CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Please stop! Stop!” I plead, weeping. His hands around my neck felt like strong irons. When he didn’t leave me, I kicked him hysterically with the plan of shoving him off, but instead, his hands developed much stronger. My throat felt so tight that I could hardly draw in breath. I tried to scream again but couldn’t find my voice.

God help me! I prayed inwardly.

“I am going to make you understand the lesson of your life.” The man voiced his threat, and before I knew it, my back had strongly landed against a tree.

It felt as if my bones had crashed into pieces, but seeing what was behind me, I realized the torture was not the real thing but the cliff standing just after the tree.

Is he going to let me off the cliff to die?

“Let’s not kill her. Remember, the king demands her alive.” I heard one of them say, approaching him from behind.

Their king wants me alive, but not dead. Even though I could feel a lot of pain right now, those words came to me as a little relief. At least he is definitely not going to disobey their king by killing me.

“No, I have to deal with her,” the man said, and he really meant it. “She has to feel the wrath of my anger.”

“You will certainly kill her if you go on torturing her in this way.”

“Let me go!” I sobbed, slowly getting weaker and weaker, and my eyes were gradually closing up.

Suddenly, I couldn’t feel the man’s hands on my neck again. He left me, not because he had a change of mind, but because of something else. I had seen him quickly tug out a short knife from his dress.

My throat felt as though it was bleeding. I coughed irresistibly yet to get myself together when different sounds of yells, loud grunts and screams sipped into my ear. Lifting my eyes, I saw that some of the groups’ men were on the ground, struggling with their bleeding throats.

Who slew them? I can recall stories where people of the same group go against themselves. Inquisitive to see who has decided to be the traitor amongst them, I traveled my eyes further around and then my gaze fell on a tall figure, an average tall young man.

I hadn’t seen him earlier; he looked different and dressed differently from the group. I could only see his back. In his hands, he is holding a sword, swinging the blade swiftly and with infallible precision, slaying the men without exerting much effort. And in no time, he had slain all of the man’s men, leaving them on the ground to breathe their last.

“Who are you?” I heard the man say in an unstable tone. The man’s ability to slay all his men in a heartbeat must’ve dismayed him.

I was shocked too. The young man seemed not to be an ordinary human. Observing him more, I could see that he was wearing a perfectly fitted black robe, embroidered with fine gold threads, in what looked like a royal crest, but his robe looked torn, the torn parts revealing most of his upper body, his long hair tied in a casual ponytail.

Wait! Is he royalty? Curiosity took over me as I waited for him to turn around.

Rosia! You have the opportunity to save yourself now, I scolded myself. What if the young man is another threat? What if he’s here to kidnap you? No, something about the young man felt alright, and assuring as well.

I couldn’t help but stay back and watch the young man.

Soon, he turned around, but half of his face happened to be invisible inside a mask. A black mask was tied over his lower face.

Unable to take my eyes off his upper face, I stared at his features; his dark, nice-shaped eyebrows, well-carved nose, and red flaming eyes. They looked mesmerizing, and something about them felt familiar.

“Who are you?” The man who was torturing me earlier repeated with a louder voice, but his voice still trembled, evidently.

“You are stupid for not recognizing the death coming your way,” the young man said. His voice also sounded familiar, as if I had heard it somewhere in the past.

“How dare you kill my men?... I am not going to spare you.” The man spoke with every retaliation. He sprinted towards the young man to kill but along the line, he met his doom.

The young man had made a quick movement before stabbing him from behind. He staggered a few steps away, fell on his knees, and dropped to the ground.

Watching the never-ending death scenes, I became even more horrified. I stared at the smeear of blood around me. I couldn’t get myself back.

“I am sorry about what happened to you.” The young man said as he dropped his sword. He was coming towards me.

His closeness felt so daring, as I was running out of breath. I struggled to crawl backwards away from him before I remembered the cliff behind me, but then I found something else to stop him.

Quickly taking the sword I found nearby, I got myself on both knees. “Don’t come close to me!” I warned, pointing the blade at him in defense. It’s not like I can fight the person who just killed a man single handedly.

“You have to calm down, Rosia.” The young man said.

He knows my name. Does he know me?

“Who are you?” I asked, boldly, not giving him the least chance to see my fears.

“It’s me.” He said as he took off the mask from his face, revealing his full face.

Huh? The young king of Sidonnia? The king who is supposed to marry me today? He saved me. How was he able to find me? I blinked my eyes severally to make sure I wasn’t imagining things at all.

Before I could blink my eyes and open them again, he had closed the distance between us, standing right before me.

“I am sorry you had to suffer all this.” He said, taking the sword out of my hands. He threw it off. It felt as if he had hypnotized me to the extent that I could not speak or react. I was confused, scared and still in great shock. He pulled me up to his chest, stroked my hair and back.

“It’s alright,” he said, whispering softly.

“They want to kill me,” I sobbed while in his arms.

“Don’t worry, you’re safe now.” He assured.

After a moment, I felt my heartbeat return to a steady beat. I felt relieved knowing that the people who had planned to kill me were all dead now.

But! I guess I was wrong. I suddenly heard a loud grunt, and the next thing, I saw myself struggling in the air with the young king, his hands wrapping around my waist.

Someone had pushed us off the very cliff.