39. Losses
thirty-nine
Losses
*AZADEH*
T he following hours pass in a blur. I’m incredibly worried for Alana. Her family is too, but… it’s not just her condition I am worried about. I just always had the feeling that there was more between her and Ita. Her death has to be truly crushing for Alana, and I’m terrified to see how she is coping with it.
I went to Aylin first, filling her in on everything. She wore a constant expression of worry on her face, especially when we talked about the mythical creature that was spotted around the pack Alana, Tynan and Ita visited.
But Alana, and the other hurt warriors are the more pressing issue now, so Aylin promised she would focus on preparing the healers.
Meanwhile, Simin and I make sure to prepare Alana’s room. “I’m so sorry, Simin. We didn’t even have time to catch up.”
Simin shakes the pillows to make them puffier, before dashing towards me and hugging me. “I just need to get it off my chest,” she says. “I didn’t want to show my excitement ever since the news about Gamma Ita broke, but I need to…” She pauses. “I’m so happy for you, my princess. You deserve this so much. After everything…” Tears fill her eyes suddenly. “You deserve it so much.”
I hug her back, feeling touched by her genuine joy for me. “Thank you for always being there for me,” I say. “In my darkest times, you and Shayan were the only ones at my side. How lonely would my life have been without you?”
“Now, you never will be lonely again,” Simin says with a smile.
“None of us will,” I assure her. “Who knows… you might just find your happiness here, too.”
“I hope so,” she smiles. “I never thought I had a thing for werewolves… but aren’t they handsome?”
“They certainly have a lot going for them,” I say.
“You need to tell me everything later,” Simin Says. “I want to know details.”
“I will,” I promise. “So, while I was away, what were you up to?”
“I mostly hung out with Kilah,” she says. “And I’m learning more about sewing and design. The king said I can learn it on a professional level if I want to. He would come up with the expenses. But I am not sure yet where my passion lies. He said I should take my time with my decision.” She smiles. “He is such a good person. So different from…” Her voice trails off. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
“You said nothing wrong,” I say. I do remember a time when I was little when my father showed his kinder side more, but I haven’t interacted with him in so many years. He is like a stranger to me now. He would have never done what King Gillean did for Simin and I.
“Kilah is actually really nice,” Simin interrupts the silence. “Some of the girls in town don’t like her. They say she is arrogant and stuck-up, but she is nice to me.”
Kilah is starting to feel the isolation. She felt less than her siblings and, to make up for her own shortcomings, she put on this mask. Now it comes back to haunt her. It’s sad actually. She just wants a fresh start, but you can’t have one when everyone knows you. She is trying so hard now, though, so I’m sure the others will eventually see who she truly is.
“I like her too,” I tell Simin.
“Do you consider her a friend?” Simin asks.
“Yes, I do.”
Simin smiles. “She will be happy to hear that,” she says. She pauses to look at the room. “I want to put flowers on Alana’s desk, something nice, you know.”
“Yes,” I say quietly, my heart aching when I think of what she is going through.
“A pity they don’t have many flowers here.”
“They do have dried flowers though,” I say. “And, in the greenhouse they have some erica and other winter hardy plants.”
She nods. “I want to put something together,” she says. “For Alana.”
“Then do it,” I encourage her. I look at her for a while, noticing how sad her gaze gets. “You and Ita… you were beginning to become friends.”
“She was so nice,” Simin says quietly. “She and Alana were teaching me how to ride. This is not fair.”
I pull her into another hug. “Make sure to be there for Alana,” I sigh. “She will need a friend.”
She squeezes me gently. “I promise.”
It’s evening when the first warriors arrive in the royal pack. It means Alana, Tynan and the others are not so far off. By now, we have instructed the healers and the other pack members already, and the warriors who just arrived swiftly fill us in on the details.
Some of the details we already expected, but they added more information to it concerning the last werebear attack, and what the children told them. So, a witch is working with the werebears. Maybe the bears aren’t even aware of what’s going on. The more the little group tells us, the more mind blowing it is though. They tell us how the children, elderly and everyone else who couldn’t fight and were evacuated, had returned; how Alana and the guards weren’t with them, and that a huge brown bear with branches coming out of his head attacked them.
Tynan, Ita, and some of the warriors headed there to help them. And then-
“A dragon?” King Gillean scoffs.
“I saw him with my own eyes,” one of the female warriors tells him. “I was there when we fended off the bear creature. We almost lost.”
“That’s how strong the bear was?” Endellion asks, appalled.
“Yes, Princess Alana and the three guards fought it for hours, yet it wasn’t even tired.” She pauses, her gaze sad. “Gamma Ita fell when she protected them. Half of our men didn’t make it out alive,” she adds. “One hit and they were instantly killed.”
“And, at that time, the dragon appeared?” Caelan asks.
“Yes, he appeared at the last minute and protected the princess and Gamma Ita. Its screech hurt the creature’s ears, it seems, and the witch Tynan called for help, worked with that knowledge, finally chasing it away.”
“I wish we could talk to the dragon,” Flinn declares.
“Oh, we can,” the woman surprises us. “He is with Princess Alana and Tynan.”
“He is coming here!?” King Gillean exclaims.
“I apologize deeply, my king,” the woman bears her neck in fear. “Was this a mistake?”
“Not at all! This is the best possible thing you could have done,” he assures her. He ponders in silence for a while. “How is my daughter?” he asks finally.
“Her body gave up, eventually. She still hasn’t woken up. Due to her exhaustion, her injuries are slowly healing,” the woman answers hesitantly. “She... she is the only survivor of the original small group who faced the creature.”
