CHAPTER 17
The remainder of the lesson focused on various techniques and exercises, and I now found myself running laps around the ring.
Ulric had come and gone but was now sitting back at the water table.
I was about to complete another lap when a sharp scream pierced the air.
I snapped my head towards where it came from and could see a cloaked figure holding a lady, a servant, by her throat.
It was only using one hand to hold her up; no, its hand wasn’t even touching her.
She was gasping for air, clawing at her throat, no longer screaming.
Zendryk grabbed a sword from the weapons rack and was charging towards the figure just as Ulric leaped from the water table, knocking it over as he ran towards the commotion.
“Zen?!” Ulric yelled from over his shoulder.
“Do it! Save her!” He yelled back, running towards the commotion himself.
Ulric let out a cry of rage that turned into a growl as he leaped into the air, landing on a giant paw, followed by three more.
Black fur exploded from his body as it shifted into an inhuman form, and a giant black wolf was now running towards the cloaked figure.
He was much faster than Zendryk, but Zendryk was not far behind him.
The giant wolf pounced into the air and grabbed the cloaked figure by the head.
The figure let out a screech that cringed me to my bones, then released the girl.
She collapsed to the ground. Zendryk rushed at the wolf…
at Ulric, who had the creature's head in his massive jaw.
He raised his sword and, in one swift motion, severed the head from the body.
Ulric dropped the head from his grasp, causing it to roll away from him, leaving the hood from the cloak behind.
When the body hit the ground with a resounding thud, a black mist started to evaporate from its corpse, and a black substance leaked from the gaping hole where its head used to reside.
Guards were rushing towards us from all angles.
“Guards! Get her to the healer!” He demanded, helping her to her feet.
A guard picked her up, one arm resting behind her back and another tucked under her legs. She’ll be okay, I told myself; they had to have the best healers here. I raced over to Zendryk and Ulric, who was still in his wolf form.
“What the hell was that?!” I asked, pointing at the two pieces of body lying on the ground, “And what the hell was that!?” This time, pointing at the giant black wolf.
He growled in response, and his red eyes stared at me in a challenge.
Those eyes! He was the wolf I saw after hitting my head. “What the fuck is going on?!”
Zendryk wiped the blood, or what I thought was blood, off the sword onto the creature's cloak. Its consistency was the same as blood, except it was as black as obsidian.
“That is Ulric,” he pointed the end of his sword at the wolf before shoving it into the ground. “And that was a Soulless.”
“I’m sorry, a what?” Confusion hit me hard.
“A Soulless.” He said matter-of-factly, like I should have known what he was talking about.
“Am I supposed to know what a Soulless is? Because in case you didn’t know by my reaction, I don’t.” He smiled. A smile?! So, infuriating.
“A Soulless is someone who has traded their soul in exchange for something they needed.” He ran his hand through his hair.
“Wait, who traded what for what?” Confusion swarmed my mind now.
What in the world was he talking about? There was so much I did not know about the world I now lived in.
A servant brought him a glass of water, and I glanced over to where the table was.
The servants had already set it back up and had a fresh jug of water waiting, as if nothing had happened, but to them, they wouldn’t have known.
It would have been blocked from their memories, and the body lying in front of me must be hidden from them.
“Thank you.” He said to them and took a drink.
The wolf, uh … Ulric, turned and walked towards the manor.
“Humans trade their souls to the leader of the Soulless. They trade when they need something: medicine, money, or food. The leader takes advantage of their time of need and gives them what they asked for. Once the human agrees to the bargain, they are in his service, in debt to him, and the cost is their soul. They become monsters, horrible monsters with powers and abilities that feed off other humans.” He took another drink.
“That is all we know about them. We don’t even know how their leader gives them their powers. ”
A voice snuck up behind me, catching me off guard, “That’s what it was doing to the servant.” Ulric stepped back into view, but he was in his human form, wearing pants.
If I hadn’t been in information overload, I probably would have appreciated the topless man… wolf… thing in front of me.
