Intruder Part II

The woman slowly walked towards where Orion was held captive while the wolf started to circle the prince not giving him the chance to escape. She did not expect that the heir to the kingdom of Archellia will resonate to the sound they released. It was an unexpected surprise. The woman intently observed the struggling prince but like the others she can't see the anything unusual about him.

"Who are you?" Orion inquired as he gave the woman a glare. He silently scrutinized the enemy who is slowly walking towards him. He saw that her skin was abnormally pale and her eyes were as black as the night sky. Blonde hair was a rare occurrence in Archellia, except for Apollo, there were no other people that Orion knew who has blonde hair.

The woman gestured with her hands for the wolf to stand down and the wolf obediently sat on its hind legs watching the both of them. This was yet another proof that the woman was not ordinary, for a person to be able to command a powerful and prideful beast such as a wolf means that her powers is beyond Orion's.

"I'm just a passerby and I accidentally came to know of your existence your highness, that is why we are here to give you a greeting and a short visit," the woman smiled as she stopped in front of the prince. Though the woman's smile appears to be gentle but to a perceptive person like Orion, this smile appears malicious and deceptive.

The woman slowly lifted her hand to touch Orion's face. Cold, which was the only thing that Orion felt from the woman's hand, her hand was as cold as the winter breeze or even colder than that. "You have such intriguing eyes," the woman spoke. The silver ring in Orion's eyes reminded her of someone who had long passed.

He instinctively closed his eyes to avoid the woman's dark ones. The woman's eyes were like an endless pit that if you continue to look at them you might get sucked in. he felt very uncomfortable with the woman very close and touching him. He hated anyone touching him without permission, especially if that person is a stranger and in this case the person touching him was not only a stranger but she also had a hidden dark intention.

He forced himself to ignore the hands touching his face and concentrated on tapping to his power. When he felt that he was once again able to gather enough internal force, he let out a wave of light that was able to break the binds casted on him. With the binds destroyed, Orion moved away from the woman and collapsed kneeling on the ground. Since the binds were affected by the burst of light he released, he was now sure that the woman uses dark spells.

To avoid the burst of light the woman was also forced to take a few steps back and as the light faded, the wolf suddenly lunged aiming for Orion's throat but he narrowly escaped the attack by rolling to his right side. Only a small scratch appeared at his neck from the attack. Not long after Orion was able to get his balance, now that he was free from the binds, the pressure on him eased and he was able to materialize a sword of light on his right hand which he held in front of him in an offensive stance.

"I see, so you have the affinity of light. Well that was rather unexpected, I thought you would be more…" she trailed off and did not continue instead she signaled for the wolf to attack again.

Apollo and the others felt the flow of energy they knew well and run faster to where the surge of power came from. Arriving at the clearing, they witnessed Orion battling an enormous wolf. Orion brandished his sword rather clumsily but he was still able to defend himself. He did all this with swiftness but added with a bit of awkwardness, it only shows that his swordsmanship is a bit lacking. Orion was able to wound the wolf but it was not enough to defeat it.

A loud clap and malicious laughter echoed through the clearing as the mysterious woman eyed Orion closely. She shifted her glance to the wounded wolf and with a wave of her hand the wolf disappeared.

Coming out from their dazed stupor, the Order moved towards Orion in one swift motion with their defenses up as they stood protectively in front of Orion. Karina and Arthur released a wind attack and water attack at the same time followed by Apollo's fire magic towards the woman which she easily deflected with just the palm of her hands.

"Do not worry, I will not do anything to your prince for now but expect to see me in the future." With those last words, the woman disappeared into thin air leaving nothing behind. The illusion also disappeared and the clearing returned to its original barren state.

Orion retracted his sword and once again sat on the ground. He didn't expect that he would fight and he felt exhausted. He needed to maintain the solid form of his affinity for a long period of time which needed a lot of internal energy. He expended a lot of that from just maintaining his consciousness when he was bound and now he can't feel any amount of energy after the sword of light disappeared.

"Are you alright?" Arthur asked, his gaze roamed around Orion's form and stared on the bleeding wound on his neck.

"I'm fine," Orion shrugged, "just tired."

"You are not okay, actually you're bleeding," Arthur said in a low voice. That's when Orion felt the stickiness around his neck. He touched the area and felt fresh blood oozing from the wound.

"It's just a shallow wound no need to worry," he answered but Arthur did not reply. He silently took out a bandage from the small bag he always carries and wrapped it around the wound.

"After we get to the palace, we will immediately escort you to the palace physician to make sure that it won't be infected or poisoned," Karina supplemented from the side.

The royal guards were also able to find them and surrounded the prince while he was resting. They also sent a soldier to go ahead of them to let the palace physician meet them. He was also to report to the king about the incident which not anyone of them is looking forward to.

Apollo remained silent throughout the exchange but deep inside he was raging. The atmosphere turned tense and everyone prepared themselves to face the king. After making sure that there are no more enemies, they made their way back to the palace in silence. They were silently praying to any gods out there to let them survive the ordeal awaiting them in the palace.

After a brief rest and he was able to stand and walk steadily, the group returned to the palace and while on the way Orion was contemplating the events that happened and on who was that woman and what was her aim in coming to Archellia but no matter how he thinks about it he can't think of any reason.

The palace physician was already waiting for them at the medical building and when he saw the prince's pale face and bleeding neck, he immediately commanded several assistants to prepare some herbs and medicine. He guided the prince to a special area that was exclusive for the royal family and let him sit lie down on the bed.

"I'm just a little bit tired and the wound is shallow, you are all overreacting," he spoke in displeasure at how they treat him. He was like a fragile glass that can easily break anytime.

"We are aware of that your highness but it would still make us feel at ease if we do a complete check-up on you. This would also help alleviate the king's anger because I am sure that he is fuming inside his study while speaking to your personal guards," the palace physician kindly reminded the prince to which Orion did not answer. 'Of course his father would be really angry right now since everything that happens to me is being reported to him.' He silently thought to himself.

The matter about the intruder was temporarily pushed to the back of his mind as he was worried about his personal guards who went ahead and faced his father.

As usual, the events of the day did not escape the King's knowledge as he now glared at the three guards he assigned to protect his son. A heavy atmosphere settled around the King's study as he tried to reign on his boiling temper before he was sure that he can talk, even though all he wanted right now was to kill them. If ever he found out the identity of the attacker, he would make sure to destroy them.

The pen he was holding broke into two at how tight he was squeezing it. He gritted himself to forcefully calm himself but the burning rage was not silenced and it only raged more at the sight of the three people he trusted to keep his son safe. The more he looked at them, the more he wanted to fly into rage and beat these people up. He gave them a harsh glare before he was finally able to talk.