8.Search for Safety

My eyes snapped open at the sound of singing birds. It surprised me at first because I thought I was still in the castle. But when I looked around at the trees yesterday's events came rushing back to me. I frowned as I stood and dusted off the dirt off my dress. I ached everywhere but there was nothing I could do about it. I passed a sleeping Phillip as I looked around for any signs of Malik. He was probably doing something important. I went to pet Winter who whined at me.

"I'm sorry girl. I have no food on me. "I said as I watched her look all around me. She snorted and looked away which meant she was mad so I decided to go out and look for some fruits and nuts. I looked around as I admired the forest in awe. The morning light was seeping through the canopy of trees. The squirrels were running up and down and the birds laid in their nests. It was beautiful sight, something I had never seen at the castle. I saw an apple tree in the distance and I started walking towards it before I felt a hand grab me. I turned around to see Malik looking at me with relief.

"What's going on?" I asked as he turned me back around to face the tree.

"You were about to enter the enchanted forest." He told me which made me squint my eyes. I didn't see the barrier before but now I could see it. I knew we couldn't enter it because we didn't want to startle the creatures. Somehow they knew what was happening in Astraea and where super cautious. I thanked him and we walked back to the campsite. He had a basket of fruit. I got curious on how he got the basket but I didn't ask. We found Phillip sitting up looking around. He smiled when he acknowledged us and took a green apple from Malik's basket.

"So what's the plan?" Phillip asked and we both looked at Malik.

"We should walk around the barrier until I get a message from my friends that they have found a new hiding spot."

"I do not agree. I don't think we should wait in this forest. The soldiers will get us more quickly that way. I think we should head to Perania."I told them and Malik frowned.

"Why Perania?" he asked.

"Well Perania's capital has the best security system in all the kingdoms." Phillip stated and I agreed.

"Princess Laura is a friend of mine. She will hide us for time being."

"I still don't think....." Malik said and I shook my head.

"I am not waiting to be taken back by Lykos!" I said fiercely and stood my ground. Malik looked at me with a blank stare then agreed. I didn't mean to raise my voice but I knew Lykos was coming. I could feel his presence in the vicinity. I tried not to show that I was scared because I could always feel him. It was like I couldn't shake the dreadful feeling of him off me. Malik assured us that he knew the way to Perania so we let him lead the way. After we had been walking for hours in the forest the sunset came about quickly and we had to set up camp.

"Do you think Malik is leading us to Perania?" Phillip asked as we headed into the forest to search for food while Malik got the firewood.

"At this point, I'm not really sure. We've barely travelled anywhere besides our kingdom. We have no experience in the real world. But I trust him." I said with a smile as I remembered his kiss.

"Too much if you ask me." Phillip murmured but I heard him and frowned. He must have realized I heard him because after that he said, "He was a stableboy and now he's a hero. That doesn't raise questions in your head?" he asked. I mean I really didn't question anything because I barely knew about these things. He showed me the enchanted forest which he said that he had stumbled upon. From that I understood that he knew more about the world than me which I accepted because he had the freedom to go anywhere he wanted.

"Sometimes it does but I can't forget that he saved me. I am really grateful for that and I will always be in his debt." I said as I spotted a fruit bush not too far from us.

Phillip sighed loudly. "I guess when you put it that way....." I didn't hear what he had to say next because I ran to the blueberry bush and started plucking berries.

