Monster Of The Black Forest

They expected her to sit here and wait for her death.

Legs and hands bounded together, a black mask over her face, and her mouth filled with liquid that would put her to sleep the second she gulped it down her throat.

They expected her to be a willing sacrifice like the rest.

They were foolish!

Foolish people that would keep sacrificing themselves to whatever was in this Black Forest and was intent on taking their women, that were lead here, on the full moon of every fifth year.

Tradition, they had said.

Lies! She had fired back.

It was what was keeping them alive, they had tried to educate her.

It was what was keeping them in bondage, she had attempted to educate them instead.

Monsters, they called them.

Humans hiding in the camouflage of monsters, she believed.

Humans that she would definitely put an end to tonight, right after she would parade them in front of her whole village. The villagers would finally believe her words concerning this sham of a ritual. Then she would proceed to carve her name on their flesh, like mere conquered possessions, before putting them to their death or whatever fate the Queen would decide upon.

Just the thought of seeing those letters oozing with blood and cut across their flesh, as they groan in immeasurable pain, ignited a flame within her.

FREYA.

Five letters that would make them rue the day they were born.

It would be perfect.

She imagined the face of her mother filled with pride instead of the tears and sorrow they held when she had forced her way into this ritual and had gotten chosen. The faces of the villagers filled with relief and happiness instead of the fear their eyes would usually hold towards their crazy princess. The High Priest's eyes filled with joy too, instead of the complete helpless sorrow that his face would always wear anytime he had to lead the maidens to the hut in the Black Forest, just as he had done tonight.

Finally, after all these years, Oryzah would be free and that would all be because of their Princess.

At last, the retracting steps of the High Priest faded away completely and she jumped into action.

His last words to her played itself over and over again in her head.

"May your life be a worthy enough sacrifice for the rest of us, Princess."

That would have made anyone terrified to their bones, getting reminded constantly of their expected doom, but not Freya.

To her, this was no doom. This was what she had trained for, for many years now.

She was beyond happy that it was finally happening. Considering the fact that only maidens between the ages of 21 and 28 were allowed for this ritual, and she was already 24, this was her only and last chance to make a change to this annoying tradition.

The supposed 'monsters' would be here soon to take her away and she had better be ready when they came.

It wasn't so hard to get rid of the ropes that bounded her hands together, her skills as one of the village's warriors coming into play.

She yanked the mask off and didn't bother about how the dim lantern in the room seemed to flash into her eyes because of how long she had them shut, instead, she spat out the liquid in her mouth, ensuring not to gulp any down. Then, she pulled up her ritual white tent gown, and pull out a dagger from within it.

Quickly, she cut off the rope at her feet with her dagger, then she ripped the lower part of my gown off, to ease her movement.

She was up on her feet next, taking a look around the small, almost-empty hut, trying to ensure that she was the only one here and see if there would be anything laying around that she could use as a weapon.

This hut was as empty as empty could get!

The only thing here was the lit lantern and a big bottle of kerosene at one side of the room.

She spat on the ground again, brushing her footwear over the mess to rub it into the earth.

She must go back into position, to trick whosoever it was that would step in through that door.

1....

2....

3....

4..

5---

Creak.

There it was.

Those who would get their heads chopped off tonight.

It was difficult not to get excited, and it was hard to remain static while she waited, but she remained immobile nevertheless.

She wasn't supposed to be awake, they would expect her to be asleep.

The steps lacked the firmness she had expected, instead, they sounded more like the person was staggering. The whiff of alcohol made it to her nose, as the sound of a sword scratching a zig-zag line against the ground and kicking up dust, accompanied it to the rest of her senses.

Freya wondered if that was her attacker, the one she was supposed to be asleep for. The monster who was supposed to come here and snatch her up to the sky to never be seen again.

She listened for more people but the door was slammed shut immediately.

Only one?!

How interesting.

Her suspicion after the door had been slammed had been that he was selling the women in the black market and needed them to be unconscious, to drag them all the way there, throughout the night by himself, but hearing him shed off his cloth, made her start to think beyond that.

Hands gripped her and pushed her back to the floor, then a naked body was pressed against hers in a sloppy fall.

She laughed madly in her mind.

Disgusting.

The dagger she scratched against the willing flesh of his belly, was promising but not as much as the loud shout of pain that pierced into the empty air in the hut.

Ah.

Music to her ears.

It was way too easy to push him off her body, and pin her weight on him instead, her dagger to her attacker's throat.

As fast as she could, she yanked off her mask, her smile evident at her success but when her gaze finally took in her attacker, her smile fell and a deep frown took its place.

This had better be a sick twisted joke!

___

((Hello! I am editing the available chapters to fix the pacing of the book. The original chapters drew out the pacing and if you have read some of my books, you'll know that I like the leads meeting as soon as possible. It is just more fun that way. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this must have caused, but I promise you will like this one better. Thank you for the support.))