Captured Princess

Deadly Ballet

After Shanaia washed the blood on her from her altercation with Samara, she made her way downstairs. She was worried that they would get into trouble because of what happened, so she decided to look for her brothers. But as she looked for them, she noticed something.

If she gained a lot of looks from the people around her before, now she gained more after what happened. Some have the looks of fear in their eyes as they look at her and some are curious. But there are some who look at her with disdain.

Their looks made her uncomfortable. It's like she is under a microscope and they are all scrutinizing her.

She halted her steps and heaved a deep breath before looking at the people.

“Can you not look at me like that? I don’t do well with people staring,” she spoke.

The people around her began whispering.

“I don’t like whispering as well especially when I can hear you loud and clear,”

“You are uncontrollable,”

One person in the crowd spoke.

“That is true, my mother said so. That’s why I am here,” Shanaia replied.

When someone scoffed, Shanaia’s eyes turned red.

“Got something to say?” she asked as she looked at the person who scoffed.

It was one of Samara’s friends.

Shanaia was about to approach that person when her brothers and their grandfather appeared from the left wing of the main house. Shanaia looked at their grandfather before looking at her brothers.

‘What happened?’ she asked them through their mind link.

‘It was epic!’ Seb replied.

‘We’ll tell you later,’ Crane told her.

Shanaia frowned at her brother’s response, but Crane and Seb were tight-lipped at what happened.

“In the light of what happened earlier…” Samael trailed and Shanaia and her brothers looked at him.

“I don’t want to have a repeat of it again. Not only did it cause a scene it also caused a few property damage,” he spoke and Shanaia lowered her head as she was partially responsible for the said scene and damage.

“You all heard and know the reason behind the altercation between my granddaughters. So, now I will tell you that if I ever hear another word that disrespects my daughter and her family, I will make sure to make you pay.” Samael said and there were murmurs.

“You know how much I despise rumors and nonsense talks about my people, especially my family. What my granddaughter, Samara did tick off me and my principles. That’s why I… we decided to punish her,” he announced.

Shanaia’s eyes widened and the crowd began to talk.

“Why punish Samara when she was clearly the one who was attacked? We all saw it,”

The one that scoffed earlier spoke, and Samael narrowed his eyes on her.

“You must be a friend of Samara.”

“Yes sir, we all are,” she said, looking at the two other girls beside her.

Samael narrowed his eyes on them before speaking.

“I suggest you begin packing your bags because you and your little group of friends and all that thought my granddaughter Samara is right, will leave this place in two days,”

When Samael announced that, there were loud gasps and Shanaia’s eyes widened and then she looked at her brothers, asking for confirmation.

They nodded.

‘It is what they decided on,’ Crane told her.

Shanaia inwardly gasped and then she looked at their grandfather who faced several complaints from the people that was being sent away.

“You think that was too much? You think the punishment decided was so extreme that you started complaining instead of thinking about what you did wrong. Ask your parents, your grandparents if that punishment is extreme.” Samael paused and huffed.

“Trust me. They will tell you to be grateful that you are still alive and to just suck it up. Speaking of parents, they are being informed about your punishment as we speak,” he continued.

There were collective complaints, curses, and snarls but Samael ignored them and sent them home. There were follow-up complaints before the crowd began to disperse. Soon, all that was left in that part of the house was Shanaia, their grandfather, and her brothers.

She looked at their grandfather.

“Grandpa, what happened? Why are you banishing those people?” she asked and then Samael looked at her.

“It is not banishment, it's more like relocation. Think of it like they are sent overseas to study for a couple of years,” he answered.

“But Grandpa, they have lived all their life here. They wouldn't survive the world outside this territory,” Shanaia pressed.

Samael sighed.

“It's no longer my problem. They are growing to be entitled, spoiled, and know-it-all brats. They needed the taste of the real world so they would understand that real life isn’t a fairy tale.” He spoke.

“But Samara and Stella…”

“They will learn with them. I won’t have my own grandchildren disrespect my daughter and family,” he told her.

Shanaia heaved a deep sigh and looked down at her hands.

“Don’t feel bad about it, Shan. She said more unpleasant words inside the office and it really escalated everything.” Crane said and Shanaia sighed, closing her eyes before asking another question.

“How about uncle Siegfried and auntie Enola?”

“They understand and they are on the same boat,” Seb answered and then he crossed his arms over his chest.

“But if it's me, I’d rip off her hair and throw her inside the iron maiden,” he added and both Shanaia and Crane looked at him as if he grew another head.

