Light and Dark: The Prince of Furya (CH2)

A lone blue wolf sat in the tower of a castle, feeling the breeze from an open window. He sighed, looking out into the small town at the foot of the castle. He walked away from the window, his cobalt necklace bouncing as he laid on a large soft bed. An older wolf walked in.

"Time for training, Cobalt," he said, walking up to the bed.

"Right," the blue wolf replied, "Not feeling it today."

"You are the prince; you need to train to become the next king."

"How about I get to leave the castle for once and go find a mate?"

"Again with this..." the older wolf rolled his eyes, "You know that as the king I can't let you do that!"

"Why not?!" Cobalt yelled, getting to his feet, "Why can I not leave the castle?! What's out there that I can't see?!"

"Do not take that tone with me!" the king yelled, "There are reasons you can't know! You will become distracted from your duties to this kingdom!"

"Seventeen years!" Cobalt roared, "And all I've ever seen is the courtyard! I want to go meet people!"

"You have no idea what other people are capable of! Do not worry yourself with them!"

The two stood almost with their noses touching, both baring their teeth. Cobalt caught a glimpse of the open window, and jumped off of the bed to try and reach it. He was halfway out of it when he was pulled back into the tower and pinned to the floor.

"Let me go!" Cobalt yelled, squirming in an attempt to escape, "I have to get out there!"

"What do you think will happen?!" the king roared, "The earth is not as forgiving as I am!"

He locked the window and threw Cobalt onto his bed, then promptly left and locked the tower door behind him. Cobalt stood up, and grabbed the nearest object in his mouth and lobbed it at the door.

"Damn it!" he yelled in frustration, "I'll get out of here one way or another!"

He walked to a corner of the room where a vest made for wolves was, and slipped it over his head. He then grabbed a bag and started putting objects in, mainly expensive things he could sell for money if he needed it. He zipped the bag, placed it on his back, and walked back to the corner of the room. He hit a small switch, and a secret hatch to a staircase opened. He left a note, and started down the stairs. He heard the door to his room open, and stopped in his tracks.

"He's escaping!" a voice yelled, and he heard claws a ratchet on the stairs.

Cobalt sprinted down the stairs, tripping and falling down the last few. He shook his head and stood up, remembering the coming threat to his freedom. He searched the walls frantically, looking for the switch that opened outside. He hit it and a door opened, just as a guard came running down the stairs. He ran through the door, not turning back to close it. He then realized he was still in the castle gates, and that every guard was on the lookout. He ran to a wall, and turned and ran another direction as guards attempted to capture him. He panted, pushing to the now closing gates.

I can make it, he thought, Just a little more...

He jumped through the gate, his hind right foot catching it it as it closed. He twisted it and pulled, struggling to break free. When he finally pulled free, he ran, without realizing the claws of his foot were still lodges in the wood.

Cobalt finally stopped in the town of Furya, at the foot of the castle. He was limping, his foot bleeding from the loss of his claws. He walked into a little tavern, and walked to the counter.

"You've gotta help me..." he panted, putting his weight on the counter, "Hide me..."

The bartender, a small black fox, looked past him, seeing the trail of blood left behind by Cobalt, and pushed him from the counter.

"Get out!" he yelled, pointing to the blood, "I can't have that in my tavern!"

Cobalt looked back, shocked at the sight. His bright red blood had trailed trailed behind him, and stopped at his foot. His foot was just as bad; all four claws had been ripped out of his toes, each hole bleeding and causing his foot to swell. He crawled back up to the counter.

"Please!" he pleaded, "I need help! Please!"

"Go to the inn!" the bartender yelled again, pointing to the door, "Get out!"

Cobalt obeyed, looking cautiously out the door for guards. When he had confirmed the coast was clear, he mustered up his courage to run, and took off on his bad foot. He ran to the inn's counter, panting heavier. The clerk, a small quadrupedal orange cat, looked at him with a surprised expression.

"Please... help..." Cobalt panted, "Hide... me..."

"We need a bed and a nurse!" the cat yelled, furiously pushing a gold bell repeatedly.

"Thank you..." Cobalt said, passing out on the floor.

******

Cobalt woke slowly, blowing strands of fur that fell in front if his eyes. The room was white, with two beds; the other was empty. A small nightstand was next to the bed. His necklace was on it, with his vest laid against it. A purple quadrupedal dragon walked in, setting a tray of meat for Cobalt.

"So how are we this morning?" She asked, checking over Cobalt's vitals.

"Morning?" Cobalt asked, rubbing his eyes, "It was just the afternoon..."

"You've been asleep for two days," the dragon said, "Thought you'd never wake up!"

"T-two days?!" Cobalt exclaimed, "I'm back in the castle then, huh?!"

"Nope," the dragon said, "You're safe here. What's your name?"

"Cobalt," Cobalt replied, chewing some of the meat, "Cobalt Furyan."

"A Furyan family member?" the dragon asked, "You're royalty?"

