Rising from the Ashes

Elenora had expected the worse journey imaginable. The first border she walked up to after escaping from the cells was Sardius and they are not known for their kindness towards rogues. Alpha Ausubo and Nakoa had grown up allies. The packs have been close for the past century and so Elenora half expected them to drag her back to Bloodmoon. She expected to be thrown in the cells once again. She did not expect smiles on her arrival to the border. She did not expect to be escorted through the packs and shoved into the drivers seat of a car. She did not expect money to be given to her nor did she expect the bag of food and clothes. She did not expect two letters from Nakoa. One for her and one for the King upon her arrival.

Elenora should have read the letter. She should have let him explain to her exactly what all of this was. She should not have been so mad at him but she was and four days of driving without breaks had only given her time to think about exactly how furious with him she is. How dare he! How dare he have her thrown in the cells and try explaining himself through a letter. How dare he give her a car and money as if that will make her forget what he had done!

How dare that thoughtless oaf of a man! Elenora had the wretched letter engulfed in flames before she could find her reasoning again. That letter could have contained advice on how to approach the King without getting thrown in cells.

The closer Elenora got to the Kingdom, the more her temper seemed to flare. At her mate and his inability to think about how messed up it is to throw your mate in the cells. At the king and his hatred of the rogues. At herself for being unable to protect her daughter. Elenora drives up to the wall surrounding the castle only to be stopped by one of the warriors standing guard "Elenora. Rogue-"

"You are not welcome here. Turn around." The warrior growls the moment rogue leaves her.

"-I wish to attend court." Elenore finishes as if she were never interrupted by him. He eyes her for exactly two seconds before turning his head forward.

"Turn around." He orders before waving his hand in a clear 'get the hell away' gesture.

"The rogues are his people too. It is clearly stated in the laws that anybody can attend court."

"He will not help you. Might as well leave now." The warrior growls.

"I have a letter that might change that." Another thing that makes her furious is the fact that only a letter might make the King see her, hear her plead. A letter or else screw her and screw her daughter. Elenora grabs the letter with Nakoa's neat cursive written across it and hands it to the man. He looks at it for all of two seconds before handing it to another warrior who grabs a match and sets it to flame. Elenora watches the letter as it burns.

What are the chances the King will hear her without it?

Scratch that. What are the chances she will make it pass the wall? There is no way in hell they will let a rogue through. Would they even believe her if she told them she was Nakoa Bardrick's mate or would they think it a final plead of a desperate rogue. Rogues do not walk through the front door of the castle. Not since King Stavros took the throne. There is only one way they get in and it sounds more than unpleasant. Elenora thinks of Charlotte for all of two seconds before she swings the car door open and jumps on the warrior, her fist landing blows to his face.

He does not fall until her knee nails him hard in the nuts. Elenora almost feels guilty until she remembers him giving away her letter to be burned. Screw them. Screw this pack. Screw the King. She had wanted to do this right. Really. She had wanted to attend court. She had wanted to plead before the king even if it meant begging on her knees. Elenora lands punch after punch to his head before she is pulled off him by another warrior she turns her attention to instead. She grabs the knife from his belt and aims for the gut. Painful enough to weaken him but not a deadly blow to the werewolf. He lands a blow to her jaw before she stabs him. "Guess you'll make it through them walls after all." The warrior laughs as the stars flicker through her vision.

"I will burn this place to the grown." She whispers before everything fades before her eyes.

The cells she had woken up in reek of vomit, blood, and death. Elenora has heard that people can rot for years before finally getting the kings attention. She does not plan to wait nearly as long. Instead she stands and walks the cell. They have chains around her wrist and something tied so tightly around her eyes her head starts to ache. The only things she has to rely on is her sense of smell, hearing, and proprioception. Anthony would argue your sense of proprioception is the most important. It is the sense he claimed could not be blocked or taken away.

There are scientist that might argue sight is the strongest sense. It is the most used. People need to see where they are going. They need to see to avoid walking into trees. They need to see to fight. They need to see to survive. Anthony taught her to fight with her eyes covered. Hearing he insisted was the most important as he taught her. You do not need to see your enemy if you can hear where they are. You do not need to see if you can hear them grunt. You do not need to see if you can hear them lift their fist to swing. He took away her sense of hearing right after he told her to learn to feel them. He took away her hearing after he told her she has seven senses.

Touch. Taste. Smell. Sight. Hearing. Proprioception. Vestibular.

