Loreille dashed across the dark tall trees and kept on sprinting further into the forest.
'I can't stop running now! I can't stop running now!!' she screamed inside her mind, ignoring the blisters that had begun to form underneath her feet.
Her limbs were growing numb, her heart beating erratically against her chest and her head growing dizzy but she never stopped for a second to rest. She couldn't let them catch her now.
'Stop right there, girl!' she heard the rough scream of a man behind her almost as if it wouldn't take long until he had caught her.
A sharp chill crawled up her spine, fear began settling in her body. Her breaths came in ragged, uneven gasps, and her vision blurred with unshed tears. She bit her lip hard, willing herself not to sob, but the burning in her chest refused to subside.
'Why? Just why do I have to be the person to take the bad things? I thought leaving as a shadow would make my so-called father forget about me but I guess I was only fooling myself because he had just reminded me that I was still his daughter in the worst way possible.'
Loreille knew she couldn't run any further. She could feel her breath hitching badly, her body sweaty, feet bruised badly, even her dress wasn't spared because it kept on getting stuck to the tree branches and in her frantic effort to run faster she had torn her dress viciously.
She didn't know where she was running to but she knew she would rather die than go back to that castle. After she had ran for another thirty minutes, she could no longer hear the voices of the men that had been ordered by her father to bring her back.
Feeling extremely drained, tired and parched, she stopped running and decided to rest behind a tree trunk.
'Aahhhh!!!!' She screamed at the top of her lungs when she mistakenly stepped on something sturdy that made her trip and fall.
'Ouch! Ouch!!"She grimaced, feeling a sharp cut on her palms and when she tried standing, she felt a sharp pain that passed across her two ankles. She could only sit on her buttocks resting her back against a tree.
'What the hell was that? It was so strong and thick, almost like a human body.' A shiver ran down her spine and goosebumps rose against her skin as she thought.
'No it can be. What could a body possibly be doing in this dark forest?' she quickly refuted her negative thoughts.
At the same time, a sudden gust of wind swept through the trees, parting the dense canopy just enough for a sliver of moonlight to break through. In that fleeting moment, she saw it—pale skin, tangled hair, and dark streaks of blood pooling into the dirt. Her breath caught in her throat. Then, just as quickly, the darkness swallowed it again, leaving her trembling with uncertainty.
Loreille's face was as if she had seen a ghost within that fleeting moment and she began scurrying away like a baby who haven't started walking yet.
'What was that? Was that a dead body?' Her face was immediately drained of its colour and an unnerving feeling began settling within her. The howls of the cold wind intensified the situation and the cold air that slipped through her thin dress drew a sharp shivering breath from her.
'Are my late night fairytale novels becoming realities? Because what in the hell is a dead body doing in the middle of the forest and seeing that the blood on his body is still fresh enough and no rotten smell has started emitting from the body that means it must have happened recently.
'Am I being watched by a ghost or a vampire waiting for the perfect moment to strike before I'm killed in worse ways than this?' Her mind jumbled with various scenarios, each one more terrifying than the last and she couldn't stop her eyes from fleeting back to the unmoving body which she could no longer see but feel.
"I heard the scream from that area, she must be close." She heard a man's husky voice meters away from her and she quickly went into alert mood.
"Why can't these men leave me alone," she cried finding it hard to stand to her feet as she kept on slumping to the floor.
Not knowing what to do any longer, she brought her knees close to her chest as she buried her face in her palms crying vehemently.
'I'm going to be caught. I'm going to be caught' she thought amidst her uncontrollable tears.
She didn't know how or when she felt a figure behind her but she did and when she was about to turn around to see who it was, a hand came clasping around her mouth and waist, stopping her from turning around and screaming.
'Hmph! Hmph!!' she grabbed the hands, trying to free herself but the figure wasn't budging no matter what she did. She thrashed her legs, bit into the hands but still the figure was unmoving.
Stressed and exhausted from running all night, she didn't have much strength left in her body to continue fighting for herself and slowly she felt her eyelids growing heavy.
"Stay quiet, lady. I'm not going to get caught because of you tonight!" The figure hissed through gritted teeth as it applied more pressure that sent Loreille to slumber.
*******
The men who were chasing down Loreille couldn't find her after hours of looking for her in the deep forest.
"We should report back to his majesty that the girl is missing and we couldn't pick up her trace," one of the guards who was exasperated suggested to the rest of his guards.
"But we clearly heard a scream from here. Where did she run off too again?" Another guard who was looking worn out and tired asked.
"This forest is large and too deep," The head guard who was leading them said, swinging his firebrand side to side, "We keep going any deeper into the forest and we will be the ones getting eaten."
The light of some of the guards firebrand were already turned off by the heavy wind so they followed the head guard advice and left the forest.
When they arrived at the castle, the guards went to their various rooms while the head guard went to report to the king.
Dressed in royal robes and pants meant for a night rest, the king sat on his throne reading a scroll with his Chamberlain standing beside him.
The guard walked into the throne room, stopping meters away from where the throne was situated and genuflect.
"Here to give a report your Majesty."
The king who was reading a scroll now averted his gaze from the scroll and looked at the guard- one of his most trusted guard, Thomas- and handed the scroll to his Chamberlain.
"Were you able to find her?" He went straight to the point.
"T-That your Majesty is the reason I'm here." He paused, swallowing nervously before he continued, "We couldn't find her. We even went deeper into the forest but there were no traces of her in the forest although," he paused, hesitant to complete his sentence as the remaining words might cost him his life.
As if the king recognized his fears, he gave himself permission to continue speaking, "Go on, keep talking," he said.
"We heard a loud scream in the forest and it was a lady's voice. There might be a possibility a lion or any of the wild animals residing in the forest must have killed and eaten her."
Angrily, the king stood up from his royal seat and threw a tea cup at the guard which caused a slight cut to appear on his forehead.
"I don't care how you do it but I want her alive and in front of me within a day unless you want your sister to die!" He threatened the guard before walking away with his Chamberlain following behind.
"Your Majesty, the king of Vathosa said that the princess should be ready within a month, what if they can't find her? Would you give him one of the two princesses?"
The king's face instantly contorted in anger as he clenched his fists, no way in hell is he going to take one of his precious daughters to the Vathosa kingdom.
A kingdom of brutality where everything was done with force and held no respect for women. The men there including the guards treated women as if they were shit. They even hit and punished them whenever they dared refuse to disobey them.
"That is why she needs to be found and brought back immediately before that time comes but if she isn't found before that time, then
I will be left with no choice but to choose a maiden who would represent Loreille."