Lunation of Fate

Chastine regained consciousness.

She slowly opened her eyes and felt her head pounding in pain.

“Ugh…ow!” She held her head while her hands were tied up in chains.

The chains were light, but it restricted her movement.

“W-what happened? What is this place?”

She slowly scanned the slightly dim room; her eyes fell towards the young fellhound.

“Juste!” Chastine shouted out of concern.

Juste was still knocked out of his senses.

His head was bowed down and his limbs were pinned to the wall.

The shackle around his neck was now replaced with a lighter but firmer chain.

The expression on his face looked pitiful; it’s as if his whole body was in pain.

This misery of his was wholly attributed to his neck chain because it was made of pure silver.

Silver is the metallic bane of werewolves. They get weak when the shiny metal touches their skin.

Chastine hurriedly went near the fellhound’s side.

She tried to see if she’d be able to find its lock, but to no avail.

Juste felt Chastine’s dainty hands on his skin.

He couldn’t mistake it for someone else because he remembers well of her soft, caring touch.

Juste then opened his eyes. He was still feeling the pain from the silver chain coiling his neck.

“C-chaas-tine…” He found it hard to utter her name, like his throat was severely parched from dryness.

“Juste, just hold on!” Chastine was still examining the silver coil for a keyhole.

“Y-yooouu mmmusst sqquueeze iit in, faassst..” It seemed that Juste knew how to unlock the specialized chain.

Chastine didn’t understand Juste’s instruction clearly, but she didn’t want him to repeat it again for her.

It was quite a challenging feat to know how to unlock Juste’s neck coil.

The coil was designed in a crisscross manner.

It was made this way so that it can expand and contract according to the size of one’s neck.

Once the ideal snug is attained, one must quickly wring it inwards so it fastens tightly.

Chastine found out about its mechanism by trying out what Juste said in the literal sense.

She squeezed it inwards with her bare hands, and the coil unfastened from Juste’s nape area.

Juste groaned and writhed in more pain because he felt the silver metal had dug deeper around his neck.

But he then gasped for air and felt comfort after Chastine successfully removed the shackle ’round his neck.

“Haaah haaah haaah, thanks Chastine.”

“Juste!” Chastine wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She almost broke into tears.

“I’m fine now, don’t worry.”

Juste was still pinned to the wall, so Chastine repeated the method to unlock the binds around his wrists and ankles.

When the blue-eyed fellhound broke free from his shackles, he then started to unfasten Chastine’s cuffs with the same method.

Juste quickly recovered from his pain. Meanwhile, Chastine was still left with questions.

“Where are we?” Chastine repeated this inquiry of hers.

Juste replied, “we are inside one of Scion’s airship carriers.”

“How do we get out of here, Juste?”

“We’re airborne now, so there’s no escape. Not until we land onto something.”

“Then we best ready ourselves then.”

The airship sped at a faster rate. Juste and Chastine almost tripped forward because of the acceleration.

“D*mn, here we go again. We’d be back in the castle in no time.”

“By the way, where’s Maxill?” Chastine suddenly remembered the tall bloodhunt.

Juste banged his fist on side of the wall where he was pinned onto.

“He’s a traitor, he left us at the last second!” He channeled his anger and frustration towards the wall. It created a small crack upon Juste’s force.

“No, it can’t be?!” Chastine had mixed feelings of confusion, devastation, and sadness.

She had now beaded up as Juste’s words sunk in her head and within her heart.

“Maxill, why… we trusted you…” Chastine tried to hold back her tears as she sobbed and lamented on their current situation.

“Don’t worry, Chastine. I’ll protect you at all cost.”

Suddenly the only door to their room bursted open.

A couple of fellhounds walked inside, both carrying a baton.

“Well, well, well, did we come at an inconvenient time?” This one fellhound was toying with his baton.

“I thought you’d never hurt Juste again.”

“Oh, did we say such a thing?” He then laughed maniacally. “I think you’ve mistaken us for our commander.”

“It was him who promised it…” The other fellhound swung his baton to extend its length. “But not us, slave girl, not us.”

“Now, now, can we start the fun? I’m pretty sure we’ll have some good time when we start beating you two to a pulp, especially the rebel prince!”

“This is our chance to get revenge on what you did! Hyaaaa!”

One fellhound charged at Juste, while the other cornered Chastine to the edge of the room.

“Don’t lift a finger on her! I swear I’m going to kill you!” Juste was furious at the one who lunged at the petite witborn.

He quickly dodged the baton and headbutted the fellhound that ganged up on him.

Juste’s headbutt was so forceful it KO’d the enemy fellhound at first hit.

He didn’t care if his head will bleed. He needed to get to Chastine and save her asap.

“Hey, pick up someone your own size!” Juste shouted at the other fellhound.

The arrogant fellhound turned around to face Juste. His face was soon welcomed by Juste’s fist that had the feel of a bite force of the dire wolf. Ouch.

The fellhound flew midair before he hit the ground face first. He, too, was knocked unconcious.

“Chastine, are you ok?” Juste held Chastine’s arms. The feeling made her blush slightly.

“Yes, thank you Juste!” She tiptoed, reaching for his shoulders. She wrapped her hands around him.

Juste wrapped his hands around Chastine’s back and embraced her tightly.

They both felt the beating of each other’s hearts; they found it comforting and at the same time intimate.

Juste didn’t want to let go. He even closed his eyes to feel Chastine’s warm and inviting embrace.

Chastine also didn’t want that moment to end.

But she was aware that they needed to escape Scion’s clutches again. The cuddling would have to wait.

She broke the embrace and conversed with Juste, “we need to know where we are right now. Juste, let’s get out of here.”

“Right…” Juste understood what Chastine said, but he still let out a sigh out of dismay.

“Do you know where are we exactly in this airship?”

“Probably we’re at the bottom floor. We need to get to the upper level so we can have a look of what’s outside.”

“So, stairs, ok got it…” Chastine was reaching out her hand in the dim floor to avoid bumping onto something.

“Wait, I’ll lead the way, just hold on to me.” Juste held the other hand of Chastine.

His right hand was touching the wall, while his left hand was gripping Chastine’s right hand.

Juste managed to spot the ladder leading to the upper floor.

He nimbly climbed up and carefully peeked on the ladder’s opening for guards. Luckily, there was none.

“Coast is clear,” he whispered to Chastine.

Chastine then climbed up the ladder; Juste helped her to pull herself up from the opening.

They looked at the viewing deck of the upper floor and was dumbfounded at what they saw.

They were high up in the air. An expanse of beautiful, dense forest was seen from their view.

It was breathtaking and at the same time alarming.

Because they were now near the Isaacs Castle.

“What took you so long, my prince?” Someone greeted them from behind.