The Girl in the Woods

Chapter 10

Suranne and Prince Darvyn continue seeing each other secretly for the past few days. Suranne sneaks out of the barrier almost every day with or without the knowledge of Gwyndolyn. She is always excited to meet Dave or Prince Darvyn, oblivious of the fact that he is the Prince of the Kingdom of Assimont.

Like today, they agreed to meet at their usual meeting place, the river. Suranne told Gwyndolyn this time that she is going out unaware that her winged friend is already worried thinking about her. Her continuous going out of the woods makes Gwyndolyn worried. The other day she just covers her up from Helga who is looking for her. Luckily, Helga believed her lies.

At the river, Suranne came calling the Prince's name bearing a genuine smile on her face. She didn't know where the Prince was, for he's hidden behind thick foliage of flowers and bushes beneath. A sly grin appeared on his lips when his mind came up with a silly idea. She's right in front of the pathway while he's beginning to climb on an apple tree, intending to leap from one branch to another towards her, so he could find a safe spot where he couldn't be found. He wanted to scare and tease her like they always did. They became friends and he can feel how Suranne trusted him, in exchange he cared so much about her that even the rain droplets couldn't touch a single hair on her arms. Their seven years age gap has never been a hindrance to their friendship. Suranne is quite matured when they're together and he is pretty impressed by her wit and for being adventurous.

"Oya! Come out now. I swear if you are planning on something, I will land a kick on your swollen butt!"

Her threats didn't work on him anymore, knowing she lacked the abilities to do so. He could fend off her attacks, she's too slow for him but he did not like mentioning it to her. He always teases her to make her happy and his heart would flutter like free butterflies that send varying hues of emotions into his soul. His slightly callused hands grip onto a branch whilst both of his feet rested on a larger limb, readying for a surprise attack. Though he's still arguing whether to take her by surprise at the rear or front, both ways worked anyway but he would like to do something different so she wouldn't predict what he's plotting next.

Suranne crossed her arms and her lips pouted as her feet stomped on the soft ground underneath sending a few stones tumbling onto the river.

"Hoi! I ain't making a joke here. Come out, come out! Your silly games don't work anymore."

She exclaimed while her eyes kept on roaming around, wondering why she couldn't see nor sense his irky presence— in a good way. She also cared for him more than anyone. A gush of cool wind startled her and the flesh on her skin revealed goosebumps. She remembered the rumors that Darvyn told her that there were roaming ghosts in the river even night and day.

"Okay! Suit yourself. I'm gonna find my way back now," She scoffed. Her hands rubbing her arm, easing herself, but he's already ready to jump. As she turned around to go back, a black and white figure suddenly leaped from above and landed in front of her, scaring the s**t out of her which made her scream in fright.

He was holding his belly after the act while her palm struck his shoulder and back.

"You're insane! You're lucky I didn't have a heart attack."

Prince Darvyn captured her hands and planned to stop her from attacking but the pull might be a bit stronger which made Suranne land on his chest when they both fell on the ground. Their eyes met but Suranne quickly averted her stares and got up to fix herself. Prince Darvyn smiled mischievously.

“Where are we going today? Don't tell me we will just stay here again the whole day?” Suranne asked when she regained herself from a sudden attack of the Prince.

"Hmmm...I am planning to just take a walk to the nearby village," Prince Darvyn answered, getting up shaking off the dust that sticks to his clothes.

"What?!" Suranne exclaimed.

"Yes!" Prince Darvyn replied.

"You asked me to come here, but walked to the village? If I only knew, I better stay there just now," Suranne said and started walking back to the village. Prince Darvyn walked fast to catch her pace.

"Hey? Are you mad?" The Prince blocked her way. She stops but avoids his stares. She cannot withstand the way Prince Darvyn looked at her. She feels like his gazes are consuming him which makes her weak and melting.

"I'm not!" She responds, crossing her arms on her chest and eyes still avoiding him. Prince Darvyn smiles and teases her.

Prince Darvyn leaned forward trying to catch her stares, but she closed her eyes intensely. Prince Darvyn chuckles.

"You're so cute!" He said and cupped her face with his palms and pinched her cheeks before he decided to walk ahead of her.

Suranne seems stuck on her spot, touching her cheeks that Prince Darvyn just pinched. She feels again that familiar feeling, warm and fuzzy.

"Hey!"

Prince Darvyn stops and looks back just to see Suranne is still on her spot.

"Are you not coming?"

"I am!" She replied and walked towards him.

"Stop acting like a kid."

"I'm not!" She mumbled, pouting her lips as they stride back to the village.

Unknown to them, Gwyndolyn followed Suranne after getting out of the woods. Her curiosity strikes her because of Suranne's consistency in going out of the woods.

"Hmm...how long have they been seeing each other?" She didn't know the reason why Suranne always gets out of the woods until she thinks about it today.

Gwyndolyn followed them secretly while thinking about how to approach Suranne about it. She's happy to see her friend is happy but she is worried whenever the mother fairy and the knights will find out about it. She continues to follow them in secret until they arrive at the village. She witnesses how close she is to the guy.

"Who is he? He seems familiar.” she thought but gave up when she cannot recall when she'd see the guy.

Meanwhile, Nicholaus is with two of the three knights. They're talking about the development of following that guy in an old straw hat. Since the day that they noticed him, they have kept their watch on him. Nicholaus gathered them to plan any measures to know what to do with the man. The tavern was not that full of customers that hour but Nicholaus still looked around before talking to them. He doesn't want them to be in another watch of any stranger again.

“He is about to leave!” Brice said when Nicholaus started to ask about the guy.

“What do you mean?” Nicholaus asked, wondering.

Artus cleared his throat to answer. Nicholaus then averted his gaze to him.

“We think that he is not one of the people of the Kingdom. We followed him and he was about to cross to the South when we managed to catch him,” Artus announced.

Artus then told him that the man is under the control of Ernie. They brought him and tied him up in their room inside the inn because there is no other place that they can put him in captivity. They will let the Prince investigate the guy on his reasons to keep following them. The Prince is oblivious of the danger that the man can bring. He is engrossed in spending time with the girl. The knights have nothing to do but to support their Prince since they didn't see him before the happiness which they can see in him with the girl. Nicholaus then with Artus and Brice go upstairs to the inn to see the man.