“Draining her life. After they make the deal with their leader, they will continue to wither away with no soul to keep them alive. For them to … live … they need to drain the souls of others.”
I was in complete and utter shock. “That’s horrible! Why haven’t the mortals heard of this?!”
Zendryk took a step towards me, “They have stayed along the northern border of the Kingdom, and we’ve been able to hold them off.
Their numbers are growing as humans face more desperate times.
We are trying to find more resources for them, but everything takes time.
” He lowered his head, and sadness glazed over his features.
“We are doing everything we can, but until we have more resources, we can only fight them off.”
“But how do the humans find the leader if they don’t know about them? Why can’t we find them and kill them? Won’t that remove the problem altogether?” I knew before he answered that it was not that simple.
“We aren’t quite sure. Our best guess is that when someone is in need, the leader goes to them and makes them an offer.
” He brushed his hair back again, “And once they have agreed, which they always do, either out of fear or desperation, they disappear. The only thing that remains is whatever they asked for: medicine for a loved one, food for their parents.”
“And Ulric?” I asked, pointing to him.
“He’s my bonded companion. He has been since childhood, since the day we first met.
The most powerful of each house has one.
Didn’t the Professor go over that this morning with you?
We didn’t want to overwhelm you, you know, seeing him transform into his wolf form, but we had no choice. We hopefully saved the girl in time.”
That’s why Ulric’s parents had left him here. They were bonded to one another. If he was the black wolf from that night, then who… “Who was the white wolf I saw the night of the party then?”
They both looked at each other before he answered, “That was Ulric’s mother; she was traveling through and joined us for the party that night.”
I had so many questions, but I didn’t know where to begin.
“Why don’t we all get cleaned up and ready for dinner? We can cover etiquette while we eat.” Zendryk walked towards me and put his hand on the small of my back, ushering me towards the manor.
The questions tumbled through my head, but not out of my mouth; I remained silent for the entire walk back.
I cleaned up at the wash basin, since I already had a bath earlier and hoped to have another one before bed tonight.
This was the most I had ever bathed in my life.
Back in my village, I was lucky to have a bath every one to two weeks.
Every family had a ration of water from the main well in the center of Vryndhal, and lugging enough back and forth to have a bath was a tedious job.
My mother and I cleaned up with a bucket and a cloth between baths, but that was hardly enough; dirt and grime still lived on our skin.
When I arrived at The Academy after they burned our clothes, we were required to go through a sanitation process that involved multiple baths, headlice checks, and general body clean-up.
I vividly remember the water turning murky after my first bath there.
When I exited the bathroom, there was a black knee-length dress laid out on my bed, and a note in Zendryk's handwriting again:
Wear this to dinner, Sweetheart.
I crumpled the note and tossed it over my shoulder after reading the last word. Apparently, I wouldn’t be dressing myself anymore. I picked up the dress and held it up against my body. It would fit snugly, but nicely.
After getting dressed and putting my hair into a high ponytail, I found my way to the dining hall, carrying the shoes that were also left for me.
With each step, my stomach flipped and flopped at the thought of having to dine with the King and queen.
I stopped before turning down the hallway that led to the dining room and exhaled a long, slow breath, trying to steady my nerves.
“You know, you’re supposed to wear the shoes on your feet.” Ulric's deep voice rang in my ears as he turned the corner.
“You know you’re supposed to mind your own damn business?” I dropped the shoes to the floor, leaning one hand against the wall to balance as I attempted to slide my feet into them. “Plus, I’d like to see you try to walk in these … things.”
They were a good three inches off the ground, and my feet hurt just looking at them.
The first attempt at putting them on and walking around my room ended with a scratched knee after falling face-first onto the floor.
I got my foot into the second shoe and steadied myself before letting go of the wall.
I wobbled and reached my hands back out immediately to catch myself, not wanting a repeat of what just happened in my room.
Ulric let out a muffled laugh, and I shot him a glare that told him to shut up, and surprisingly, he did.
“Here, let me help.” He walked over to me and offered me his arm, “I won’t bite.”