The Dragon Prince's Beloved

6.

Hours and hours passed underneath the burning stare of the sun. We’d been riding through the trees for nearly four hours, judging by the shadows which were gradually shifting to the east. Thistles and branches nipped at my feet as we wound through a dense path, where the forest seemed to quiver with a hidden menace.

Occasionally, I glanced back to see how far we’d come. The carriage and the guards behind blocked my view, as did Maria who would hiss harshly in my ear to sit still. But I couldn’t. I had a sneaking suspicion that we were being watched. And the thought made the tiny wisps of hair on my neck stand up.

Perhaps, I was just overreacting. Surely, the forest wasn’t all that bad. But when the chirp of a distant bird or the creaking of an unseen branch pierced through the air, my skin crawled and urged the horse just a little faster.

"We'll stop here,” the Prince called from a little way ahead, just when the sun was highest in the sky. We’d stopped in a small clearing where the trees were not so clustered and the ground was covered with dead brown leaves. The procession halted immediately, and I moaned in relief. My legs were stiff from sitting all morning, and my arms were numb from gripping the reins tightly.

"We’ll set out once again in an hour," the Prince said.

To the east, I could spy a little village over the hillside, where the roofs of several tiny buildings stood out like ants scrambling across the side of the hill. To the west was a river flowing downstream, and I had a sneaking suspicion that it was the same river which flowed across my village. I’d never been particularly good at identifying rivers or forests, or villages by the hillside. Those valuable skills were attained by one who travelled often. Alan used to do so frequently, and so he would tell me tales of the villages and towns he and father used to go to while trading.

Maria stepped down from the horse with the help of one of the guards, and I saw her blush a little as he held her from her waist and helped her down. My suspicion flared immediately at the sight, but I quickly dispelled it from my thoughts. It wasn’t something I’d want her to see should she decide to rummage through my mind again.

He lifted his hand to help me down, but I shoved it away. I was determined to do it on my own, not wanting to appear dainty and weak in front of anyone. If he was supposed to be helping anyone, it should have been lord Corbin, who was trying and failing to swing his leg over the saddle in a semi-graceful manner.

Being the stubborn person I was, I tried to get down from the horse all by myself, but as luck wasn't on my side that afternoon, I lost my footing and landed flat on my butt, twisting my right foot in the process.

"Ouch!" I yelped loudly, scrunching up at the pain. Who was I kidding? I was very hurt and I knew that I'll have a bruise there when I check it later.

"Are you okay?" Maria rushed towards me, as she tried to help me stand up, but I couldn't as a sharp pain pierced through my ankle.

"Oh, my stars!" I yelped again, quickly falling back to the ground and hurting my butt some more.

"I think you've sprained your ankle," Maria said softly as she examined my right leg. So much for travelling, I mused to myself.

"Is anything wrong?" My skin prickled at the sound of his voice, and it annoyed me so much that from the day and a half that I got to know him, his voice alone could have this effect on me. He stood right before me and knelt down while Maria moved a little to give him some space. He took the foot Maria was inspecting and stared at it for a while, carefully moving it from left to right while I bit my lips until I felt the tinge of blood on my tongue.

"Oh, my ever-loving stars!" I groaned in pain, jerking my foot quickly from his grasp. "You’re not helping."

He pretended not to hear me as one wicked finger pressed down on my gradually swelling ankle. I cried in pain, jerking my foot away from him.

"How can you be so heartless?!" I screeched loudly.

His face betrayed no emotion as he deadpanned at me. "I got the right spot, didn’t I?" He made his way to grab my foot again, but I quickly jerked it back, accidentally giving my flimsy gown the privilege of yanking up and showing my thighs.

"How slutty!" I heard Lady Dimera's cold voice snapped angrily. "How can a woman be this slutty? I wonder what your aim was at showing off your thighs to the prince." She was standing just a few feet away from us, but I could feel my skin crawl from the level of her hatred. Her glare was cold, and her fists were balled into a tight fist.

I shifted away from the Prince and inched back some more, pinning my head to the floor without looking up. I was embarrassed, and my cheeks were burning with anger and resentment.

"I suppose it was a natural mistake, and it could be made by anyone in her situation. Do not drag the issue any more, Dimera," the prince said, putting a final end to her words or anybody's words.

He moved forward again and grabbed my foot. As embarrassed as I was, I didn’t protest this time around. After a few minutes of careful examination, he pressed down on the area that hurt the most and I bit on my lips to stifle my scream. "Take her to the tent and have her wounds tended to," he commanded the soldier standing right above me. "Lord Corbin and I are going to search the perimeter."