"How's my foot?" Cobalt asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Should be good to leave today," the dragon said, "Only bad news is there are no more claws there."

"Oh... Where's the next town?"

"Southeast a little. You'll run into Flaer."

"Okay..."

"All done."

The dragon packed her equipment and goodbye, giving Cobalt care instructions and leaving. Cobalt stood, testing his foot. He put his necklace and vest on, and started heading out the door. He bumped into a bipedal dragon in a brown coat on his way out.

"Sorry..." Cobalt said shyly, walking past.

"A warrior of light..." the dragon said, causing Cobalt to stop in his tracks.

"What?" Cobalt asked, turning around, "What're you talking about?"

"You," the dragon said,walking away.

"What was that about?" Cobalt asked, leaving the town of Furya, "A 'warrior of light'? What does that mean?"

He was alone, and his foot was injured, but he felt great walking in the grass. He was finally free to see the world, do new things, and meet the everyday person who wasn't royalty or a guard. He smiled, and dropped his bag to roll in the grass. He found some brightly-colored flowers to sniff and rub his nose in. He sighed.

How stupid, he thought, Seventeen acting like a child!

He pulled himself together and picked up his bag, continuing into the plains, heading toward Flaer. He watched the sun begin to set, and stopped when his stomach continuously growled. He found a tree to rest under and opened his bag.

"Ahhh... I forgot..." Cobalt sighed, wiping his paw down his snout. "I forget food..."

He sat, hungry and unsure of what to do. He couldn't hunt, he had never been outside of the castle before. He didn't know what plants or berries were safe to eat either. As he sat thinking, a bright red apple fell onto his head. When he rubbed his head and looked up, he was surprised to see a quadrupedal black gryphon holding an apple himself.

"You'll starve sitting there like that," he smirked, dropping the second apple onto Cobalt's head, "Eat up."

"Stop that!" Cobalt yelled, massaging his head, "Who are you?"

"Haid," the griffon said, dropping more apples and landing on the ground, "You're that Furyan prince everyone is looking for, huh? Pretty high reward if I turn you in..."

"You wouldn't!" Cobalt growled standing his ground.

"What's in the bag?"

"What's it to you?!"

"Look," Haid said, walking closer to Cobalt and tapping the bag, "You'll need my help. All I want is a little down payment for being a royal bodyguard."

"Not interested," Cobalt said, taking the bag and walking away.

"Okay..." Haid said, whistling a tune. Several small black creatures came out of the shadows in front of Cobalt. "Let's see how well you fight!"

"W-What?!" Cobalt yelled, turning his head, "You little-!"

One of the creatures clawed Cobalt's exposed chest, and knocked him down. Cobalt jumped back onto his feet and pulled a heavily jeweled sword from the bag with his mouth.

"You wanna fight?!" he yelled, the hilt of the blade in his mouth, "You've got one!"

He lunged at the nearest of the monsters, turning his head to swing the sword. He hit one, and two others tried to jump onto his back. He kicked them away, wincing and dropping the sword when the pain hit his paw. He hastily picked up the sword and swung again, hitting the two before another one clawed at him again. He kept swinging his sword, many times failing to hit anything.

Once he had cleared the area of the creatures, he looked around for his bag. Both the bag and the griffon were gone. His heart dropped. He had failed to realize what the griffon wanted. Now he didn't have any money, or anyway to get some. He walked to the tree and laid down, defeated.

"Why...?" he began to sob, "What am I suppose to do now?!"

He buried his head in his front legs, hoping to hide his face. He forgot his hunger, only to be replaced by his doubt of leaving home. He was alone, scared, and the only person who he met outside of Furya was a thief! He laid there, crying for a new fear of the world. An orange and purple quadrupedal fox walked up to him, nudging him to raise his head.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I don't have anything else!" Cobalt yelled, "Go away!"

"All I did was ask what's wrong!" the fox answered, "I'm not gonna take anything!"

"Yeah right!" Cobalt said, raising his head and baring his fangs, "The griffon acted nice too, and guess what? He stole all my stuff!"

The fox smacked her paw across Cobalt's face, who remained in shock.

"Maybe now you'll listen!" the fox exclaimed, looking at the shocked Cobalt, "I'm trying to help you!"

"I should have never left the castle..." Cobalt muttered, defeated, "My father was right about others; they're nothing but trouble for me..."

The fox sat, trying to think of what to say, unaware of what was just said. Cobalt sighed and stood up, grabbing the sword and walking past her. The fox turned, watching him walk away. The in turn stood and followed him.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Home," Cobalt answered simply.

"Why don't you rest? It's dangerous at night."

"More a reason to go home."

"I'll take you to Flaer."

"What?" Cobalt stopped and turned around.

"I grew up there," the fox replied, "I can take you if you rest for the night."

Cobalt reluctantly turned and headed for the tree again, laying against it's trunk. The fox laid down a distance away and turned to him.

"I'm Taya," she said, rolling around again.

"Cobalt," Cobalt replied, trying to sleep.

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