A Good Trade (part 4)

For better or for worse, Captain Jeh-shaan knew the threat that the little prince posed. The grand prince believed that as long as the little prince was restricted in the palace, he was not much of a threat. But now that he escaped, he will rain vengeance on whoever betrayed him. If he said he will end the Leaf Army clan (Patr-dal clan), as long as he is alive, he will certainly do so. By incapacitating the pseudo leader of the clan with a near fatal injury and also leaving him those words, Vajradandaka had two objectives in mind. A gravely injured general is not much of a general. At the moment, not only was Jeh-shaan desperately holding on to life, he was also fixated on Vajradandaka's words. The first objective was to strike the mental capacity of the enemy general. The second was to divert his entire enmity onto himself, which in turn meant that the Dhija assassins going after the eldest prince will not receive any reinforcements from the Rtadhra allies! By utilizing the lost familiarity between himself and Captain Jeh-shaan, the little prince struck at the heart of the enemy forces.

By the time Sheesha of the Shadow clan understood all that, he could look at the less than ten year old child in his arms as a child no more. He knew he was exactly as fearsome as they say he was. Sheesha would've been proud to serve such a liege for the rest of his life. But after being hunted and nearly killed several times now, he knew the child wouldn't last too long if things continued on like this.

He persuaded him gently presently, knowing that the child had a frustratingly stubborn personality. "Little prince, let us at least rendezvous with the rest of the teams. They can offer us some much needed support. We are out of food and water, most importantly medicine. We cannot go on like this…"

"No. They'll track us down easily if we rendezvous with the others now. I don't want them to find out about the other teams. I want them to think we are alone."

"Little prince…"

The assassin was a hardened man himself. Just the name of his profession would tell anyone that much. But he couldn't help his heart tearing up at the moment.

"I want them to help my brother, not myself! There's a reason why I arranged it this way…" the little prince explained patiently despite his shortness of breath. "The grand prince still underestimates me. He will think I did what I did at the ramparts on impulse. The same logic will follow when he discovers me treading alone on this route. He will think I am trying to foolishly save my brother or at least reunite with him as he flees from the border towards the capital. If not for impulsively taking this route at the last moment, there should be no other reason why I'm separated from my guard. Which in turn means, my guard itself is waiting to rendezvous with me on some other route. As long as we don't meet with them, he would never expect that I arranged for them to reinforce my brother instead of myself! He would keep thinking that I panicked and made a mistake in the end."

There was a brief rustle on the side that startled the assassin. He knew who it was and he felt no threat, but the fact that they could get so close without him noticing made him extremely nervous.

The little prince only smiled however. "Is it them again?"

In the desolate dry forest, the dying rays of the sun cast a mournful shade of red on the western sky. Solitary winds blew across one's ear, cutting off the access to other people's presence. The earth vibrated with a low hum caused by insects readying themselves for nocturnal life.

Against such a backdrop, a contrasting figure stood leaning sideways on a stubby tree. She was lean and tall, extraordinarily graceful. Dressed in mellow pink and a fabric that was beyond elegant, she displayed a natural aura that seemed to meld into the very mysteries of cosmos. Her complexion was like milk, glowing even in the dusky twilight. Her eyes were doe shaped, displaying a serenity that seemed out of place on such a young looking face. Her beauty was incomparable, stunning even Vajradandaka who had seen many a beautiful lady in the palace. Most importantly, her demeanor was something the prince and protector pair were unable to ignore. She seemed to come and go whenever she wants. Appearing in the forest wherever she wants. She was silent as rain, yet just as riveting and unable to ignore. She had a presence that belonged to a forest nightingale, to a full moon after a storm, to the lake that reflects this moon and a white lily that blooms quietly in the bush. She was invisible until you looked at her, and when you do, she's all you can look at.

And yet…she was still not the most interesting character Vajra chanced upon in the forest. It was the boy who came with her! He was about the little prince's age, maybe a little younger, but he was a lot stronger. Nimble, lively and mischievous, he was similarly of a milky complexion like the woman. He had the same type of facial features as her, but it was not an evident blood relation. Rather, it was because the two of them belonged to a foreign race and therefore seemed quite similar to Vajradandaka who haven't seen many people like them.

The boy had another attribute that intrigued the prince. He was greedy!

In fact, the assassin and prince combo first came across the duo when they were heavily being pursued in the midst of a forest. It was just after the prince received the heaviest wound yet. After being on the run for days, the assassin hid him a hunting cabin while he went out to forage some food. The prince had a jarring time then when the pursuers actually came into the cabin and started to search through it! Sheesha literally snatched the prince from the jaws of death back then. But he was unable to do so before a pursuer gave the prince a wild gash on his back, slicing through all the way from the shoulder blade to the kidneys. The little prince soon lost consciousness because of that wound, but not before spotting this curious looking duo in the forest, who were themselves observing him curiously.

It was actually these two who traded medicine for the little prince's wounds. Sheesha nearly used up all the medicine he brought with him on himself. After all, for the prince to fall into such a dire state, it wouldn't happen if he was in a dire state first! What really upset him though, the annoying wild boy in the forest actually asked for the little prince's crown in exchange for medicine!