Kingdom of @WattpadDarkFantasy

***

Magnus's growl rumbles through him. "I don't like this, Hesper."

The sun flashes between the leaves and into my eyes as he carries me down the winding forest path. We race past some apple trees. I pluck a gleaming fruit.

"What's there not to like?" I ask, biting into the apple.

Its sweet crispness dances over my tongue.

"A monster in these woods murders travellers. We live for killing such beasts. This is a perfect quest."

"I don't like that it's near Ashelum," Magnus says.

The mere mention of the name raises goosebumps along my arms.

People say Ashelum lies on the border between the Land of the Living and the Dead. Some believe that the Land of the Dead claimed it, that if Ashelum existed once, it no longer does.

I know better. Behind its fantastical embellishing, every legend in Quorin has truth to it. Ashelum is just a silent kingdom, having a voice only in folktales. There's nothing to fear.

"How many beasts have we killed?" I ask.

"Many," says Magnus.

"Didn't we vow to purge Quorin of its murderous monsters?"

"Yes."

"Then letting the slaughter continue is abandoning our cause," I say. "Too many have fallen prey to this beast. We must stop the monster from making more orphans."

Another growl shudders through Magnus's body.

A monster tore our families to pieces when we were children. We were alone until we found each other. We didn't resign ourselves to hopeless lives as orphans. We took action that day and ever since.

"Don't you want to know what this monster is keeping inside the kingdom and why?"

"No," Magnus says.

"Come on, it's going to be an adventure!"

"You're brave, Hesper, and you've got a golden heart, but one day I fear we shall meet an unbeatable monster."

I don't fear any of Quorin's monsters. Every beast has a weakness. All I must do is find it.

I bury my hand in Magnus's fur, giving his shoulder a comforting pat. "We can do anything together, right?"

"Right," he says, as obedient as the pup I first met, although his voice is gruffer and he's forty times bigger.

I cradled him when he howled for his parents. Now, he sprints, carrying me on his back as if I am no heavier than a baby.

We must look a sight—an enormous wolf as dark as death, and a pale woman with a red cloak flying out behind her.

Legend speaks of us as Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. The stories are wrong, as stories often are. We aren't enemies, but a formidable team.

I lie low against Magnus. The wind stings my face as we run. It's a rush promising adventure and victory. I live for it.

The apple trees long behind us, we near Ashelum. An eerie silence hangs over the thinning trees as if the Land of the Dead cast its coldness over them too.

The bare branches cast spiderweb-like shadows on the ground. I shiver despite lying against Magnus's warm back. Nothing lives here, not even leaves or birds.

The sun's heat brushes over my shoulders, strong enough to be felt but not to banish the coldness settling within me.

I don't want to go to Ashelum, but a vow is a vow. I have a monster to slay.

At the edge of the forest lies a tower and a legendary creature.

Her dark hair falls in curls, framing her amber eyes and high cheekbones. Looking at her lion's torso, eagle's wings and twisting snake's tail, I can see why she's a monster.

"You're a sphinx," I say. "I thought you were extinct."

"Funny what people believe if enough say it," she says, her voice rich and melodious. "I am Raena, the last sphinx."

"You'll be extinct soon." I slide off Magnus, unsheathing my sword. "As payment for the innocent people you murdered."

An unfamiliar sound greets me as I run at Raena.

Laughter.

Her serpent tail darts forward, tearing my sword from my hand with its mouth. Unarmed yet undeterred, I raise my fists.

"Hesper!"

Magnus lunges to the rescue. Raena crosses her wings over her chest, then unfurls them, stirring the air and pushing Magnus over.

"If I wasn't in a good mood today, you'd both be eaten by now," she says.

I glance at my sword lying at her feet. I won't reach it before she gets to me.

I must talk my way out of this.

"So, are you in the mood for a fight?" I ask.

Raena stares down at me, her eyes blazing with ferocity. "I don't fight. I ask a riddle. If you answer correctly, you pass."

My eyes narrow. "Did you kill those people because they answered wrong?"

Raena inclines her head. "They chose their fates."

That's why legend said never to try to outwit a sphinx. Maybe Magnus is right about there being a fight we can't win. Maybe I should walk away.

But I have never bowed to a beast, and I won't now. I would die first.

"What's the riddle?" I ask.

"Once you hear it, you cannot retreat. You either answer correctly or face death. Do you understand?"

"Hesper, don't," Magnus mumbles behind me.

I ignore him, instead holding Raena's gaze. To quit now would be to abandon the quest midway.

"Understood," I say.

Raena smirks, probably thinking she just got herself a meal, but I'm not some humble traveller.

I deal in death. I know my monsters.

"What thumps without tiring and gives without emptying?" she asks.

I stare at the ground, thinking.

A foot can thump, but it would tire. I can't think of anything that it gives. Maybe the answer has two parts to it. It seems like a trick a sphinx would pull.

"Is it one object?" I ask.

Raena's smile widens. "No questions."

I look to Magnus, but she says, "No asking for help."

My mind is blank. Then the answer comes to me.

What thuds away in my chest without stopping? What gives me life and love to others without running dry?

"A heart," I say.

For a tense moment, Raena says nothing. Then she steps away from the tower.

"You may pass," she says.

Magnus comes to my side.

"I will pass after you agree to stop killing people." I snatch up my sword and return it to its sheath.

"I will once my mistress is freed," says Raena.

"Mistress?" I ask.

I glance at Magnus. His confusion mirrors mine.

"You are too young to remember," says Raena. "A century ago, the Land of the Dead and the Land of the Living fought over this kingdom. It's at the edge of both. Either could claim it. The Land of the Dead won, taking every soul in Ashelum but for one—that of my mistress, Princess Lucella, the liveliest girl in the kingdom.

Now, she walks the line between life and death. As her loyal companion, I test every passer-by. Those who prove themselves worthy may enter the tower to try to rouse the Princess from her death-like sleep. That is now your task.

Princess Lucella is Ashelum's only hope. The day draws closer for the Land of the Dead to absorb the kingdom into itself. Only life will keep it from death's hands."

I nod. If it will spare every passer-by from Raena's jaws, save a kingdom and a princess, I will do it.

I ascend the stone steps and push the tower's door open with a creak.

The stairs rise in an eternal spiral. Never ones to back down from a challenge, Magnus and I start jogging. He bounds ahead of me, clearing ten steps at a time. I barely manage two.

Panting, we reach the top of the tower. My heartbeat echoes in my ears.

The tower room is fit for royalty. Beneath the fine layer of dust, the furniture looks as new as if it was bought just yesterday.

At the centre of the room stands a magnificent bed, draped with blood-red silk over all four posts. Magnus and I approach it.

A girl lies in the bed, no older than I am. Her hair is as black as a raven's wing. Faint colour blooms in her cheeks. Her chest is still.

As Raena said, she is in a state like death while fighting to stay alive.

She is beautiful, as different from me with my long untamed hair and dirt-smudged face as the moon is from the sun. The collar of her golden dress gleams against her pale throat, shining and whole where my cloak is torn and stained with blood.

Before I can stop myself, I lean down and kiss her.

Maybe it's because kisses always break curses in stories. Maybe it's because I want to.

Her soft, cold lips stir against mine—a whisper of life.

Her eyelashes flutter. I hold my breath as she takes her first after a century.