The Last Witch Princess

Chapter 4

    My head was throbbing. My mouth was as dry as that time I was six and I wanted to try and bake my own bread. My body ached against the hard ground, not a hint of soft straw or even grass under me. I kept my eyes squeezed tightly together as I listened to the sounds around me. I tried to pay attention to what I could feel and what I could hear without alerting whoever was surely watching me that I was awake. I was tied up, laying on my side against the hard ground. I rolled ever so slowly to touch my fingers to the ground, feeling the cold dirt underneath it. That, mixed with the fact that it was pitch black, no hint of light trying to peek through my closed eyelids, made me think we were in a cave. Plus I was surrounded by the earthy smell of dirt. I could hear the sound of birds to the left of me, making me think If I was in a cave I was at the entrance, somewhere deep in a forest. I could hear the soft bubble of a slow stream nearby as well. 

    I judged it would be okay to crack open my eyes, but all I could see was pitch black. Slowly my eyes adjusted and I saw a body next to me, blocking my vision. Ana, it was Ana. “Are they ever going to wake up?” a voice called out next to me. It took everything in me not to flinch, the deep angry female voice next to my ear. I squeezed my eyes shut again and tried to even my breathing, even when I felt a disgustingly dirty and calloused hand touch my cheek. 

    “Greg said they should have by now. You must have hit them harder than you thought, Betty.” The angry voice said. I recognized it slightly, it sounded like the man I kicked. It wasn’t full of gargling blood anymore, so he must have fixed his broken nose. “Not that I would care if they were dead, little vixen broke my nose and made my tooth fall out.” He spat angrily. 

    I nearly giggled at his misery, wishing I could sit up and tell him it serves him right for grabbing a princess by her ankles, but the Betty woman spoke before I could consider following through on that. “Yes, you say that now to me, but if Ren or Jem heard you, you’d be in for it.” She said with a tsk. I felt a wet towel press against my face, scrubbing at it much more gently than I would have given her credit for, being as that she was a savage after all. Or a rogue, as Ana called them. “This hair is ridiculous.” The woman muttered. I frowned, annoyed at her. I didn’t like my hair either, especially now that I was hit in the back of the head, but it was still rude of her to comment on it. The tight braids and the intricate beads and lace weaved in were pinching my skin, causing the headache from the throbbing bump on my head to hurt ten times worse than usual. 

    I heard Ana groan and felt her body shifting in the dirt, and decided it was time for me to open my eyes and sit up as well. I tried my best to do it in the most dignified way I could, but the fact that my hands were tied behind my back didn’t help. Ana ended up sitting up more fluidly than I did, mostly because of her werewolf reflexes. I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d be more graceful once I had my first shift, depending on what animal I shifted into. “Good Morning sleeping beauty, about time you graced us with your presence,” Betty said sarcastically. 

    I looked over at her, fully intent to yell at her and suggest if they hadn’t knocked us out I would have been awake the whole time, but all I could do was gasp. The man I hit had been busy to the side of us making a fire, and it seemed the moment I sat up he finally had it going strong. The light from the fire was not as great as the sunlight, but it was enough to let me see the people in front of me better.  Betty was the woman who was fighting with them. I recognized her icy blue eyes. I could see she had bathed, probably in the nearby stream, and all the dirt and leaves were gone from her body. The other man as well, both of them had bathed since the attack on the wagons. What surprised me was their skin, and the dark angry lines racing all over them. Tattoos, made by ink, if I remembered correctly. To think the rumors that the savages put ink in their skin and called it art was true, it was just as sickening as it was fascinating. 

    Betty had angry swirls and lines, while the other guy had his face covered in ink in the form of a dog on his face. I couldn’t stop staring at her with wide eyes, to the point that I hadn’t even noticed my hands were cut free until I felt the rope slide down my wrists and my arms fell awkwardly to the sides. I groaned, feeling the tingles spread throughout my arms as the blood tried to flow all at once into them. “Dog, get them some water, and get me some scissors.” She said. The man with the dog tattoo grunted at her, but left out the dark cave opening, making me look around and notice I was right about it being a cave. 

    Instantly I brought my hands to my hair, glaring at her. “You’re not cutting my hair,” I said to her. She rolled her eyes and crossed her legs with a groan, stretching her arms.

    “No, I wasn’t planning on it princess. I was planning on cutting the cloth and bands out of them so you can take a bath in the stream. Both of you smell and you’re covered in dry blood and dirt. But if you annoy me, I will cut your hair.” She said. I glared at her and she laughed. “You’re magic doesn’t scare me, Princess Aislyn, so don’t bother trying.” She said, barking out a laugh. 

