The Banished Werecat Princess

12 - Freedom

Alana

    The day for the rest of my life to begin was finally upon me.  I couldn’t wait to get out of that dark, cold, musty smelling dungeon and feel the warmth of the sun shining on my face again.

    However, I was disappointed when the guards came to get me from the dungeon and my brother wasn’t with them.  I figured he would at least see me off, but I guess he didn’t care enough to be there with me as I made my final walk through the castle, where we both grew up.

    Not only did it upset me, it also fueled the fire of anger that had been burning within me since the day he took my cub away.  By the time we reached the front door, I couldn’t wait to get outside and be done with that place.

    I was once again disappointed when we got outside.  Lance was standing on the porch, and he didn’t waste any time informing me, “Alana Lola Chesterfield, your banishment from all werecat packs begins now!  If you are caught on any werecat territory, you will either be killed or imprisoned.  Do you understand?"

    "What's not to understand?  You want nothing to do with me and that's just fine, because I don't want anything to do with any of you either!  I hope you all get poisoned and die in a puddle of your own vomit!" I angrily hissed with contempt.

    Lance simply flashed me a polite smile, then he looked at Felix and nonchalantly stated, "Take this scum from my sight!  Escort her to the border and make sure she does not come back!"

    Felix nodded his head in response, then he forcefully grabbed my upper arm and dragged me off the porch.  Meanwhile, I kicked my legs and vehemently yelled, "Lance Kyle Chesterfield, I will ruin you, your mate and everybody else here!  Mark my words, I will be back to get my revenge on every last one of you!"

    I didn’t get any type of a response from Lance, as Felix continued to drag me across the front lawn.  Instead, he rolled his eyes at me before spinning on his heel and walking into the castle.

    Felix didn’t loosen his grip on my arm until we were several feet into the jungle.  By then, I had cuts and scrapes all over my body, and the tattered clothing was in even worse shape than before.  I was supposed to be free to enjoy the sun shining and the breeze blowing, but this brute of a man was making that impossible.

    I screamed at Felix to let me walk, then he snidely asked, “Are you gonna try to run back to the castle?”

    “Hell no!  I never want to see that horrible place again.  I just want to get as far away from here as possible, so I can get my life together and get my cub back,” I grumbled in annoyance.

    “Fine, but I’m warning you… if you try to run, I won’t hesitate to end your miserable life, traitor,” he warned before suddenly releasing my arm from his grasp, causing the top half of my body to join the bottom half on the ground with a loud thud, as my head bounced off a thick root.

    I sat up growling and rubbed my head that was bleeding.  Luckily, for the dumb brute, my body heals faster than most werecats, thanks to my royal blood, but that didn’t make it hurt any less at that moment.

    Without giving me a chance to shake off the dizziness in my head, Felix reached down and grabbed my arm again, then he yanked me to my feet and gave me a hard shove before demanding, “Get moving, Alana!  I don’t have all day to be dealing with your nonsense!”

    I huffed at the man, who was once somebody I trusted not to ever cause me harm, but there he was doing just that.  All that did was give me even more reason to never want to return, unless it was for the sole purposes of retrieving my cub or getting my revenge.

    The rest of the walk went by in silence, and I was glad.  There wasn’t anything I wanted to hear come out of his stupid mouth, unless it had something to do with my cub and where I could find him.

    When we finally reached the border, I hesitated for just a second, while I attempted to say a silent goodbye to my youth.  However, my moment was interrupted by Felix giving me another hard shove, forcing me to the other side of the border, then he laughed at the pissed look on my face.

    I didn’t want to give him any more satisfaction by exchanging more words with him, so I simply flipped him off, then I spun on my heel and quickly stalked away from the border.  Once I was far enough away that I could no longer see Felix, I stopped walking and took the time to figure out exactly where I was compared to where I wanted to go.

    It was then that I realized I was already heading in the right direction.  Without realizing it, I had started ascending up the mountain, and that made me feel a little better about my current situation.

    Over the next three days, I scoured that side of the mountain, looking for a good place to set up a temporary residence for myself.  Whenever I got too tired to keep going, I would either climb up a tree, or I would find a dense area of bush that I could hide in while I napped.  Of course, I never slept for more than an hour, out of fear of somebody bad stumbling upon me.

    During that time, I found a stream that I was able to follow all the way to a decent sized lake, and I didn't waste any time stripping off my tattered clothing.  I was beyond ready to feel both clean and refreshed.  Not only did I find a good place to bathe and a good source of water, I also found several berry bushes in the forest surrounding that lake.

    There was also a cottage close to the lake, but it was all locked up, and I didn’t want to get attacked for breaking into it.  Knowing that I had to be careful not to let anybody see me, I kept my time in the water short, then I moved on in search of shelter.

    I finally came upon a large cave that had plenty of space for me to sprawl out and get some real sleep.  It was strange how I found the cool, dark cave to be calming.  I guess those five years in the dungeon had even more of an effect on me than I had realized.

    It was the middle of the day, and the sun was shining bright, making it the perfect time for me to take a long nap.  After sleeping for nearly thirteen hours straight, I awakened to the moon illuminating the area outside of the cave.

    I enjoyed a leisurely stretch of my back and limbs, then I crawled out of the cave and laid on my back, so I could enjoy the beautiful sight of the night sky filled with billions of twinkling stars.  I wasn’t lying there very long before my stomach began grumbling for food.

    Knowing I would need to stock up on some food while the weather was nice, I headed toward the lake.  On my way there, I ran across a deer, and I couldn’t let the opportunity pass me by.

    After stripping my clothes off and setting them to the side, I shifted into my jaguar and chased that deer down until I was able to pounce on it’s back and rip it’s throat out.  I spent the next fifteen minutes eating as much of that deer as my stomach could handle, then I ran to the lake and let the water clean the blood off of my fur.

    Once I was clean again, I found my way back to my clothing and pulled them on, then I proceeded to pick berries, so I could take them back to the cave with me.  I used my shirt as a makeshift basket, and I was happy with the amount of berries that I was able to collect.

    I had been out less than a week, and I had already found a place to take shelter and food to consume, as well as a safe place to get water.  Feeling like my life was finally starting to turn around for the better, I walked back to the cave with a genuine smile plastered on my face.