"You don't mean for her to be taken to the tent meant for us, Your grace!" Lady Dimera shrieked angrily, yanking at her gown which she had held in her hands tightly. "That's very rude of you, if I may say."

One look was all it took. He didn’t need to speak. Those painfully familiar silver orbs turned to cast a simple glare on her beautiful face, and the scornful lady Dimera was silenced at once. I didn’t know how I knew it, but I sensed that she’d overstepped a boundary by her words.

"Forgive me, Your grace," she said, cowering under his gaze.

He dismissed her with a lazy wave of his hand. Lady Dimera stalked away silently, no doubt scorned by her humiliation.

He turned to look at me once more before he walked off, the soldiers and Lord Corbin trailing behind him. I sighed as I felt myself being picked up, Maria walking behind me with a worried glint in her eyes.

The soldier dropped me softly once we stepped into the tent, muttering something incomprehensible before hurrying out. My eyes wandered around the room. There was nothing of importance there; just an old chair and a table which I hadn’t seen earlier when we left the castle. The soft, fluffy cushion I was sitting on felt heavenly, a welcome reprieve after the painful encounter I’d had with the ground.

The physician arrived moments later, a portly old man with a black patch on his head and tufts of hair on the side. He lugged a large crate into the tent, cursing and swearing as he went along.

Maria turned to look at me with a grin that quickly disappeared when lady Dimera burst into the tent after him. She was trailed by a young girl who couldn’t have been more than sixteen. An educated guess told me she was her personal maid.

Lady Dimera said nothing as she stopped right at the entrance of the tent. Her eyes were cold, and when she turned to look at me, I frowned and turned away. I swear the pain in my ankle doubled when I felt her eyes on me.

"As a royal physician, I suppose it is very degrading to have you check up on a maid, don't you think so, Colbat?"

"A maid? I wasn't told I was to check up on a servant." The physician bristled, furrowing his brows in confusion. "I had assumed I was to check up on you, my Lady."

"Oh, I see. I guess the lowly servant isn't worthy of your service then," A sardonic grin spread across her face after she spoke, carefully turning to face me with a look that said 'This is how power works, you lowly piece of shit.'

"But I can't do that even if I want to. His Grace will have my head if I dare di..."

"I'll take care of that," she said maliciously. "Do not worry about the consequences."

"If you insist, my Lady.” He bowed before hurrying out of the tent.

I didn't say a word, because the pain in my foot was nothing compared to the boiling sensation in my chest. I bit my trembling lip as I stared determinedly at everything else but the evil old hag beside me.

She turned to leave without another word, the maid trailing beside her obediently.

"Oh, how I dream about pushing her off a cliff one day," Maria said as soon as she stepped out of the tent. Despite the tears burning at the corners of my eyes, I turned to her with a grin.

"Was that out loud?" she asked quickly, covering her mouth.

"Very," I replied, bursting into a very unladylike laugh. Maria collapsed into the chair meant for the physician, covering her face.

"It’s not my fault," she said, shaking her head. "The old hag makes it so easy to hate her."

"I suppose no one hugged her when she was little," I said. "Maybe that’s why she’s so spiteful and full of hate."

"I think you’re right," she said, smiling for the first time since I’d known her. "Come. Let me have a look at that ankle of yours."

A few short minutes and several muffled screams later, I was able to gingerly step on my foot once again. A part of me suspected that Maria had used some hidden abilities of hers to heal my injury, but I wasn’t about to ask. We stepped out of the tent to find several tents raised all around the clearing, with the men hurrying to gather some wood to make a fire. Others were unloading barrels from the carriage, and a few were patrolling around the small campsite.

"What happened to the rest of the men?" I mused out loud.

"His grace took a handful of them to hunt down the wild beast,' a soldier passing beside us said, his load of firewood balanced expertly on his arms.

"We should get some rest," Maria said, pointing to a tent just off the way. "I believe that’s our tent."

Ours was smaller than the last, but neither of us complained. We laid on the mats Maria spread out, and very soon my eyes began to droop.

"Don’t you dare fall asleep," she said. "We should be heading out soon."

I groaned inwardly, shuffling to the side.

"We can’t leave until the men find the wild animal they’re chasing after and kill it. That should take a few more hours."

"You clearly don’t know the Prince," she said almost admirably.

That’s when we heard the scream.

