The Beauty in the Beast

Chapter Two- Warrior

The glancial chill of unwelcomed water would sting her skin as she was lifted from her slumber and returned from her dreams which carried her to a place untouched by sin and charred bark such as this dismal isle. The meeting of her palms to the cracked hay and cold stone would remind her of her circumstances of durance at the order of a man as wicked as her hatred against him. But her eyes would pull open to her own accord to witness the same knight who had struck her head to now hold the gate open with a look of lust spread wide across his face. It was a look she had come to expect but not because she believed herself to be exquisite in beauty, but because she had come to expect this from all men.

“Rise, mutt, today is the day you die.” His words were cold and shallow as another two guards moved to either of her sides to restrain her.

“I must admit I was disappointed that King Adrian did not cease your existence before this morning’s dawn, but I am now in favor of this decision as I am looking quite forward to your public execution…”

“I will have to beg your pardon-” As his face twisted at the mention of her words, she would bring her fabric clad knee to the direction of one of the guard’s cheeks until he was stunned enough for her to use her now free hand to the neck of the second knight. Rather quickly, her angelic features faded into something more canine in the form of sharpened nails and fluorescent irises as her lips lifted to showcase the sight of snarling teeth to the man keeping her from her exit.

“I was in desire in showing your true self…” he would speak, taking the whip hidden at his side until this moment and carrying it to view; cracking it once at his hip as both guards were now injured and leaving them only sparring against each other.

The moment the growl of advanced assault would leave her lips, the whip would bite into her shoulder, tearing her dress, and making her wince, yet this would not be enough to deter her. Instead, she would manage to take her fingers around the throat of this ‘guard’ and dig the edges of her nails into the skin directly beneath her touch. Although she did not wish to end his life, she knew if she did not that he would be on her heels the moment she would release him, but this hesitation across her face was enough for him to gain the unfortunate upper hand as he used the body of the whip as a tool of asphyxia, pulling hard enough to strain the muscles and bones within her neck to a point of mortal danger.

“You must have been both borne and fostered by the wild as any woman of class would know to bite her tongue...perhaps you need a man to do it for you!” The sound of his voice echoed around her until it would be interrupted by the painful race of her own blood pounding in her ears. As he noticed she was weak enough, he would release the grip around her neck and push her off of him as she collided with the bars, leaving her still for just a moment.

“One bitter lashing at a time-” The sudden bite of the whip into her back was enough to make her cry out in agony as this would be done in thrice. Each time, the man would count as her grip on the cold iron at her face would tighten enough to manipulate the structure within her hold, leaving her fingerprints engrained in its makeup until she would be summoned by another set of guards.

“The king is growing impatient, bring her now.” She would find this temporary suffering to halt at these words as the three guards would now move up a set of jagged stairs that yearned to collect her feet with its sharp edges, until she was dragged through a continued corridor of lit torches and walls of stone left damp with moss before coming to a large mountain. She would be lifted over another set of natural stairs and thrown into a manmade cage with candles hung upside down from the ceiling for illumination and bars high enough to keep her encased for as long as her captor wished.

“It is only customary that a product must first be tested before being purchased...That is why you have been invited here-the elite of the masses. If she does survive, you can offer your amounts and I will see which one is the most enticing for me. Do not insult me with miniscule forms of gelt. She is the last of her kind...and she will now prove her worth to us all…” Adrian spoke with his voice echoing in the caverns around them as the poor girl was unable to take stock in the eyes set upon her-but was well aware that they remained somewhere in the darkness; waiting for her to live or die before their undivided attention.

However, as she would turn in search of her first ‘test’, his eyes would meet with the condition of her back; the sand hue of her fabric stained with her blood from the cat o’ nine tails, his gaze would sharpen to those he had entrusted with her arrival. A look of threatening discontentment would meet with this injured knight as he would spit out the blood of his own altercation while the gate to her side came open to reveal a single foe; a snake.

Its serpentine motions slithered in her direction immediately as she would use the bars to offer herself enough of a lift to keep from feeling the piercing fangs of a forest cobra from taking a bite from her skin. Yet its hunger to taste her seemed insatiable as it would hoist its body upright high enough to attempt strike after strike as the perspiration on her hands made it difficult for her to keep a secure hold. But it was while entwined around this metal that she would spot a rock on the far side of the cage-just out of reach from the bars. She carried her desperate grip from bar to bar until she was able to be placed directly over the rock, but with the snake at the skirt of her dress, she knew she would have to be swift to refrain from finding her end with the neurotoxin this rather beautiful creature held in the form of two porcelain talons.

She would wait until the snake moved to strike again, this time using the side of her foot to kick it away, where she then dropped to the floor. The snake rose quickly, turning and slithering on its belly for her yet again, dropping blood with each inch made in quick repetition as her fingers would reach for the rock in desperation. With only half a centimeter out of reach, she looked back to the snake gearing up to bite her once again as her claws developed out of sheer fear. The tip of one of these elongated nails would connect with the rock, then another-until she was able to grip it and use it rather quickly upon the head of the snake, watching it go limp in death.

She huffed in anxiety as the crowd would cheer from their darkened corners and Adrian would speak once more.