I know this is not what the king wanted to know. We already know about her condition. Endellion jumps in, though, to ask what we all need to know. “Does she already know that Gamma Ita passed away?”
“Yes, she was there.”
King Gillean nods. “Go and get something to eat, warm up and get checked by the healers,” he says to the group, sending them into the castle. Once they are gone, sadness and guilt cloud his eyes. “Her first mission. I sent her on her first mission, and it ends like that.”
“You couldn’t have known that,” Endellion says.
“I should have kept her here.”
“No,” Endellion says. “She worked to be a warrior, she is a warrior, and the fact that she came out of this alive, after hours of battling a creature way above her skills, shows that she was made for this. She lost her best friend, she learned more truths than she can probably grasp – the least we can do is be proud of her for how much she fought, and never gave up. She is not just our sister and your daughter. She is also a werewolf princess and a soldier.”
I look at him, amazed. His words make me fall in love with him all over again. I don’t know how he does this sometimes, just… hits the nail on its head.
His brothers seem to think the same. “You are right,” Caelan affirms.
“We need to make sure she realizes how well she did,” Flinn agrees.
The king sighs. “I can’t believe the moment has arrived that my children are the voice of reason…”
“It means you raised them well,” I tell him softly.
He smiles at me. “Maybe you are right.”
The rest of the time we wait, mostly in silence with people occasionally going off to do something. One of the triplets goes to check on the huge dining room that’s been turned into a temporary medical room. After a time, someone else leaves to consult with Aylin, but other than that we just pace around, waiting for our friends and family.
“Tynan doesn’t know yet that General Shayan is on his own mission… and that we have lost contact with him,” Quinn says into the silence.
Flinn nods. “I’ve been thinking about that, too. I… I will tell him.”
“Thank you,” Quinn says quietly.
“Make sure to relay that Shayan is a professional,” I tell him. “He has been part of my father’s main force for as long as I can remember. From his childhood, he was trained to be a spy, a warrior and a secret agent.”
“I didn’t know that,” King Gillean says, surprised. “I knew that he was a skilled warrior, but I didn’t know that he was that important to King Naseem.”
“Shayan didn’t want to appear too pushy and offer his services where they weren’t needed,” I explain. “He didn’t want to overstep your hospitality.”
“Humans,” Caelan sighs. “We are happy to have powerful members in our pack.”
“He is a prideful man,” I explain. “Not even his princess can tell him what to do or what not to do.”
“It seems we sent the right man on the mission, then,” Quinn says. “Let’s hope he will use his talents to get through this situation.”
Deep inside, I’m incredibly worried for Shayan. He is surrounded by species he hasn’t met before, he doesn’t know them, but I also deeply trust him and his abilities. He is stronger than anyone here thinks he is. And this is not his first undercover mission. He had been on plenty of them when he worked for my father.
“Here they come!” Flinn calls out, interrupting my train of thought. It’s far past midnight by now. They probably traveled the whole day and most of the night without any breaks. Tynan is leading the whole caravan, fortunately, this time without any attacks on them.
I can’t spot Alana anywhere yet, but I assume she is in one of the carriages. The moment they arrive, Aylin hurries towards them, two healers right on her heels. Endellion and Quinn take over the task to oversee everything, to make sure there is no panic spreading anywhere, and that everyone can get help as fast as possible.
Caelan and King Gillean are hurrying towards one of the carriages, and after a few minutes return with Alana in Gillean’s arms. She is still unconscious, and my heart sinks, when I can see the bandages wrapped around her body. It must have been a miracle that she survived. Behind the two of them I can spot a young man… he looks like a teen, maybe Nevyn’s age or younger. His skin is very pale, and he has white hair and-
He looks so similar to Favian!
This has to be the dragon. I have to battle my urge to run to him and shower him with questions. There will be time for that later. For now, we have to make sure that everyone is attended to. Aylin has been following Gillean and Caelan with Alana, so I decide to see where I can help.
There is a whole carriage at the end of the caravan, but when I make to go there, Endellion pulls me back gently. “These are…” He brushes his hand over my back. “These are the fallen. We will bid them goodbye later.”
My heart sinks at his words. I completely forgot that the pack lost a number of warriors during the last two days. The gravity of the situation hits me when I see pack members being escorted to the carriage by Kilah and Nevyn. There are some older pack members who cry, and some younger ones who look so broken.
The last attack took so many mates and children and parents from us.
“How can I help?” I whisper.
Endellion kisses the top of my head. “If you want to help, then maybe try to support the healers in their task. And, a lot of these warriors are hungry and tired.”
I nod, relieved to have a task at my hand. I kiss his palm before hurrying towards a young female healer, offering my support to her. I help her with her patients before following her inside. There, Aylin instantly approaches me. “Come, Princess, I need your help.”
“With Alana?”
“Yes, I want to wash and clean her up a bit, and I think she will be more comfortable with you and I doing it.”
She doesn’t need to ask me twice. “How badly hurt is she?”
“She has some deep wounds and gashes, one of her lungs got pierced and her kidneys got damaged. Usually, that’s nothing life-threatening for a werewolf. Her wolf is extremely weakened and exhausted, though, which is why healing takes her longer than usual. But, she will make it.”
I nod in relief while following her through the corridor. There, we pass Tynan and Flinn. Tynan keeps looking around nervously. “Where is he, Flinn? The bond… I can feel it, but it’s so distant.”
“Come, man,” Flinn replies. “Let’s go somewhere else. I need to tell you something.”
Flinn and I exchange a short glance. I try to show him an encouraging smile, but I know how he feels. Delivering bad news to someone who is already hurt like Tynan, is awful. I just hope Tynan will hang in there and have faith in Shayan.