I was awakened from my unconscious state by a gentle call.
"Aila… Aila, wake up!"
I struggled to open my eyes. Through my blurred vision, I saw two anxious faces.
It was Liam and Ulf.
They had jumped into the icy "Water of Lethe" and were working together to break the shackles on my hands.
Ulf was trying to pry open the joint of the chains with the back of his battle-axe, while Liam was repeatedly slamming the pommel of the "Moon Shadow's Sting" against the rusty lock.
"I know everything, Aila," Liam said, his voice choked with tears as he looked at my injuries. "You fool, how could you come to a place like this alone…"
"Nuoya… she… she finally found you…" I said weakly.
"She did," he nodded heavily, taking my cold hand. "I'm here. Hold on. Ulf and I will get you out of here!"
"The evidence… Liam…" I said, my voice faint. "I saw them… Lisa, Nora… they've all been… turned into puppets by Morgana… I saw them…"
"Don't talk, Aila, don't talk anymore," Liam said, his heart aching as he saw my delirious state.
He turned to Ulf. "Ulf, this lock is too strong! Go check the door. See if you can find a mechanism or a key!"
Ulf immediately obeyed, wading through the water to the door.
Liam continued to slam the end of the dagger against the lock while trying to crudely bandage the fresh cut Morgana had made on my wrist.
Just then, Ulf ran back excitedly.
"Lord Liam! I found the key! In a hidden compartment in the wall outside the door!"
He quickly inserted the key into the lock. With a click, the shackles that had bound my hands were finally opened.
I collapsed weakly into Liam's arms. He quickly took off his still-warm coat and carefully draped it over my cold shoulders. He then knelt, tore a strip of cloth from his own robe, and gently bandaged my mangled calf.
"It's going to be alright, Aila," he said, pulling me closer, trying to warm me with his own body. "Everything is going to be alright. When we get out of here, I'll take you away, to a place where no one can find us."
The icy water was constantly sapping our body heat. I leaned against him, feeling his body tremble slightly from the cold and concentration, but my mind was clear.
"Liam," I said, looking at him softly, "it's no use."
"What's no use?"
"We're not getting out of here," I shook my head, a weak smile on my face. "This is a trap."
The hand bandaging my calf froze.
"From the moment you and Ulf were able to get in so easily, I knew," I took a deep breath. "The guards are gone, the water prison is wide open… Barton is luring you into a trap."
I paused, then revealed the heaviest secret that had been weighing on my heart.
"The blood pact… we can feel each other. All the torture I've endured here… Kaelen… he's felt it all. Barton knows this. He deliberately locked me in here to… lure him back."
Liam stared at me in disbelief.
"So…"
"Yes," I looked at him, my eyes filled with despair. "Tonight is the full moon. He will be back. And it will be when he is at his most out-of-control, most dangerous… Go, Liam! Leave me!"
The moment the words left my mouth—
BOOM—!
With a world-shattering crash, the rune-covered iron door of the water prison was thrown open by an unimaginable force from the outside!
Amidst the flying debris, a massive shadow, wreathed in crimson flames, appeared in the doorway.
It was Kaelen, in his giant wolf form!
His gaze passed over everything and locked directly onto Liam, who was holding me in his arms. His eyes, burning with a destructive madness, instantly turned an even deeper shade of red.
"Go!" I screamed at Liam, with the last of my strength. "Leave me! This water… there's something wrong with it! Once you touch it, you can't shift!"
Liam and Ulf's faces instantly changed. Only then did they feel an invisible force, seeping up through their legs, corroding their bodies.
But it was too late.
The giant wolf, Kaelen, let out a roar and, like a black meteorite, lunged at us without warning!
"Look out!"
Liam instinctively scooped me up and rolled to the side at the last second. The giant wolf's claws scraped past his back, leaving several deep, bone-grating gashes in the stone wall.
He quickly placed me on the relatively dry ground outside the water prison, then turned and raised the "Moon Shadow's Sting" to meet the attack. Ulf also let out a roar and joined the fight, brandishing his battle-axe.
