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| St_Winterheart
Posts: 2,225 Status: Lord Karma: 0 [+1] [-1]   |
Subject: CHAPTER 4. Ambush. | |||||
| Sin Solis, the first day of the week. Ten minutes after two in the morning. The night air was crisp and cool, the soft wind blowing in from the lake and forming a thin mist across the training grounds. I could practically feel the dewdrops beginning to form on the tall grass around my boots. I took in a deep breath, stretched my hands upwards and let out a long yawn. Bwaahhhh~~! Aah, what a perfect day to torture a princess. ~ ~ ~ I folded my arms across my chest and watched the princess across the dining table. She blinked, her eyes still half-closed as the attendants busily set breakfast before her. “Chill.” The princess spoke slowly, as if she was trying to explain something to a can of sardines. “It’s THREE… In the MORNING.” “I know. We’ll be training.” “And we … can’t do that… at NINE?” I mimicked her slow, labored voice. “I’m… a VAMPIRE. At NINE, the SUN… will be UP. Which means, I… will DIE.” Annoyed, she leaned her elbows on the table and cupped her face while an attendant poured her milk. “Can’t we train INSIDE the castle?” “It’s horseback riding. How are you supposed to do that inside the castle?” “Can’t we train for something else?” “As far as your mom's concerned, I think the answer is “No”.” She began to mutter and play with her food. “Don’t tell me you hate horses?” “…..not really…” “Then what’s the matter? Are you… scared of them?” I taunted. “O-of course not! I’ve been on a horse before!” “Then it shouldn’t be any problem, right?” I smiled nonchalantly. I can bet one of my legs that she's lying. “. . . . . “ She stabbed a piece of egg with her fork and began chewing. “I hate you.” I smirked at her. If you hate me now, wait till we're done training. ~ ~ ~ I remember the first time I tried to ride a horse. I tried my best to hold on to that huge creature, but I lost my balance and crashed to the ground below. For the rest of the day my sister laughed at me. I was such a dork. I suppressed a laugh myself as we made our way through the training grounds. The training started without further incident, although the princess repeatedly made sure I knew how pointless she thought the whole exercise was. We got a couple of horses from the horsekeeper in the stables. She insisted on riding the white one, saying that the black one was only used for funerals. Needless to say, a black one got assigned to me. We began with the basics at the training grounds. Straddling the horse, correct posture, grips on the reins. After the fourth lap I began to believe that, sadly, the princess indeed knew horseback riding and I couldn't annoy her about it. Seems like it was going to be a boring day after all. “Why do I have to learn how to ride horses?” the princess asked. “Good question. Go ask your mom.” The wind blew softly across the grounds and the horses’ rhythmic hoofbeats were lulling me to sleep. Suddenly, the hair at the back of my neck stood up. A familiar, cursed feeling began to crawl under my skin, the feeling of being stared at… with murderous intent. “I already know how to ride horses,” the princess muttered. “Shut up.” I stopped my horse, my eyes shifting left and right. The princess stared at me as I looked around wildly. My sight finally settled at the bamboo grove beyond the training grounds. The feeling… it stopped. I broke into a cold sweat. Whoever it was was still there, but he doesn’t seem to be interested in me anymore, which could only mean— “Princess.” My two swords materialized from thin air. I grabbed them with each hand. “Hold on tight.” “Wh—“ Without further ado I kicked the backside of the princess' horse. The surprised animal neighed aloud and ran off into the forest, carrying the screaming princess with it. Something rustled in the bushes, and in an instant a dozen of shadows began to dart out of them, all heading in the same direction the white horse ran. Scavengers--!!! It's one of the most dangerous creatures this side of the forest. I goaded my horse and went after the shadows. I bent down low, two swords at either side as my horse gained speed over the scuttling creatures. One of them came too close to my side and I slashed at it. The creature disappeared into a puff of smoke. I-illusions!? My horse keeping pace all on its own, I was left free to hack off the rest of the creatures with both hands. I slashed every one of them that came at sword’s distance. Every ‘kill’ exploded in a puff of smoke. I cursed under my breath. What is he up to?? My mind raced as we ran on. It was already clear that these elaborate shadows could not cause any real harm to the princess or me, so I figured that our “attacker” did not have assassination in mind; at least, not yet. Must've taken a lot of energy to make these things look realistic... they even smell like real scavengers.. But why make so many fakes that don't do anything? Did he want to divert my attention first? Shit, I don't get it-- I looked up at the princess' horse, a white speck in the dense foliage of the forest. Six more 'scavengers' tailed closely behind her. With my distance from her there were already lots of opportunities to attack the princess. But it seems our “attacker” preferred to control these creatures at a safe distance, so he probably had no intention of coming into close contact to begin with. Is he measuring me? It was the only conclusion that made sense. He only wanted to find out how effective I was as a new infanta, whether I could sufficiently