Then they were taken back when their grandfather started laughing and patting Seb’s back.

“You really are my grandson! You and I think alike!” Samael chortled.

Shanaia and Crane looked at each other and then at the laughing Seb and Samael.

*****************************.

After laughing hard with Seb, Samael took Shanaia to his library. Samael told her to sit and she did without question while he went towards one of the bookshelves.

“Uhm, grandpa… Are we going to train here?” Shanaia asked as she looked around at all the collections her grandfather had in that room.

When Samael came back, he was carrying an old and small cloth-bound book. He sat on a huge armchair and looked at his granddaughter.

“To answer your question, it’s a yes… and a no,” he said and Shanaia furrowed her eyebrows.

“I don’t understand,”

Samael smiled at her and then he gave her the book. Shanaia took the book and looked at it, letting her fingertips trace the cloth cover.

“What do you think made you use your powers in such extreme? Just like earlier,” Samael asked.

Shanaia thought about what happened earlier and she immediately frowned.

“I am mad, Grandpa. I don’t like how Samara spoke about Mom,” she said and Samael nodded.

“I know, I understand. You are angry. Was it the same emotion you felt when you killed those rogues in the no man’s land?”

Shanaia looked at him.

“I guess I was pretty pissed. They crashed the party and got us all in trouble,”

Samael once again nodded in response to what she said.

“Open the book in the middle,”

Shanaia looked at the book in her hands and opened it in the middle. She looked at the contents and she saw the writings that looked like ancient texts. And next to those texts are drawings of different fighting or dancing forms.

Shanaia furrowed her eyebrows and then she looked at her grandfather.

“What is this, Grandpa?” she asked.

“Is this some dance moves?”

Samael chuckled.

“Does it look like it?” he asked and Shanaia was hesitant to answer as she didn't want to offend her grandfather.

In the end, she slowly nodded.

“Perhaps you got the wrong book?” she asked.

Samael stopped chuckling and smiled at her before shaking his head.

“It is neither a dance nor a form of fighting technique,” he said.

Shanaia was confused.

“You see, Shanaia, our tribe, the Mountain Claw Tribe has a rich history and legend. It was said that we are descendants from the ancient tribe of Miracinonyx and that book was from that tribe,” he told her.

“This tribe… are they like the Lycans in the past?” Shanaia asked.

“Maybe, I don’t know. But maybe in some way, they are similar as both were the superior species that came before werewolves and feline shifters.”

Shanaia nodded and then she looked at the book again.

“Does that ancient tribe teach dance?” she asked.

Then Samael took the book from her and he looked at each drawing of some formation.

“This is an ancient technique that was taught to warriors in the past. It’s a fighting or martial arts technique that makes a warrior move swiftly like a cat, and deadly like a cheetah. Some called it the deadly ballet,” he said giving the book back to Shanaia.

“So, it’s like a martial art that made you move like you are dancing to ballet?” Shanaia asked and Samael nodded.

Shanaia looked at the illustrations and they looked easy and difficult at the same time.

“What’s this got to do with me?” she asked and then she looked at him.

When she noticed him looking at her intently, Shanaia narrowed her eyes at him.

“Don’t tell me you are expecting me to learn this? You want me to dance?” she asked.

“No.”

Shanaia let out a sigh of relief when she heard her grandfather’s answer.

“Phew. I thought you’d want me to learn –“

“You will learn and perfect it.”

Samael said, cutting off Shanaia’s sentence. The latter gawked in disbelief and then she let out a humorless chuckle.

“That’s funny. I thought you said I’ll do this thing. I mean that is preposterous. I can’t dance,” she said.

Samael stood up.

“You were sent here to learn that, Shanaia.” He said as he went to stand by the window.

“Why this?”

Shanaia asked and then Samael turned around to look at her.

“Because that technique requires so much patience and emotions. Two things that clash with you that’s why you tend to lose control of yourself that you end up overkilling your enemies,” Samael answered.

Shanaia stood up, feeling frustrated at the situation.

“But grandpa –“

“There are no buts in this situation Shanaia. Your mother and father are worried about you and seeing what you can do earlier made me worry as well. Now, you only have two weeks to learn and master that. And after those two weeks, you will leave this place a master in the art of the deadly ballet,”

Shanaia’s shoulders sagged after hearing what her grandfather said. She looked at the illustrations again and let out a sigh of frustration. Not only did she only have two weeks and she doesn’t dance at all, but here she is, about to learn how to dance, a dance that can kill.