The Last Legend: Awakened

by Joshua B. Wichterich

  “So if I may ask, my dear Lady Natalia of Ducre’,—how bright is your jewel?” he said facetiously.

  Natalia just stared at him for a quick moment, then rolled her eyes.

  “You are nothing but a child,” Natalia said with a giggle.

  They both sat for a moment in silence, just looking at each other. The presence they held between their bodies began to become thick with intensity. Natalia just cleared her throat as the thought of Tairren popped into her mind. She wanted to direct the conversation back to the fight that happened between Phillip and Tairren.

  “Well, my dear Prince Phillip, I am not your superior and I know I am only a lady to you, but I think you need to apologize to Tairren… Think about what will happen before you decide to say something foolish out of anger.”

  Phillip looked back up to her with an impressed look on his face because of her speaking so boldly to him. He just laughed.

  “My, you speak so valiantly. Now I say things that are foolish? It is hard for me to believe the situation I am in… If I was in Ishkar and was to be struck or talked to so disrespectfully by anyone, it would be treason. That person would be…”

  “Hung, burned, beheaded—exiled unto unknown lands?” Natalia said quickly, cutting him off. “Treason is just a term used to have a reason to punish someone. Doesn’t any man deserve to use the word treason if they are offended? I think not. It is okay for royalty or nobility to say or do what pleases them—but God forbid if anyone lower than they even look upon them wrong… Tairren has not struck anyone in his whole life. He is the most loving man I have ever known. So it is you that has antagonized him first… We are all the same, Phillip, with a heart that pumps life and feeds on emotions. We are all only flesh and blood upon this earth. If only the hearts of man could see that. Just think about that the next time you let your foolishness get the best of you.”

  The prince was quiet for a moment. He was speechless and didn’t know what to say. He had never been corrected by a woman before—or by anyone. For the first time in his life he felt bad for the way he acted out. And for the first time in his life—he felt he was beginning to fall in love…

  “I—I am sorry,” he said as he softly looked upon Natalia. “I do owe Tairren an apology… I suppose I am the cause of all this… It’s funny how you have impacted me so since I have been in Minslethrate. A lady has never spoken to me like the way you do...”

  Natalia giggled a little, moving a lock of black hair from his face.

  “I am a different kind of lady,” she said as she picked a leaf out of his hair. “I have been threatened many times by my father that he would send me away for a year to serve under a queen so that I could learn from her—how to be a respectable lady. My father would do anything to be away from me, even though I am his only daughter and flesh and blood…” She rolled her eyes than laughed a little. “I know my mouth is bold but my thoughts are always good… I can’t help that I am different.”

  “That you are…,” he said with another warm smile. “I don’t think any queen would be able to change you—you have a heart of an inspirer.” He took the cloth from his nose which had now stopped bleeding. “You know—that is exactly what Marrisa told me about herself when I first met her… That she was a different kind of princess…”

  They became quiet for a moment as they looked back into the fire.

  “We are just alike—except that she is fairer and sweeter than I…,” Natalia said with a faint smile—but it faded away like a soft sunset. “I hope there is still time Phillip,” she said in a low tone as her emotions seemed to stir. Soft tears swelled up in her eyes as she lowered her face. “She must be safe in the end… She must… My biggest worry is that her life will not be spared… This is the most frightened I have ever been in my whole life…”

  “Don’t be, my lady… What is that word Tairren used?—faith,” he said as he put his hand to her chin, raising her face back up to look at his.

  A small crystal-like tear rolled down her cheek as she looked into his dark eyes. They sat in silence and looked into each other’s face for what seemed like a while. The soft light of the fire played off of their skin, making it appear polished and warm to the touch. Not controlling their intensions, they slowly brought each other’s faces together. Their lips slowly touched as their eyes closed, feeling each other’s breath.

  Just then there came noises form the blackened and threatening woods. Startled, they quickly looked over to the area of the woods where the noises were coming from. The noises sounded like someone or something was skulking through dead leaves and branches and moving past pushes.

