The Red-Eyed Beast (2)

Lucas put his index finger to his lips and asked Arielle or Tania not to make a sound. The man slowly got into a fighting stance with his hand holding the sword at his waist. He was prepared to take it out whenever danger arose.

Arielle sat up tensely. She remembered the incident when her entourage got attacked by bandits. But the fear she felt now was much greater.

The seconds passed in horror.

Arielle's heart pounded so hard. The atmosphere was very tense, and no one made a sound. Only their slow breathing and their racing heartbeats filled the silence. After a few minutes had passed, only then did Lucas put his sword back down.

"Looks like he's gone," Lucas said and caused Arielle to breathe a sigh of relief. She actually had a hand on her heart which still kept beating very fast.

"What was that, Lucas? It sounded so close… like it was inside the palace grounds."

Lucas pulled back the curtains so the moonlight could help illuminate the room.

"Everything has calmed down. As long as you don't leave the room, everything will be fine."

ROAARRR!!!

"AUUUWWW!!!!"

A wolf with dark fur and as big as a horse suddenly jumped into Arielle's balcony. The surprised Lucas immediately turned around and shouted at Arielle and Tania, "You two hurry up and hide!"

Arielle, who was so shocked, just stood there and was unable to move her muscles to escape. She was too afraid to move. Tania panicked but placed the princess' safety above hers and grabbed the speechless Arielle's hand.

Arielle's eyes widened when she stared at the red irises of the beast that was now growling in front of her. The two of them were only separated by a glass door that the beast could knock down at any moment.

Lucas immediately protected Arielle by brandishing his sword and it made the wolf growl.

The bedroom door suddenly opened with a thud, and eight priests appeared with trigrams coiled in each of their hands. Lucas stepped back to make room for the priests to emit light from their palms.

When the priests emitted their rays, immediately, the red-eyed wolf ran from the balcony of Arielle's room.

After the wolf left, Arielle's body felt very weak. Her legs didn't even support her weight so she fell to the ground. Tania was just as surprised. The old woman almost cried because she was reminded of the trauma when the bandits attacked her.

Someone touched Arielle's shoulder and made the girl glance up. In front of her now was the crouching Priest Elis. Lucas, who was worried, rushed in to check on the princess' condition.

"Sorry for our negligence. Tonight I will leave two priests to accompany you with Lucas."

"Wh-what was… that…?" asked Tania, stammering.

Priest Elis smiled as if what had just happened wasn't something terrible. "Something we can't hurt. Think of him as the guardian of the Northendell Kingdom."

"B-but…"

"Maybe he just wants to say hello to the princess," Priest Elis joked to lighten the mood but only left Arielle speechless.

When he realized his joke did not get a laugh, the man then chuckled awkwardly. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean bad. You don't have to worry, Your Highness. We will protect you to the best of our ability. And that is the wish of His Majesty King Ronan…"

Lucas closed the curtains again so that Princess Arielle wouldn't re-imagining the incident earlier. Tania helped Arielle to lie down. Lucas and two other priests were now in the room.

Arielle had been silent all this time, unable to say anything. Every time she closed her eyes, she remembered how the red eyes staring at her made Arielle shudder in horror.

Wait a minute…

Red eyes?

Arielle remembered someone who had eyes as red as the monster earlier.

"Lucas? What do you think King Ronan is doing right now?" she asked suddenly.

The two priests on guard looked at each other and waited for Lucas' answer.

"Perhaps King Ronan is fast asleep? Or maybe he was fighting the monster earlier. No one knows because His Majesty the King has his own way of getting through a full night like this," Lucas said.

Arielle tightened the blanket, and once again, the wolf's howl was heard. But this time, it sounded much further away.

That night Arielle could not sleep at all. She even blinked her eyes in frustration because she kept thinking about what happened earlier. The howl of the wolf was heard not only twice.

Arielle counted the howls and it was more than fifteen times that the wolf guardian howled throughout the night. The howling only subsided when the day began to dawn.

***

Two nights of terror finally passed. There were no more howls or sightings of wolves on the second night, and Priest Elis said that Arielle didn't have to work the next day when he thought that maybe Arielle was still afraid to leave the room.

But the girl's desire to learn to read and write was greater than her fear. Besides that, in the morning, Arielle had seen several soldiers walking towards the Colosseum where they were gathering or training.

"Don't you want to rest? I don't want to make Your Highness tired," said Priest Elis, who was surprised to find Princess Arielle who now stood in front of his office that morning.

"Priest Elis, that night was nothing to me. I need this job more than having to shut myself up because I'm scared," Arielle said firmly.

Priest Elis finally relented.

"Alright, Princess…" Priest Elis led Arielle out of his room to the third floor of the Cathedral. He said, "For the past two nights, the disciples have not left their rooms. So, maybe your task will be more difficult than the first day."

Arielle raised her hand and revealed her thin arm. "I can do it, Priest."

"If that is what the Princess wants, then I cannot refuse."

Arielle was left alone on the third floor. She looked down the hall with a row of doors in front of her.

"I can do this." She took a deep breath and puffed out her chest. "Arielle, fight!"

Arielle spent almost half a day tidying up all the mess in the Cathedral student room. When she was done, she brought two baskets of dirty clothes to take downstairs.

In the hallway on the ground floor, as she was about to go down to the basement, her hands were pulled back abruptly, which caused the basket containing the students' clothes to fall to the floor.

"What's-" Arielle's voice suddenly halted when she saw who had pulled her. Her mouth became dry and she was unable to express her surprise.

In front of her now, stood Ronan with William, as well as Priest Elis. The surprised Priest Elis covered his mouth with the book he was carrying.

William furrowed his brows in confusion and wondered what was Princess Arielle doing in the Cathedral with a basket full of dirty clothes?

Arielle did not dare to look at the other man. She bit her thumb because she was nervous.

"What are you doing with all those baskets?" Ronan asked Arielle, raising a brow.