Chapter 2 The Beast of the Woods

Voloukh awoke to a loud pounding at his door. For a moment, he lay on the bed with his eyes closed, as the familiar pain that he had been enduring due to the dastardly wound he gotten from war, which he was sure had gotten infected due to his terrible self care, began throbbing again.

As he opened his eyes, he grimaced to the sound of the flutes outside. He hated that sound. It reminded him of one of the many things he could never have.

Companionship.

He reluctantly got up, wincing, as the knocks resounded again. Groaning, he opened the door and met a young boy staring up at him in fear. He grunted and rose to his full, towering height, his eyes flashing at the boy.

"What?" He barked.

The boy gulped and tried to steady himself.

"I ...am a ...messenger from the... mayor."

"Okay?"

The boy tugged at his shirt and messed his hair.

"The mayor says I should... emm... tell you that your presence is required at the Betrothal Ceremony."

Voloukh raised an eyebrow. "I do not serve this mayor of yours, but I am curious. Why does he want me there?"

"He says you are to choose a bride, sir."

Voloukh stared at the boy in disbelief for a moment.

"You mean to jest at me, boy?" He raised his right hand threateningly

"No, please I am serious. Please don't strike me!"

"Why would your mayor want to curse one of his females with a savage like me?" As those words left his mouth, he winced in pain inside. But he had long given up trying to pretend he was what he wasn't. He knew what he was.

"I do not know, sir."

Voloukh, again, stared at him incredulously. He was actually serious? He would finally have company? Someone to talk to? To sleep with? Someone who would teach him how to laugh again?

Those thoughts were quickly overshadowed with darker, crueler ones. Even if a female was given to him, he was more than certain that she too, would despise and fear him, that she would probably cry when he touched her, and wish for death to descend upon her.

He couldn't let a woman go through that.

But maybe, just maybe, he could treat the woman with enough kindness that she would see right through his monstrous features, maybe he could care for a woman.

Maybe he could love a woman.

And he would never know unless he tried.

He sighed. He would try to, and if his fears that he was too monstrous a human for companionship materialized, he would let her go. But he had to, he had to just try to free himself of the lonely, cold nights he had had ever since he was little.

"You. Boy."

The boy looked up. Voloukh could see that he had leaked his pants.

"Tell your mayor I accept his gracious offer. I do not understand the madness behind it, but it doesn't matter, I'll come."