17

I stared at the arrow, and my heart went numb and I saw death flash past my face eyes in a second, I was to scared to lift myself up so I turned my head in the direction I presumed the arrow had come from.

I could see no one, not even Allesio and that caused my heart to race, I stood up hastily and looked around me wondering what was going on. Suddenly, I heard the screeching sound of agony come from my right and I hid myself behind the tree.

Unaware of what or who made those sounds, I kept my head low and pushed myself into the tall grasses beside me, my whole body shook vigorously and for some reason I couldn't fell myself, my body went cold and tears trickled down my cheeks as I cried in fear.

The sound subsided and I peeped through the side of the tree, I saw the figure of a man standing like a raging warrior with his hands spread out across on both sides, I caught a glimpse of his nails and they looked elongated but I believed that was my imagination as it was back to normal when I looked at them again.

Aside from him, another man laid lifeless on the ground, I didn't see his face but I knew there was no life in him as I could clearly see a sword implanted into his chest.

I withdrew my head the moment I realized that the standing man was about to turn around. I pushed myself further into the grass and prayed it would give me the protection I hoped for.

"You can come out now," Allesio's voice startled me before I raised my head to meet his calm glare.

"I told you to stay behind but you chose to be stubborn, now look at how to shiver in fear, let's go," He stretched his hand towards me and I grabbed it reluctantly, I didn't make much effort to stand up myself but he lifted me with ease.

"What was that?" I asked but he ignored me and walked forward why I ran after him from behind.

"What happened?" I questioned again and he turned to me annoyed, and replied,

"You could check for yourself Sage, he is right there , why don't you go there and find out for yourself if you are so curious to know."

His harsh tone were like knives, the stabbed my heart and I felt the pain of being treated like nothing, I turned my head towards the direction of the dead man but wasn't foolish enough to go any closer.

"Thank you," I acknowledged him which was something I was supposed to do in the first place rather than ask him those rhetorical question.

"Follow me," He shrugged, grabbed my hand and walked like we were chased by who knows what. The day got brighter as we will and my breath was heavier owing to the pace at which he walked while holding unto my hand.

We made it out of the forest , and got to the footpath and he kept staring back and forth searching for any security threats. When he was certain that the coast was clear, we got onto the path and walked into the village.

"Do you have an idea where the princess is?" I was thinking about this since we got out of the cottage, "Even if we began this search how on earth would we find the princess?" I asked myself.

"I do not, but I know who to ask," He responded without looking at me, and I wasn't bothered by the attitude either.

As we approached the village, there was pin drop silence unlike it used to be.

I thought that I would see dead bodied all over the place, instead all I saw were piled of properties being burnt to ashes, some buildings has been broken down, dead animals and a while lot of junk scattered all over the place.

"Why are you surprised?" Allesio's question was one of kind, he had forgotten that I was a young maid who hasn't experienced any of that at all.

"I didn't expect this, at least no one died," I replied happily and Allesio laughed hysterically and I stared at him with a question mark visible on my face.

"Aren't you a young one," He uttered before we continued our walk. However he didn't stop staring back and forth. According to him, the streets were empty as most villagers hid themselves, ran for their lives, were taken captive or were dead already.

He also mentioned that the war itself was probably going on close to the palace.

"Where are we going now?

" The palace," He replied before I finished my question.

"Why were we heading for the palace? Does this mean I may get to see the war being fought right before my eyes?" I could only imagine everything that could go wrong at that point.

"Aren't we going into the war front!" I exclaimed and he laughed yet again which made me sound like a fool.

"The kingdom was invaded last night, what makes you think there would still be an ongoing battle, I said the invasion would be centered around the palace not the war, except of course we get there and see knights clashing their swords and playing with arrows," He said that and laughed again and I couldn't help but hit his shoulder for making me look stupid.

Getting to the palace was unexpectedly peaceful, contrary to my assumption, we witnessed no attacks of any sort and I wondered if the fight ended so soon.

We stood before the palace gate and for the first time, it was left opened without a guard or knight in duty, swords and arrows were scattered all over the floor so I could guess the incident that may had taken place.

"Let's go," Allesio spoke to me but I was lost staring at the weapons and used my imaginations to picture the event.