Seeing the General again
The days that followed were the perfect culmination of the surreal adventure I had been on.
My three companions were even more foreign to me than the werewolves of the castle.
The morning after I warmed myself by their fire, I was the last to rise.
They were already taking down their tents when the rising sun woke me.
I was offered a piece of unidentified meat for breakfast. I gladly took it without asking what it was.
I learned from Hald, the old man, that they were on their way to Kanna, following in the footsteps of the rest of their pack.
“We lived in these parts,” Hald said. “Roaming around, settling where there was good hunting.”
I never met nomads before. I tore off a piece of meat with my teeth. It was tough and hard to get through without pronounced canines, but I was grateful, nonetheless. I sat with Hald near the remnants of the fire while the others, Jas and his mate Mabel, started loading up their horses.
“My son fought at the forest edge to defend our land from the humans. Mabel and I couldn’t leave for Kanna before knowing he was safe.”
“You don’t want to stay here?” I asked. Hald shook his head.
“Too much bloodshed. The land is tainted. We were saying our last goodbyes to the tundra when you found us.”
I tugged at the fur I was given. It was wrapped around me snugly. The scent wasn’t quite right, but yesterday’s soot had seeped into the fabric, reminding me of him. “Have you heard word from the city yet? About the General maybe?” I asked.
“We have had little contact. All we know is that the battle was won, and no humans have been here since. You were the one to let us know that the battle reached the castle.”
We sat off not long after sunrise. Mabel and Jas on horseback, Hald and I on a cart in the midst of their supplies. One day on horseback from the castle to the forest edge, I had been told. Our pace was slow, however. We trudged along on horses that were running on less fuel than we were.
My stomach burned with a new combination of sensations.
Dread and excitement wrapped up in one. Exhaustion, hunger, thirst. The road was uneven and littered with rocks.
We never stopped. Even when the sun was setting, we went on.
As the sun disappeared under the horizon, we took a right turn through the mountain pass.
I held my breath. I could see it then. The slope that housed the city.
The castle, the pinnacle of the city, up so high that it was farther from us than the clouds.
I would see him. Two weeks it had been. Just a little longer.
I hoped he recovered well. That I had done enough to prevent permanent damage to his health.
That he would be glad to see not only me, but to hear of the news.
With each wobble of the cart, we got a step closer to our goal.
My heart was full and I was jittery. “Go around the city. Go to the castle gates. The General will provide you with whatever you need to start your new life.”
Hald laughed at me.
“Our General is a good man, but he will not be able to help everyone that took refuge in the city, son,” he said.
“I never said anything about helping everyone. I said he would help you,” I said. Hald didn’t respond. “Go to the castle. Trust me.”
He called out to his son to set course up the hill, on the road around the city. Right towards the castle gates.
The closer we got, the more remnants of the battle came into view. Abandoned arrows colouring the landscape. Burned shrubbery. A chill in the air.
But no bodies. All bodies were gone. It brought me some peace, that I would not have to see them again. The charred and crisped up imperial soldiers. Werewolves that fell before the General delivered the final blow. I saw them often enough already in my dreams.
My heart was pounding in my chest. In front of me stood the stone that framed the tall gate to the castle. The gate itself was rubble. Gone. As was much of the castle walls. But we arrived. Alphas manned the open gate. Many more than when I first arrived at this castle.
I got up from the cart. Wrapped in a fur blanket. My curls greasy and unkempt. Barely any shoes to speak of. I all but ran towards the guards.
“Let us in,” I said. “Let me see General Axel.”
The guards remained still. The one I approached, eyes wide. “I have no time for this. I have a message for the General. Let me in!”
The alpha took in my sorry state. When he looked at my hair, I saw a flash of recognition in his eyes. Red curls. Unmistakable. We locked eyes. A vibrant green, glowing with magic. Unheard of in the Oaklands.
“You heard him! Let them in!” The guard shouted. The others were not quick to comply. We stood there for a moment. I looked back at Hald. The deep wrinkles in his forehead were even more pronounced when he was frowning. I smirked at him, as if saying ‘I told you so.’
As soon as the others stepped aside, I made my way to the courtyard.
I could not run, but I limped and waddled as fast as I could through the stone and rubble.
