Lunation of Fate

“Agree,” Maxill retorted to Juste. He was determined to help the fellhound anyway he can.

“I’ll go north. I know my way around there.” The handsome bloodhunt had a confident smile upon him that was hard to let down.

Maxill continued, “Chastine, you go with Juste. Knowing that he’s quite sensitive to the plant, he needs to have a companion to handle the southern thorny wolfbane. Capiche?”

“Yeah, got it.” Chastine was also serious and determined to help Juste as seen on her expressive face.

Maxill butted in further into their conversation, gesturing his hand in the air while explaining himself, “Well, y’know, besides me disrupting your smooching sessions, it’ll be better for the two of you to team up. Well, just sayin’…”

“Maxill!” Juste and Chastine cried in unison as their cheeks turned red when they remembered the bloodhunt witnessing their love making session by the river.

The teasing bloodhunt grinned broadly, baring the set of his sharp canines in the process.

“Anyway, south is where you’re at, so you need to double up to catch up because we’re around here right now.”

He pointed somewhere on the fringy map with raw sketches placed above the flat surface of a furniture, indicating that they were somewhere north-east at that moment.This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

He rolled back the map and handed it to Juste. “Here you go, lover boy. Make sure you get to Chastine not only in one piece, but in pristine condition.” He squinted his eyes and glared at Juste, implying that he was warning the fellhound about Chastine’s welfare.

Juste raised his chin and put a smug stare upon his face. “You don’t have to tell me that, bloodhunt.”

Chastine then began to feel worried about the two fighting again, but Juste and Maxill both understood deeply that it was just a playful banter between them.

Because of this, they both grinned at Chastine; and Maxill told her, “It’s nothing, Chastine.”

Moments later Juste and Chastine prepared to head for south, while Maxill flew off as fast as he could northward where the sought for herb was endemic in the specified area according to the codex.

“You sure you want to travel this way?” Juste asked Chastine of the mode of travel she opted for: a horse.

“What do you mean, Juste?” the curious witborn didn’t get Juste’s implication.

“Well, y’know, I could travel faster in wolf form, just sayin’,” Juste replied to Chastine with an air of defiant arrogance.

“Why, can you carry me and the rest of my pack for 20 miles?” Chastine leveled up to Juste’s flair of arrogance with a snobbish retort.

“We won’t need the pack if you’d just let me carry you.”

“20 miles? 20 effing miles?! You’re insane.”

“You’re doubting my skills?”

“I’m just worried that your knees might give in. After all, you need to cover both ways. If we won’t bring a beast of burden with us, chances are you’re gonna overwork your little wolfie legs.”

“Thanks for the concern, but really, ‘little wolfie legs’?”

Chastine snickered. “Sorry, wolf paws are really cute to me.”

Juste didn’t know how to react to how Chastine described his wolf legs. He found it amusing but there was a tinge of insult that he felt hearing about how cute it was.

He realized it was their first time to argue about such little stuff as a couple. He wondered how he would be able to die down such arguments incase they show up again.

Juste remembered his father and mother. He was only 5 then, but it was vivid to him how his father always gives in to his mother’s whims just to prevent a brooding fight. He realized that his father was doing it because he dearly and clearly loved Saraise Isaacs.

Juste avoided responding further to Chastine. But he has his sleek way in turning their little silly fight into an endearment.

“Hyah!” Juste raised the reins of the horse swung it into whiping motion to make the horse move faster.

The action made Chastine to whimper and her embrace around Juste’s torso tighter, with her face automatically digging into his back.

He glanced halfway and said, “and you sound too cute back there.”

This made her cheeks fluster and her lips curl upwards. She could smell Juste’s natural scent which had woodsy musk notes to it from hunting game.

Juste felt Chastine’s grip on him. He also felt her breath on his back. This made him smile from ear to ear also.

He praised himself in this thoughts, ‘There, argument over. Nice one, Juste’.

They were savoring their sweet moment together that the task felt like it was a walk in the park.

But it was too long that their happy circumstance quickly turned into something suspenseful and concerning.

Scion arrived at the scene, alone.

He had bandages around his head and arms, but he was mobile enough to man a horse and stop in front of Juste and Chastine. He survived the airship crash, but looked like he was still recovering from his wounds.

The couple’s horse bucked from the sudden appearance of the army commander. Good thing Juste was in control of things that he calmed their horse down in an instant.

“If you’re going to stop us, Scion, then be my guest. Your schemes won’t stop us from getting what we need,” Juste’s words were grave, challenging and furious but calm.

“Oh? You think I’m going to stop you while I’m alone? Hahaha, think again, wolf prince,” Scion’s words were taunting and sarcastic, and he was going beyond disrespect when he referred to Juste as the ‘wolf prince’.

Juste didn’t care about the slur. His mind was quite occupied with their aim at hand to get some southern thorny wolfsbane, a possible ingredient for the Remedium.

“So what are you here for? Don’t tell me you’ve given up and want to join me for the search.”

Scion laughed hard at Juste’s sarcasm. “I’d be insane if I believe such child’s tale. That book is a worthless piece of sh*t!” Then he spat on the ground.

Juste wasn’t insulted at Scion’s taunt on him, but he just won’t let things pass when the army commander insulted his mother’s work.

He was managing his anger, so he told the truth of her mother’s true identity that only he and her father knew.

He heaved out a sigh and stared at Scion straight in the eye, “Mother was a witborn before father invited her to spend the rest of her life with him. She was a genius to come up with the means to turn herself into a fellhound. It was all her life’s research, just so she could have a family with father.”

Juste was waiting for a reaction from the army commander. It became silent, as Scion listened to his tale and contemplated on it deeply.

Scion clapped afterwards. “And so, the hybrid wolf prince was born. Not only did the wolf king did what was taboo for the clan, but he also reared a disobedient half-blood in the process.”

“You knew?” Juste was alarmed at Scion’s knowledge. He started to worry for his father.

“Rumors, Juste. But I get to prove that rumor to be true.” Scion smirked at the thought.

“But, let me tell you just one thing: it won’t work for you. That silly recipe on her diary won’t work for a fellhound like you. You’re just chasing wind.”

Juste’s eyes widened. Although he was deadset in believing for a cure, he was shocked at the commander’s words as it suddenly crumbled his hope to turn into a human. He was doubting his beliefs.

Scion sensed that his words had gotten into Juste’s. “Now, dear prince, go back to our clan, the throne is waiting for you. I also have a big surprise for you back at the mountain castle.”

Then as Scion was leaving them, he said his final parting words to them, “by the way, I’ve burned every southern thorny wolfsbane in their own habitat. So long.”

And he maneuvered his horse back to where he came, while Juste just bowed down his head with his bangs covering his shocked face.