The Moon Goddess' Chosen

335 Unbroken Luna

The dirty man stayed completely still in front of the lion that had just appeared before him, wondering what the beast wanted with him.

His nerves lay between frightened and confused. He didn’t know what to do in the presence of the king of breasts. What was worse was that the lion was not attacking him, ‘Would you just get it over with? If that’s what you want,’ his mind screamed, ‘What’s a lion even doing this close to the capital?’

The lion, however, had other ideas. It walked up to him and gestured to the hole he’d dug with his own hands using its... paw. The man looked between the pit and the lion in more confusion.

The gesture alone caught him off-guard that he had no idea how to respond. The lion could tear him to pieces if he gave it the wrong ‘impression’. Did the king of beasts even care for what impression he gave? He was already covered head-to-toe in dirt.

The fear of angering the beast kept the man petrified in the spot he sat on. The lion growled in warning, snapping him out of his daze. “He wants you to go inside with him,” a woman’s voice tore through the tense atmosphere.

The man’s eyes darted around and came eye-to-eye with an old woman walking towards him. She held a walking stick in her hand and walked with a bear next to her. Another sight that was set to live within the man’s nightmares, “I’m sorry. Do you understand... them?” the man gestured to the two mighty beasts with a shaky finger.

“Yes, I do and so does the one other that you’ve set those criminals on their path to kill,” the old woman replied.

“What could I do? They have my daughter. It’s not like I could let her die,” the man was now screaming. He had led a group of murderers to the king and lost his daughter in the same process. Dying to these two beasts was a mercy to him at the moment. His whole world was shattering.

The lion turned to the woman with a growl the man found oddly specific in tone, almost like the lion would never growl in a similar tone ever again. All the same, each growl sounded the same... intimidating and promising a gruesome death.

.....

“If your daughter is the one they have in captivity, the lion knows where she is, but you are to help us stop what you have unleashed on Lycaon. The king and queen need you now more than ever,” the woman said to him.

“Very well then. I will help, but...”

“I will rescue your daughter and make sure she remains safe. I still have enough strength in these old bones to do that much.

You, on the other hand, are going to lead him to the throne room and get him in through the hidden passage in the throne room. Since you’ve had time inside the tunnels, I’m hoping you know the way there. I’m hoping the criminals were slowed down by their lack of information on navigating the tunnels,” the woman ordered.

For the first time in days, this dirty hermit bore a look of hope and new energy flowed into his system, “I’ll do my best then. Please take care of my daughter,” the man requested, placing his forehead on the ground, “Please... she’s all I have.”

The old woman sighed, “You don’t have to do that. I will rescue her for you. Just keep our end of this bargain, okay?”

The hermit’s once-shattered heart was filled with more relief than he could have asked for. Without wasting any more time, he dove into the pit and the lion followed through, easily keeping up with the hermit in his weakened state. In this situation, however, speed was not all they needed. Proper direction would get them anywhere fastest no matter what speed they used.

The two of them rushed through the dark damp tunnel that soon connected to one that was sturdy and old. Built with concrete, these tunnels suggested there were tunnels that had been established to run under the palace a long time ago.

Having had the time to go through the tunnels to prove that they were the ones that would get the criminals into the palace, the hermit knew the way to the throne room. It only took a short time for the two of them to make it to the throne room and to the secret door that would admit them into the palace. The door was open when they got there...

.......................

At Darla’s words, Katie stood from her seat abruptly, stunning her mate, “What’s the problem, Katie?” Cole asked. The bird beside her had cooed at the end of the performance and Katie’s reaction and fear was enough to tell him that something was wrong. Knowing what the girl had told him earlier, “Where are they?” was his next question.

“Darla, how...” panic filled the girl’s voice. Her muscles tensed but also buckled in resistance to her powerful reflexes. Instinctively, the former hunter reached for her reserves of divine energy, but they were empty. The boost she usually got when she did this didn’t come. She was frozen in place, only able to scan through the crowd in horror.

“We’ve got that covered,” Darla replied, cooing louder into the silence of the throne room. The room went silent for a moment as the girl continued to search the room.

“Cole, what’s going on?” one of the alphas in the front rows asked. He opened his mouth to ask more only to be shut down by a loud flutter of wings that filled the halls. The audience turned around and witnessed the door burst open and admit a thundering swarm of pigeons into the throne room.

Katie gathered her strength or what was left of it and walked up to the girl that had been singing, taking the microphone from her. Against all her nerves, she spoke up, “I believe you’ve all heard about the criminals that planned an attack on the palace on this day.” The girl called out on the microphone. Thorrin was beside her within the blink of an eye.

“What do you think you’re doing, Katie?” the hunter glared at her.

“The pigeons are going to flock around the criminals we’ve been looking for,” the girl said to him, with the microphone away from her mouth.

The Mighty Warrior was stunned by her reply and turned his eyes to the swarm of pigeons that was impossible to penetrate with the naked eye. They were so many that they had blocked his sight of the ceiling.

Panic had started to set in the room as the flock of birds descended on the audience. Unable to do anything, the hunter watched the frightened crowd disperse in an attempt to escape the birds.

It was a chaotic mess of fluttering wings, screams and coos in the throne room. Oddly enough, the birds kept away from the royal family at the front. The chaos looked like it wouldn’t end, but that’s when it started to take form.

As more people dispersed, the pigeons would let them through, allowing them to escape the messy swarm with next to no scratches.

Those that escaped the swarm to stand to the side of the throne room, closer to the wall would not be touched anymore by the pigeons.

“It doesn’t seem like...”

“Get these filthy fowls off me,” a bitter male voice echoed through the throne room. Contrary to what was happening to most that escaped the raging pigeons, the owner of this voice was receiving a very different.

While others were able to escape the flock’s wrath with no injuries at all, this man was being pecked so many times that wounds riddled his arms and face. He could barely see and the pigeons that had initially lacked a target in the chaotic mess seemed particularly focused on giving him the pecking of his life.

He fought to get free from the pigeons, but with the dense flutter that obscured his vision and the sheer number of birds about him, he was disoriented and unable to tell up from down. His aimless thrashing didn’t help with his situation. If anything, he was only getting himself more confused by trying to attack what he could not see. One of his lucky thrashes would get a bird in his grasp and the man would mercilessly snuff the life from the creature by closing his fist with angry force.

“Katie, what is going on?” Thorrin asked her in a calmer tone this time. The room was starting to regain some semblance of organised chaos and the screaming of the people was starting to die down as they escaped the raging pigeons.

The Luna turned to Thorrin with a pained smile, “I can talk to animals... What better way to survey the city unnoticed? I asked that they come here and help me identify the criminals.”

Thorrin found comprehending the Luna’s will impossible. Taking his gifts would have been the last straw that would break him. If he was in her shoes, he would have given up already. She could barely stand as it was... and yet...

‘So that’s why you caught the eye of two gods... An unbreakable will.’