Power and The Queen

Chapter Fourteen(part one). 🟢

Cora woke to the smell of dried hay and horse dung. She peeled her eyelids open and her gaze met with the roof of the shed.

The shed!

She felt something wet and cold on her cheek. She spun her head to find red glowing eyes staring at her. Panic swept through her entire being. Did she sleep in the shed? How did that even happen?

Thankfully, the wolf woke her up. It was not yet fully dawned. Most of the town was asleep.

Her mind went back to her dream. She dreamt again this night, but not her usual nightmare. She dreamt of the field and all the happy memories she had there. The memories brought a heavy feeling to her chest, reminding her that Barun was gone.

Getting up, she decided to fetch the wood today. Cora grabbed her satchel and left with Rue. She looked back to her small house to make sure no one was awake and sure enough, there was no light from the windows. She allowed Rue to walk on her own since no one would see her and if they did, they would think her a kitten.

Moving towards the familiar surroundings of short green grasses swimming in the morning dew, Cora remembered her last time here. She had done something incredible that day, but maybe it was not real. Just like her dream.

She scolded herself mentally for bringing it up. It was just her mind playing tricks on her. There was no way she could move a stone that was huge.

The reality that was her life turned out to be more painful than her dream. Her father had not yet returned and today she would have to find a job. She wondered if the suffering will ever end. She has heard of neighbours who sold their children to slavery to feed the rest of their families.

Their neighbour Linda's family suffers through the same fate. Linda's brother could secure a job in a shop that makes weapons, but he spends most of it before he returns home. Cora wanted to pity them - no, she did pity them. Maybe Linda is just not a nice person. She tried pushing the thought of Linda from her mind, but she could not.

Cora really wanted Linda as a friend when she was younger, but Linda did nothing but pick on her. At the moment, she needed a friend, someone her age. She needed someone she could tell about the city, someone who would listen and not call her names.

She passed through the field, sighing at her thoughts, and walked into the forest to fetch wood. This part of the forest was safe, it was the only part she was accustomed to. She did not know about the forbidden forest till the day she found Rue. It made her wonder why her parents never told her. She wondered why the forest was deemed forbidden.

How do the people of Ovalon live near such a place? She was only there for a while, but she could sense the energy that radiated from it.

Rue followed her, placing her paws on the ground with so much grace that would put a princess to shame. Cora smiled and kept moving.

"We are going to fetch wood Rue, after that I need to find a job," Cora said, pushing aside a branch that blocked their way. They needed little wood at home, so she gathered what she could easily carry with Rue safe in her satchel.

Being in the woods made her remember the death of the white wolf. The pain it brought was a familiar feeling. She felt it too when those people died in her dream. She did not know the animal, but it saved her life. Somewhere lost in her thoughts, she stopped moving.

The weight of the bundle of wood in her hands became heavier by the second. She was unaware of how long she had stopped till she felt something nudge her ankles. It pulled her from her thoughts and she looked down immediately to find Rue rubbing her fur on her ankles.