The Crown's Entrapment

"No! I will not die here! Not today!"

Xenia grunted with conviction as she skillfully dodged a hit, continuing her fight against a group of barbarians just below a cliff. She had been fighting nonstop for far beyond her strength, but she still kept on going.

She moved her right foot back and bent down a little, tightening her grip on the double-edged sword, positioning herself for a counterattack.

She glared at the remaining barbarians, pure rage and bloodthirst evident from the glint in her emerald eyes. She had already killed a lot of them but there were still a few alive, and her body seemed to be giving up.

'I will not last long,' Xenia thought. If only these barbarians were human, it might have been easier for her to take them all down.

Unfortunately, her attackers were unrestrained, rogue werewolves. They were the most deadly and bloodthirsty of monsters, born to create chaos and pose a grave threat to humanity.

Xenia spat the blood from her mouth and seethed, "I'll kill every one of you bastards!"

She glowered at the barbarians who were looking at her impatiently, anxious to attack her.

"Lad, what's the point in fighting, huh? You can't possibly win against all of us in your condition," one of the barbarians mocked, a smug smirk plastered on his face. "Just hand over those slaves to us."

His statement made her want to laugh. She wondered how these rogue werewolves would react if they found out that they were not fighting a man but a woman disguised as a man.

She gathered whatever remaining strength she had left and held her sword tightly. Yes, she was weaker than them, so defense and counter-attack was the only obvious tactic she could use to win this fight.

"Hah! As if I'm scared of you! Come, fight me! I will show you who the lad here is!" Xenia barked, waiting for the next attacker.

At her remark, one of the werewolves raised his sharp claws and lunged towards her. She dodged the attack perfectly while piercing the werewolf's skull with her sword in a single, powerful thrust.

Another took this opportunity to attack her from the side, but Xenia quickly slid down and struck the attacker's feet with her sword. She was about to kill the werewolf when one of the rogues sneaked an attack on her back, managing to wound her.

Xenia winced when she felt a fresh pain on her body. She heard loud gasps and cries from behind her, mostly from the kids and women that she was protecting. They seemed to have started panicking after seeing their savior's clothes getting soaked in blood.

"Surrender now, and we might spare you," one of the barbarians mocked.

"Spare my life? Why don't you beg for your own life while I still have some mercy left for you!?" she bravely hissed through gritted teeth.

The fight continued, Xenia jumped over one of the werewolves and landed on another barbarian's broad shoulders. Tightly grabbing his head, she quickly slit his throat with her blade.

With one fell swoop, whimpers echoed throughout the mountains as the barbarian's body finally fell to the ground.

Xenia started wobbling more and more after each stroke. Panting heavily she eventually fell on her knees. Her body was spent and was too weak for her to continue.

Stabbing her sword onto the ground, she held onto it for support as she tried to stand up on her feet. Only one barbarian remained, it jumped high and lunged at her, its sharp claws ready to attack and slit her throat.

Xenia tried to move, but her body refused to cooperate. No matter how much she tried to push herself, her body didn't respond. Her body had given up. All she could do was helplessly watch the barbarian come at her.

She closed her eyes and waited for the blow.

But instead of feeling the pain, she was expecting, she got showered by its blood as the barbarian's lifeless body fell to the ground. Xenia let out a sigh of relief, closing her eyes, and a small smile emerged on her face. How lucky was she to have survived her imminent demise?

"You fought well till the end, lad. But you must not wait for your doom when there's still a breath left in you," a man with a deep and powerful voice spoke.

Xenia slowly opened her eyes, very keen to see the man who saved her.

The aura of the man had an air of royalty surrounding him. He screamed of rugged power and authority. He flaunted a solid and muscular build as his silver hair shimmered like stars under the sun's bright rays. Such an ensemble perfectly complimented his square face and angular jaw.

He stood in front of her wearing a forest-green cloak with a platinum-gold fur mantle, golden silk threads lightly tying the two sides of the cloak. On the left side of his chest near his heart was a round golden emblem, carrying the symbol of a gorgeous red full moon with the silhouette of a wolf.

The line between her brows deepened because the symbol seemed very familiar to her. But she was too weak to ponder about it so she pushed that thought aside. With that symbol alone, Xenia could tell that the man before her was someone of high authority.

Where were her manners? She should thank him and show gratitude. The man before her not only saved her life but also the lives of the children, women and merchants in the caravans. She had joined the group on her way to the next village and traveled with them for a while when the barbarians attacked them all of a sudden.

Xenia tried to move her body to get up whispering, "Thank you for-"

Before she could finish her words her weak and drained body collapsed. The only thing she knew was the man had caught her in his arms.