"I feel like I ran more than the whole 21 years of my life combined in the past few days," thought Alexandra to herself. After getting a few days of proper rest in the village she is again back to the starting point of being chased by someone wanting her dead. She had been skeptical of the 2 people who saved her so she does not reveal much about herself. "I was stupid to give my real name, should have used an alias," she thought.
She is looking for ways to get out of this sticky situation. "Should I go hide in the forest again?" she pondered. She had thought no one would come looking for her since Lena pretended to be her that night. Guess it did not work out. If they are looking for her now does that mean Lena is still alive? But. There is very little chance of that happening with the amount of pursuers she had that night.
"Even if I hide in the forest, they will continue to look for me until I'm dead," she thought. Is there a way to make her killers move on and not look for her anymore? She pondered for a while but she can't think of an answer. "I guess for now I'll hide again. I might got some idea later"
She ran straight to the forest and went to the deeper part where the trees and bushes are much more dense. She saw thickets of wild blackberries along with some gooseberry bushes and decided to hide inside. The blackberry thickets have some spikes which she is familiar with given she ran straight in them the other night and came out needing bandages all over her body. But the gooseberry bushes are safe to hide in. With the spiky shrubs nearby, her pursuers would think twice before looking for her here she thought.
She crouched and waited in silence inside the bushes. After a while she heard footsteps coming nearby. She peeked out of the space between the leaves and saw a black-clothed man with a sword on his side. That must be the guy she thought. Most people coming to the forest would be foraging or hunting for animals, in which cases they would either bring bow and arrows, or some kind of bags to store the fruits and plants. This guy brought neither.
The guy is fully clothed in black and seems to be looking for something. There is still quite some distance between them but she could feel her heart beating louder. The memories of how the servants of the house were killed in front of her eyes kept flashing by. She felt her body trembling in fear but she refused to fall here. She must find some chances to run away. The man moved closer to the thicket that Alexandra is hiding at. She felt her heart skip a beat when the man moved closer and closer. Her body had cold sweats all over. She held her breath, afraid of being heard by the man.
"Please…" Alexandra silently prayed in her heart. The man moved closer and looked straight at the thicket where Alexandra is at, seemingly to notice someone hiding there. The area is the densest part of the thicket making it a good place to hide in. The man looked at her before waving his hand, sharp spears of ice showing up above his hand. "Ice elemental!" Alexandra yelled in her heart. "Not good,'' she thought. She wanted to move but if she did the man would definitely notice the sounds and be more suspicious of the thicket. The man flicked his fingers and the ice spears shot straight at the it.
!!!
Alexandra held her breath and held her mouth with both hands. She closed her eyes. She is determined to not let out any sound even if all the spears were to pierce straight at her body. Of course, if she's unlucky enough and the spear pierced somewhere fatal she would die right here.
The spears pierced some areas of the thicket strongly, making the whole of it shook. Alexandra felt the cold air at the right side of her head and she opened her eyes softly. She was saved. She saw one ice spear dangling right near her head, just over 10 centimeters more to the left and it would have pierced her. She saw that all the ice spears have missed her.
The man looked around for some time before moving to another area of the forest. After seeing the man left, Alexandra finally exhaled a mouthful of air. She breathed a sigh of relief. She pondered over her choice of actions, one false move now could kill her. Should she move out of the forest or move to hide somewhere else? Or should she stay here and wait until nightfall before moving somewhere? The man seemed like he won't stop looking for her until he found her.
After confirming the man had moved quite far, Alexandra decided to move out and head back in the direction of the village. Staying in the forest until nightfall had its benefits but she could be found by other animals and be eaten by them instead if she waited here. If she moves carefully and can somehow move to another village, she might buy some time before the man could find her again. It will be best if she could kill him right here seeing as the man is alone. If he can't find her, he might come back with a large group of people and hunt her down. She really wishes she had the ability to kill him but she can't do anything about it. She really can't fight the man.
She moved silently while checking out her surroundings, sometimes hiding in bushes or behind a tree for a while before moving again. After a while, she could see the edge of the forest and houses of the village. She is feeling relieved and happy. The question is what should she do after getting out of the forest. Seeking shelter in the village again seems pretty stupid since she have been betrayed once and got a killer hot on her tail. She really can't trust anyone she thought. She just has to depend on herself.
A shadow silently moved from the top of a tree. The shadow moved to jump to another tree branch and jumped again, getting closer to the trees near the forest's edges. "Found you!" the man said while jumping down from a tree.