    Dog came back and handed her the things she asked for, snickering something over us women and our beauty care before Betty growled at him and he left. I turned around dutifully and faced Ana, who was looking at Betty with apprehension. I decided to try and talk to the woman, to get information from her. “You’re savages,” I said to her sternly. She flinched, and I watched in horror as a lock of my ankle-length dark brown hair fell to the floor. 

    “Oops, as I said, if you annoy me I will cut your hair. Now I have to cut it to even it up.” She said with a smile in her voice. I was in shock, I had never cut my hair before, Belinda didn’t let me. She said princesses were judged on the length of their hair, and their servants' abilities to keep up with it. “Savages, is that what you call us in your tiny Shifter kingdom? Well, most of us are wolves, so we call ourselves rogues mostly. Or we did until Ren took over. For the past ten years we’ve been training, and now we are assassins.” She said. 

    “Ren, is he in charge? You seem like you’re in charge too. And that Amber-eyed boy.” I said. She chuckled, and I watched in dismay as more hair fell around my waist, collecting with the ribbons. 

    “Well, Ren is in charge, and so am I. If we were a pack I would be his Luna, but us rogues don’t follow pack rules and we rarely meet our true mates. I’m just Ren’s old lady, and together we run the Assassins. Jem is the amber-eyed boy, he's our son. And he’s not a boy, princess, he’s eighteen.” She said. I frowned, looking down at my hands. He was only a year older than me. I couldn’t tell Betty’s age by her appearance, she was all hard work and a muscular body from the years spent training and working outside. They had to have a camp fortress somewhere deep in the woods, and the everyday upkeep was wear and tear on her body. 

    “That boy, he had dirt all in his hair but it looked gray underneath it all. Plus his amber eyes, it just makes it hard to believe he’s your son.” Ana said suddenly. She looked pale, her caramel skin a pasty color in the roaring fire next to us as her eyes shifted down. She was regretting speaking out, ever used to her servant role. Omega role, the same thing apparently. 

    “Betty, what are you telling these kids? Jem isn’t your son, he’s Ren’s. And you and Ren haven’t been together in a long time. We follow you because you’ve been here since the beginning and we respect you, but you’re not his old lady anymore.” Dog said, coming back into the cave. I heard a low whistle behind me and cringed, wondering what it could mean. Betty had finally finished cutting my hair, and she was shaking it out now. I was trying my best not to look down, afraid to see how much she had ended up cutting off. “Well now, just how much hair were you planning on getting cut sweetheart?” He asked with a chuckle. 

    Ana was trying her best to avoid my gaze and I felt my stomach turn. Finally, I looked down, and couldn’t quite stop the small shriek that came from my mouth at the mounds around me. “She called us savages when I was caught off guard and I snipped a large stripe off. I had to make her hair even.” She said. I couldn’t see her, but I could tell she was shrugging, acting like it wasn’t the end of the world. 

    “Maybe it’s not a big deal for you, but you’re just a commoner!” I yelled at her, standing up and turning to look at her. She was staring up at me with astonished eyes as if she couldn’t believe I was speaking out at her. “But I’m a princess! How will I be married now! Bellie said princesses are judged on the length and health of our hair, and now my hair is to my shoulder blades!” I screeched at her as I reached back and touched my shorter hair. I tried to ignore how amazing it felt, how much lighter it was as it moved back and forth and kissed my bare shoulders. 

    The silence was deafening, only Ana was staring at me with the horror deserved of the m******e of my precious hair. Finally, Dog and Betty looked at each other, before looking at me and bursting out into laughter. “Are you serious!?” She screamed, smacking her thigh as she wiped the tears from her eyes. She caught the crushed look in my eyes and tried her best to calm down, a smile on her face as she tried to talk seriously to me. “I was born and raised a rogue, I didn’t know there were certain princess rules based on the length of their hair. But if a man won’t marry you because of your hair length, he’s very shallow indeed.” She said solemnly. “You shouldn’t want to love or marry that man anyway. I’d say good riddance.” She said.  

    I scoffed at her, crossing my arms over my chest to try and stop the quivering. Ana had stood, gently rubbing her hands up and down my arms to help me feel better. “Love? What princess marries for love? Ridiculous. We marry for duty.” I said to her, lifting my head and holding it as regal as I could. 

    “Well, princess Aislyn, sorry to burst your bubble, but you won’t be fulfilling your duty to your kingdom anytime soon.” I heard a voice calmly say from the entrance. Ana started shaking next to me, her eyes growing wide as her hands gripped my arms almost painfully. Betty and Dog jumped to their knees and started to shove my hair into a trash bag, trying to keep busy. 

    Before I could ask Ana why she was acting so out of character, the footsteps of at least two people came walking casually into the cave.