"I am also grateful for magic." I said as I smiled and he caught up with me and gave me a hug from the back. I cherished the hug and our friendship. I was glad that he was here. I had never really gone anywhere without him. He was always on my side. Once we were done, we went back to our campsite. We didn't stay up because we were all exhausted . I slept besides Winter who was warmer than me.

~~~

I woke up so quickly when I heard many voices of men around us. I saw a soldier with my kingdom's symbol on his chest try to pull me away from the boys. I started to struggle as he dragged me across the rough forest ground. I started screaming but nothing was happening. I looked back to find both of the boys occupied. I looked around for a huge stone and threw it at his face. He let go of my leg immediately. I ran as I ducked my head so I could reach Winter, Two soldiers were trying to calm her down but she kept on kicking at them. I was so close to her, until another soldier grabbed me.

Suddenly, I could feel this new feeling erupt inside me making me warm. I was angry, angry that I had run away from the life I had known all my life, angry that my father died, angry that Anastacia betrayed me The anger felt electric and toxic. I had had never felt like this and it made me feel exhilarated. I was tired of being helpless not able to do anything. I glared at him as I grabbed his arm that he used to grab me and he screamed in pain. I didn't know what happened but I got away quickly and ran to the direction Winter was at. The feeling was starting to subside and with that my strength as well. I looked at my hands that were warm but didn't think much of it. Winter was farther away from the fight. She had managed to chase those soldiers off. I got on her quickly went searching for Phillip. I found him fighting a soldier and losing. We made eye contact and he nodded to me. I passed between him and the soldier and he got on the horse quickly.

We searched for Malik and we found him. His back was turned to us. When he turned I saw Lykos smiling at me."I found you my little wife. Did you miss me?" He said with an evil smile and I stopped.

"Why would I miss you? You're the most vile and disgusting person I've ever met." I told him as I glared at him.

He still smiled as if I hadn't insulted him. "Come to me."

I was going to tell him off until Winter started moving on her own. I tried to make her stop with the reigns but she wasn't listening to me. "Winter!" I screamed. I gave her a harsh kick in the side but it did nothing to her. I tried getting down but something from the back held me in place. I turned around to find Malik looking at me with pity and comfort. I looked around and found we were moving fast on Winter and Phillip was in front of me. I sighed. " Lykos wasn't there, was he?" I asked.

"No he wasn't." Phillip answered me from the front.

"Hold your left hand in the moonlight." Malik instructed me. His grip on my waist became tighter as I stretched my hand to reach the stream of moonlight that was shining in between the canopy of trees. I gasped when I saw the engagement ring was still on my finger. I took it off two day ago before I got in the carriage to leave for Kakon Empire."I suspected that you might have a shifter's ring." He told me and the from the way he said it I knew it wasn't good.

"What is that?" I asked.

"It's a ring given to the married. It's like a wedding ring." Him saying that made me start removing it but I tugged and tugged and it didn't come off. My finger started to hurt. "You cannot remove it unless you both agreed on a divorce, touch the tree of divortium or you cut your finger."

"The tree...."

"....is in the dark forest." I shivered at the thought of the forest. A few fairies had told me that creatures like cyclops and hydras lived in there and from the vivid descriptions they gave me, I do not want to head in there. I don't even know how I got out of there last time.

"How did any of us not see it?" Phillip asked.

"Well it is magic. When a shifter changes, it appears somewhere on their body. Also Lykos must have chosen to make the ring hidden. But the moon unveils all."

"I guess I'm getting my finger cut off." I said with confidence but I was terrified of the pain that was going to come with it.

"This stuff is fucked up." Phillip said and I swat him.

"Language!" I said. "I know we were out here but we were still nobility. We shouldn't let our language become lazy." Phillip looked back at me and smiled and I smiled back. We had decided that once we had gotten away from the soldiers we would cut my finger then head to Perania. I could see that Malik was still reluctant about it but I was glad that he agreed.

~~~~~~~~~

"This is really going to hurt. I would have preferred you unconscious but you can't in case more soldiers get here." Malik told me as he held a sword in his hand. I closed my eyes and felt Phillip grab me so I wouldn't move anymore. i closed my eyes as i felt the sharp edge of the sword on my finger. I screamed as I felt the sword press harder into my finger.

I wasn't sure what happened by the last thing I remembered when I woke up was Malik cutting my finger. I looked around to find I was on Winter but the boys were on the ground walking beside the horse. Phillip was holding Winter's reigns. "How are you feeling Lena?" Phillip asked and I lifted up my right hand. I didn't want to see my left.

"You passed out from all the pain." Malik said and I nodded. I didn't have the energy to say much.

"We're headed to Perania. We're avoiding the main road though." Phillip told me and I nodded again grateful that they were trying to keep me updated even though my body ached all over. I didn't get why because only my finger should be feeling pain. I guess because magic was involved that was not the case.

We traveled in silence and stopped only when carriages passed by. We wanted to travel into Perania secretly without alerting anyone. I didn't know if a lot of people knew what I looked like but it was a precaution. The whole of next week was traveling and camping. Not much happened and we were grateful for it. The pain started to reside ad I could let the others use Winter to travel. Perania towns were different than Astraea's. They were colorful and more lively and definitely loved to party. We could hear the excitement everytime we went into town to buy food. I had no idea where Malik got the money from but I was grateful.

It wasn't long before we reached the capital. The city looked lively and the people were decorating the city beautifully. "What celebration do you think they must be having?" I asked but even Malik couldn't answer.

"We should look for an inn to stay in then plan on what we're going to do from there." Malik instructed us. We passed by a lot of people and kept our heads down. Luckily no one bothered us. I guessed people didn't care that we looked ragged and filthy. Phillip ended up finding a cheap inn near the castle which was perfect. Once we headed there we heard a little family speak of the princess's birthday. I gasped once I realized who they were talking about.

"It's Laura's birthday!" I said and I immediately felt bad that I had forgotten about it. But then again so much had happened to me in the past ten months to the point I couldn't even get a break. Once we got into the inn and after the innkeeper looked at us questionably we immediately went up. I went straight to the tub to look at it. It wasn't as big as mine but it was decent. After a little while I got a worker to fill the tub for me. I was excited to shower. I hadn't showered in a week and I felt and smelled filthy.

After everyone got clean we all sat on one bed and started talking on how we would speak to Laura. " We could use her birthday ball as a way to enter the castle to see her." I suggested.

"That is so dangerous." Malik said with a frown.

"What choice do we have?" Phillip asked. " I know we can't enter in there as ourselves because we will alert everyone that we're here."

"But we can enter through the back as servants. It's always easier that way." I said and Phillip and I gave each other a high five.

Malik sighed. "You two watch too many plays. It's not that easy."He walked towards the window to look at the castle."I'll check around the palace when it gets dark. Never go into battle without first scouring the palace so you can make your moves." I nodded. Later on after eating a meal, Malik suggested phillip and I should sleep and to have energy for tomorrow. We agreed and I watched as he gave me a wink before leaving the room. I went straight to bed, excited that I was going to meet my friend tomorrow.