A howl in the Darkness Chapter one

This is now updated because I just fixed it

Chapter one

Two years later, Nisha woke up on that exact same bed, only it was morning. She had grown over the past two years and had gotten the collar her mother had told her about. But everything but the collar seemed like a blur to her. It had passed by so fast, so quickly, that she felt like childhood had slipped away.

She jumped off her bed and went down to the royal banquet hall. It was empty, except for a small silver platter that Nisha guessed was hers. She carefully took the top off to reveal an exquisite breakfast; a large steak with a side of potatoes. Her mouth watered as she took in every single last scent. She picked it up with her mouth and slowly brought it back up to her room. Only humans ate in the banquet hall, and she guessed they had eaten already.

When she finished her food, she left the empty platter next to her door and sat on her bed. Parallel to her bed was a large stain glass window that overlooked the kingdom. The glass on the window told the story of the kingdom. The story was that men from far away had found this part of land on a journey. The land was ruled by bloodthirsty beasts. They scared the beasts off, making the kingdom of Talon. But the beasts still lived in the forest surrounding Talon, still seeking revenge. Nisha loved the many different colors that helped tell the story and could stare at it all day if she could. She walked closer to the window and looked out to the kingdom. It didn’t have much in it; a bakery, a town hall, hundreds of houses, a lake for water. And then her eyes wondered to the forest surrounding Talon. She sighed as her eyes focused on a small flock of birds landing in a tree and vanishing in it. She sniffed in, feeling that if she did she could smell the forest, but she only got the smells of Talon, nothing more.

Suddenly a knock came from the door. “Come in.” she said. The king and her mother walked in. The king looked very solemn, as well as her mother. Nisha walked over to the two.

“What’s the matter? Another prisoner tried to escape again?” she joked. She got no reaction. Her ears went down, embarrassed.

“Sorry. I understand this isn’t a joking matter. But still, what seems to be the issue?” Her mother walked over and whispered something that brought back the nightmare she had when she was a child.

“A wolf has gotten into the kingdom.”

Nisha was scared. It had been years since wolves had gotten into the kingdom. She tried to hide her terror and look bold, but she didn’t do that well. She followed her mother and the king as they walked down the stairs and into the foyer. In the foyer there was a small trapdoor. The trapdoor was old and wearing away. The king opened it and Nisha was the first to step inside. She sniffed in and almost gagged. It smelled like death, disease, and peril. She tentatively walked down the steps into the dark dungeon that lied beneath her. She felt like she was stepping into hell.

Her mother stepped in second, and then the king was last. He shut the door with a loud bang. For a few seconds it was pitch black. Nisha could hear the whispers of prisoners echo through the corridor. She felt the ground around her, looking for her mother, begging for her solace. When the king lit a candle, however, she discovered that she was touching a human skeleton. She almost screamed but her mother lashed at her with one of her paws so the only sound she could make was a slight whimper.

“Shh! You’ll make the prisoners rowdy!” she whispered. Nisha tried to calm down but fear was pulsing through her body like blood. She trembled as she slowly walked down the corridor, making sure never to leave her mother’s side.

Nisha noticed that the deeper they got into the dungeon, the more terrible it became. The smells became so bad that she had to stop to vomit. Her mother stood behind her, trying to comfort her, but there was no use. Not only did the smell get worse, but the pain became worse. Nisha looked from side to side as the blood- stained prisoners moaned and screamed to be free. She watched as one of them was being literally eaten alive by rats. But these weren’t like the rats you found upstairs. These were at least cat sized, with giant teeth and claws. The prisoner screamed for mercy, and then stopped. She gasped as the tragic realization came over her. He was dead. The rats picked at his body like buzzards. She turned her head away, one tear escaping her eyes.

When they finally got to the wolf, Nisha was amazed. She had never seen a wolf before, but it looked a lot like a dog. But it was much larger than a dog. It was white and had yellow eyes like a cat. One of its paws was chained to the wall. It seemed young, at least Nisha’s age. She crept behind her mother, fearing the wolf. “State your crimes.” Karishma said firmly.

The wolf looked up to her and chuckled. “Crimes? What crimes? I was doing a good deed for the sake of my people.” he said. Karishma growled at him menacingly, but he simply smiled.

“Growl at me all you want babe, you don’t scare me one bit.” He said. Karishma lashed out at him.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t let one of my men slit your throat!” she hissed. Nisha crept closer to the stranger, trying to get a good look at him. He stared at Nisha and smiled wide.

“She’s the reason.” he stated, pointing at Nisha with one of his paws. Karishma and the king both looked at her.

“Our leader has looked for you for a long time. It was mission to find you.” he stated. Nisha got so close to him that it was only the jail door that separated the two. He eyed her collar.

“I see you got yourself a collar. Very classy. Makes you look like more of a kiss up to the humans then you mother does.” he commented. She growled at him.

“Why am I so important to you?” Nisha barked.

“Oh, you’re not important to me. You’re important to our leader. He’s waited a long time for you.” he said. Nisha backed away from the wolf. She didn’t want to hear anymore. Karishma walked up to him.

“Your leader won’t even get a strand of hair from her, you hear me? Your not coming back alive.” she said coldly. His eyes trailed down to his paws.

“I’ll die for my people. I’ll kill for my people. We were here long before your kind and we’ll be here long after.” he finally stated. The three of them finally left. Nisha looked back and watched as the wolf glanced at her and gave her a disturbing smile. She then continued to look forward, trying to ignore him, but failing to.

Back at her room, she jumped on the bed and looked at the clock. It was noon. She knew her mother was in the garden right about now. She walked out of her room and down to the foyer. Next to the trapdoor was a clear glass door. She pushed it open to reveal the garden. It was gorgeous, especially during spring. She walked over to the Koi pond that lied just between the roses and the daises. She watched as the Koi swam in circles, each fish having many different shades of gold, black, yellow, and orange. She laid down in front of the pond, taking one paw and swirling it in the water. The fish swam away from her hand, then back to it, and then swam away from it again. It made her happy to watch their scales glow in the sun.

“Weird day, huh sweetie?” said a voice.

Nisha turned around and was overjoyed to see her mother. She looked tired and a little shaken from the incident a few hours before. Nisha walked over to her and nuzzled her. She sat next to her. Her mother was looking at the Forget-Me-Nots, her favorite type of flower.

“Mother, why did that stranger want me? Why am I so important?” Nisha asked. Karishma’s head went down to the flowers. Is she ok? Nisha pondered. Karishma looked back up at her.

“You wouldn’t understand. It’s been going on ever since you were born.” she said. Nisha wanted answers, and now was the only time to get them.

“But mother-”

“Nisha, can we please talk about this some other time?” she said firmly.

Nisha walked out of the garden and back to her room, hoping that her mother would be OK soon.