Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Our heroine stops feeling sorry

For herself and tries

To get used to her new life

However, being a hero

Sometimes comes with painful forfeiture

Of one’s freedom and peace

- PenaciousShewa

Kayola wakes up this morning with excitement and vigor. She is about to join the soldiers for the first time since she and Warinth had that discussion four days ago. Since that day, she has been dying to train with the other soldiers, and when Warinth gave her the news that she would be training a fraction of the soldiers on how to make and use arrows, she was more than delighted. Thus, Kayola has been waiting for this day to come, and because of this, she could not sleep last night. Her eyes were open until daybreak.

It is just 5:30 am, and she has already brushed her teeth, had her bath, worn her training clothes- the ones Warinth sent to her last night. She pulls her jet-black hair into a very tight bun to stop it from falling loose and waits patiently for Warinth to come to get her as he promised. She decides to rest her eyes for a while, and soon, she dozes off.

At exactly 8 am, there is a soft knock on her door. She immediately jerks out of her sleep and jumps off her bed. She walks to the door, opens it, and sees him in all his Alpha-ness, pardon my grammar; gloriously male. He smiles at her and this warms her heart and melts away all the tension she had been feeling.

“Top of the morning to you, Kayola, how are you doing today?” He asks.

“Good morning, Warinth. I am fine. Thanks for coming to pick me as promised, and thanks once again for giving me this great opportunity” Kayola says.

“Don’t mention it, Kayola. I am just really glad that you volunteered. Now, shall we? The warriors are waiting for us”. He leads the way and she follows him, excited and nervous all at the same time. Soon, they arrive at the training field. It is way small in size compared to the one back home, but the soldiers have clearly made the best of it. They line up in rows, twenty soldiers on a line, and as soon as they see the Alpha, they stand at attention, and they all bow. Kayola cannot help but experience déjà vu all over again.

“Good morning, gallant soldiers of our pack, how are you all today?” Warinth greets.

“Good morning, Alpha, we are doing great,” they all respond.

“I’m glad to hear that. Now, let’s get to business, this woman right here goes by the name Kayola, and she is the daughter of the late Alpha of the Conscientious Pack,”

The soldiers murmur, clearly impressed by her beauty and by the fact that she comes from such a prestigious and powerful pack.

“Well, I am glad you like what you hear. Kayola will be teaching a number of you how to make bows and arrows and how to shoot arrows,” Warinth says.

The soldiers murmur again, but this time around, they are surprised that a woman is so skilled in archery that their Alpha would recommend her.

“Is there any problem?” Warinth asks them.

“Not at all, Alpha,” they chorus.

“Alright, let’s get to work,” He proceeds to divide them into hundreds, and he puts Kayola in charge of hundred soldiers, and she gets ready to address them.

“Hello everyone, just as the Alpha said, my name is Kayola, and I was to take over from my father but our pack was invaded by the Rogues. Circumstances beyond my control brought me here, but I am ready to use my skills to help this pack. My father trained me in combat, archery and he also me how to throw the javelin.

Making a bow and arrow is a lot of work, and it requires patience and skill. The first step is to choose a long piece of wood for the bow and then determine the natural curve of the stick. Next, determine the handhold and limbs, as this is very essential to the shaping process. Then, you must shape the bow, cut notches to hold the bowstring, select a bowstring, and string the bow.

I will show you how to do it”

She expertly constructs a bow, and the soldiers cheer, obviously impressed by how fast and skillful Kayola is. About five soldiers volunteer to make their own bows under Kayola’s supervision. In a matter of three hours, over fifty soldiers have made their own bows. Alpha Warinth comes to inspect their work and he is really happy about the development. He dismisses the soldiers and proceeds to have brunch with Kayola.

“Thank you so much, Kayola, for your help,” Warinth says during their meal.

“You are most welcome; you all are now my family” Kayola replies.

“What is your plan for tomorrow’s training?” Warinth asks her.

“Well, I am going to supervise the soldiers who have not yet made their bows in making theirs,, and I will also teach them how to make arrows”

“That’s alright; Kayola, thanks once again; and enjoy the rest of your day,” Warinth says as he finishes his meal and leaves the dining room.

