3 Chapter Three: The Calling
On arrival to the forte Velma had made up her mind on one thing; she was going to draw attention away from herself. Before the blood moon peaked by the twelfth hour she was going to attempt her first escape. As her eyes scanned the festivities before her she knew exactly what she was going to do. She would mix with the servants which included poor omega werewolves who worked for the alpha in exchange for food and shelter; children of illicit affair; children of forbidden relationships (between werewolves and other beings) or humans who had left their towns to seek employment. In essence they were people of the lowest rung of society who had absolutely no idea who she was. The problem was that she did not exactly look like them. Her rich clothes and clear skin were apt to give her away but she had thought of that before hand. She smiled at herself as she looked for a place to hide so she could change into the clothes she had borrowed from her personal maid. She then took some dirt and smeared her face with it. She smiled to herself as she buried her clothes and accessories which she would have to come back for as they were her only possessions.
She came out of her hiding place and mingled among a group of human servants that were giggling to themselves; they eyed her briefly but otherwise ignored her.
Drawing attention away from herself was not hard. Soon she was ordered to move items that she envisioned were twice as heavy as she was. She watched the other girls and learnt quickly how to go about her duties. She had only spent ten minutes as a servant and she was already fatigued. She took a deep breath in and continued her willful labour; she only had to wait for the eleventh hour where a lot of half werewolves would be forced to take refuge from the moon so they would not turn into rogues and would therefore have to face immediate execution. The plan was perfect,; she would escape during the ensuing chaos.
She was not sure where she would go only that it was important she leave Ayslun.
She could go to the east dominated by the druids and witches who lived in the forest; or live among the fairies and elves who flourished in the west in their beautiful palaces and large expanse of lush gardens; or she could go to the west where the humans lived in their waste ridden cities. However, she could never go to the south which was dominated by the vampires and were sworn enemies of the werewolves.
So far her best bet were among the druid or fairies who could help her harness her abilities better.
"Take that out front," a voice called out to her.
"Out front?" Velma raised an eyebrow. She groaned internally knowing that her family was seated there simply because her dad was the clan's warrior. "B-b..."
"No buts," the werehuman said strutting away.
She turned around and caught sight of a young boy about her age staring at her. She gave him a small smile. "May I help you?"
"I could take that for you." He picked up the tray of raw fish from the counter. "I know you're avoiding your family."
"Family?" She laughed awkwardly. "I'm an orphan, been here all my life."
"No you're not," he smiled, hazel eyes twinkling. "You and Lord Creon have a striking resemblance. I just served his family and from what I've heard he has three children."
"Oh." She cleared her throat. "No one really knows much about Lord Creon's children. They didn't grow up near the forte. They just know his wife."
"And his wife has been seen with two daughters," he replied. "Why aren't you with them?"
"Well, they might be her maidservants."
He raised a comical eyebrow at her.
"I thought I should help instead of sitting around idly," she answered with a sigh.
"I'll take these out for you," he said then walked away.
She hoped that he would not say anything about her whereabouts. The last thing she needed was for anyone to bring attention to her disappearance until she was well away from Aysun. Just two more hours until the eleventh hour. The hour that would seal her fate.
She approached a young girl by the sink and began to assist her in washing glass crockware. She needed something to distract her mind until it was time for her escape.
"Hey," that same voice was behind her as she dried her wet hands. The younger girl had run off once they were done. " We're done here. A new set of servants will take over soon."
"And I shall join them thank you."
"Why are you hiding amongst us?" He inquired, hopping on a counter. "Surely a full blooded wolf would recognize you're not one of us."
"It does not concern you," she said coldly, starting to hate his inquisitive nature.
"I guess not," he bit his lip and lowered his eyes, ashamed.
"Well if you must know," she said finally, unnerved by the look he had on his face. "I wish to leave the forte." She couldn't tell him too much; about her plan to leave Aysun. He might alert her father.
"You do not fancy a crowded place?"
"You could say that," she shrugged. "I'm Velma," she added as an afterthought.
"Darius," he smiled. "What do you say? We leave the forte this instant? There's a stream a little way off. We could watch it trickling down the mountains."
"You're not the slightest bit afraid that if my father were to find this out, or no," she said after thinking a bit. "If something were to happen to me your head would be cut off."
He shrugged and picked at his nail. "Death won't be so bad."
Velma was taken aback. "Why would you wish for such?"
"I wish for life beyond this mountains. Sometimes I'd like to follow the stream that trickles down the mountains; follow the hidden path filled with thorns and roses and go to another land," he began. "But it's death. I've no riches whatsoever so being one of my kind won't allow me be accepted in the land of witches, I'd be food for the vampires, a castaway amongst humans and an eyesore to the fairies. And here, I can't live a free life."
"Oh. I'm sorry," she said. "Although I don't know why you'd tell me this."
"I don't know either." His lips turned up at the corners. "There's just something about you." He said stalking off.
"Wait," she wanted to call him and ask what hidden path he spoke off. It might save her time if it wasn't as lengthy as the oath out of Aysun she knew but there was this calling every wolf had to obey. It took the greatest forms of sorcery not to walk in the direction of that tune as long as it was loud enough to your hearing.
It was the howl of one of the most powerful people in Aysun.
She couldn't tell if it was the alpha, beta or a direct descendent but as tried to fight it, a burning feeling enveloped her— traveling through her core.
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