Heart Of A Lycan King
Chapter 87

AIDEN.

Frozen. Every part of me seemed to be frozen as I stood, unable to move and just listened to the hallowed voices speaking. With every musty breath I took, came the knowledge that the Fikoians were demanding a life so that they can be set free.

“Only a soul so pure with enough conviction to give up on themselves and their life would we accept. Failure to give us a soul would result in unforeseen circumstances,” the voices continued, then out of nowhere, darkness settled around us, with the swirling sound of wind.

For the up-tenth time since we got here, I tried to reach Leo, yet, nothing came to me. I should be able to see through this darkness, but no matter how hard I squinted my eyes, I couldn’t. Nala’s hand in mine was growing colder, while I felt as though I was set ablaze.

I didn’t know what to make of the situation, or how to think clearly with my current state of mind. The only thing I knew was the crippling kind of fear eating at my every nerve.

“Aiden?” I heard her call through the darkness, lightly squeezing her hand in mine. Yet, I couldn’t see her.

“Nala?” I called back, trying to take a step towards where the sound of her voice came and the direction of her hand. But I couldn’t move.

It was then that I felt it. Something was holding my legs tightly, enough to make me unable to move no matter how hard I tried. As though that wasn’t enough, I heard a loud scream from Nala as her cold hands slipped out of mine.

“Nala? Nala!!!” I screamed as loud as I could, to the point where my throat hurt so bad I wouldn’t want to swallow even my spit.

No answers came. No cold hands. No Nala. No Leo. Just me in a dark place I can’t even see.

‘You seem to be at so much peace,’ something or someone said. Heck, I don’t even know what that is, or if it made any sense. A dull ache suddenly settled at the back of my head with a ‘dum’ sound. My eyes began to flutter close as I struggled to keep them open. But the more I tried, the more the biting pain ate at me and finally, I welcomed the darkness calling to me.

*

The sounds of birds chirping was the first thing my ears welcomed, followed by the sound of something humming from afar. Or was it just my mind playing tricks on me?

I pried my eyes open, bit by bit till I got accustomed to the bright light glaring back at me. I sat up, the feel of a satin cloth pressed against my body. When I looked down, I found myself wearing white trousers paired with a white satin robe that stuck to my sweaty body. One thing that stood out though, was that I didn’t have the wolf tattoo on my stomach. And Leo’s presence was not here either.

I was all alone in a strange place.

I swallowed, unable to comprehend what was going on. I let my eyes travel across the vast expanse of land sprawled before me. Thick lush green grass adorned the land, tall trees of apples, oranges, mangoes, pears, and the peaceful sounds of birds chirping added to the calming atmosphere. It looked too beautiful to be true.

Tall mountains stood on the sides, embracing the green lushness scattered around. They created a winding path that led to only who knows where. I stood up, my feet sinking beneath the soft grass and small rocks dispersed around.

I strolled along the mountain path. An unusual humming sound vibrated in the air for the second time. It sounded like a swarm of lazy bees, or a woman humming a song. Then the buzzing transferred to the rock beneath my feet and I felt it travel through my body, causing a tingling sensation to run up to my fingertips. I rounded the corner and found myself staring at the source of the sound.

It was a whirling waterfall. At this distance, it looked like silver tear tracks on the wrinkly face of the mountain. It was swishing over the rocks joyfully, the sound a welcoming peace to my overly disturbed mind. It was thundering down into the pool in the middle like a gigantic water spout. When it toppled into the pool, it foamed at the bottom and tousled outwards.

The water rushed down the mountain, rolling and bubbling, boiling and churning. The pool fed two other smaller waterfalls, but they were not as deafening.

As I took closer steps, I noticed how the rest of the pool was as clear as cellophane, enabling me to see down into the rocky bottom. Fronds of forest-green plants waved gently in the depths.

Then my eyes finally caught it. A woman was sitting on one of the rocks at the edge, her back turned to me. But I could see the outline of her bare back underneath the see through white satin robe she wore. I also saw her wavy thick black hair tousled around, and the curve of her h**s as my gaze dipped to where everything finally vanished.

