A Gift from the Goddess
Chapter 41

Chapter Forty-One “What do you want?" Aleric yelled out to them. They either didn’t hear or hadno desire to answer because they approached us slowly without hesitation.

It was clear what their intention was. “Aleric?” I called out nervously. “What's wrong with them?” Icould see from here that something was off. Wrong. Their clothes were dishevelled and they lookedlike they hadn't seen a proper bath in years. But not just that, they were also giving off some sort ofweird vibe. Like they were sick...

..And dangerous.

“They look like rogues,” Aleric said, moving closer to my side to get into a defensive position. “Youneed to get out of here.”

“You're joking, right?” I snapped. “I can handle myself in a fight, Aleric. What do you think I've beendoing all these months?”

But his explanation made sense given their appearance. Normally, anyone who left a pack could beaccepted into another after due process and screening. So, this meant that the remainder of thosenot accepted, those who had failed that process, were usually criminals banished. They becamerogues. But rogues were actually pretty hard to come by these days since territories had expandedso much. There wasn't really any one place they could stay for long without being driven out by thepack in charge. Something that made me wonder how they'd managed to make it so far into theGolden Blade territory, especially without being seen... and why they had come out of hiding totarget us. “Why aren“t they shifted?” I asked, warily eyeing them off as they paced around us.

There were four of them in total, each a fully grown male, and yet not one of them was in their wolfform. I could also see that one was far more muscular than the others and noted he was the one tobe most careful of.

They were sizing us up, watching what we were doing carefully, and we were doing the same. Eachside waiting for the other to move first.

“If I were to take a guess...” Aleric said, looking around. “I would say it's to help hide their scent ingetting this far. Running past the boundary in wolf form would be picked up faster by the patrols.The fur leaves a stronger scent.” I hadn't realised that was a real thing, but then again, Id neverdealt with rogues before, nor had I taken the time to notice the difference in potency back when I'dhad my stronger sense o f smell

fanlanmathing naging in my brain rnar

The whole situation seemed wrong though. I could feel something there was something obvious Iwasn't realising. But I had to push it aside, knowing I needed to

focus on what was in front of me if I didn't want to get killed. “You need to leave the minute there isan opening,” Aleric said. “Aleric!” I yelled angrily. “Enough!” And then one of them finally cameforward, charging towards me. I moved to face him, ready for when he got closer, but Aleric wasquicker. He lunged forward and had him on the ground within seconds with a powerful hit to therogue’s head

There was no hesitation in Aleric’'s movements. Everything he did was confident and fluid. So muchpower displayed as tackled the rogue down, the man’s head hitting the ground with such impactthat there was no hope he had survived. He had died immediately.

This enraged the others, seeing the death of their comrade occur so fast. They advanced quickly onus before we'd even had a moment to get our bearings. Two went for Aleric, the largest of thebunch being one of them. The third ran towards me, but I was ready.

He swung his arm out to catch me in the face, but I moved back and dodged it effortlessly. Hismovements were sluggish compared to my father and Cai, but his body was more built, moremuscled. I knew getting an effective hit on him would be hard and would need to focus on his weakpoints.

Next to me, Aleric was fighting off the other two. His main focus was on the larger one but he washaving to keep his defence up against the second rogue as well. He didn't look to be in any trouble,or at least he didn't show it, but I could also see he wasn't making much progress against either ofthem in terms of offensive attack.

Before me, the man was still continuing his aggressive approach. But I wasn't letting him anywherenear me. I abruptly leapt backwards, catching him off guard as he tilted off-balance; the momentumof his flying fist having sent him forwards. I took the opportunity and managed to get my leg upwith enough force to kick him back the way he came, my foot connecting with his face with enoughpower to hear a crunch. I assumed it was his nose.

He fell flat to the ground behind him and I quickly jumped on him, not wanting to miss the chanceto finish him off. But blow after blow against him, I found I wasn't having any success. He wasneither staying still nor passing out.

..But then I saw it.

His hand twitching towards something at his side, and for a brief second, I swore I saw a flash of themoonlight catch on a metal surface. Inmediately, I realised what he was planning.

Still straddling him, I quickly moved my hand to where he was reaching. However, he had a firm gripon it now and was refusing to let go. I didn't let this sway my determination though.

I let go for only a second. Just enough to punch him as hard as I could in the nose, allowing for hishand to loosen, and quickly I unsheathed the dagger he had concealed there.

I didn't even hesitate or pause

No, I immediately embedded it directly into his chest...

..And finally, he stopped moving. I sighed out in relief, knowing I'd stopped at least one of themand could help Aleric fight now. But then everything happened so quickly. Too fast for me to havedone anything about it. I stood up, inspecting the body below me for movement, when suddenly Iheard a panicked voice behind me. “Arial” Aleric yelled.

I instantly spun to where I'd heard his voice but found he was closer than I'd thought. In fact, hisback was now directly in front of me, obscuring my view completely of whatever was happening... ..And all I proceeded to hear was a grunt, the sound of flesh being sliced open... followed by Alericmoving his arms in a forceful movement that created a sickening snapping noise. I realised whathad happened straight away. I moved quickly, desperate to see for myself, and pushed my wayforward to witness the scene before me.

Aleric stood there frozen, a knife in his stomach, with the body of a dead rogue before him; theirhead turned to an unnatural angle.

And I screamed.

I screamed out over what I was seeing. Because I realised what had been nagging me this wholetime.

It wasn't because of the rogues, or why they were here. It was because this was my vision. This waswhere it took place. The tree line, the dimly lit pathway. All of it.

