*Knock*
*Knock knock*
Someone whispered from the outside, "Princess?"
"Hmm..? Is it.. already morning?"
"Good, you're awake," a deep voice resounded in my ears. "My shoulders are starting to get numb."
I sat up immediately and looked shockingly at the person on my left, "Egon! What are you doing here?"
"I'll head out first," and he left just like that.
My thoughts were, 'Did I just sleep on Egon's shoulder? How did that happen?' Then, I felt something fell on my lap; it was Egon's coat that was draped around me, I think. I folded it and put it on his seat; then, fixed my hair and my clothes before going outside. I went to a nearby river and washed my face with water.
Uncle already prepared breakfast for us, there's fishes from the river and vegetables soup, I think. He apologized as soon as he saw me, "I apologize for the simple meal, Your Imperial Highness. Due to our disguises, we couldn't bring proper meals to prepare; for it needs another carriage to carry it."
"No need to apologize, Uncle. In fact, I've been craving to eat some roasted fish. And this soup smells delicious! Thank you for the food, Uncle," I sincerely smiled at him and I could sense him being less troubled.
We continued our trip after resting for awhile, and here we go again; a quiet and boring trip. I couldn't take it anymore when Prince Egon suddenly asked me with a serious tone while his arms were crossed, "Why did you agree to this trip?"
I shrugged, "So, you do talk. And why not?"
He looked at me with his eyes narrowed, "Do you even know who I am? What kind of person I am?"
"No, do enlighten me," I nonchalantly answered. "But, whatever your reputation or real personality or past is, I don't have a right to judge you nor will I ever have."
He uncrossed his legs and leaned forward from his seat, "Do you know that I kill people?"
I answered him without any emotion, "I heard. Egon, why do you kill? I know it's not for fun. They're probably bad people or someone who wanted to kill you, right?"
He didn't answer me, then, the carriage abruptly stopped. It made me move forward excessively, because the coachman outside was behind me. While Prince Egon reacted immediately by holding me steady on both of my arms.
"Stay here," he told me before leaving the carriage.
After he went outside, I heard an unfamiliar shout, "Kill him!" There's nobody else they'll be referring to, besides Prince Egon.
*clang* *clang* *clang clang*
I kept hearing the clanging sounds of the swords and some inaudible shouts. I was scared; scared of dying, scared for Uncle and Big Brother, and scared for Prince Egon. So, I took out my hidden bow and arrows under my seat; I decided to peek quietly through the sliding windows to see the situation outside. They were all busy fighting each other as I observed the surrounding.
Not far from us, I noticed an archer hiding with his arrow pointing to Prince Egon's direction. I couldn't shout because it may be too late. So, I immediately put an arrow on my bow, ready to be release. I kicked the door open, pointed the arrow to the archer and released it immediately. Then, hid inside the carriage. I knew it wouldn't hit the archer, but it was enough to stop him from releasing his arrow and giving away his hiding position.
I peeked cautiously and saw Prince Egon throwing a dagger which hit the archer's shoulder. But, because of what I did earlier, some of the men discovered that there was someone else inside the carriage. The three of them outside didn't let anyone come near me so I used the chance to observe the area. They were outnumbered, but what the enemies didn't know was that they were fighting against highly-skilled guards in disguises.
Beside the injured archer, everyone else was on the ground fighting them. I decided to use this as a practice ground and aimed at the farthest people from the three of them; I wouldn't want to accidentally hurt them, surely. I aimed at one of the enemies fighting Uncle because most of them were fighting him. As expected, I missed, then, I noticed the three of them trying to look at my direction.
So, I shouted at them, "Don't mind me! Kill them all! I'm just trying to help you! I won't miss next time!"
"Shut the door!" Prince Egon yelled at me.
Then, I noticed someone was about to hit him, "Egon, on your left!"
And I yelled back at him, "See! If I didn't help, you'll probably be hurt, right now! Now, go focus on fighting them!"
I also missed on my second and third attempt. On my fourth attempt, I became even more serious as I locked my eyes on my target. There was no one else far away from them, so I have to be very careful.
"Uncle! Move!" I shouted before I released my arrow; and it hit the man's leg that was in front of Uncle, earlier. If Uncle didn't do as I say, it would be him that was wounded.
It wasn't the time to celebrate, so I got another arrow on my bow. I aimed it at one of the three men fighting Big Brother, and I was able to hit the man in his thigh. Uncle defeated the six men who fought him, then, helped the other two; as Big Brother striked the injured man's chest with his sword.
"Ahh!" The injured archer frightened me when he suddenly showed up with an arrow on his hand, near the carriage. He was getting nearer so I panicked and backed away. He was so close to the door when he dropped to the ground, then, I saw a dagger on his back. Right after, I saw the three of them running towards me, with Prince Egon on the lead.
"Laurana, are you hurt?" I shook my head as a response. "We better move quickly, we don't know if there's more coming. The mountains I reside are near now, we've arrived at Furstenberg."
We decided to leave the carriage and use the horses, instead. There's only three horses so I rode with Prince Egon. Big Brother carried my luggage, my bow and arrow; while, Uncle carried Egon's luggage. We rode fast and used the secret route that leads to Prince Egon's mountains, so we won't have to go through the town with so many people.