The Scarlet Phoenix and the Prince of Winter

Chapter Sixty Eight

It felt like I was back in Kajos again. And because of that' something inside of me was constricting. My heart was beating so fast that I think I am going to pass out again. I could see how the Crown Prince was doing his best on battling his three opponents with a little struggle. Well, I can say that it was just a little struggle because he was still able to attack them with skill and finesse. I don't even know where did he get the sword that he was using right now, but I guess one of the Royal Guards gave it to him. But he was doing fine. It was just that since he had three opponents, he had to exert force three times more than normal, so I could see that I made him look a little stressed.

There were a lot more opponents than the Royal Guards Guards here, so this was an attempt at a full ambush. But the Royal Guards was putting up a good fight too, and I can even see Steffan handling two of the goons by himself too. Whatever these idiots thought when they were just hatching this plan, clearly it did not include the possibility that all of the Royal Guards and the Crown Prince himself were good fighters--- and that all of them were prepared for a battle. I also just noticed how there were also two other guys who wore the same clothes as the Crown Prince, and how they also have those bejeweled half-masks on them.

I immediately got the message of what I was seeing. The Crown prince must have saw the possibility that something like this would happen and he devised this clever plan of having two 'doubles' that would help confuse the enemies. I was so impressed with it, and I knew that it was the Crown Prince's idea. Only him would think something clever like that. He must have put one of his doubles for each snow carriage in the convoy. And since there were three, he had two doubles who could actually pass as himself. I watched them too as they fight and I can say that they indeed move like Prince Kao, forcing me to think that this idea was not a random one that they just thought of for this particular scenario.

My plan was just to stay out of trouble and just watch from the sidelines in case they needed my help, but one of the goons noticed me and went to my direction. And as if I was still not unlucky enough, none of the Royal Guards saw this man come forward to me, not even the Crown Prince. So I did what I think was the best thing that I can do for now.

I ran.

"Where do you think you are going, huh?" the man shouted to me with his voice that sounded like an adult bullfrog's croak. I looked back at him and he was smiling creepily to me and his tongue was sticking out of his mouth. He looked like a maniac and that just made my fear soar to new heights.

I did not stop running though. Although I did not know where I was going (because I just ran in a random direction) I made it sure that I would have a lot of space to run into and that I can hide somewhere. I saw that there were huge rock formations in the path that I was heading too, and as this was off the road, no one had noticed what was going on to me yet. This was bad, as I know that I have no fighting chance against this rabid man that was now enjoying chasing me.

But I was not going to back down and just surrender quietly just like what he expects. I still want to live, so I searched for a place where I could hide. I found a huge rock formation which looked like upside down cones covered by thick snow. There was some kind of opening in the middle of these cone-shaped stones where someone relatively small like me could go inside, much like the gaps between our teeth. I went there and made sure that the man following me with two swords in his hands was not able to see me go inside one of these gaps in the snow-covered rocks that were as huge as columns of buildings. It was cold and dark inside, but it was something that I was so familiar with so I had no problems with it.

So I just waited.

And then I heard his footsteps.

"Where are you, Miss Filbuster?" the man asked, and I was taken aback that he knew my last name. He also probably knows more than that, so my mind was now trying to analyze how he knew me. "Don't make me come and find you... I have an offer for you, Miss Filbuster... Show yourself now and I will not harm you."

He is talking like I am actually their target all along, which does not make sense. How did they know that I was in the convoy too? Does this mean that these people know every move of the Crown Prince? Is that why there was that man tailing and spying at us back at Plumba? Are all these people connected with each other?

I have so many questions right now, but asking this man right now would put me in big trouble so I just kept my mouth shut. He seemed to have no clue yet where I was hiding so I did my best to remain quiet. But he went on talking. "let us not make this hard for the two of us, Miss Filbuster! Rest assured that I will not kill you. That is not our goal, anyway! So why don't you just show yourself so that this will be over?"

I still did not reply. I know that he was trying to lure me out of my hiding by telling me that he is not going to hurt me. But I am not dumb. He is holding two swords right now. I am pretty sure that holding two sharp weapons is not just a trend that he's religiously following. I wanted him to check the other spots in here where I could possibly hide too, but from where I was hiding I can see him just standing there in the middle of this group of rock formations in the snow and looking around as if he's a predator looking for any sign of movement from his prey.

