Chapter 2

While patting his head after the fall, he was yet to notice her leaving, but when he raised, his head to look for the lady he had been stalking, he saw her running away. In haste, he forced himself up to catch up with her, with hope of explaining his circumstance.

“Hey! Miss, Wait... I didn’t mean to scare you… I promise I don’t bite” he said with humor, chasing after her, with hope to get her attention, but his words didn’t amount to anything. She didn’t reply, instead she seemed to be putting more effort to her movement.

He was surprise by how far she could go, due to the distance they’ve covered, and it seemed to him she knew her way around the forest, which could mean she might lure him to a trap, since that’s one way to get rid of him. Base on that he decided to take a different route; as she run on the ground, he would use the trees.

Few minute passed while they were conducting their exhibition of foot work. He kept jumping amongst the trees to keep a view of what was before him, to avoid getting cornered or lost as he chased after her, while trying to reach out to her. But to his surprise, he heard her passing a warning, as he was jumping on to another tree.

“I won’t jump so recklessly, if I were you, there are snake nests on the trees… You just might bump into one”

“Umm… What! Why didn’t you say something sooner” he yelled in panic, after hearing her warning, as she ran ahead of him. Trying to make him aware of what were on the trees.

He was troubled by the words she uttered. The warning made him hesitant to jump forward, due to the realization of him bumping into a snake nest, which could be detrimental to him, since snakes were not all venom free.

The thought of that made him a bit shaky, since he knew how well her movement around the forest was, while he was chasing her. With that he knew she was familiar with the forest and probably with the habitat of the animals around, which would mean she was telling the truth, and he might encounter one of them or worse get bitten. He quaked to the thought of it, which made him froze in shock.

She ignored his words of panic. Thinking he was just pretending, or just trying to get her attention, so as to get sympathy. She kept running forward closing the gap between them, but still, she was a bit worried of being wrong. Thinking of what ifs, but due to certain circumstance, she couldn’t risk it, instead she hoped, he finds his way down eventually, while pressing onward.

The wanderer was still in shock, worried about bumping to a snake nest, due to his past experience with snakes. When all off a sudden, he sensed a change in the air, malice and an urge for blood. The opposite of what he felt while strolling in the forest. A bloodlust which seemed to be from ahead, he couldn’t see where it was from, he looked around, if the lady was close by, but he realized the lady had gone ahead of him, sensing she was heading to the same location, where the bloodlust was coming from.

He moved in haste, jumping from one branch to another with high precision and speed, it was like he was flying, overlooking the warning he was given of the snake nests on the trees. He rushed with an urge to protect her, as he conquered his fear, while bumping into some of the snake nests, but he was too fast for the snakes to react too, which prevented him from being bitten.

She was getting closer to the exit of the forest, and the Radiant kingdom entry point was not that far from view, only a few miles away, after a field covered with bushes. She was on the move, closing the gap, between her and the exit of the forest, when she suddenly heard the sound of dropping leaves, curious to know what the cause was, she stopped to look, thinking it was one of the animals tailing her, but didn’t see anything other than a shadow like shape, bouncing off from one tree to another, instantly.

It was difficult for her eyes to keep track of what was moving, but in an instant, she saw the shadow like shape getting closer, before she knew it, it jumped towards her. At the last moment she recognized it to be the wanderer who jumped. He grabbed her in midair in an instance, while flipping her to the side at the same time, to prevent her from hitting the ground, without making much sound, or shaking the bush as they fall.

Her hood fell off her, while he served, as a safety bed that aid her landing, controlling the landing mass to not make much sound. It was as if they were floating in midair, within the seconds he grabbed her, before they fell into the bush close by, which provided cover for them, from the group ahead. She was on top of him, while he was holding her waist with his right arm, and he used his left to cover her mouth whispering to her not to scream.

She was stunned by the stunt he pulled, which left her lost in the moment. She couldn’t hear his words or anything else for a few seconds, as she was still overwhelmed by the closed space they now shared, while staring at his face. Realizing it was quite beguiling, gentle to the eyes, and his hand midway soft and hard, while feeling his warmth.

The wanderer on the other hand was overwhelmed by the view of her face, it was like he was looking at an angel, while trying to focus on the issue at hand, but was relief he made it in time. They both stared at each other for a while, short of words, just living in the moment.

Few lengths away, in the bush field, before the Radiant kingdom entry point, not too far from the forest exit. Four middle age men were waiting. They were all fit and well equipped with swords and daggers, but were in raggy clothes. It was as if they were preparing for an ambush, while they hid using the bushes, as cover from being seen. Three were resting on rocks laying around, as they take cover, while one of them was keeping a look out.