A surge of familiarity captured me, and I found myself taking long strides towards the woman.

“Nala?” I called, stopping behind her.

She whirled around ever so slowly, so slow that the trepidation in my chest picked up pace. But when our eyes locked, dark gaze against deep brown, I felt every fear I held onto slowly vanish.

“Rabin Rai, you’re here too,” she smiled, a relieved look marrying her features as her body eased from the rigidity it once carried. “I was…scared and all alone here. Yet every time I tried to leave, I returned to the exact same spot.” She answered, shutting her eyes.

I couldn’t help noticing the way her dark lashes framed her eyes. Had they always been this thick?

“What is going on?” I asked, settling beside her as I took her hand in mine. They weren’t cold anymore, but there was something different about them. Something I can’t really say. “One moment you called for me and I was trying to reach you through the darkness and the next moment I found myself here. Instead of the black clothes we wore, we both have white now.”

She nodded, her eyes crinkling a bit at the edges. “I noticed my clothes had changed too,” then she leaned her head on my shoulders and sighed. “I’m confused, Aiden. None of this makes sense.”

She called me Aiden. It’s been a few weeks since she last called me that, and for the life of me, I don’t know why I was worried about that now when we are in a more dire situation.

“Do you think the plan was to keep us here in exchange for their freedom?”

She pursed her lips and threw a rock she had been playing with in her right hand into the pool. “I don’t know, but I don’t think that is the case, because why would they otherwise have demanded a pure soul?”

Okay, that made sense. And I was painfully reminded of the request they made. How in the name of Nyala am I supposed to sacrifice anyone for this? How?

“I don’t want you to get hurt, Aiden. And neither do I want that for myself. This may sound selfish, but I want to spend my life with you regardless of the price we need to pay. I can’t lose you.”

I gulped loudly, a better part of the spit getting caught in my throat. Suddenly, my body was thrown into a spasm of cough, while Nala rubbed my back lovingly from behind.

When the cough finally subsided, I pulled Nala into a hug, because Nyala knew I needed that. I can’t think, I can’t make sense of anything. I can’t seem to make a decision over this because whichever way I look at it, it makes no sense.

But above all of this, was the disturbing fact that Nala didn’t return my hug, nor had she allowed our body to meet when I pulled her in. There was a big space in between us, despite the fact that we…I was hugging her.

“Aiden, listen to me,” she said softly, pressing a timid hand on my chest and pushing me back. “This isn’t the time to be emotional. We need to think and make a decision and we need to do that fast. As king and queen, we are supposed to make decisions that would benefit the majority of our people and not just us,” her eyes flickered around as she spoke. “What do you think we should do?”

I sighed, rubbing my face with my arms before I placed my face in my hands. “I don’t know, Nala. I honestly have no idea what the right thing to do in this situation is.”

“Neither do I,” she murmured in a resigned voice, her shoulders slumping. “No matter how hard I think about this, or how hard I try to see a tiny opening to fix this, I can’t. For some reason, it makes sense they are demanding for a pure soul, for another reason, it doesn’t, which is the better part I’m leaning to. Didn’t they say you and I would fix this? Why demand for another soul?”

I mean, that’s it. That’s the part that made no sense. Inna said we either help them or destroy them, and when they helped me during the fight with the Fiandron roots, they asked that I help them like they helped me when the time comes. If that is the case, why demand for a soul now?

“All this while, I had thought they’d ask you and I to do something that’ll free them, not demand for another life. Neither you nor I caused this, and I think it is really unfair for them to make a demand like this,” she continued. There was rage blanketing her voice and her face, and I couldn’t have expressed myself better.

“They gave me the mark because they wanted me to help them. Do you think the plan was to have us sacrifice ourselves? Was that what this was about?”

Her shoulders slump again, and I felt her shudder a bit as a cool breeze washed past us before she calmed down. “What do you think we should do? Do you think there’s a way out? I really don’t want us to sacrifice an innocent life,” a single tear rolled down her cheeks as she said that and my heart tugged.

Very typical of my woman.