This was where Aleric died.

I turned and looked at the last remaining rogue who was staring at me expectantly; the largest oneof the bunch. But he couldn't have known what was waiting for him. It was like my body lost controland I moved faster than I had ever before, faster than I had ever thought possible. And before hecould even register where I was, I had climbed my way up him, swinging myself around his torsountil I sat upon his shoulders. He didn’t even get a chance to lay a finger on me before I hadsnapped his neck, his body crumpling to the ground under me. I didn’t turn to inspect myhandiwork this time though. Instead, I immediately left him and ran to Aleric

His face was so pale as he looked down at the knife below him in surprise. I could see him start togo into shock over what had happened, his hand feebly reaching towards the knife but not touchingit.

And then he began to sway, his legs starting to give out. I rushed forward to catch him before he fellto the ground, his head managing to land against my shoulder. My legs had almost buckled underthe weight of him but somehow I kept standing

I wanted to be sick, the sound of my heart beating so loudly in my ears that I felt like I was going togo insane. Everything was happening just as the vision had told me, but I had gotten i t wrong. Sowrong. It hadn't shown me the rogues. It hadn't shown me the battle. All it had given me was theway he died. I could feel the tip of the knife in his stomach as he rested against me and knew whatwould happen next.

He would push himself off me just as I grabbed at the hilt, making himself bleed out slowly to hisdeath

But it was strange though. A knife like this shouldn“t have hurt Aleric so badly. His acceleratedhealing should have meant that, whilst he would be wounded badly, he shouldn't bleed to deathfrom it. So, what could have possibly caused what happened in my vision?

And then I realised it only left one possibility.

Before I could test anything though, Aleric suddenly groaned and I felt him begin to shift his weight.He was just about to push himself off me, but I quickly held onto him, preventing the vision frombecoming reality. “Woah, wait, wait, wait,” I quickly instructed, stopping him. “Just slowly. I'm goingto help lay you down.” As gently as I could, I lowered Aleric to the ground until he was finally layingflat. “Aria...” he mumbled, his hand reaching towards the stab wound. “Don’t touch it,” I ordered,though I wasn't sure if he could hear me. I firmly placed his hand b y his side just in case. I didn'twaste any more time after that and knew I needed to confirm my theory. Quickly, I began to inspecthim. I pushed his skin down the blade just enough that I could squeeze my fingertip onto thesurface, and immediately I felt the mild burn upon contact. As I had suspected, the knife was madeof special silver. My heart sank. On a surface level against our skin, the silver would only cause mildirritation. But embedded into someone like this...? Well, there was no way he'd be able to healhimself. Even though he was not of age to shift yet, the silver would still stop his wolf DNA fromaccelerating the little healing ability he did have, keeping the wound open. And even if I removedthe knife now, it would still take several hours before his skin would start to recover. This meant thebest option was to leave the knife inside him... but even then, if it's left in too long, it could alsopoison him. I could only assume this was why I had seen the vision; so I knew not to take the knifeout yet. Removing it now would just cause him to bleed out quickly, but leaving it in for a bit longermay buy him some time It was clear Aleric would need serious medical attention to survive.Something that I wasn't completely sure how to go about getting for him.

And then something came to me. Something familiar yet foreign.

..Something dark.

It was a voice coming from a small part of my mind. The voice of someone I'd been working to burydeep inside me since coming back.

And it spoke to me, convincing me to do something I would have never considered. ... You couldjust pull the knife out,” the voice said quietly. I looked down at Aleric's body, shocked that a part ofme had even thought of doing that. How could I willingly kill him after everything that had justhappened? "You would be saving the lives of thousands if you did it,'it continued. “No one wouldeven know it was you. They'd say it was the rogues.’

And I realised it was true.

If I pulled the knife out this very second and let him die, no one would even know, and it wouldguarantee avoiding a future where he would tyrannically reign over the entire country. S 0 manypeople would live. Countless families would never have to learn the heartbreak of losing a loved onefrom a needless war for power. 1 My hand twitched at my side over the thought of doing it. It wouldbe so easy. I could redeem myself for those I'd hurt in my past because of him.

But as I looked up at his face, oddly peaceful now he'd fallen unconscious, I wondered over whatlaid ahead for him. Wasn't it possible to change his future just as I was now changing mine?

"You saw him in that council room,’ the voice said. “You saw he is still the same man deep inside.’But the more I thought about it, the more I became conflicted.

..And I realised that, no, what I had thought was wrong.

I mentally shook off the thoughts inside me. I knew that wasn't the same. Back in that room, he'dacted out of a just cause of trying to defend me, not out of lust for power. He showed me he wascapable of good even if he went about it the wrong way.

And so, I knew what I had to do.

I stood up, running a few steps towards the main building, and screamed. I screamed as loud a s Ipossibly could, over and over again, pleading for someone to come help. And even when my throatburned, I still didn’t stop. Thankfully, help arrived fairly quickly. The warriors rushed to his side andbegan inspecting the wound, but their faces didn’t look hopeful. I tried to tune them out but it washard not to listen when they were talking about his low chances of survival. And as I continued towatch over him, terrified that Aleric wasn't going to make it, I scolded

myself for having even considered something so abominable. Because in my head, I knew he wascapable of changing. He had been willing to die for me, to shield me from having a knife plungedinto my back. How could I even begin to doubt that he couldn't become a better man?

..But I couldn't help but think of one other reason also. Though whilst it was not nearly asimportant, there was one other thing that had been stuck in my mind the entire time the warriorsworked over him.

And that was that he had called me Aria for the very first time.

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