Chapter Twenty-One

Opening an eye to stare at the guard gently escorting her through the trail, Angelique knew this was her only chance to act. Thankful he was carrying her bridal style, she could sneakily look beyond his shoulder at her environment. They were two trails away from the lake since the guard was carefully walking and holding her as if she was glass. Scrunching up her nose and forming a grimace on her face, she whimpered in pain.

She was pretending, but the guard knew not of the ploy.

His grip around her slightly slackened as he began to panic.

"What is wrong, your highness?"

Frantic, he spoke.

Placing a hand against her head, she gasped.

"There is a pain in my head that will not go away."

Gently, he placed her on the ground, which she willingly complied, but she acted faint, and with a low groan, she swayed on her feet. The sweating guard quickly caught her before she could fall onto the ground.

"I feel faint."

She moaned, and the guard quickly brought her to stand against the bark of a tree.

Looking left and right to assess the better direction to run for help, he was incredibly nervous.

“What should I do, your highness?”

Angelique expressed more of her theatrics by sliding to the ground with her eyes closed. She also held her breath and prayed that her plan would work.

"Your highness? Your highness?"

The guard was helpless as he gently shook her shoulders, but she was not waking up.

Biting his lip, as he made the hastiest decision in his life, he was about to lift her bridal style in his hands to run back to the castle, but before he could, a stinging sensation erupted behind his head.

Groaning, he stumbled away from her.

Unable to understand the unexpected assault, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell to the ground with a loud thump.

As she heard the noise, Angelique released the breath she was holding and opened her eyes. She had summoned a root while he was distracted to wrap around a stone to hit against his head.

Creeping towards the guard, she placed a finger underneath his nose and sighed with relief, for he was alive. Healing the bleeding wound, she murmured with a frown.

"I am sorry.”

Standing, she looked left and right. Seeing both sides of the trail was clear; she allowed her roots to wrap around the guard's feet and dragged him underneath a tall growth of green and lush shrubs.

Without delay, she rushed out of the trail.

Digging and using her enhanced telepathic technique to alert Diana of their departure, Angelique ran like the wind through the unfamiliar forest.

Placing her hands on her abdomen, she had made the best choice. And though she did not know where she was heading, her determination to escape was prevalent.

Sooner than she expected, sounds and loud shuffling of feet were following behind her. That alerted her that the real danger was yet to come, for the footfalls became far more demanding, the gruff voices and loud barking of people deplorable.

They had found out her location faster than she had presumed. That meant they had been spying on her in the shadows. Her earlier encounter was not her imagination.

Quickly dodging loose branches that would cause devastating damage to her face, her heavy breathing echoed in her ears.

“Why are you running away from us?”

Hearing the worried voice of Oshio mingled amongst her pursuers, Angelique shivered when the loud bark of Rolando soon followed suit.

“We will not harm you, AT LEAST NOT TOO MUCH PRINCESS!"

Oshio snapped towards Rolando. She was displeased.

“What do you think you are doing, dog? You will spoil my plan!”

Brushing her comment aside with a growl, as he briefly glanced at her, Rolando was indifferent.

“The moment you allowed me to meet her, your plan, Queen Oshio, was ruined!”

Oshio’s face grew disgruntled, but she was basking with eternal glee because her plan was working out just fine. Earlier she had seen when Rolando’s nose had flared. His black eyes, falling onto Princess Angelique’s stomach. It was the perfect indication to clarify the discovery of a babe. After hearing this information, she had twisted her plans from another angle.

Feeling her motherly instincts taking over, for she knew they were haunting her down to hurt the innocent babe in her womb, Angelique ignored their voices.

Never had she felt so afraid in her life like now.

She realized the babe within her womb was going to make life a bit more challenging.

Nonetheless, she had already made up her mind to keep him/her. She was ready to face and fight everything that posed a danger to her babe and her life.

Pulling the skirts of her dress over her knees, she avoided the horrifying doom of tripping over the large tree roots.

Oshio’s goody-two-shoes attitude had cracked as a sinister smile spread across her lips.

She spitted out poisonous words.

“Princess, do not be stupid! You are on my Land! No matter what you do, you cannot escape without my help! Just surrender while I am still friendly, or else bad things will happen."

Viciously, she further barked.

“I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO LEAVE WITH THAT HYBRID IN YOUR WOMB! IT DIES TODAY!"

Her threat was both daunting and promising, her green eyes shining like the brilliant sun shining above Angelique's head as she permitted her water bow and arrow to materialize in her hands.

It was the Royal Object bestowed to the Water Nymph Kingdom by the Supremes. Eyes burning with determination; she was going to test it on her gullible and foolish future Queen.

Hearing Diana’s loud neighing in the distance, Angelique breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Suddenly, sharp blades made from condensed water flew above her head and etched themselves in the bark of trees. Gasping, she almost tripped from the unexpected revelation.

Catching her-self by gripping tightly to a sturdy branch, Angelique uprooted the roots from the ground to block the other incoming blades.

Straightening herself, she started running again.

Breaking through a sudden clearing, she spotted Diana fighting off a few Water Nymph Warriors with her elongated horn.

Whispering for a large ball of water to form in her hands from the sharp blades etched in the trees, Angelique sent it flying in all the clueless and surprised Water Nymph Warriors’ direction.

They went flying and falling down a cliff where a beautiful waterfall flowed into a dark chasm.

Jumping with the help of tiny saplings, she fell onto Diana’s back and griped her long mane in her fingers since the people had removed her saddle.

She called forth the thick roots from the trees and formed a large barrier to block the path of her pursuers.

That included a few Lycans.

She soon summoned a powerful gust of condensing air to surround the roots and push it against them. It destroyed a large part of the forest.

Watching her assaulters flying into trees and falling dead from the terrible hit, she turned Diana in the direction of the large waterfall. It was the secretive borders of the Water Nymph Kingdom and was impossible to cross.

She was trapped.