Still with Richard in her mind, Isabella arrived at the clearing where she usually gets her favorite plants. Most people don't know it but so much can be done with simple plants like nettle. She had spent most of her life learning about plants. This knowledge was passed down to her from her mom who had to make a living selling those herbs after her husband died in the third great war that opposed the kingdoms of Fardug and Tzungstat. Fardug was a patriarchy divided in many houses and dukes where the rule was that every fourth child had to be either abandoned or killed on the spot as they said it was a bad omen. At the center of their power was their reliance on faith. Multiple sects and church chapters were constantly in a struggle for power and favors of the king. This one kingdom was totally against any form of witchcraft and decided to base itself on scientific progress. No one truly knew the reason of this hatred. Rumors said the first wife of the current king was a witch that cheated on him with their own royal advisor, some said that one tried stealing his children to spite him, other even said a witch made fun of the size of his cock when he tried to have his way with her. This one was the most popular. So popular in fact that it even inspired a song among drunkards in all Tzungstat "
"There once was a king in Fardug that had a little itch!
He saw this woman and said I have to have that witch!
He tried to have his way with her but couldn't manage this endeavor!
The witch laughed at him because she expected more!
So the king said " make it grow i'll show you what i can do "
The witch laughed harder " I can do magic but there is nothing here I can do even for you " .
And so the king went back to his castle and please remember those lyrics!
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
That was the story of the king with a small prick! "
On the other hand the kingdom of Tzungstat was known for being a place of liberties for all residents, you can love who you want, marry who you want. This one was a matriarchy where the queen was above all else. The queen was known to be a powerfull leader that would make a mountain shake just with a click of her tongue, she was often referred as the diamond queen due to her magic being so strong that it was said no harm could ever be done to her. The stories were told that at the age of thirteen she repelled a thousand men away from her city without taking a step. Witches were quite common over there and are often seen as emissaries of the divine, as if god himself gave them powers to achieve his will. Many theories about why this came to happen were spoken, the most believed one is that the first queen was a witch herself, other is that her mother was one and the last was that when she was younger she fell ill and was cured by a powerful witch. They were reverred in their society, low born or high born as every witch had the potential of becoming one of the queen's guards.
As her mind wandered while picking her plants, Isabella thinks back to the words of her mother " You have a talent Bella, always use it to help others ". Her mom was the only person to ever smile at her the way she did until ... she met this man. He had this smile that could make snow melt. Shaking her head to get his face out of her head she finished picking the last plants she needed and started walking back to her home. On the way back she felt something, like a presence, as if someone or something was looking at her. She froze, all her senses on alert, she only had a second to notice the shape to her right coming right at her from the corner of her eye. She dived forward and felt fur scrape her legs, as she got back on her feet, the shape was already gone from her sight. She thought of running but the creature was probably way faster than her, but at least it wasn't as quiet as Richard. A branch snapped right behind her, she had but a second to duck before the creature leaped towards her in an attempt to rip her head. She turned around and this time the creature was right there, standing on all fourth, covered in black fur darker than the night. It's yellow eyes fuelled by rage, foaming at the mouth. It looked way too big to be a simple direwolf. Her worries got confirmed when the creature stood up on it's two back legs like a man, it was a feral lycanthrope, also known as werewolf.