CLANG—!
The silver dagger and the battle-axe clashed with the giant wolf's iron-hard claws, sending sparks flying.
Liam and Ulf were thrown back by the immense force, the impact splitting the skin of their hands. Unable to shift, they could only, with their human bodies and weapons, desperately fend off the giant wolf's devastating attacks.
I looked at the beast before me, consumed by madness, at the gruesome scar on his back that he had gotten for me in the Wailing Canyon, and my heart felt as if it were being torn apart. I forced myself through the pain and began to hum the lullaby that had once soothed him.
"Moonlight bright… shines on the ground…"
However, this time, the song had no effect.
The curse, enhanced by Morgana's potion, had completely annihilated the last of his reason.
He didn't hesitate for a moment. His claws slashed down again, leaving several deep, bloody gashes on Ulf's chest!
"Ulf!" Liam cried out, trying to go to his aid, but the giant wolf, Kaelen, seized the opening and swiped at his leg. Liam cried out in pain and fell to one knee.
"Brother! Wake up! It's me!" Liam tried to draw the giant wolf's attention with the "Moon Shadow's Sting," but he was met with only a more frenzied attack.
In a desperate parry, the giant wolf's claws tore through Liam's shoulder, and blood instantly stained his clothes red.
"Liam!" I cried out.
The giant wolf was instantly drawn by my voice. He stopped his attack on Liam and slowly turned his head, his burning eyes locking onto me.
Like a grim reaper, he began to walk towards me, step by step.
"No! Kaelen! Don't go near her!" Liam dragged his injured leg, trying to stop him, but the giant wolf sent him flying with a backhand swipe. He slammed into the wall and couldn't get up again.
He walked to me and slowly raised his right paw.
Just as the burning claws were about to descend, I saw it.
I saw the roaring wolf head carved into his obsidian-like nails, the two deep blue gems set as the wolf's eyes. And on the inside of the nail, I could faintly see an ancient "K" mark.
So… it really was him.
The black wolf who, by the Moon Lake, had lain docilely at my feet, licking my wounds.
At the very moment I finally confirmed his identity, at the very moment I realized I had long since fallen in love with him, he had become a beast that wanted to tear me to shreds.
Tears streamed down my face.
Just as the claws, burning with a destructive fire, were about to touch my throat, Liam, with the last of his strength, lunged from the ground and wrapped his arms around the giant wolf's raised foreleg, using his own body to stop the fatal blow!
At the same time, Ulf let out a roar and, ignoring the deep wounds on his chest, slammed his own body into the giant wolf's side, trying to draw him away!
The giant wolf was thrown off balance by the desperate charge, but it only made him angrier. He flung Liam away like a rag doll.
Just as he was about to turn back to me—
A powerful, grey wolf figure dropped from above, slamming into the giant wolf, Kaelen, and knocking him away from us!
It was Hakon! He had arrived as well!
"Lord Liam! Ulf!" Hakon's grey wolf form stood protectively in front of us, growling at the two on the ground. "Get Lady Luna out of here! I'll hold him off!"
Hakon was a mountain, stubbornly holding his ground against the giant wolf, Kaelen's, repeated, frenzied attacks.
Liam struggled to his feet and, with the equally seriously injured Ulf, they supported me and retreated towards the secret passage they had come from.
"ROAR—!"
The giant wolf, Kaelen, seeing the source of the "blood pact" about to leave, let out an even more furious roar. He tried to charge after us but was held back by Hakon.
The battle between the two giant beasts was tearing the entire water prison apart.
We stumbled out of the water prison and into the secret passage. Behind us, we could hear Hakon's roaring retreat and the giant wolf, Kaelen's, pained howls, which seemed powerful enough to bring the entire castle down.
When we finally burst out of the secret passage and into the deserted garden on the west side of the castle, we were met with another, even more hopeless sight.
The exit of the garden was completely blocked by rows of castle guards, armed with powerful crossbows.
And Barton, standing at the very front of them all, a victorious smile on his face.