Elenora starts with the first she learned to use. She feels the walls. Feels the floors. Looks for something she can use. When Elenora comes across a body she forgets how to breathe. Dead. Bones. The least they can do is respect the dead. Yet Elenora grabs one of the bones with a whispered apology. "Watcha gonna do with that?" A hoarse voice whispers from her side. Old. Frail.

"You are not blindfolded." Elenora mutters instead. An acknowledgement not a question.

"They only blindfold those they think might be a threat. Also kill them faster. I'm old girl. Too old. I've lost count of moons." And she laughs. It all makes her sick. Almost as sick as the smell. Anthony would tell her to use her sense of smell to her advantage but does she have to when it smells this bad? "What did you do?" Elenora does not respond to the lady. She continues to feel the place out before finding the bars. They are not soaked in aconite. Vermont soaked his bars with aconite.

Vestibular. Movement. Balance.

Proprioception. The awareness of oneself. Of the bodies around her. Not her strongest ability but unfortunately she is still fully capable of smell. The woman in the cells next to her smells like she has been rotting here for the last decade. She reeks of death and blood. There is another somewhere to her left. He does not smell nearly as bad but definitely not freshly showered. He smells of sweat and vomit. Elenora hears one warrior pacing probably twenty feet away from her. He is by far the best smelling person down here. "Drop the bone." The warrior growls but she grips it tighter and glares his way. Perhaps the smart thing to do would be to wait. She could see how often they switch out. Learn the schedule. Gather information. "How long have I been here?" Elenora asks the lady.

"What did you do?" She asks instead of answer. Elenora suspects she does not really care. It must be her only entertainment here. New people. "Don't be shy. You'll be dead by the end of the day anyways. Might as well get it off your-"

"The warrior at the wall burned my letter so I attacked him." Elenora interrupts "How long have I been here?"

"Doesn't matter. Must've been an important letter to die for. What did it say?"

It is Elenora who chooses to be silent now. She distracts herself with the footsteps of the warrior. If it has been more than a day that makes three weeks. What are the chances of her being alive for this long? What are they doing to her if she is? Is she praying for death as Elenora sits in this cell? "You've been here for less than a day. What did the letter say?"

Elenora hears her movement. She is moving closer. Reaching through the bars to grab her. What is she? Vampire? Witch? Elenora walks towards the older lady "Apologies." Elenora whispers before grabbing her by her rough shirt and punching her through the bars. Elenora hears her body drop and then the following laughter of the man on her other side.

"Damn. All this violence for a letter. Must be important to die for."

"A letter is just a piece of paper with ink on it. If I am to die here it will be for so much more than that." That silences the place. Elenora listens to the breathing. She counts. It is no surprise how much easier counting becomes when there is nobody pestering you for answers. There are fourteen to fifteen people in these cells. Only one of them are free. Only one of them is a warrior. It is then she calls on the fire. Her body heats up first. It is a heat that warms her from the inside. It rushes through her as she focuses it to her wrist. The small fire wraps around her wrist. Small but hot. Blue. There is no way to tell if the warrior has noticed her but he does not rush towards her. The melted metal drips from her fingertips before the man starts to shout. The chains are already burned off before they start to open her cell.

Elenora yanks the tight fabric from her eyes and blinks to clear her vision. Fire erupts from the ground. Elenora shapes it to wolves as more warriors join the fight. Five of them. "Call for the King!" One of the warriors shouts but Elenora blocks the door to the cells with a wall of fire. It resembles the scene at Alpha Scott's except she cares very little about injuring these men. "You do not want to do this." The warrior tries as the wolves begin to circle them.

"Of course not." Elenora whispers after a moment "I never wanted any of this." And just as she had before she pushes them in the cells. "Weapons." Elenora orders "Or everybody dies." Elenora grabs the knives and melts the rest alongside the keys hanging on the hook. Elenora had made it to the door before she realized just how terrible she must look. "Clothes." Elenora swings around. For a moment they stare as if she had lost her mind. Maybe she has. This plan circling around her head is only proof of it. Nakoa will go crazy when he realizes what she has done, what she will do. Nobody will get hurt if they listen. Nobody. King Stavros will get her back unharmed as soon as he rescues Charlotte. She will most likely be sentenced to death. She will probably be tortured too.

It is all so very crazy. It is all ridiculous. "I can burn them off you." They all strip before tossing them through. Elenora chooses the smallest shirt which is very large and a pair of jeans she has to roll up. Still she looks better than she had. They were reaching through the bars for the remaining clothes when Elenora set them on fire with a wave of her hand "For the letter." With that she walks out of the cells.

Time to find the princess.