“Umm… Boss, I think something just moved or fell into the bush ahead, it might be an animal, am certain it will make a good meal… can we go and get it”

“Something, huh? Does the something look like what we came for, huh, Jason?”

“Umm… No, Not really… I just thought…”

“You really are useless… this is the fourth time you’ve reported everything other than what you’re to lookout for… you have only one job, one simple job, keep a lookout and report if you see what we came for not to report everything you see… since when is it hard to spot a black hood cape during the day?” one of the middle-age man who seem to be the leader said, disappointed and frustrated by Jason’s incompetency, as that of his lack of appeared intellect, after hearing Jason relayed the slight shake in the bush not too far from them.

“God! Am tired of your stupidity… it’s like your brain is the size of a walnut”

“What’s a walnut?”

“Why you little!” the boss responded, as he rushed toward Jason with an outburst of anger, hoping to beat him or throw in some punches. Annoyed by his replied, but was held back by the two other men of his group; one held both arms from behind and the other held his waist from the side trying to push him back, but he was still able to land some kicks in, as he threw his legs around.

“Boss, please, calm down, you know how he is… beating him won’t solve anything but only give our location to the watch guards ahead”

“The guards will soon be on patrol, we’re just wasting precious time, if we keep this up, boss”

“I don’t care, right now, I just want to kill him… since his so stupid he can’t even distinguish insult, from a sentence… just let me kill him…Ah!” the boss yelled struggling to break free of the hold, after the others holding him relayed their concerns.

The struggle went on for few minutes, Jason didn’t feel the hits, but was still unaware of what he did wrong. He wondered, if asking a question was a bad thing, while the wanderer and the lady in hood couldn’t hear what the group was saying at first, since they were both lost in the closed space of one another, but the noise of the group’s boss brought them back to reality. She wondered who it was and what they were yelling about, since she knew, she still had time, before the guards starts their scheduled patrol around the boarder.

She tried moving, but the wanderer whispered to her not too, while explaining the group ahead might be bandits, and moving might give away their location, as he paused trying to see, if she understood the situation they were in, and didn’t want to relay to her that they might be out for blood.

She nodded gently indicating she understood, while realizing the reason behind the cause of his action, and their shared space, but she was certain she had never seen him before, which made her wondered why he would go through the trouble of helping her, a stranger.

“Am going to let go of you now okay… to get off you’ll just have to move slowly… Okay” he whispered, as he removed his hand off her mouth, and hand off her waist slowly.

She came off of him slowly, as he removed his hand and arm off her knowing it was inappropriate, but that was the only thing he could do to keep her still, without giving away their location, at the time that he could think of. The boss took a breather for a minute, then he rushed to beat Jason for a bit, before the others could reach him, after he had beaten Jason, he felt relief.

The lady got off the wanderer, without making any noticeable shakes. Afterwards they laid on the grass while using the bush before them as cover, as they were trying to look at the group ahead of them without getting spotted.

The wanderer caught a quick glance of when the boss rushed to satisfy his urge to beat Jason, from where he laid, he noticed their clothing was a bit raggy, and their equipment were of high quality, as that of the condition of it. Knowing that, it was a bit hard for him to believe, they were actually bandits or mercenaries.

Their weapons doesn’t match their clothing, if they were bandit, and if they were mercenaries, the disguise was way too obvious even for an amateur, with that in mind it made him wondered what they could be playing at, while having at possible guess of the category they might fall under, but curious of the why in their circumstance, and that made him a bit uncertain of what to do.

“Hmm… I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I can’t really see much from here… However are you certain they are bandits not guards of the Radiant Kingdom?”

“Well… is either that or they are mercenaries… However with some luck they could be devoted guards, playing dress-up, just to welcome one with your beauty” he replied, whispering with humor to her question, knowing he can’t tell her, he sensed a bloodlust from them, due to their childish act, which might be hard to believe and he just didn’t want her to worry.

“Hmm… I hope so”

“Now, that’s beguiling…” he whispered, admiring her smile, as she respond to his humor, while she felt a bit overwhelmed, as her heart was pounding. It was as if she heard the word uttered for the first time, but she refuse to let her emotions take control or show. She hid them, telling him to focus on the issue at hand.

“Oh… Sorry about that, just couldn’t help myself… However as that of the situation at hand, it’s quite simple to address, from my point of view, at least… since there is no way of knowing if they’re hostile or not, and I prefer to not take the risk… with that said, avoiding them will likely be our priority, in order to achieve such goal… won’t you agree?”

“Yes, but what do you have in mind?”

“Well… we have few options we can pick from… one; find or create another route to get pass them or get around them, in other to avoid being assaulted… two; wait them out… And lastly; cause a distraction and then get pass them” he whispered, laying out possible alternative after assessing the situation.