asked you a question.”
Slowly, Kendra turned to face the famous Alaric Macintyre, a look of surprise gracing her features at his appearance. To be very honest, whenever she pictured him in her mind, she always thought of some tall, burly man with a potbelly and a shaggy, unkempt beard, but oh, Alaric was nothing like that.
He was very tall alright, but with hair so blond that it was white, and a very attractive face to go with it, he was easily one of the most handsome men she had ever seen, and she had seen her fair share of men in her twenty six years of existence.
“Are you dumb, lass? Do not test my patience if you aren’t.” He warned. The words set Kendra in motion and she curtsied gracefully, head bent.
“Me sorry milord,” She started in her fake accent, “The soldiers told me to come see yer when me told them me was from Silver Crest, me just a maid, milord.” She said, eyes still on the ground.
Alaric eyed the damsel curiously, quite pissed that his soldiers had allowed her into his tent without his permission, but he’d deal with them later. He couldn’t quite see her well, with the tent quite dark and all, but from her outline, he could tell that she wouldn’t be so bad to look at,
“Silver Crest, you say?”
“Yes milord,”
“I see. And what are you doing rummaging through my stuff?”
Kendra curtsied again, “Me so sorry, milord, me just saw a book that caught me attention, but it will not happen again.”
Even though her words were shitty, with her bad English, the General couldn’t deny that she had a very nice, melodious voice. Usually someone in his tent without his permission would have borne certain drastic consequences, but when it came to this lass, he seemed to be suddenly stalling. He couldn’t explain it, but there was just something about her that was drawing her to him, and he hadn’t even seen her properly yet.
He wanted to see more of her.
“Come closer lass, I want to see you.” He ordered, and so the female beta did as he asked, head still bent, “Look me in the eyes,”
Kendra did as she had been told, the action invoking a small gasp from the General that was almost lost on to the she-wolf. He stared at her for what seemed like ages, and then finally, he said…
“Tell me more about Silver Crest. How is their Alpha like? Why have they suddenly disappeared, and where have they disappeared to?”
Now, Kendra hadn’t thought that far into her plan, and she needed more time to reformulate thoughts so she could give an answer he could buy, and so she said, “Yer speak too fast, milord, me didn’t hear what yer said. Could yer go over again?”
“I said tell me more about Silver Crest.”
Alright.
“Silver Crest’s a very nice place, most of the people over there are nice, but me stayed with very mean people, and me needed to escape, for they maltreated me badly.” She started.
She knew she was stalling, but if it was working, who was she to try to do something different?
“Get to the point, lass… tell me about their Alpha,”
“The Alpha? Me never gots to see ‘im, milord,” She lied through her teeth, “Me was always kept indoors, and me never went out, but from what me heard, he’s a nice, kind man,”
“He’s no man, that Silvercrest,” The General clarified disdainfully as he cut her off, his eyes full of so much hatred that his beauty suddenly seemed superfluous to the female beta.
She wondered what may have happened to him to turn him into this very bitter person whose sole mission was to completely annihilate the werewolf race.
“He’s a beast, plain and simple,” He continued, “And you know what we do to beasts?” He asked. Kendra had a feeling that he wanted some sort of response, and so she meekly shook her head in the negative.
“We destroy them,” He said, “We hunt them down and kill them, skin their carcasses and wear their fur as a cloak, now that’s what we do to them,” He stepped closer, and Kendra involuntarily took a step back, unadmitedly fearful of him now. He was as vile as the rumors had claimed, perhaps even more.
“You fear me lass,” He pointed out darkly, taking another step forward. “Why do you fear me? There’s no need to fear, for all I want to do is rid the world of the people afflicted with the devil’s curse.”
This time, Kendra stood her ground as the General closed the distance between them with each step,
And then they were face to face.
He stared into her beautiful browns, and she gave as good as she got, staring right back.
“You’re not like the other maids,” Alaric observed, he had found out something important about the girl… something that bound her to him, but he wasn’t ready to tell her just yet.
He wanted to get to know her first… wanted her to become more comfortable around him first,
And then he’d let her know.
“What do yer mean by that, milord?” She pressed, eyes shooting to the ground, suddenly remembering that she couldn’t hold a superior’s gaze for as long as she had.
“I’ll find out eventually,” Came his mysterious reply. “What’s your name, lass?”
Name, why didn’t you think about that before, Kendra?
What do we do? Do we stick to our real name or do we lie about that too?
The female beta couldn’t seem to make up her mind about it.
“Andrea, milord,” She said the first name that came to mind.
“Andrea,” The general repeated, his eyes still shining with interest as he tested the name on his tongue.
“I must admit, you do not look like an Andrea though,” He said, causing the young she-wolf to almost choke, but the man quickly chuckled, “Relax,” He said, “I’m just teasing, I’m not quite good at that yet, clearly, but I’ll get there eventually.”
Well, Kendra had nothing to say to that.
Alaric Macintyre’s eyes suddenly turned serious again, “But there’s something else different about you,” He mused out loud taking in a deep breath, as though he wanted to inhale her scent, “Yes,” He muttered, apparently confirming something to himself,
“I’ve found it.” His voice was suddenly curt, and all traces of playfulness had vanished from his eyes. “You don’t smell human, Andrea. Can you tell me why that is?”
The dark she-wolf could only stare at him wide-eyed.