"I promise you that I will be lenient with you, Miss Filbuster. After all, my boss does not want me to kill you. So if I were you, I would just surrender while I am still being nice. My boss only said to bring you to him. He did not specified how should I bring you to him, so little cuts on your skin won't make him mad at me, right?"

This man was crazy. He is trying to tell me that it's better to just show up to him than get caught and suffer the consequences. He is even willing to disobey his boss and that's what's crazy to me. My heart was pounding and I wanted to call the Crown Prince's name badly right now. I don't think that I will come out of here alive, as this man seems to have no plans of going away. I can sense that he now knows that I am in the vicinity, but he could not pinpoint where exactly I was. And I think I know too why he is not checking the stones one by one. For one wrong guess and I could escape from him, so he tries to lure me out instead.

"So you are not taking my offer, right?" he suddenly said. "No? Are you sure about that? 'Cause I think I know where you are, Miss Filbuster! Don't make me come to you!" I was covering my mouth with my hands so tightly that it hurts. I was now shivering but not from the cold. This man was making me lose my control and I was slowly falling into his trap. "I guess you want to follow your Aunt, huh? You want to feel what she felt when she disobeyed us---"

That was it.

I lost it.

Upon hearing this man mentioning my Aunt, the last piece of patience and fear in me evaporated. I just suddenly felt that I was already walking out of where I was hiding towards the man who has his back on me. And then hell broke loose for me. I ran towards him as fast as I could and then I kicked him in his legs with all my might so that he would fall to the ground.

It was effective. He fell to the ground and dropped his weapons to the frozen ground. I moved as quickly as possible to get at least one of those because that was my plan but I think I underestimated this person, as I just felt his arms on my neck. He was choking me as I fell to the ground too, my back on the hard snow.

"Let me go!" I screamed at him, but he was determined at what he was doing to me. He was pressing his strong hands into my neck constricting my airway and it made me cough.

"You're going to do me like that, huh?" he hissed at me and I could see how he glared at me with his crazed eyes. "How dare you, a lowly servant, attack me like that? Have you grown courage because you are with someone powerful enough to protect you? Well, let me just tell you that our boss is not as weak as you might think he is. He knows your every move you b---!"

But the man was not able to call whatever he was about to call me as he just suddenly yelped in pain and then he just fell next to me. I screamed as blood splattered everywhere. Some drops even went to my cheeks.

"Rainha!" Someone pulled me up and then enclosed me in their arms. The smell of the person gave away who this person was. "I thought that I was already too late!"

I cried on his chest. "You were nearly late," I said in between wails. My throat and my whole neck was still painful from the pressure put by that man but I managed to cry as this was the scariest thing that has happened to me so far. "I thought that would be my time---"

"That's not going to happen," he said to me and I can almost feel his heartbeat on his chest. If this was a different scenario I think I would have thought that this was not the normal reaction of a friend, but I had no time for that kind of dillydally. I almost died at the hands of someone I don't even know and to me that was the scariest thing that could happen to anyone. "Are you alright? Do you feel anything---?"

I immediately shook my head and told him the thing that bothered me the most. "Prince Kao, that person that you just saved me from... He mentioned my Aunt. He has a boss. There is someone powerful enough pulling the strings at everything that has happened..." My voice was shaking tremendously as I shared to him what I just learned from that man. "He knows everything... He wanted to bring me to his boss... I think they really wanted to abduct me too..."

"It looks like they have known that I was coming here. That is how they were able to do this to us. They were waiting for us to arrive here, so that they could ambush us. Luckily for us, when they saw that there were three masked people that could have been me, they got confused and we were able to retaliate."

"We have to get out of here, Prince Kao. I think they already know that you are going to the Health Pub. We have to avoid going there..."

"But we have to talk with Harvey and the man that we caught back at Plumba. We have to know who is behind all of these things that are happening to us, especially to you and your family."

"What are we going to do now?" I asked nervously. I seriously think that going to the Health Pub would cause us more trouble. And the Fire Academy is not very safe as well. Everyone can enter its premises and that would be as dangerous as being here on the road.

The Crown Prince took a deep breath before answering me. "We will have to take the longer route," he replied.

"What do you mean?"

"We need the help of your friends, Rainha. We will take a detour to avoid them."