I couldn’t get the woman’s laughing out of my head. It was a mocking type of laughter, filled with the honest fact that my plan was a hoax. Stop the wolf king from destroying the Enchanted Valley? Me? A novice at everything including life itself? I wanted to laugh at myself but I couldn’t. I was absolutely distraught and she was right. I didn’t know if I could do what I said I was going to do. What if the old woman decided to tell the wolves what I said? I couldn’t swallow the thought of what they would to me.
I groaned. I was too scared. I didn’t want to do this. I couldn’t even do it and still, I was deluding myself that maybe I could?I couldn’t.
“Why did I tell her that?” I cried to myself under the blankets.
What did I hope in achieving by delaying the inevitable. Did I think I was Queen Milena? The first elf queen who conquered everything with wisdom and honor, to her people and her beloved husband? I was no nobility. I was a nameless witch girl. Aaron would nod and agree. The last witch girl and she was the catalyst for disaster… that was me.
I sighed and looked at the flower as lunch came around. I still didn’t want to eat that. It didn’t have a taste but the thought of going into the sleeping wolf king’s head was traumatic. I had seen enough once.
And who said I have to go in there anyway? I had time… right?
Who was I playing? The wolf king’s tail had moved, against all odds, something inside him was alive again and it was restless. I groaned again. I was going to concoct a deal with the sleeping wolf king in his dreams and would he remember if he woke up?
The risk was high. I was out of my comfort zone. I spent the day pacing back and forth the room. Evaluating my clear disadvantages and the sheer nothingness that were my advantages.
Aaron told me stories of a sunken city, Atlantis and how the Queen of Atlantis drowned her people and made them able to breathe under water with a curse. She did this to save them because the humans were multiplying and commanding armies against her people. So she had no choice but to hide her people through a curse that can never be broken.
“Why didn’t she fight the humans Aaron?” I asked him.
“Wars are terrible things witch girl. Families are separated, blood is continuously spilled and it scars the land.”
“So wars are bad?”
“Very bad witch girl.” He patted my head and smiled at me.
“But I…”
“Will wake the wolf king and start a war?”
“Yes?”
He laughed, “I guess that is your destiny.”
“I can’t stop it?”
“You can bargain with destiny?”
“Does he have a house?”
And Aaron burst out laughing, “If he did would you go and visit?”
I nodded.
“Well…the witch girl is honorable.”
“I know” and he laughed even harder.
Destiny, I thought. A cruel cruel man with a house somewhere in the world. Why can’t you give me my freedom? I hit the wolf king a couple of times. Angry at the current state of my existence.
“Why?” I asked out loud. “Why can’t I fight for my freedom?” I hadn’t noticed that it was nightfall until the room turned darker and a couple of torches lit the room. The wolf king’s shadow made him look twice his size. It was daunting. I was afraid.
“Well witch girl” Aaron said, “If I were you, I’d be ready to fight.”
“But wars are bad” I retorted
“Yes, but you don’t want a war right?”
I nodded again.
“Then” he grabbed my shoulders “Get ready to grab the world and thrash witch girl. Fight destiny and save the world.”
“What if they try to stop me?”
“Then fight harder. You don’t want a war, so fight for a bloodless peace, no matter what it takes.You have nothing to lose.” Aaron smiled at me and walked away.
You have nothing to lose.
You have nothing to lose.
I have nothing to lose.
I ate the second flower.
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