ALKAROD
A bone-shaking cough reverberated from one end of the infirmary to the other. It was a sound that Alpha Rasmus and his wife were rapidly getting used to. The cough most times left their son weaker than ever and had bits of spittle and blood spraying the air.
His situation had worsened as the days went past and by now, lesser people would have lost all hope of his recovery. But his parents had always been stubborn and that helped them now.
Their only hope, Elora, was far out of their reach and the Elves who promised to help them had sent a message stating that their territory wasn’t safe enough for Rasmus to visit. The Blackfoot were sniffing around them, ready to attack when the time was fit. The elves didn’t trust the Blackfoot.
“My boy…” The Alpha’s wife whimpered as she cleaned the spittle off his lips. “Have the elves said anything new?” She was constantly asking her husband for updates.
“No. If they have, I would have told you.” The Alpha was irritated by her constant questions.
“I curse the day that bitch of a girl was born!” She wailed.
“Curse all you want. It doesn’t work that way.” He spat. If curses worked that way, Rasmus wished that all Blackfoot would be eliminated from Bale. He hated them with every fiber of his being. He hated the girl that wrecked his son’s life too. He wished she suffered every single thing his son was going through. He wondered bitterly how a young girl like that could have caused him so much misery.
He balled his hands in tight fists pacing around the small room. Nothing seemed to calm him down anymore.
His son murmured something and then shuddered in another violent episode.
“He is in pain!” His mother cried, “My son…”
Alpha Rasmus paced faster.
Someone knocked on the door interrupting him.
“Come in!” He barked.
It was a messenger, out of breath as if he’d been running.
“Alpha, Alpha… Someone from the auction house is here to see you!”
“Auction house?” Alpha Rasmus was surprised.
It had better be good.
“What is it?”
“Other Alphas from around Alkarod are also coming!”
“What in the world…”
Another person walked into the room. He was badly beaten. On his face were deep bruises and scratches, his lips were busted and his eyes were a deep purple color.
“Rasmus.” He wheezed.
“Farrel?! What the hell?” The Alpha rushed to him and helped him sit.
“Farrel?” His wife exclaimed.
“Woman! Go get something for him to drink!” Alpha Rasmus commanded.
“Rasmus… The worst has happened…” Farrel wheezed.
Alpha Rasmus wondered what could be worse than what was happening to him.
“The auction house… was raided!”
The shock that raced through him had his mouth popping open.
“Raided? Who dared raid the auction house? Who are those bastards?” He roared.
“Lycans… The Lycan king himself!” Farrel managed to say.
Rasmus was struck dumb at the revelation.
How on earth could the Lycan king raid the auction house?
How had he known about it?
Who informed him?
If Rasmus thought his situation was terrible before, this news broke him. He was in deeper trouble than he ever imagined.
What in the world was going on?
The Alpha’s wife came in with a tray laden with a bronze jug and cup and poured some wine for the man who needed something to numb the pain he was in. He snatched and drank all its content in a single gulp.
“More please.”
“How…how did this happen? How could you let this happen?” Rasmus exclaimed, “And the slaves?”
“The slaves are all gone! The female slaves have been carted away by the Lycan king, some male slaves got away too but many of them joined the Lycan soldiers in attacking us!” Farrel answered, regaining strength, “Nobody expected an attack of this magnitude.”
“How can the slaves be gone?”
“We couldn’t stand a chance against the Lycan soldiers. Our guards were rendered useless.”
The Lycans were one thing the Alpha genuinely feared. They were extremely powerful. No one in Alkarod could stand a chance against the might of Lycan soldiers, not even the best of their werewolves. Alkarod was in deep trouble.
“The king came disguised. There was no way anyone would know.”
“How wouldn’t you know? It’s the fucking king! Everyone knows how he looks! Everyone knows how a fucking royal Lycan looks.”
“No! He was different. His hair was black. He was a different person. There was no way anyone could have noticed. Besides, not many people had seen the King.”
Alpha Rasmus kissed his teeth and paced about the room. He ran a hand through his hair. Rasmus was thoroughly fucked. Anything the Lycan king touched always blew up. He went over to the medicine table and swiped its content off. His son started another bout of violent coughs.
“Oh shut up!” He roared.
His wife poured another cup of wine and handed it over to Farrel, shooting a dark look at her husband.
“We saw the girl,” Farrel whispered.
“What girl?” The Alpha asked, whipping his head in his direction.
“The girl that was sold moons ago to the Lycan with her siblings.” He answered, “The Beta’s daughter.”
“What? Did you see her? Where?” He asked in a tone that was near a scream, “Where did you see her?”
She was the key to solving one of his major problems.
“At the auction house. We tried to buy her from the person she came with but we didn’t know it was the Lycan king!”
“She was there too?” Rasmus asked shocked, “But she was within your grasp! You could have captured her! There would have been some hope for my son!”
When Kain had told them she was the King’s mistress now, he had not been so worried because he was sure Kain had threatened her sufficiently into silence. Now that she had been bold enough to lead the King to the auction house, who knows what else she might have told him?
They were in even more trouble than he imagined.
“Of course, we couldn’t have–”
“That bastard Lycan lied to me! He hadn’t informed me that the girl had curried so much favor with the Lycan king! Did he take her to the auction house? Surely he must know everything by now.” The Alpha picked up a medicine bottle and smashed it against the wall, he picked another and another until he couldn’t find anymore. His son continued coughing and his wife’s sobs increased.
“Oh, woman! You know I hate it when you start with unnecessary tears!” He yelled at her.
His wife wiped her face.
“We are doomed, Rasmus! Oh, we are!” She wailed.
Another messenger walked into the room before he did something to her he was sure he’d regret.
“Alpha, the other Alphas are here.” He announced, bowing.
“Good. Lead them to my study then have this place cleaned up.” He wiped his hand on a cloth and left the infirmary with Farrel following closely behind him.
The other Alphas must have heard the news by now. He hoped at least they would have sensible ideas on how to escape the hell that was sure to come. He opened the door to his study to see the room was in an uproar. They were even more confused than he was.
“What are we going to do, Rasmus?” Someone yelled at the Alpha, “We are in big trouble!”
“Yes, the slaves will inform the Lycan king about us! That king will come for us!” Another yelled.
“But how could the Lycan king break into our auction house? Are our soldiers that dumb? Who let him in?” They clamored.
“We must remain calm!” Rasmus reasoned.
The room fell silent.
“There is no problem without a solution…” He rubbed his chin. “We will reach out to Kain Kurt, the Lycan. He should have a solution to this matter. At this point, the only matter worth my attention is my son.”
“Yes! Let’s send a message to Lord Kain.”
“I needed that bastard girl to save my son but now, I don’t know how to get to her.” His face reddened. Every thought of that girl angered him. He boiled. “Trust me. I’m as angry as you are… Maybe even angrier. But we have to be smart about this.”
The room was silent.
“I will send a message to Kain Kurt. Even if it’s impossible to get our slaves back, we need to devise a way to make sure the Lycan king isn’t aware of our contribution to the auction house.”
The room nodded at his words but even with their combined faith in him, he didn’t think sorting out this mess would be that easy. He had to think of a way to exonerate himself if eventually, the slaves started singing.
“Another thing, let’s make sure that we change the status of our slaves. The Lycan king may be snooping around for all we know. Inform your slaves that they have been promoted to paid staff.” Rasmus warned.
The Alphas murmured in agreement.