“If this would work, maybe I should try offering myself and…”

“No, don’t say that, Nala. We can find a way. We will. We always find a way,” I cut her off hurriedly, cupping her cheeks in my hands. Her eyes were glassy with unshed tears, and my heart flipped and broke apart even more. There’s so much going on. “We won’t sacrifice anyone, Nala. And most definitely not you.”

“Then what do we do?” She asked, as she pulled back and stared at me. “You heard what they said about the consequences. I’m afraid the more time we waste, the heavier the price becomes.”

I sucked in a ragged breath. “Truth be told, I don’t think I know what to do here,” I answered solemnly. I hated that I felt so out of options, and it dwindled my fate in myself even more.

“Then let me tell you what I think,” she said, with a bit of conviction in her voice. She unclasped our hands and slipped off the rock, before she knelt in front of me. “I’ve been sitting here for a while, since I couldn’t leave, and have been thinking about it all. You and I both know the Mbems want nothing but the sacrifice they demanded. Which means, as bad as this sounds, we need to make a choice,” she paused, and in that moment, I knew she was thinking of what to say. Also, I was starting to think this is going to be harder than it seems.

“My first thought was Phil. Not that I want to say it is right to sacrifice someone, but if we truly need to sacrifice someone, then I’ll choose Philison.” As she said this, it was as though a dark cloud came over her face. But as soon as it came, it vanished, and she relaxed again albeit her shoulders were slumped disappointedly before she continued, “But she’s no pure soul after hurting Donald that much, and I don’t think they would accept her. Same thing with Baba. He’s kind and thoughtful on one hand, but completely different when it comes to anything related to Mav, which means he’s also impure.” She paused, and I simply continued to listen, the rhythm of my heart increasing, as the pounding in my head began to return. “I would have suggested Mav too but…”

“What are you saying?” I hissed angrily, no longer able to keep quiet. “How could your mind even work out who we should sacrifice, Nala?” I asked, clearly dumbfounded. Why was Nala this way? I know she’s desperate for us to find a solution but this is too much. She has already ruled out both Phillison and Baba, but I couldn’t help the sting that she’d even consider us sacrificing someone.

“Listen to me, Aiden. I’m only trying to find a solution. This is hard for me as much as it is for you. I don’t want to sacrifice anyone, but I also do not want us to face the terrible consequences of what our delay in this would cause.”

My jaw ticked, as I watched a tiny flash in her eyes before it vanished. I worked on the lump in my throat till I was finally able to speak. “But how could you think of suggesting Mav?” I glowered.

“I wasn’t!” She said, exasperated. “You didn’t even let me finish!” She snapped as she stood up. And my treacherous eyes chose to focus on those damn t.itties hanging loosely in her see through robe. Only a single string held onto it, the V neck exposing her cleavage and the dip of her throat, right where it moves whenever she swallows.

Right now, in this dire moment, I was thinking of how Nala’s breast felt in my hands last night. How f*****g messed up was I? And it made no sense, because if I had any bit of sense left in my brain, I wouldn’t be thinking of this. Not when we are discussing sacrificing my brother!

“I was trying to say that Mav is a rogue now and can’t connect to the kingdom, so sacrificing him wouldn’t make sense nor would it appease the Fikoians. So Mav is out of the picture. The one person I truly wish we could sacrifice was Phillison, but a pure soul would never hurt another like she hurts Donald.” She finished.

I stood up, my palms sweaty, my throat was dry and it burned. There was just too much going on. Too much to work with. Do I really need to sacrifice someone else?

“Now, here is the final idea I have. I’m not saying it would be simple to execute, but if it was supposed to be something simple, the Fikoians wouldn’t have been locked in a forest for years. This brings me to my last suggestion.”

I felt cold sweat on my back. Like the claws on a dark witch’s hand were slowly going down my spine. Something told me I wasn’t going to like this. That it wouldn’t work. But I kept quiet and listened.

Nala closed her eyes for a few seconds, opened them, then lifted her chin. “We have to do this, regardless of what you think of me, we have to do this,” her gaze travelled over the vast land behind us. “We should sacrifice either Donald or Mama.”