Before Ophelia could stop her, she already walked out of the small house and ran towards the dark woods only to realize that her small dagger would not be strong enough to cut some woods.
Cutting some small branches that she could with her bare hands using the force of her body, she collected a good amount of wood to spend the night.
Just when she was about to pull the last one, she fell from the tree she had climbed upon. Her back hit the ground and a small shriek escaped her lips.
She winced in pain as she tried to move but the height was too much and the fall was too hard. She felt like her leg and back were broken and no matter what she did, she could not move.
She looked at the sky but the deep forest was dark enough to swallow all the light and make it the darkest night.
With all her force she tried to stand and walk but her knees gave out and she stumbled on the rock and fell again.
"Aah" her feet hurt and her knees got scratched but more than that the thought of being alone hurted her. She could not have shown it in front of Ophelia as she was busy being the strong girl.
She had lent her shoulder to her while keeping her heart numb, but now that she was alone, the death of her parents, the dying face of her father and his last words started to haunt her.
It was all because of her!
She brought her knees closer to her breasts and hugged herself.
Sitting there holding herself, her cries turned louder as she did not need to hide her pain. There was no one to judge her. She had run into the deep forest where no one could find her.
She gasped for the air as she felt pain covering her body. Her chest was paining and her breathing was troubled due to the fall and crying painfully. Her cries and gasps filled the whole forest.
Thinking she might have heard wrong, she resumed crying, but then she heard the growl again as if someone was wincing with pain. She stopped crying at the sound of screaming as it became clearer. It was coming from behind her.
She was scared, anxious yet curious of where the sound was coming from. Trying to find something for her protection. She held a broken branch in her hands that looked sharp enough to scare a small animal and strong enough to beat the knights.
But when she turned there was nothing there. She slowly crawled away putting the pressure on her hands when she felt sticky and she was sure it was not mud.
With dread, she moved her hands closer to her face only to see that it was covered in blood. Finally the thick metallic smell filled her nostrils and she felt goosebumps all over her body.
All the colors drained her face when she heard that wail again. She even forgot how hurt or heartbroken she was! All she remembered was fear that was slowly crawling in her heart.
"Who is there?" she shouted at the top of her lungs yet the sound was hardly audible in the dark forest.
Was she hallucinating or was this area haunted as the maids have told. She had often heard the maids talking that no one ever returned from the dark forest. Her breath hitched and her grip on the branch tightened.
She cursed at her foolishness to come this far when she could have woods from nearby trees too. The truth was she wanted to hide away and relieve her pain.
The dark night was making her feel miserable and all the courage she had shown far away had exhausted her.
"Ahhh" she heard the sound again and dread started to fill her. What if they were the knights and they found her.
Even if she wanted to, she can not run away now. Wait! No! Even if they were the knights, she was alone and in man's clothing. Even if they would see her, they would not be able to recognize her.
She could easily lie that she was a boy living in the tribe and was here to collect the woods.
But what about the blood? She wiped her hands with her shirt and stood up.
That moment she heard rustling of leaves from behind and turned to see who it was but once again only an empty place mocked her.
She tried to walk away, taking slow steps towards her back. She tried her best to be cautious so as not to alert the creature out there. When her feet hit something large and she stumbled and fell on the ground.
Her eyes met the warm eyes and her eyes widened as the misty golden eyes stared back at him.
"Help me!" he whispered and she finally blinked and sat up.
"Who are you?" she asked in a rather cold voice though she could see that the man was injured but that did not mean that she could trust him.
It was not like only good men get injured! What if he was one of them and recognized Ophelia.
"Why does it matter? Ahhh! Do you only help a particular person?" he asked through gasps as he felt like his breaths were getting shallower.
The sharp pain of arrows cut his chances to take breath and his eyes started to blur. He (Olivia, since he thought she was a man) was his only chance now but he could not tell him (Olivia) who he was.
What if he (Olivia) was one of them who had hurt him? What if he (Olivia) tried to take advantage of him after knowing who he was!
Even at the brink of death, he could not make a mistake.
"Tsk, if you are so adamant in hiding your identity. Then why do you think that I would help you?"