The Alpha's Blind Fate
Chapter 279: The Steed Of The North

Chapter 279: The Steed Of The North

ZINA

Who am I to you?

Zina believed that was the most correct question as far as she was concerned. Perhaps the man was something to her that she might not understand yet, but for then, it seemed to her that the most important thing she had to understand was who she could possibly be to him.

What could she represent to him to have warranted such careful calculatedness that he had shown so far. Even carnal love didn’t seem to quite measure up to the devotion that he had shown so far. From detonguing a man who had allegedly spoken ill of Zina, to robbing Garuk, needless to say his devotion was indeed as obvious as a Royal Decree poster hung high up on the stone architecture of the Capital Square.

The man seemed to hesitate answering the question. Comical enough, despite the fact that he was a stranger, Zina was convinced he had not told her any lie, and he seemed quite hesitant to lie to her.

Sure, he must be withholding important information from her, but he was yet to outrightly lie to her.

"You’re someone who is even more important than my life," he finally answered, a hint of regret in his voice.

Zina rolled her eyes, exhaling a huge amount of air that whooshed out with her frustration. "Can you spare me such glib words and just move straight to the point?" She intoned in a voice that relayed her annoyance.

"What does it even matter?" he retorted, his frustration mirroring hers. The resemblance in that particular temperament was quite uncanny to say but the least but it only served to stoke the flames of her frustration.

The man stiffened, his ears perking up to some sounds that Zina was yet to hear. "We will meet soon, Zina. And I hope when the time comes, you shall prioritise yourself and leave with me."

It was then that Zina heard footsteps approaching them accompanied by chattering.

"Theta!" The distant voice of Ablanch called to her.

As nimble as a monkey, the masked man was already leaving. And since as far Zina was concerned he had spewed nonsense so far, she decided to warn him and make sure he understood that she was far from being in danger as he assumed to be.

"I shall say this for the last time, I am in a good place without any troubles. I don’t even understand why I am explaining myself to you, but while we are on the topic, I swear to the gods high and below that the day you touch Daemon NorthSteed shall be the last day you breathe. I shall flay you alive before I even get to know of this identity you keep so secret." Zina growled, trying to sound as tenacious as her voice sounded in her head.

But to her surprise, she heard the unmistakable sound of the man chuckling as he slithered away. Zina stood mouth agape as she watched his back disappear.

Of course he thought she was a joke. She hadn’t flayed a rabbit alive or dead before, talkless of a werewolf, but she didn’t mind starting on that ground first.

Ablanch stepped into the clearing of rocks she was in, panting slightly. "There you are, Theta. You suddenly disappeared and we were worried."

Zina’s eyes lingered on the space through which the masked man had disappeared. "I was following the stranger who fought for us," she said without thinking twice about it. No matter that it seemed the man’s intentions were genuine, she would report what happened to Daemon.

Every single one of it... she would not be skipping a single detail.

"Oh, who could he be?" Ablanch mused, scratching his hair.

"Hmm... who knows." Zina simply said before she gathered up her gown for the tips were already wet and heavy, and then proceeded to walk out of the forest of rocks with Ablanch.

"Do you know why this place is called the forest of rocks, Theta?" Ablanch said after sometime, his eyes shining with childlike excitement.

His face was bruised, his body bloodied, and yet it would seem as though the young man had temporarily forgotten about their earlier troubles.

Zina shook her head. "I am not the best fan of history, Ablanch."

The young man chuckled awkwardly while scratching at his hair. A nervous trait, Zina observed. "Ah... forgive me Theta."

"You seem to know much about it, perhaps you should enlighten me." Zina said, playing the part of an interested party.

"Well, I shall share my knowledge since you asked for it, Theta. In the days of old when the fight against the ancient Deformed shifted from the Western Lands to our Northern lands, the original NorthSteed pack lived here."

"Hmm... they did?" Zina asked, her interest aroused.

"So did history say," Ablanch answered with a chuckle, "but I believe it is true for that became the origin of the NorthSteed name."

"How so?"

"Deep inside here is a rocky terrain. Rocks are known as foundation, a solid steed. Also at this place did the fiercest fight against the Deformed happen, hence why this land was chanted as the Steed of the North...North Steed."

"Ahh..." Zina exclaimed, really enlightened. Despite being the Theta, she had never been interested in the history of the pack itself. Which was a shame seeing as she was about to become a proper NorthSteed.

"But why are there so many rocks in this place?" Zina asked as they navigated the rocky terrain. Where they were at was hardly as rocky as deep inside the impasse where people could hardly navigate without toppling over at every step.

"I was just getting there, Theta. The fight against the deformed during the Great Purge became a turbulent one here in the North. That was when the man who later became the first NorthSteed King got an idea which was to destroy some mountains from the Forest of Ice Mountains. The plan was that they would shatter into rocks, roll down here and squash the enemies easily."

Zina giggled at the ridiculous story while staring up at the peak of the forest of ice mountains that was viable from where they were. Ablanch didn’t seem to share in her joke, if anything, the young man seemed disheartened.

Zina pursed her lips, chiding herself in her head.

"Were you being serious?" She asked carefully.

"Of course, Theta. I come from a family of historians, I wouldn’t dare joke with the annals of history."

Zina swallowed, feeling bad. "So how were they able to bring down such deeply rooted mountains?" She asked in a bid to redeem herself even though the notion sounded deeply ridiculous to her.

The rocks in question were of a large number that could only have been broken off from a large expanse of mountains. And it was way too unbelievable to think that the rocks were not naturally formed but instead were severed from such deeply rooted mountains. It was afterall a popular fact that the Forest Of Ice Mountains bore mountain structures rooted in aged, frozen ice that could never melt even with the harshest sun.

Ablanch didn’t seem to think it ridiculous for he beamed. Then in a conspiratorial whisper, he said. "The rocks were broken off from the mountains in the forest of ice mountains by the Screams of the then revered Screamers Pack!"