The Last Spirit Wolf (Elena Norwood)

-Vera-

I take one last look at the cabin, making sure everything is just as when I found it. Afterall, this

is Elden's home; I imagine he's very excited to get it back for himself.

Locking everything up. Noah turns to me and offers his hand,

"Are you ready?"

I gulp.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"It's going to be alright. V. You'll be great."

"You know, you keep saying that and it doesn't really help."

He laughs.

"It's just performance jitters, you'll be fine."

I take his hand and we head out.

The sun hasn't risen so we walk with the last hours of light the moon has to offer. It's a very pleasant walk, unlike the first time I came to the cabin. The forest still has quite an unwelcoming feeling to it, but having Noah by my side makes everything better; it calms

me.

We walk for a few hours, taking in all of our surroundings as a way to distract ourselves from the task castle, not before giving me a long, tender kiss.

I enter the tunnels, guided again by the scent of Elden's garden, and begin my walk towards the librar

To be completely honest, this plan seems ridiculous. There are so many things that have been left at that either.

After a long walk, I make it to the library and am greeted by Elden.

"Welcome back, Vera."

He's smiling at me, but it does very little to reassure me.

"Here," he says, handing me my spear which he had retrieved from Noah's room.

I shake my head in disbelief,

"One of these days you'll have to tell me how you get around without being noticed, Elden."

d. When we reach the clearing. Noah and I part ways. I go to the underground tunnels, the same tunnels by which I escaped, and he heads to the front of the

; anything could happen. It's stressing me out knowing that if one thing doesn't go as planned, we will have to improvise, and we don't have much room for

From what Eli told us, Noah's room and all the places that I frequented within the castle were still in constant watch by the guards.

"Well then, today is your lucky day! Nobody can know you're here until it's time. Come."

We walk to another part of the library, another entrance to the tunnels guarded by a massive painting. This time, it's of a man with a strong build and regal posture. There's something oddly familiar about this man but I can't quite place him. "Who are these people, Elden, the ones in the paintings? This man seems familiar and the other woman... who were they?"

"Hush, child. We must hurry. Your mate must be about to make it to the front of the castle. If anything happens, you have to be ready."

He ushers me into the tunnels, following closely behind after closing the concealed door.

"Follow me."

I do as I'm told and we walk in silence. These tunnels are smaller than the ones that led me outside last time; there isn't enough space for me to walk besides Elden so I walk a few steps behind him.

After about twenty minutes and too many turns to remember, we arrive at a part of the castle I don't recognize, but it has a direct line of sight to the entrance of the castle through some peepholes.

We stand there in silence, waiting for Noah. After only a couple of minutes, we hear commotion.

"He's back! Tell the King he's back!" We hear a voice, followed by heavy footsteps hurrying to open the massive doors.

My heart starts speeding. This is it. This is the moment where we'll know if our plan has a shot of working or this is where it all ends.

"Warrior Noah!" screams one of the guards; a small crowd has begun to form around the entrance but Noah isn't being let in just yet, "where are the rest of your scouting companions?!"

"I killed them." Noah says flatly.

Murmurs erupt all throughout the crowd. Some are outraged, but most are simply shocked.

"And why would you do that?!" An angry guard steps forward, challenging Noah.

"It's none of your business, but if you'd like to find out *how* I did it, you're welcome to come closer." Noah grins at him, his lycan teeth showing.

The crowd once again begins murmuring and whispering amongst themselves. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Eli and Lucas; Eli is looking our way, knowingly. He can't see us as we are still within the tunnels and therefore within the castle walls, but he knows the plan; he knows we're here.

After a while, we hear what we were waiting for; heavy footsteps coming from the winding staircases that lead directly to the King's quarters.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

He's here.

"Well, well, well," King Alistair says as he descends out of our sight, "what do we have here? The *traitor* Noah?"

I clench my fist. Just listening to his nasty voice naming Noah makes my blood boil. I grip my spear with both hands now, Elden inching closer to the concealed door that would expose us to everyone. He nods at me, and I nod at him. I look over to Eli; he and Lucas have begun to move to the strategic points they had planned out.

This is the moment of truth. What will the King do?

After a few minutes of silence, the King comes into vision, standing in front of the entrance to the castle with that ridiculous robe of his.

"Guards, take the *traitor to the dungeons. We will have his trial first thing in the morning. gather the Council,"

I sigh in relief, softening the grip on the spear as Elden retrieves from the door. This is the best case scenario for now; we were afraid the King would have him executed right here, right now, but Eli was right, he'd want to make a spectacle out of it and for that, he needs time.

fare the trial