Immediately he leaves, Petra comes into the dining room and plops herself right beside Kayola.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the most talked-about soldier in the whole of the Peasants pack,” Petra says with a huge smile plastered on her face.

“Aunt, you heard already?” Kayola asks, pretty surprised.

“This is a small town, Kayola, word moves around fast,” Petra replies and Kayola nods in agreement. “Well, just know that I am very proud of you, okay?”

“Thank you, Aunt Petty,”

“Alright, finish your meal and go to sleep, you had a very busy morning,” Petra advises Kayola, and with this, she leaves the dining hall.

The day goes by pretty fast and soon, it is a new day. Kayola wakes up on time and prepares for her training. Again, Warinth comes to pick her. She immediately gets to work and continues from where she stopped with the soldiers the previous day. However, as she is rounding off her training with the soldiers, she hears Warinth’s voice, and it sounds like he is in a heated argument with someone, someone whose voice she cannot place. She is sure that she has never heard this voice before.

She subtly leaves the other soldiers and walks towards the persons arguing. On getting there, she sees Warinth; he is backing her, and he is vibrating with anger. The other man is exactly the same height as Warinth, his skin is the color of bronze, and his deep frown does nothing to hide the fact that he is devilishly handsome. He is only wearing a pair of trousers; his shirtless chest is well-sculpted, and Kayola unconsciously swallows her spittle.

Her gaze slowly moves from him to the other persons surrounding him, clearly soldiers, judging from their stance.

Then she sees him.

Standing on one leg, and being supported by crutches, Sebastian is behind the leader, and he is as nervous as they come. Tears flood her eyes as realization hits her rudely. Sebastian had sold the Conscientious Pack out to the Rogues. But why would he do that? Is it because she had mutilated him? Why did he try to rape her? Is that why he caused her so much pain?

Kayola carefully backs away from the arguing men and runs from the training field to her room. As she races, she hits one of the servants who is carrying a tray of milk to the soldiers, and the warm liquid pours on the ground, but Kayola, at this moment, does not care. She gets to her room and slams the door behind her; immediately lays on the floor and cries out her eyes. Fresh memories of how beautiful her life was, start to come back to her, and she cries really hard, with heart-wrenching sobs. She does this for a long time until the tears stop falling. Then, she wipes her face and stands up from the floor, her hatred and animosity for Sebastian and the entire Rogue pack almost blinding her, as she staggers to her bed.

Almost immediately, Petra rushes into the room, clearly apprehensive and scared. “Kayola!” she whispers quickly, “We have to go, they are here!”

Kayola’s reply shocks Petra to her bones, “Aunt Petty, I am sorry, but I am going nowhere,” Kayola states calmly.

Petra is angry, but she tries to calm down. “Darling, we must go, the Rogues want you,”

“What?” Kayola clearly did not see this coming.

“You heard me right. One of the servants who overheard what Warinth and the other man are still arguing about told me that the Rogue Alpha wants ‘the daughter of the late Alpha’” Petra concludes.

Kayola is silent for a few minutes, and then says, “Aunt, if we run away, where shall we go? We cannot go back home, it is desolate, neither can we stay here, because my presence here will endanger the lives of everyone here, and I will never let this happen.”

“What are you insinuating?” Petra asks, afraid of the next thing Kayola will say.

Her worst fears are confirmed when Kayola says, “Aunt Petty, I will go with the Rogues if that s what they want. We cannot keep running away, and you are already growing old, you cannot survive n the deep forest.”

“Shut the hell up, Kayola!” Petra shouts, shaking violently, with tears in her eyes. “I made a promise to your mother,” she sniffs, failing miserably at stopping the tears from falling as she continues speaking, “to keep you safe. Not when I am alive will you go with those bastards!”

“Aunt Petra,” Kayola starts, also shedding tears, “I love you so much, and words cannot describe how blessed I feel to have you as my godmother. However, I have to chart my own course in life, and although I do not know what the future holds, my service to the people of this pack has doused every uncertainty that I have. If I have heard you and Papa correctly over the years, then I must know and trust me, Aunt, I know that the Rogues are dangerous, and they have already caused enough trouble in my life; I just cannot let it happen to these people.” Kayola concludes.

Petra is about to speak when the door swings open, and both women are terrified by what they see.

Can you guess who or what Petra and Kayola saw? Find out in the next chapter.