Chapter Seven.
Dante's POV:
When I had first locked eyes with the princess my heart skipped a beat, I've heard many rumors of the princess' beauty but seeing her face to face all I could think was how all those rumors didn't do her justice. Walking in she already had managed to get my attention, and while we spoke she had a aura to her that was capable of a calming dragon.
Her hair was a lovely chocolate brown color reaching her lower back, her eyes were hazel with little specks of green. Just like her father, her skin was caramel in color. She had lots of freckles on her arms and face. She was short for an elf. I remember finding it a bit difficult to keep a straight face while trying to make sure her wounds were clean. Not wanting to be in the same room as her longer than necessary I made sure to leave as soon as was done. Before covering the cuts with cloth I noticed that they had already started healing but instead of telling the princess wanted to see what it would look like when I brought her breakfast in the morning.
From a young boy my father taught me how to treat any wound, ranging from cuts to burns from any object, throughout my entire childhood there were only two things that I could remember about my birth parents before they passed, my father had always said, "Son, if there is anything you should learn from your old man is to never trust anyone but yourself, not even your own blood because people can be snakes. Always remember boy knowledge is power and the more someone knows about you, the more power they have." I felt proud to show the princess my handiwork.
Pride filled my chest whilst I closed the door, making my way to the backyard. I heard the front doors close, meaning that everyone had retired for the night, I walked through our maze of corridors when my brother saw me with the bucket of water and all the medication needed to clean her wounds he stopped me saying, "brother, where have you been? You missed the funniest fight, a newcomer tried to convince one of our regulars, you know Sam? To a drinking contest. Guess who he chose? Sam, I mean come on he's the heaviest drinker I know. But enough of that I see you've been busy?"
Flinging his arm around my neck, he took some bottles of the medication.
I just smiled and shrugged at my brother, somehow I always managed to miss the action.
We walked in comfortable silence down the stairs. I was one for small talk, I always felt it was unnecessary. My brother on the other hand never keeps quiet, for the twenty-seven years that I know him, he's never been able to keep his mouth shut for longer than 20 minutes. Opening the backdoor and walking to the sink I threw the water out whilst my brother packed the medication bottles away. After rinsing the bucket I walked back in and locked the door placing it on the rack to dry and leaned against the wall. I looked to my brother and said, " Ai man I've got to talk to you real quick." Putting the last bottle away he looked at me crossing his arms to his chest, "it's about the girl, isn't it? I must say she looks kinda like the princess that went missing a few weeks ago." Smiling I replied, "it is actually about her, umm she needs my help getting back to her parents and I was thinking maybe I should help her. Maybe I could leave you here to manage the bar while I'm gone?"
Dimitri slowly nodded his head, "So she is the princess. Yeah man, I can do that for you. I do have some questions though, like how did she end up here so far away from the castle, how did she get those claw marks on her shoulders, do you believe whatever she's telling you?"
Chuckling I spoke, "well to be honest man, she says she just woke up in the middle of the forest and got attacked by a Griffin that's how she got those marks." Brushing my hand over my chin I continued, "surprisingly I do believe her and at least if I get her safely back to her parents I'll get something out of it so it's a win-win situation." If I had to be completely honest with myself I didn't feel like walking across the country, but I somehow felt compelled to.
Agreeing my brother said, "Okay then, when are you'll planning on leaving?" Standing up straight I headed toward the door with my brother calmly walking behind me I said, "I don't know, maybe two days from now. I still need to sort some things out before we leave but I will let you know before we go." Walking back up the stairs to our bedrooms Dimitri said, "okay." With that, we went our different ways for the night.
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Khaalida's POV:
Not getting much sleep made me grumpy, I was worried that the wounds would become infected because I took so long to get it treated. The pain in my shoulders had long gone by the time the birds were chirping outside. Before the sun made its grand entrance through my window I'd made the bed up, there were no hair products so I just rinsed my hair and let it air dry. There were two mirrors in the bathroom, one on top of the sink and the other by the bath. Opening the taps to run a bath, I looked at myself in the mirror. I hadn't seen what I looked like since entering this world, my appearance hadn't changed, I just looked 'better'. The first thing that grabbed my attention was my hair, it was longer than before, reaching my lower back it also seemed to be full of volume. My eyes had more life in them, my skin was more radiant making my freckles more noticeable My physique, on the other hand, was the same, I was definitely not skinny but neither was I fat.
Climbing into the bath I removed the cloth from the night before. Turning to look at the cuts I froze, I wiped the mirror with my hand to get the dust off. I opened my mouth to say something but no words passed my mouth, the claw marks were completely healed, the only evidence of there ever deep cuts was the scars left behind. Not knowing what to do I convinced myself that it was the herbs Dante used to clean them the night before. Getting into the shower I would occasionally look at my shoulders just to make sure they were really gone. I placed the dress I had on, on the toilet.
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[Chapter quote: "darling, you are magic."]