  “Is that Tairren?” Natalia asked as they slowly stood up.

  As they went to their feet, Phillip grabbed his sword that was resting next to him. Natalia noticed what he was doing and grabbed her own small sword just in case.

  “Nice sword,” Phillip teased as he smirked a little.

  With wide green eyes, Natalia just ignored him and focused on the sounds that came from the blackened forest.

  Just then their came more crunching and brushing noises, like many feet scurrying over leaves and moving through bushes. Just then their came growling sounds, sounding low and rough—all around them.

  Their hearts quickened as the unexpected growls became more persistent.

  “If that is Tairren—he is very angry,” Phillip said as he looked all around the small clearing.

  “Phillip…,” Natalia said in a low and now frightened voice as she moved closer to him. “This is no time to be facetious.”

  They both stood, uneasy with their swords tightly gripped in their hands and their backs facing each other. Just then Natalia let out a squeal as a wolf crept into the firelight. The wolf was dark gray with a black face and had its lips curled up with its teeth showing. Then there came another wolf, then another. Soon they were faced by a pack of intimidating and hungry looking wolves—all of them growling and snarling with gnashing and foamy mouths.

  “Oh my,” Natalia said with a low and shaken voice as her breathing pattern and heart quickened. “I think I am going to faint.”

  “Don’t—because if you do you are giving up your life to them,” Phillip said with wide eyes, still keeping his keen eyes on the wolves.

  “Tairren!” Natalia squealed between clenched teeth as the wolves came nearer. “I have faith, I have faith,” she repeated, reassuring herself, “Oh God—be with us.”

  Just then one of the wolves that were the closest to them charged at Natalia with a loud and wet growl, saliva sailing to the ground in syrupy-like drops. She let out a loud scream as another came running. The wolf snarled loudly as it lunged at her, jumping at her face with a wide jaw and sharp teeth. She swung her sword at it as hard as she could and penetrated its side with one deep, red slit. The wolf cried out with a dog-like yelp as it fell to the ground.

  The other wolf charged Phillip as his sword was ready to strike. He swung his sword at its neck as hard as he could, slicing its head clean off. Blood splashed everywhere appearing as red, thrown water—falling and spraying to the ground and on Phillip’s face with warm sprinkles.

  The wolf that Natalia had wounded wiggled up, then lunged at her again, knocking her over as her sword went smoothly into its chest. Just then a couple of other wolves began to attack them, growling with anger. Natalia got to her feet as quickly as she could then pulled her bloody sword out of the wolf’s chest.

  Just as quickly as they attacked, the wolves fell to the ground with squeals as two arrows, one after another, quickly pierced through their matted fur and deep into their flesh. It was Tairren with his bow and arrow, who then came running to back up his companions. The persistent wolves kept on, eager to kill. They growled with sneered snouts and chomped with sharp yellow teeth.

  Just then there came loud howls that echoed through the trees, making the wolves stop attacking. Surprised and confused, Tairren, Natalia and Phillip looked around franticly as they came closer to each other. The star
tled wolves began to whimper, as if they were worried or frightened—then they all ran off into the darkness of the wood.

  All of a sudden it was quiet—too quiet.

  “What is happening?!” Natalia said, frantically, as she looked around the dark clearing, glancing at the four bloody wolves that laid about them. “I think I’m going to become ill,” she said in a shaky voice as she looked upon the head of the wolf that had been wacked off.

  The grotesque head stared at Natalia with black eyes while its tongue hung out of its toothy jaws—blood oozing out of the wet part that was attached to the neck…

  Then there came the terrifying howl again, this time it was closer and joined with other howls. The howls did not sound like that of a normal wolf or any kind of animal for that matter. The howls were loud and raspy, high-pitched—reverberating in their ears. The howls sounded like a mixture of gurgling growls and raspy screams.

