The Scarlet Phoenix and the Prince of Winter

Chapter Twenty Five

We were surrounded. I knew that we were in danger so I wanted the Crown Prince to put me down because carrying me on his back right now was obviously not good for us. This would just impede us if we try to escape, or even fight. So I whispered to his ears to put me down, but he was not listening to me.

"Who are you?" he called the men in black hoods loudly. It was a good thing that his face is always covered. "Why are you blocking us?"

"Give us what you took there and we will spare your lives!" said one of them who was at the center. He's probably the leader of this group because his voice screamed a kind of authority.

"Who are you?" Prince Kao shouted again at them. I could feel that he was also getting really pissed by the sudden appearance of this suspicious group of men. We could also not see their faces so this made the two of us confused. "Are you the guys who were waiting outside that house for a couple of days now? What are you after?"

"We don't have to answer you!" said the group's leader whose voice was deep and as cold as ice. He gives me the creeps and I don't like it. "Just give us what you took from that house and no one will get hurt."

It was a fair warning because we were outnumbered, but the Crown Prince doesn't have any plans of obeying their orders. If anything, he seems to be roaring to exchange punches with these thugs. "What if I don't give it to you, guys? Are you going to kill us?"

"Yes. We will have no choice but kill you if you try to fight us."

"Then so be it," Prince Kao answered and I have to admire his bravery by that. "Come on, kill me if you can."

"Don't agitate them!" I said at his ear (which smelled good by the way,) and I tried again to climb down from his body but he would not just let me. "They are serious in their intent of killing us!"

"I know," he whispered back to me. "But please, trust me in this, Rainha."

"O-Okay. But let me down."

"I will not do that."

"But why?"

"They might try to catch you. And since they are so many, they might succeed in doing that so I will not be going to let them take you easily."

I perfectly knew that this was not the time to fall in love all over again with him, but I just did because of what he said. He was thinking about my safety just like a boyfriend would do in situations like this and that just melted my heart. I could not help but swoon and I hate myself for that.

"This is our last warning to the both of you. Just give us what you took from there so there will be no blood spilled tonight."

I suddenly had the inspiration to shot back at this guy. "How can we be sure that you are going to let us live if we give you what we took?" I suddenly said and that made them look at me in surprise. Maybe they were not expecting that I would talk to them like this because I am a girl, and that's where they went wrong.

But even the Crown Prince was surprised with what just I did. He gripped my legs a little tighter after I said that and that made me just a little bit braver. Not only he was carrying me on his back but he was also trying to think of a way out of this situation by stalling them with questions, so I have to do my part too.

"You can't answer, right? So you are lying. I don't think that you really mean it when you said that you're not going to hurt us if we gave you what you wanted..."

"Shut up! You are in no position to talk to us right now. You are the ones being cornered here, you know!"

"I know that, but you might want to think about that a thousand times before actually doing that," I told them with a newfound courage that I have never thought that I have before. I then showed them my hand in which I was holding the golden bracelet. They saw it and one of them gasped, giving me the idea that they were really after this rare item. "Try advancing and I'll throw this thing at the cliff!" I said again and they did not answer immediately and I think I know why.

They did not know me personally so I guess they assume that I might really throw the bracelet to the cliff that was just behind us (we were on a plateau so it was possible to that.) And I intend to use this stance until Prince Kao could think of a better way for us to get out of this tight spot.

"I would not do that if I were you," the leader replied. "If you do that, we will kill the two of you."

"The try me!" I said to intimidate them, but that doesn't seem to work on them. I was on the verge of throwing it to the edge of the cliff that was just a couple of steps to our left when one f them stopped me.

"Alright, alright, Missy! Calm down first! We promise to not hurt you if you give us that!"

"Answer my question first, before I decide of what to do with this thing!"

"Then ask!"

"This thing that I have here..." I started, "this thing that you wanted from us. This was something very easy to find. Why were you not able to retrieve this on your own? That surprised me! You were here before us, right? I also think that you have searched the house before us. And you seriously did not found where it was?"

"Of course we knew where it was exactly!" their leader replied. "But we could not get it out! There was some weird security thing on that tapestry and we could not get past through it."

"What? What are you trying to say?"

"Oh, that tapestry might have been embedded with scent-activated traps! Those things used to be the anti-burglar techniques of every household!" said Prince Kao but I could not get what he was trying to say.

"What's that?"

"They are traps that can kill anyone who tries to activate it if they sense a new scent coming from someone. That's probably why they could not get it out from the tapestry."

"Really? But we managed to get it from there without getting caught in the trap! How that is supposed to work?"

"The traps recognized your scent, so they were not activated. As long as there is someone with a scent that they could identify, the traps will not be activated."

"Oh is that it? How interesting." I was legitimately amazed at what I just learned from the Crown Prince. Who would have thought that such a trap was there at our house? It was fantastic just thinking about it.

"Of course, I was not able to notice it back there at your house because it did not get activated," the Crown Prince added. "But that would make sense the most. That's the only reason that I could think of. It would have been difficult for them to even go near that tapestry without something came shooting at them."

"Oh. I see. So that how it works," I said, totally amused and impressed by the security of the bracelet that I thought was just left there carelessly. It made me believe that my parents have kept it there for one of their children to find and it just so happens that it was me who came back to that ancestral house first.

Maybe this bracelet is more valuable than I already expect it to be. Just thinking about the fact that some unknown men are after it tells me that it has some importance that I still have to know yet. And I will find the answer to that. I am not letting this slide away from me. I will protect it with all that I have until I discover what it is for.