With each step I took, I became more aware of his presence.
Smoke and pine, getting closer. I tuned out all the werewolves around me, working to rebuild everything that the battle had destroyed.
There was only me, the courtyard, and his scent.
That was when I saw him. Flanked by two soldiers, same as the day I met him. At the top of the very same stairs where I first laid my eyes on him. I was no longer a prisoner. I was here of my own accord. I fought desperately to be here. To be with him.
“Alpha!” He turned his head. He saw me too. He looked as though he had seen a ghost. Completely frozen. His gaze upon me, unmoving, for far too long. “You should be resting,” I said. “Your injuries were too severe.”
It wasn’t immediate, but eventually, he moved. His eyes never leaving mine. The colour of blood. The colour of fire. His feet moving, but his face remaining still. As if in a trance, he took step after step.
Smoke in my lungs. His hand on my cheek, gently. A barely-there touch, as if checking if I was real.
“How?” he asked. His voice low, private, revering. “Victor took you,” he said. I grabbed the hand that was on my cheek and squeezed it tightly.
“I ran away,” I said. “The prince is dead.” Axel took a step back, assessing me.
“How?” he asked again.
“His brother did it. He killed the prince to set me free.” Axel frowned as if confused. His eyes went wide for a second. A flash of recognition in his eyes. “Jareth is alive?” I nodded.
“He is alive,” I said. “He wanted me to tell you that he is waiting for your message.”
There was a sorrow in his eyes.
“Who is he?” I asked. Who is he to you, is what I meant.
“Later, omega.”
We stood there. Axel took in a deep breath. His eyes changed. I sighed. The adrenaline was wearing off. We truly saw each other then, for the first time since reuniting. Without the shock and the fear. That was when it dawned on him. Dawned on me.
He grabbed my waist and pulled me closer. His lips touched mine. Gentle but full of passion. I relaxed into it. His hand tangled up in my hair.
He let go to look me over. “Are you hurt?” he asked.
“Not really,” I said. “Not anymore.”
“I wanted to kill him myself,” he said. I chuckled. I was over the moon, seeing him again, when I thought I had lost him forever.
“I was planning to go to Tellevine to kill Emperor Victor. To kill his son first, right in front of him. I was going to burn them alive.”
I laughed. It wasn’t funny. It was absurd.
“I can take care of myself,” I said. I wanted to tell Axel everything. But this was not the moment or the time. I remembered then the people I travelled with. I looked behind me. The three werewolves were still near the entrance of the courtyard.
“Those people saved my life. Reward them for me.” I pointed to them. I met Hald’s eyes. Wide as saucers. I just smiled and waved at him.
The moments that followed were a blur. Axel announced a feast would be commencing in a week to celebrate my safe return.
After we had time to rest. Time together.
My alpha then carried me off to the infirmary to have me looked over by Inge.
That reunion was somehow more tearful than seeing Axel again.
“Don’t you ever do something like that again!” Inge said. He scolded me harshly but treated my scabs and bruises with great gentleness.
News must have spread through the castle quickly, as soon, Espen ran into the infirmary. He nearly toppled over a soldier with a broken leg. He hugged me so tightly it hurt my sore bones. I couldn’t tell him to stop.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you,” he said. I told him I was the one who forced him onto the battlefield. That I was the one who had to apologise to him.
Once I was excused from the infirmary, Espen took me by the hand. Axel indulged the other omegas, standing by as they welcomed me, following close behind wherever we went.
“I am your omega’s maid, remember? I will take care of you.”
Not much later, I was soaking in a hot bath. Medicinal oils made the bathroom smell like heaven. The water bit into the marks on my wrists and the scratches on my arms, yet it was the best bath I ever had.
I took a moment to take in the bathroom.
The cold stone and hot water. The dainty glass chair and plush pillows, added to Axel’s bathroom just for me.
The luxury was no longer overwhelming. Everything filled me with warmth, with gratitude.
With the feeling of home. I didn’t know when the Oaklands went from a foreign land to the place where I belonged.
The first whispers of home entered my mind that night when Axel laid with me.
When we created something all our own. But it solidified with my days spent in the infirmary with Inge.
With Espen braiding my hair in the mornings.
With speaking of battles with Axel by the fire of his hearth.