“She has proven herself agile against the poison of a serpent...Do you wish to know how she fares against one of her own?” Her eyes would narrow to his words as the cage would open again, but instead of expecting to find another woman or even a fellow werewolf that may have survived somehow or been imprisoned beneath his wrath as she had been, she would find a simple wolf staring back at her. Its eyes were calm and clear-showing it was not ‘one of her kind’, it was a simple wild canine brought here to be either predator or prey; a trait she wanted no title in either way. But as her eyes would rise to meet the orchestrator of this horrific display of talent shown only for profit, she was well aware the only way she would survive would be to survive yet another trial.

Her and the full wolf would crescent the circular enclosure as she would keep her full transition at bay while the creaking sound of metal brought her focus to the door opening once again; this time, adding a second wolf against her. With twain hounds moving to her in a stalk, their lips snarling at the similarities they saw looking back at them, she would attempt to climb the bars again, but just before she was able to, a set of teeth would embed into her skin, leaving her to cry out in raging pain.

“No!” She would grunt to herself, using her free leg to kick the mutt off of her skin as the second rushed her immediately. She would be able to dodge this second set of teeth, but was now too injured to stand on both feet. Frustrated and in immense pain, she would grunt with each movement as she looked for that very rock she had used with the snake, but it was now behind the legs of each of the wolves, meaning she would have to manage to bypass their devotion to her and distract them. Without a way to do this, she was out of options as she backed herself into the cage and brought her head upwards in defeat; not accepting it, however, as her gaze came to the flame of a lowered candle.

In quick succession, she would dive to her skirt, tearing it to a thick swatch and rising with every ounce of strength she had with a one-handed grip to the bars all to depend on this faint illumination to set this piece of fabric on fire. When she had succeeded, she would use it as a use of defense and not attack-but the wolves ventured for her still; seemingly unphased by the sight of fire as she expected them to flee-but as they were encased and hungry in similarity to her, she understood their devoted need to hunt and remain on edge until their prey was consumed.

However, this fire did allow her a sort of barrier as she was able to move to the rock and the snake, taking the snake within her grip, opening its jaw, and using it as a weapon into the skin of the wolf-forcing them both into a state of paralysis that only set it following several attempts to take a bite of her tarnished skin and a few grazes left on her knuckles.

“She has NOW shown endurance-”

“Enough!” She explained out of breath, Adrian now looking to her in approved silence.

“I will not kill another living creature. If you are not warrior enough to face me, then so be it and if I am to meet my end on this stone then I will continue to fight for my freedom until I fatigue and fall to meet my maker. But I refuse to claim another life; these are innocent creatures who you withdrew from their homes for the sake of proof of what I am. You search for the monster in me, when you needn’t look far as it is YOU who inhabit the traits you wish for me to exhibit. It is YOU who are the monsters.”

“Shall we send in the bear, m’lord?” A guard asked Adrian as he shook his head and held up his hand in silence.

“Send in Demitri…” Her eyes would come to the door to witness the man who branded her with the line of a whip to her back was now allowed into the cage-but he would not be alone as Adrian would join behind him.

“Do you know why your existence is an abomination, pup?” She would be asked as the door closed behind them all; leaving two against one as her eyes would follow his every movement.

“It is due to an order you have interrupted; the chain of predator and prey. Small creatures are eaten to nourish those of genuine power...Those of great strength survive, yet, they need these trifling beings to survive all the same...Yet this natural order was interrupted by your existence as you are both predator and prey, are you not?” She would not answer, only huffing in place as she had the animals she defeated at her back and those who rivaled her now staring at her; one in hatred and another in curiosity.

“Answer when spoken to, you-” Demitri tried her, lifting his sword to strike her as she did not attempt to shield herself, iInstead, she took a step backwards, falling between the two wolves, eyes now glassed with death, as she awaited Adrian as he focused on his dear knight. He would take the weapon from his hands, turning to face her as the flames of the candles ahead flickered on the blade’s reflection.

“As I mentioned, you need these smaller creatures...the ones to do your bidding, the ones who strive for the same outcome you have built-” But as she would have the very tip of the weapon beneath her chin with the expectancy of her life’s end, she would say a final prayer to herself until the withdrawal of the blade’s edge would be felt and her eyes would open in just enough time to notice Demitri impaled with his own weapon.

“But you understand that if allowed, this man WILL end you?” He asked her as her eyes opened to find the hilt of the blade now positioned towards her to take. “It is an unfair world, my girl...There are now allies, only those who wish to kill you now and those who wish to use you before they kill you…” She would reach for the blade in hopes she could use it to then kill the King himself. However, there was some wicked twinkle in her eye that unveiled this plan to him and so he took the sword back to his own hold.

“And some are too daft to follow simple orders! Yet, this order must be kept.” Demitri’s body would fall to the floor, his shell taking a final breath before he was now deemed a corpse.

“I am not quite sure where it is you can be categorized here...but I think I will keep you to myself until I can learn this…” Adrian would bend to her only to speak these words before then offering his hand to bring her to the soles of her feet, but she would reject him.

“I will never subject myself to you-”

“We shall see…” His voice echoed as he would disappear into the darkness, leaving her confused as to what would come next as she knew this was just the beginning…