  “What is that?!” Natalia squealed as the three of them came closer together.

  Natalia and Phillip grasped their swords tightly while Tairren stood tall with his bow and arrow, ready for whatever was about to come out of the threatening woods.

  “I don’t know—but whatever it is—it comes with others,” Tairren said courageously, pulling his arrow tightly back, ready to release it.

  Just then, there came the same noises that they heard earlier when the wolves surrounded them—it was the sounds of leaves being crushed and moved about as if something heavy lurked around in the brush.

  “Let’s run to the horses and get away from here,” Natalia said in a low and quick voice, still staring into the dark woods with her sword up.

  “No—do not move,” Tairren said in an assertive tone. “Whatever is in the wood is closer than we know—and you will surely die if you turn your back on whatever it is.”

  Low, deep growls came—sounding like nothing they had ever heard before. They sounded louder and more frightening than the growls that came from the wolves that attacked them earlier. Loud snaps of breaking branches could be heard as whatever was in the woods came nearer.

  Just then a large black creature slowly crept out of the darkness of the wood and into the dim light of the fire. It walked on all fours and its head was hunched over with its back curved up. Its hunched backs had notches all down them as their bones could be seen beneath their black skin. Glistening eyes could be seen as the light of the fire reflected off of them—appearing green with flecks of red like that of a feline’s eyes at night. But the thing that was frightening most of all was that there were four glistening eyes instead of two coming from the large creature. Then another black thing skulked out of the darkness, appearing just like the other one.

  “God be with us,” Tairren said to himself, not believing what he was seeing.

  The creatures growled and snarled like monsters as they slowly came closer to them—the fire light playing off of their features. Now they understood why there were four glistening eyes instead of two—both of the grotesque creatures had two heads! Four deformed heads, two on each creature, threatened them as they barked and growled viciously, snapping their massive jaws. The creatures looked like large, ugly hunchback wolves or dogs, having large ears that were cocked back, a thick flat snout and a massive flat and deformed head. Two black horns on each head curved up, reminding Tairren of the horned flying monsters. The creatures were also totally black like the flying ones, like shadows, and hairless with long thin, bony tails. Their mouths seemed larger than their heads with many sharp and jagged, wet teeth. They looked as if they could tear one’s whole head off with one quick bite.

  Tairren, Natalia, and Phillip stared at the two-headed creatures in disbelief—not thinking of anything but their own lives. With a pounding heart, Tairren began to get that same feeling upon him as he did the night he saw the evilness come out of Lilith and of the flying things. The feeling became more intense as the black creatures seemed to look into his eyes and heart with their gleaming eyes.

  “We see you—Tairren… So the eyes of the Lord of Darkness also see you…,” dark voices whispered in Tairren’s head as the things came nearer to them.

  The voices seemed to be coming from the creatures… Tairren was shocked that these creatures knew him and seemed to be speaking only to him.

  “You have no power over us!” Tairren yelled out in a forceful voice as his bow and arrows still threatened the creatures.

  Just then the large creatures seemed to become enraged and aggressively charged at them, squealing and blowing out frightening and ferocious barks from all four heads. Tairren shot one of the creatures in one of its faces with his arrows, then immediately shot it again, doing the same to the other monster.

  During the chaos, something flew down from the sky in a white blur, viciously landing on the back of one of the creatures. The other black creature noticed the white thing and yelped like a frightened beast, backing away. The white thing was a massive white owl—the same owl that had flown over Tairren the night of the attack by the flying things. The owl grabbed onto the grotesque creature’s back with its massive talons, lifting it off the ground as its glorious wings spread to fly away. The creature’s determined heads snapped at the owl constantly, trying to bite its talons as it flew into the night sky. The owl tossed the creature harshly against the side of a tree, shaking it and making leaves fall to the earth, then the thing fell to the ground like a sack of heavy rocks. The other creature ran away into the woods as the owl came down upon it as well. Both of the black two-headed things ran off into the dark forest, disappearing into the foliage as quick as they came.