I froze at the sound, a chill piercing through me at the sound. It was a scream I’d heard before, and I knew immediately where I’d heard it before.

It was the scream of a dying man.

I was out of the tent faster than my injured feet could carry me. Maria hurried behind me, her confused expression mirroring mine. All around the campsite, men were rushing to their spears while others were trying to keep the horses from breaking out of their makeshift paddock. Pandemonium was everywhere I turned, and in the heat of the moment, I forgot about my injured foot completely.

"We should go back inside," Maria said quickly. "It’s not safe here."

"What’s going on?" I asked. "Bandits?"

Father had once told me of cloaked men who hid in the shadows and leapt at weary travellers when the fancy took them. He’d never come face to face with them before however, so I never believed in their existence.

"I don’t think it’s bandits," Maria replied quickly. "But we should go back into the tent regardless."

And then we saw the beast.

The first thing I noticed was its tusks. Somehow, as it burst into our campsite, they resembled two curved daggers protruding from its closed mouth. The snout quivered as it shrieked, and only then did I notice the vicious red eyes and the ugly black coat.

It charged at the men, falling three over before they even saw it. By the time the others saw it, the boar had charged at a fourth.

"Run!" Maria screamed in my ear, pulling me back. "Head for the trees."

We ran for our lives, darting past our tent and into the thicket behind. The men charged past us, spears raised and sword unsheathed. I didn’t turn back to look as I heard another man scream in agony.

Maria led us deep into the trees until the noise of the campsite was far behind. Only then did we stop to catch our breaths. I collapsed immediately, my feet throbbing painfully more than they ever had.

"We should be safe now," Maria said, immediately glancing at my injured foot. Through the pain and fatigue, I felt a stab of affection towards her for that single, fleeting glance.

"Did you see it?" she asked.

I nodded simply, unable to steady my breathing.

"I’ve never seen one up close," she said. "At least not while they were still alive."

She sat up against the tree behind her, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

I couldn’t remember ever being as terrified as I was. Except for when my village was attacked, there’s never been another moment when my heart raced the way it had today.

I laughed.

Maria looked at me quizzically, as though I’d lost my senses. But then she began to laugh as well, and pretty soon we were both clutching our sides and doubling over in laughter.

But then I heard a twig snap, and the laughter died down in my throat. Maria continues to laugh, however, oblivious to the sound.

"Shh! Be quiet!" I hissed at her, my ears pricking to catch the sound once again. Another twig snapped, and this time Maria fell silent instantly, having heard the sound as well.

"Who’s there?" I called, my eyes glancing around for a weapon, just in case.

The only reply I got was the sound of another twig snapping. A low grunt followed, and then the sound of leaves being crunched underneath someone’s footsteps.

Maria rose to her feet at once, while I struggled to rise as well. My feet refused to hold, and I fell back onto the ground.

The shriek this time was louder than before, somehow intensified by the vastness of the forest. I heard the beast before I saw it, and by the time I did, it was too late.

Maria had taken off already, and it took her a few seconds before she realized that I wasn’t following her. I was still on the ground, unable to move or breath or think. All I could think about were the red eyes watching me, while it pawed at the ground aggressively. I didn’t move an inch, and I honestly don’t think I could have even if I’d wanted to. Time seemed to slow down, and for a moment there was only the beast and me, staring down each other.

When it charged at me, I thought about moving. I really did. But somehow, I couldn’t move at all. I heard Maria scream behind me, but there was nothing I could do as the boar lowered its head so its tusks were pointed directly at me.

Right before it cut through me, a guttural cry came from beside me and someone or something knocked into the beast, throwing it aside with so much force that it rolled twice before hitting the next tree.

The Prince stood above me, sword drawn and held up against the beast. I heard myself gasp, but he didn’t turn around or give any indication that he’d seen or heard me. He watched as the beast rose to its feet once more, snorting and growling at us both.

It charged once again, head lowered like before. I didn’t scream this time as the Prince swung his sword around. Steel clashed against bone, and the boar dived to the side while one of its tusks fell at the Prince’s feet. He didn’t stop to think. In the blink of an eye, he’d brought his sword around one more, driving it into the neck of the beast. It’s cry echoed across the forest, and it tottered off a few feet away before collapsing to the ground with a thud.

I looked up, bewildered, as the Prince turned to face me. There was a nasty gash across his right arm, and silver blood was oozing from it slowly.

Silver?

His eyes met mine for a fleeting moment, relief flashing in them before he toppled to the ground.