Chapter 11 A Dead Beast f

I

"Oh, there you are Leila." Relieved to see her friend, Ardith ran to embrace the lady who  approached in a lilting walking down the aisle.

Leila hugged Ardith back politely but her face showed more surprise than contempt. "Here I am my beloved friend. What it is? Is there anything wrong?" The raven haired woman held Ardith's hands, studying her face.

The duchess told her friend everything that happened as they walked down the hall and descended the stairs to the first floor. By the moment Ardith finished informing Leila of the late events in the mansion and described the gruesome scene in the stables, they were sitting in the main hall.

"Poor thing! The last person that saw her alive should've been you, Leila. Isn't it eerie?" Ardith told Leila, but the countess' remained unscathed. Her face revealing no emotions whatsoever after hearing the hideous events that took place in the castle. "Aren't you afraid Leila? How is that so? I'm scared to death!"

"Oh, no, don't misinterpret my silence. This is macabre in every sense. It must have been a horrible for everyone finding that maiden decapitated. I'm lucky I wasn't there you know. All this had left me speechless, a little... shocked I guess. Thinking of a raging beast roaming in or nearby the castle lands is terrible. I apologize for my lack of scruples at first, though I think it's because all the horrid things that I endured myself in the time I was kidnapped that certain things don't affect me in the way they should anymore. Believe me it left a mark on me... Oh, my friend you can't ever imagine how I believed myself lost or soon to be dead. There were times when my perils seemed to be perpetual!" Leila cried.

Ardith couldn't help it and hugged Leila tightly. The young maiden felt guilty to err in assessing her new friend's feelings. She forgot how terrible it must have been for Leila to be repeatedly raped in the forest and left for dead by those ruin men.

In a very sweet and heartbreaking moment, Leila stroked Ardith's hair, intertwining her delicate fingers between her golden locks. To feel Leila's warm breathing on her neck, provoked a chilling sensation running up her spine that made her shiver. For some strange reason, she found those fondling manners refreshing. In the way the beautiful countess caressed Ardith's head and face with so much tenderness, both girls' stares locked. Hypnotized by Leila's intense gaze, Ardith got lost in the black orbits of the brunette belle.

The Countess of Swabia kept playing with the loose curls of the beautiful maiden with one hand and with the other caressed her cheeks. Their bodies were just a few inches apart from each other. Ardith contemplated delighted the freshness irradiating from Leila's face and the sudden blush that had appeared on her cheeks. The headstone paleness and the purple dark circles had faded away completely, giving the woman an almost divine beauty.

"Ardith... Have I told you before how beautiful you are?" Leila whispered in a very sensuous tone as she she leaned closer to the duchess.

"Oh, not you my friend, thank you. Only someone told me he found me beautiful... my fiancé Edmund." Ardith replied crestfallen, her gaze wistfully at the memory of her love that broke the odd trance.

Leila's face changed color and stood up looking upset to Ardith's last words. Giving a few steps back she reacted. "You did not tell me you were already pledged by... Is this Edmund you are speaking about, the same one you mentioned before? The man that left to battle? You are not his woman yet, don't you?"

"It's the same man yes. Edmund, the man I love, but what question is that Leila? Of course I'm not his woman yet! We are not married? Fornication is a sin and God forgives me to ever think about... well, about having intimacy with Edmund, or any other man before getting married! That's impure!"

"Oh, please Ardith! So I'm burning in hell already is what you say? Don't talk to me about pureness and chastity because I'm doomed do you remember? I was raped by three men... They took me and f*cked me every time they wished! That means I'm not worthy of finding a good man?" Leila was fuming, standing, fists clenched facing Ardith.

The blonde lady's eyes watered to remember the condition Leila was found. She regretted her words deeply. "Oh, I'm so sorry Leila. How stupid and insensible I was. Of course you're not doomed because it wasn't your fault. You were only a victim of those wicked-minded and depraved bastards! I know you'll find a man that loves you for who you are and will forgive and forget your terrible past. I please beg you to forgive my words."

Leila wiped her tears away. "Please, give me a hug." Leila asked in a broken voice and Ardith acceded in the moment. "Of course I forgive you my dear. I know you didn't mean to hurt me... I know you never will." The dark-haired woman placed a playful kiss on the tip of Ardith's nose and smiled to her. "Look, I don't want to be a bad omen, but  if it's true your Edmund commands an attack against the Goths, the odds are against him, I'm afraid".

"Oh, please Leila, don't say that to me!" The duchess moaned and cried inconsolably.

"No, please, don't cry my sweet Ardith. Don't take me wrong, but the Visigoths are very skilled in war, virtually invincible in battle." Leila commented as she held Ardith's both hands tenderly. Maybe if you pray your —I mean God, he'll return safe home."

"The simple idea of thinking Edmund dead in battle kills me. My life would end if something ever happened to him." Ardith wiped the tears escaping from her eyes.

"Nonsense! No one ever dies of love. And believe me, death is not the end... But let us forget for a moment all these sad things. I don't like to see you crying... I have an idea, why don't we go to the garden and wait for the men to arrive with the dead beast I'm sure they will trap. Besides, we are missing a wonderful afternoon outside... I love cloudy days." Leila proposed and both ladies went into the garden.

II

Outside the castle, the men undertook the hunting. They were after the wild animal that killed the girl in the stables. The Duke and several of his servants and guards walked with their bows and arrows, swords and daggers, hinting at everything that moved through the dense forest.

They were heard some noises coming from behind the nearby bushes and the shrubs shook with violence. The men stayed alert and the commanded everyone to make silence and proceeded with caution. That's when saw something was moving out there right behind the bushes. A pair of yellow eyes protruded eerily between the density of the foliage. It was a huge beast, a furry brown bear advancing menacingly towards the hunters.

The bear advanced forwards to the onslaught of the hunters with fierceness, but the men reacted to the attack instantly and the beast fell under a hail of arrows and spears. Lord Aelderic approached to the badly injured animal and plunged his sword into the its torso, shifting the bear with an iron clasp. Blood gushed from the animal's body. The carmine liquid stained the green carpet of moss and grass where the bear had fallen. One of the servants cut the creature's head to take it as a trophy to the inhabitants of the castle, as a sign that the killer bear had already been found and clinched.

"Very well done gentlemen. The beast is dead. Now we can rest assured that this will not kill anyone else." The Duke of Harzburg encouraged his men, while they placed the bloody head in a sack and dragged the rest of the body to the castle. His skin, fat and meat could be exploited. Then they marched back to the duchy, proud to have successfully completed the mission.

When the men had arrived to the inner courtyard of the castle, everyone was celebrating the soon return of the group of hunters led by Lord Aelderic himself. The women received them with cheers and applauses, celebrating that the beast had been found and killed. Ardith and Leila joined the group after hearing the hype. Appalled after seeing the animal's headless body lying on the floor and the sack dripping blood, Ardith asked the duke, "Oh, father, what is that?"

"That, my daughter, is the infernal beast that slaughtered unmercifully that poor maiden. I told you I would hang it's head as trophy. It's done! this bear won't harm anybody else!" The duke answered hugging his daughter.

"Are you sure this was the animal?" Ardith asked again still looking stunned the decapitated corpse of the bear.

"Oh, yes. My men and I combed the woods around the castle. This was the only brown bear in these parts."

"Really! That's a relief for all of us then." The young duchess turned around to speak to her friend. "Leila, see, they have found the beast as you predicted. Uh, Leila? Where has she gone?" The duchess scanned the area to find her friend who strangely disappeared. Leila was no where around.