  Quiet and staring with awe and wonder, Tairren, Natalia, and Phillip lowered their weapons as they watched the massive bird fly into the top of the tree that loomed over their little camp. It rested on a large branch and just silently looked down upon them. The owl was beautiful—purest of white with golden flecks in its feathers. For a while, the three of them just stared at the bird as a sense of peace and grace came over them—chasing away the shock and terror that the black creatures had brought to them.

  “This is the bird that saved my life last night,” Tairren said in a low and breathless voice, slightly shaken. “He has come to save my life again…”

  “Your life must be of great importance,” Phillip said in a low voice as he glanced at Tairren, then back up to the bird.”

  “No—our lives... We are a chosen generation…” Tairren said, still watching the bird with wonder.

  They became quiet and did not say anything as they became numb from all of the chaos and wonder that had just happened to them one after another. Tairren bowed his head to the bird, wanting to show his respect after it had just saved his life for the second time—as well as the lives of his companions.

  Phillip and Natalia noticed what he was doing and did the same thing.

  “Thank you—friend,” Tairren said softly.

  Tairren felt in his heart that this owl wasn’t just a normal owl. But some kind of divine guardian, sent to them. Not only was this owl the most beautiful and purest of white, massive owl he had ever seen—but it seemed to speak to his heart, comforting him with loving messages.

  “Do you feel that?” Tairren asked in a low and shaken voice, still looking up at the owl that sat in the quietness of the dark branches. “Do you hear words in your heart?—Please tell me you do…”

  “…I—feel a presence—all around me,” Natalia said in a low tone, also still looking up at the angelic creature. “I feel peace all around me—like a sweet whirlwind of affection… It tells me that I must be strong—that I am strong... That I am loved—more than I could ever fathom…” Natalia’s voice was low and soft with emotion.

  After a moment of what seemed like hours of dwelling in the comforting presence of the overwhelming passion that lay so thickly amongst the air, the mighty bird flew off into the darkened sky. Its large white wings stretched and sailed off into the black sky, flapping in comforting pulses. They watched until th
ey could see the white bird no more—disappearing quickly into the night sky. All three of them were left in a state of euphoria—seeming to not be worried about anything. The stress of going through such great trauma from the attacks, were not even present amongst them.

  Natalia glanced at Tairren with a smile, then at Phillip who seemed to be lost in his thoughts.

  “Phillip?” Natalia said in a quiet voice, awakening him from his thoughts.

  His eyes were watered with small tears. He quickly wiped them away when he realized a small tear had started to fall down his cheek. He cleared his throat then looked around, tying to cover his emotion. He felt ashamed for getting somewhat emotional in front of Natalia.

  “We should get some sleep,” Phillip said quickly as he walked towards the fire to get his things.

  Natalia looked at him strangely, wondering why his tears flowed a little and why he became so dismissive.

  “I agree,” Tairren said, also fetching his things while not noticing Phillip’s emotions.

  “What if the wolves or those things come back?” Natalia asked, following Tairren.

  “They won’t,” Tairren said as he squatted over his satchel. “I feel we will be protected as we sleep this very night. But we will smite the fire just in case.”

  “Did the owl reveal to you these things?” Natalia asked, picking up her satchel as well.

  “Yes,” Tairren said, slightly smiling. He then walked over to the tree and put his things beneath it.

  Phillip and Natalia followed, fixing up a grassy area and pallet to sleep upon.

  “Tairren,” Phillip finally said, breaking the silence. “Forgive me for doubting you… I now believe… It’s just that everything that has been happening has never happened to me before. Forgive me for everything I have done or said that has angered you...”

  Tairren was taken aback by Phillip’s consideration and was somewhat touched by it. He smiled a little, then nodded his head, excepting his apology while patting his shoulder. “I too believe... If someone would’ve told me of these happenings a couple of days ago—I wouldn’t have believed them myself.”