The Last Witch Princess

Chapter 8

    I woke up before the sun was up, laying in my sleeping bag and staring at the top of the tent. A noise woke me up, but as I laid there listening to nothing but the hammering of my heart, I started to think maybe I imagined it, or maybe it was part of my dream. Just as my eyes started to drift closed again I heard a noise, a low moan filled with pain cut through the air, along with whispered voices. Instantly I sat up, my heart beating fast as everything imaginable flashed through my mind. Was it a wild animal? Was it a werewolf coming to find me? Did they somehow track me down? Was it a shifter, a dog, or perhaps a bird who just happened to see the attack and tracked me from above? “You got here earlier than we thought you would, Greg, we assumed you’d be here after dawn.” Ren’s whispered voice cut into my thoughts. 

    I frowned, slipping out of the sleeping bag and inching forward on my knees. I felt very exposed wearing nothing but this long-sleeved black cotton shirt, hanging against my hips. They didn’t have the ankle-length nightgowns I wore all my life, and I was told most girls in this group wore this to bed. Jem said they wore shorts too, but I refused that. I hated wearing pants, how could I ever wear shorts? Ridiculous. The black shirt was too big on me, and I sat down against the front of the tent, ready to lift up the zipper with one hand, trying to push the cloth back over my shoulder again. Was everyone used to wearing such loose shirts? I never thought I’d ever long for a corset, but here I was. The strangeness of these people, to wear loose shirts and tight pants with nothing but a breast band made of linen to hold our breasts in place. “I tried to go faster, he’s developed an infection with the wound,” Greg said with a growl, clearly annoyed. “That Beta deserved his death, for what he did to my brother.” He said. 

    Before I could unzip the tent it unzipped itself, and I was staring into the eyes of a startled Jem. He looked down at me, and I swear he was looking down at my body. I realized how exposed I was, my loose shirt falling down my shoulder and exposing the swell of my breasts, the shirt only sitting against my hips, exposing all of my legs. He sucked in a deep breath and closed the tent flaps. I couldn’t move, my face was red in embarrassment as I stared at the fabric clenched tight by his fingers on the other side of the fabric. After another moment I forced myself to stand, grabbing the cursed pants and slipping them on. I was just finishing tying up my boots when Jem opened the tent again, his features shadowed by the low fire outside the tent. I shivered from the airflow, and slowly he lifted his finger to his lips, motioning me to be quiet so I wouldn’t wake Ana. I frowned at him, why should the servant sleep past the princess? I stomped past Ana and woke her up. Jem frowned at me but I ignored him, pushing past him out of the tall tent as Ana scrambled inside to get dressed. I glared at Jem, discerned by his unnerving face before I ended up throwing my hands in the air. “Why did you react like that when you saw me?” I asked him, annoyed. 

    He always acted so uncaringly, why would he care if I was half-naked. He shrugged, looking anywhere but at my eyes, before sighing. Finally, he looked at me, and I could see nothing of interest in his amber eyes. “No reason, nothing interesting to see. I was just startled, it’s not every day a young woman prostrates herself before me.” He said. 

    Fury built up inside me and I stepped towards him, seeing red as I slapped him across the cheek. The loud crack echoed around the fire and the two men talking on the other side stopped, staring at us with their mouths hanging open. It was Ren, now that I was looking at them, and another man I didn’t recognize. “You dared to come into my tent without knocking on anything or announcing your presence. It was my personal space. I was allowed to kneel wherever I wanted to, wearing whatever I wanted to! Trust me, I wasn’t doing anything for you! You’re just a savage, I’ll never do anything for you!” I screamed in his face. 

    I watched in disbelief as he stood there, his face tilted to the side where I smacked it, a large red print forming. My hand was throbbing from the impact, the first time I've ever slapped anyone before but it was worth it. How dare he degrade me? He was still ever calm, even when Ren came over to stand by his side. Jem simply raised his head to look at him, then back at me. Ana scrambled out of the tent and bowed to me, apologizing for not waking before me, and started to brush my hair with the strange brush. Ren growled softly at her servant's motions but she ignored it, continuing to take care of me. I had to force myself to stop staring at Jem, his calm nature was infuriating me more and I had to refrain myself from breathing heavily in anger. Bellie would already be scolding me for raising my hand against anyone, even a commoner, saying I would show better grace to laugh off his wild accusation or just ignore him like the commoner he is. 

    “Princess Aislyn, my name is Greg.” the man next to Ren said. I turned to look at him, ignoring the pulls and tugs of Ana trying to braid my short hair back into a ponytail. She was just as frustrated with it as I was, both of us used too much longer hair to work with. He was surprising to me, he had vibrant red hair that he slicked back, holding in place with a tiny ponytail at the nape of his neck. He wore glasses, a thick pair that had a crack in the corner of the left side. He was a very stocky man, more on the fat side than muscular but I could tell he still was much stronger than I was. He tried to give a little bow and I smiled warmly at him, accepting his clumsy bow since he was the first one to try to treat me as he should for my title. 

    “Greg is kind of our healer. He has no power, but his parents had a knowledge of herbs and he’s the closest we have to take care of everyone.” Ren explained. Jem remained silent and I chose to ignore him, pretending he wasn’t even there. 

    “My brother, you might have heard him earlier. He’s in the house now, but I had him on a wagon and tried to roll him around the tents and houses so he didn’t wake many people. He was injured, his ankle was bit when the Beta turned into a wolf. He’s lost a lot of blood and he’s started to grow an infection. We had to travel slower because of his condition. Princess, I’m so very glad you’re here, so very glad.” He said with a warm smile, reaching forward and grabbing my hand. Gently he kissed the top of it and I smiled down at him, even if his words confused me. I tried to see the kindness in the man, and ignore the angry swirls of the black lines all over his body. 

