Aspen could still feel the fury pass through him from how the king had forced him to find this unknown reptilian who could have wondered to practically anywhere, a task that required Aspen to use skills he had never been taught, which he was completely sure that the king had done purposely, just to make things even more difficult.
He knew the king always put a fake persona up for practically everyone, though as one got to know him like Aspen had came to realize that it was all fake.
These were the thoughts that weighed him down during the day, making his training sessions with Sabrina unproductive from how sloppy he was.
Aspen missed again, thrusting the dulled point of the training sword he now now used forward clearly long overdue from when he should have, the blade cutting through nothing but the air, leaving ample room for Sabrina to jab her sword into Aspens side, sending a forceful jolt of pain through his body.
"Fuck!" He growled as he dropped his sword onto the grass of the expansive courtyard, the same one he had found the Alligator in, the Wolf clutching his side as Sabrina looked at him with a displeased look on her face.
"Aspen, what the hell has gotten into you today? If you are to be leading the army then you really should have honed your swordsmen-ship by now instead of still being so amateur."
Aspen tried to shrug it off, though the frustrations from his king still loomed in his thoughts, the wolf in his mind still contemplating how the hell to would be able to find that damn Alligator that had been wandering through the castle grounds.
"It's nothing, it's just that damn assignment the king gave me has really been distracting I suppose." Aspen mumbled.
"Oh yes, I remember hearing all about this from another guard earlier today, quite foolish of you actually." The female wolf mused, a vague smirk on her face.
"Oh, so the entire fucking castle knows about this now?!" Aspen snapped back, body clenching.
"Well of course it has darling, you don't think word of someone who is supposably as high-ranking as you are knowingly failing to stop an enemy, and on top of that failure knowingly lie to the king about it wouldn't be such an interesting subject to those in the castle?" She said, almost looking like she was on the verge of laughing though Aspen knew she was hardly the type of woman to even smile much at all.
"I didn't have much of a choice." Aspen growled defensively. "You know how disappointed he always gets when I fail, especially now more than ever."
"Well lying to the king was an even more foolish decision if I've ever seen one Aspen! You're supposed to act like a commander, someone that is in control, but instead you are acting like a perfidious child!" Sabrina snapped back with equal annoyance.
Aspen didn't know how to respond for he knew she was right, that he had been so damn stupid for all of this, that now he had gotten himself into this mess.
"I think we're done with training today." The Arctic wolf growled, not seeing how he could handle much more of this before lashing out.
"Aspen, you can't really be serious...."
"I said, we're done!" He barked, his voice booming through the empty courtyard.
Sabrina felt quire angered by Aspen, though she still worried. He had so much responsibility now even though he was still pretty young to be leading an entire army, and she feared that Aspen was still not ready, despite her having training him since he was a child, the Arctic wolf still didn't seem like someone that could even possibly have so much leadership, it felt like Aspen would be almost granteed to fail, and that's what frightened her most of all.
~
Aspen slammed the door to his room as he entered, the door shutting to forcefully that he could feel the painting hung up on his wall shake.
He felt so tired, of practically everything. It seemed like everything had been according to plan before his father had died. He had his life in order and would be ready to be the commander of the army when he was much older, ideally in his thirties. But now he would be stuck assuming his role much sooner than he wanted, and having that damn assignment and the gossip spreading about him to fuck it all up.
The Arctic wolf would have indulged his mind if he hadn't felt a sharp pain spike through him, so sudden and unexpected that he felt his body seize, the wolf grabbing onto the table on the side of the room for support, almost toppling over completely.
The pain was a quite sharp one, one that started in his core and bolted like electricity throughout the rest of his body, everything happening at a concerning speed.
The wolf tried to pull himself up, get back on his feet. In that moment he found he couldn't. It felt so overwhelming that he was forced to powerlessly lay on the his carpeted floor, his body twisting in pain, eyes shut and jaw tight as he waited for the pain to recede.
What the fuck is happening to me?! Aspen wondered in his mind. He had never had any health problems, had always been a healthy pup as a child. It made no sense why this could have been happening, especially with...
That's when it struck him like a slap to the face, the strike of pain that he had been forced to experience suddenly coming to a terribly clear certainty, one that he never thought he would have to face, something he only had witnessed, and not very long ago.
He realized that this pain that he felt in his gut was almost identical to what his own father had described to him when he himself was sick, when his father contracted that unknown sickness, something that the healers had determined wasn't contagious though they told Aspen they weren't sure what was causing his father to whither away like he had.
The wolf felt frozen though the pain had began to fade away, granting him to ability to use his body once again, though the wolf wasn't sure he could get himself to stand up, not with the shock pouring through him.
He would have never guessed it would happen to him though it made perfect sense in his mind.
If his father had gotten a sickness, then that would automatically put him at risk because he was his father's son, related to him.
Aspen felt tears well in his eyes, threatening to spill, but the wolf shut them, internally fighting himself not to cry like a child.
He didn't want to fade a at just as his father had, the bursts of pain split apart by a substantial amount of time at first, but slowly becoming more and more frequent, bringing his father slowly to lose all mobility, eventually being confined to his bed, unable to get back up.
And Aspen did not want that for himself, though he could see no way that he could save himself from this, especially with the specialized medical force at the castle, so advanced and yet not able to save Aspens father from his eventual demise.
Aspen finally forced himself to his feet, clutching his midsection to prevent more of that sharp pain from slicing through his body, knowing that it would go away, hopefully for a substantial amount of time as to not cause any more complications than it already had.
This, he knew, was the worst time for the sickness to decide to spring upon him, with all that was now expected from him, all the damn pressure that he now felt to be more mature, to take authority.
He wanted to prove he was capable, that he was a wolf that would have the maturity to be able to become a leader, someone to be trusted.
But with this newfound discovery, of something he felt foolish for never anticipating sooner, he felt a fear buried deep within that it would come to fuck him over quite soon.