7 A Blessing in Disguise

Diana could hear the morning chorus of the blackbirds. She sat on the bed and opened her eyes, just like she always does. She was sitting on a harder surface. It was not like her bed. She looked down at the bed with a frown only to realize that it was not her bed. It was a bed made of stone.

Diana abruptly looked around and found out that she was in a cave. She was in a cave and it was not her house.

The fragments of her memories flashed in her head. Her surrounding was alien. She originally thought she had a nightmare but her surroundings proved that it was not.

Everything was real! The blue-eyed man, the red-eyed man, and the giant black wolf... they were all real! She did step into the forbidden forest following Wyatt. She confronted two beasts. Finally, Wyatt saved her from the giant black wolf. It all felt like a very long, realistic dream.

Her left wrist slightly ached. Diana soon brought her attention back to herself from the environment. Her wrist was bandaged with a clean blue piece of cloth. It didn't take her additional time to find out that it was the cloth torn from her dirndl.

Diana remembered Wyatt tearing and tying the cloth around her hand last night. He must have torn another piece of cloth to tie it again. Diana could see that Wyatt had already applied some herbs to the wound as well. She faintly smiled.

He had always been the one to treat her injuries. Even in school, whenever she fought with other kids and got injured, he would show up with a first aid kit. Whenever she was sick, he would appear with medicines. That's how he was... Caring and protective of her.

Diana suddenly remembered the headache and bodily pain she went through the day before. Her head still hurt a little and her body was sore, but that must be because sleeping on this rock surface. Finally, she looked around the place and then stood up from the stone bed with a frown. She walked to the entrance of the cave.

She was still in the forest. The pond she saw last night was there a few feet away from the entrance. So this must be the cave Diana saw last night beside the pond. If Wyatt had already saved her, why were they still here? Diana reasoned as she moved out of the cave. She was scared to stay in that forest even for a second.

"Wyatt!", she called without making too much noise. This forest was still dangerous.

Wyatt was not anywhere near. She walked passing the pond and looked around. There were no traces of him.

Uncertainty struck her within a few minutes. She wondered if it was Wyatt that saved her last night. She didn't see her saviour's face the last night. He didn't speak with her other than humming an 'Mn'. It might be just her conjecture. But it was hard to believe that there was also someone else in that forest, who would save her.

If it was someone else, then where was Wyatt?

Diana had always been positive about life. But the traumatic events yesterday had indeed affected a few ideologies in her mind. She couldn't believe that someone would save her. It was too much to wish for in a deadly forest like this. She had never been that lucky, to begin with. How could someone else save her, treat her wound and let her live this long, in this unsparing forest?

Diana recalled the incidents that happened the day before to get a grasp of what was going on. Even though everything she witnessed and went through was out of the ordinary, they all made sense in some way except for that one thing.

The man with ruby eyes...

The blue-eyed beast tried to kill her, then the wolf somehow barged in saving her life. At first, she thought it was unintentional, but now that she thought of it, it was indeed mysterious.

Suddenly, she remembered... The wolf also had ruby eyes, just like the man who appeared a moment ago. Yesterday, she was not in a state to deduce that time. Now, she was dubious about it.

'What if he is the wolf?' This aligned the events in a line.

Granny had told them the stories about the shapeshifting wolves. Yes! The werewolves... Diana couldn't believe them before. But after what she saw yesterday, she couldn't come up with another possibility fit than this.

If that's the case, then the wolfman must have saved her. He must be the one who had brought her to this cave. Moreover, he must be the one who treated her wound. This was implausible, but this must be the case.

Now Diana wondered where did the wolfman he was really her saviour should she thank him? Was this a good idea? Diana pondered as she looked around the forest. 'Maybe the wolfman could help her with finding Wyatt?', she thought.

Soon she realized that she hadn't explored the cave yet. From where she was standing, the cave looked like a dark place with mysteries and dangers. She shook the fear off her and stepped inside the cave, once again. 'I may find something or someone if I search inside.'

The cave a quite large for her to observe with just one glance. Most of its corners were dark and obscured. It was a bit dingy compared to the outside but the light was enough to explore, as long as she walk inside.

Still, she didn't carelessly barge into the dark corners of the cave. She searched the area around the stone bed first. There, she found a clue.

There was bloodstain beside her bed, followed by a few drops of blood. Diana would have thought it was hers if she hadn't seen the direction the blood drops led to. The traces of blood that originated beside her bed disappeared into one of the dark corners.

Diana neared the corner. She could hear the slow but unstable breathing sound. When she took a step forward, she heard a low grunt. It was inhuman.

Diana hastily stepped back. She halted by the entrance of the cave. It was obvious. The beast didn't want her to get any closer. In a trice, she heard another grunt, but this time, it was more like the beast was in pain.

'Does it want my help or wants me to leave?' She couldn't say. Meantime, the beast let out another grunt which forced her to hasten towards the border of the forest. It was more animalistic and frightening than the previous times. Diana only stopped once she reached the border. Standing at the edge of the forest, she once looked back at the cave.

*Sigh*

She creased her brows and pushed through bushes. Finally, she found her way out of that carnivorous forest. When she stepped back into Lanir's territory again, she felt proud for some reason. She had returned from the forbidden forest. It was a lot of miracles and a bit of adventure.

But was that it? Was that the end of the adventure? Her lips curled into a faint smirk as she ran back into the fields. Before she reached her destination, she stopped and look in the direction of the castle. She could see a red flag on top of the castle. It meant that the knight was not back yet, also the curfew continued. They will not open the gate anytime soon.

Diana had to find Wyatt. But before that, she had another business.

She climbed the treehouse. She found a belt with a pouch from the cabinet and stuffed a few loaves of bread. Then she picked a dagger and shove it into the belt sheath. She packed another pouch with some clean clothes, a porringer, a few candles, a lantern, a piece of iron, and a few pieces of flint.

She ran to the end of the farmland. She found what she was searching for. The herb garden. Ruthernglaners had their herb garden which they used to grow medicines.

She surpassed through the repellent herbs and entered the medicinal herbs section. She found the herb that Wyatt always used to treat her wounds. She picked a few more pain killer leaves. Next was the antidotes section. Those herbs were used to treat poisonous animal bites.

Then once again she pushed harder and ran faster, towards the border. Once again, she stood by the border, just like yesterday. Nothing changed much from yesterday. It was still a dangerous forest that was forbidden to human beings.

She looked down at the blue cloth covering her wrist and then looked up at the sky. The sky was clear and her surrounding was filled with light. She was not in the dark anymore. Now she knew what lies beyond the bushes. But she feared nothing. She was going to dice with the death, again.

She acknowledged that there were some peculiar beings beyond these bushes. Still, it didn't feel so strange anymore. She pushed away the bushes and stepped into the deadly forest, once again.

This time not only for Wyatt but also for that kind wolfman who had saved her life.