    “I’m sorry for your brother, even though it was unnecessary and not my fault. I didn’t ask to be kidnapped and if possible I would prefer to continue on my way to my fiance before he accuses my father of anything. But if you’re wanting me to bless him or give you good luck, then I will do my best.” I said to him.

    Greg frowned, scratching his head as he looked at Ren. I could tell they were conversing with each other and wondered if Greg was also a werewolf like Ren. “Aislyn, you don’t get it? This is your task. To use your magic and heal Fred, Greg’s brother.” Jem’s calm voice broke through the silence. I shivered as he said my name, the familiarity was discerning to me. “It should be a breeze for you, right princess? You’re the last witch after all.” He said with an underlying mocking tone. I glared at him, and he stared back at me with a calm expression, so much so that I had to stop myself from walking over to him and smacking him again. 

    I looked back at Greg and took a deep breath, trying my best to ignore the sinking feeling deep in my stomach. “Show me to your brother,” I said to him. He smiled brightly at me and I followed him, Ana quickly on my heels. 

    I could feel Ren and Jem following as well and bit my lip, silently sending a prayer that my healing magic will be strong enough for whatever is wrong with this man. “He’s a good man, Princess Aislyn. He’s young, just turned nineteen, has a wife and a newborn baby. It was his first mission, he was too excited, not trained well enough. I tried to keep him back but he wouldn’t listen. He has a good trade, he can make deerskin into just about anything.” Greg kept whispering to me as we walked through the dark early morning chill air to a cabin to the left of us. Every step away from the warm fire brought coldness and fear in my heart, and every word he spoke made me feel worse and worse. The way he adored his younger brother, the way his wife and newborn must adore him as well. He was a good man, just wanting to do right for his family. Fear filled me as Greg opened the door, the instant smell of infected flesh smacking me straight in the face and making me gag. 

    Ana wasn’t faring any better than I was, I could hear her dry heaving behind me and I was glad we hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. A young woman was sitting at the kitchen table, utter exhaustion filled her features. She looked to be eighteen or nineteen herself, her stomach hanging in a way that showed she recently gave birth, especially since it was distorted from her otherwise tight muscular build. She was beautiful, honey-colored skin and black hair with red fabric weaved into it, her dark brown eyes reflecting the sadness in them along with the puffy red skin surrounding them. She had her shirt down on one side and her breast exposed, a tiny bald baby clutched onto her sucking away. 

    I turned my head and felt my face grow warm, surprised by the forwardness. Then again, this was her house, she didn’t expect us to show up. Unless she did and she didn’t care. Were all Assassins this uncaring over their bodies? She made no move to cover herself or her baby with a blanket as the women in the castle would do, or apologize and duck into another room. She just stared at us with uncaring eyes as we slowly filed into the room. I could tell Ana was unnerved by it as well, shifting side to side on her feet as she looked repeatedly at the blanket on the table. I touched her wrist to try and calm her, it was best we tried our best to appease their strange culture, especially if we were to be with them for six months. 

    “Isabella, this is Princess Aislyn and my mate, Ana,” Ren said to her. She looked at us, raising her eyebrow at Ana, before bowing her head at us. 

    “Nice to meet you Princess, Aislyn, Luna Ana.” She said formally. I gasped along with Ana, confusion on my face. Did she call Ana Luna?

    “I’m not Luna, I’m Princess Aislyn’s Omega,” Ana said hesitantly. I watched as Isabella frowned, her brown eyes sweeping over to Ren in confusion. 

    “She hasn’t accepted me yet, but she will,” Ren said firmly. I could feel Ana shivering behind me and I tried my best to shield her, glaring at the others. 

    “Where is your husband?” I said, wanting to change the subject even if it sped me up to see the man that I was sure I couldn’t help. Isabella looked at Greg with sad eyes, before motioning her head to the doorway behind her. I ignored her rude nature because she was busy feeding her baby and followed Greg and Ren into the next room, Ana and Jem following behind me. The smell was worse here, and after a brief look around the room, I saw a form shifting on a cot in the corner of the room. It was too dark in here to see, so I lifted my finger, willing every candle to light. Suddenly the room was brighter and everyone gasped, turning to look at me as I weaved around the others to the sick man. He was moaning painfully, thrashing side to side in his sleep. 

    I touched his forehead and felt how much he was burning up, the sweat falling down his forehead and soaking his red hair. He had eyeballs tattooed to the outside of his eyelids and I shuddered at the strangeness of it, trying to ignore it as I lifted the blanket at his feet. They had said he had a cut on his ankle but the sight I saw wasn’t what I expected. I let out a gasp as I stared down at his leg. They had removed his pants sleeve and wrapped it crudely around his wound, most likely it was all they had at the time. Blood and ooze were slowly coming out of the bindings with every thrash of his body, making him moan some more. Fear filled through me as I stared at this, every cell in my body screaming at me to run away, that I couldn’t do this. 

    I turned to look at Ren, ignoring those words, and stared at him. “I need to clean this to see what I’m working with. I require hot water and rags, fresh bindings to wrap it up again. I need to see the wound.” I said to him. He nodded at me and looked at Jem and Greg, who disappeared through the door into the kitchen. I rolled up the sleeves of my shirt and Ana brought me a stool, making me eye level with the wound. I tried my best to swallow my fear as I looked at it, sending another prayer that I could help this man.