defend her or not, at what speed, and with what weapons. That explains the large number of fakes; if there was only one of them I may not use a weapon at all. And he didn't attack directly because his goal was to only gather information, not to kill. My suspicions were confirmed soon after. After slashing off the last of the creatures, I could no longer sense our attacker. And I now have a horse running loose-- with the Royal daughter on it. ~ ~ ~ “AAAIIIYYYyaaaaaaaaa~~~~!!!” Her scream trailed off, her white mare galloping at full speed as it tore through the Oekenber Forest. I pulled alongside her, my black steed easily keeping up with hers. “What are you doing??!! THE REINS!” I yelled. “Pull on the reins to stop it!” "CHILL MAKE IT STOP!!! MAKE IT STOP, PLEASE!!!" "It will STOP if you use the REINS!!" “I’M GONNA DIE!!!!” She wailed, wrapping her arms around the horse’s neck in a choke hold as it ran. “I’M GONNA DIE!!!!” “IF YOU KEEP HOLDING ON TO YOUR HORSE LIKE THAT, YOUR HORSE IS GONNA DIE BEFORE YOU DO!” If she can hear me, it was hard to tell. She went on crying incoherently as our horses flew across the forest. "I CAN'T DO IT !!!” She screamed. Her body was beginning to slip towards one side of the horse. "What do you mean you can’t!!!? You told me you've ridden horses before!!!” I thought of the unthinkable. “Were you lying???" She just sobbed as she clutched onto the horse's hair. "WERE YOU LYING???" "HELP ME!!!" With four feet of distance between our horses, I couldn’t grab her reins and seize control of her horse. The only way for me to help her is to get on her horse and control it directly, and the only way I can see to do that is… I removed my feet from my horse’s stirrups, pulling myself into a crouch on top of the saddle. I tried to maintain balance as my horse ran on. The trees whizzed by between our horses. There’s a small space at the backend of the princess’ horse. Somehow, I need to find a way to jump from my horse to hers and land on that space. Four feet away. Six feet from the ground. Speed at 44, maybe 45 miles per hour. The timing has to be perfect. I took a deep breath and focused hard, timing her horse's hoofbeats and mine's. Slowly, the thunder of the horses’ hooves and the princess’ screams faded until I could no longer hear them. I no longer felt the tree branches scratching my face. …Wait… Our surroundings vanished into black until I could see nothing else but the princess’ horse and mine, running very slowly and getting even slower. I began to hear my horse’s heartbeat, a slow, steady drumming that matched the movement of his feet. Very slowly, her horse's heartbeat became audible as well, in rhythm to their feet. …Wait… The white mare began to match my horse's pace, so much that they seemed to raise their hooves in the air and lower them at exactly the same moment. Finally, the horses’ eyes stopped blinking. The dirt that their hooves kicked up remained suspended in midair. The sound of heartbeats stopped. In one, infinite moment, all life and time suddenly stood still. There was only me, the princess, and the silence. NOW! I jumped. My boot landed solidly on the saddle of the princess’ horse, followed by my entire body. My cape fell with a faint whoop behind me. Everything suddenly returned at full speed. My cape billowed in the wind, and the princess was screaming at the top of her lungs. Just when I noticed that the tree branches were painfully scratching my face again, a rather sturdy branch appeared out of nowhere and whipped my face. “Ouff--!!!!” I covered my nose, cursing. I sat behind the princess and immediately grabbed the reins of the unruly horse, yanking it back. “HOO—!!” Too hard! I winced. The white mare neighed loudly, abruptly stopping in her tracks. With the force of my pull she suddenly reared up, unceremoniously tossing me and the princess off her back. We fell onto the ground with a dull thud, the princess landing on top of me. Rid of its passengers, the horse brayed angrily at us and ran off into the woods, in the same direction that my own horse had taken. As her hoofbeats receded, the silence slowly surged back into the forest. ~ ~ ~ Princess? I tried to sit up, and the pain shot from my buttocks upwards my back, electricity running down my arms. I fell back to the ground with a groan. I wondered if dying while training was part of my job description. Damn. I should have read the entire contract. I sniffed the air, trying to find out if either of us were injured. With the princess sitting on top of me I could practically smell the blood flowing in her tiny body. It was strong enough to be detected, but too faint to make my fangs grow, or make me think that she had open wounds. I sighed in relief. But what if she did? If I smelled her blood, what would've I done? Don't know. Don't wanna think about it. “Chill?” A tiny voice came from my chest. “Chill, are you okay?” ". . . . . . . . ." Oh yeah, besides the fact that I have a hundred-pound potato sack sitting on top of me, half my bones broken and with my body paralyzed, I feel strangely fine. I heard her begin to sob. ". . . . . . . . ." H-hey, idiot. I’m a vampire. It’s not like I’m going to die or… or anything…. “I’m sorry….. I’m sorry… I-I wasn't lying... I've been on a horse, but only once... a-and... I fell off.” ". . . . . . . . ." Ambushed by unknown creatures, in the middle of the forest, my body hurting everywhere, I found myself trying to suppress a laugh. I reached out a weakened hand and mussed up her hair. I’m... alright. |
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