Chapter 21- STRANGE WALKIE-TALKIE

Rina's Pov:

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'Highness?' I thought, watching with bated breath as a pair of gloved hands clutched the dark hood of the cloak pulling it off the face of the wearer.

I gasped as I recognized the silvery-white hair,- a dominant trait in the royal bloodline! So the cloaked man was the crown prince of the kingdom?! Then what was he doing here putting on a cloak?

Judging from the way he's been inspecting the walls and the ground,.....Was he searching for something?

"Your highness! I'm sure he didn't know it was you. Please do turn a blind eye to this." The elderly rogue pleaded. The offensive rogue has been killed already but why was this man still pleading? It's quite simple. Rumor has it that once the prince kills someone, he won't stop on just that person. The death card goes round.

"He's been trained to be a killing machine since he was a child" Pyro, the local bar attendant once said. Oher contributions also gave people the chills and they all had one point in common...The prince didn't have a normal childhood.

There was a short silence, followed by the tapping of the prince's shoes as he walked away from the headless corpse of the rogue like he didn't see the other rogue kneeling and begging. "Don't know what mother was thinking," The prince muttered. "Tssk, she always has been crazy."

A tiny squeaking sound drew my attention from the hole, making me look down at my feet thinking I had stepped on a mouse but I saw nothing. Carefully, I resumed peeping through the hole but I couldn't find the prince. I looked at the kneeling man and - wait...oh no, I couldn't find the prince!

A gasp sounded above, making my head swivel upward I'm fear that I had been discovered but I saw nothing.

'Must be my imagination,' I calmed myself as I clutched the cloak's hood tighter to calm my thundering nerves. Peeping back through the hole, I still couldn't find the prince.

This is bad. This is really really bad.

Where was the prince??? Did he discover my presence already?? My nerves are threatening to explode!!

"Aaargghh!! Can you stop doing that already?! I'm getting crushed here! If not for the fact that your hair doesn't smell bad, I might've died already!" A voice yelled into my ears. My heart jumped to my throat with my eyes going wide as the next thing I expected was for my head to go off my body in the next few seconds but nothing happened as I waited.

"I'm still alive?' No one heard that scream?

Or am I finally going crazy?...' My thoughts swirled in my mind as I confirmed I was still the only one behind my cover.

'Was it all in my head then?'

I peered into the hole again only to see that the prince and the rogue were not missing. My racing heart started to calm down. "I knew it must definitely be my mind messing with me, haa!"

I heard that same voice talking whi

"It ..(pant).. isn't..(pant)..cool (pant)." Accompanied with a crawling sensation, the voice came from my neck and I finally figured my mind wasn't the one playing tricks on me. My neck! If I could i would have burst out crying because I had a deep urge to swat whatever it was, off my neck! But I couldn't dare, and the reason being none other than my humble self not ready to die yet because the prince was right at my front! His cloak blocked the hole I was peering through and my body froze.

Whatever was crawling and talking on my neck also stayed still and the fear of being discovered together with ultimate death kept my urge to swat it in check.

"It was right here." I heard the prince say, as he took a step closer. Carefully, I held my breath and closed my eyes but I failed trying to control my pounding heart.

'This is it.'

-oh no, please not this time -

..'This is the end. You should have stayed back there Rina '..

- i can't-

'..But there's no point in staying back there either, you'd just die,'

- was just being hopeful... -

..'Guess you're destined to end here then.'

- I'm not!-

..'You've always been weak anyways. Always been useless.'.

- that is not true. -

..'You've never even shifted'..

- stop it!-

..Never been a true wolf.'.

- stop it .. please.-

..'Say your last prayers while you can Rina'..

"Goddess! What is brother doing here?!" A harsh whisper sounded in my ears, drawing me out of the inner conversation I was having with that dark being. Wait, being? I thought it was myself?

And just what brother was this thing talking about??

This whole situation is creeping me out and I had a sudden urge to leave as soon as I got the chance to.

"Came down to confirm my suspicion and I wasn't wrong. Is brother searching for me? If that witch sent him to search for me then there's no possible way I'm going back to that place. I need to get back up there, right before he catches my scent!" It finished rambling, crawling back up through my hair! My hair!! Oh, how I have suffered!!

Squeezing my eyes tightly shut and clenching my teeth way hard, I endured, trying hard to not just open the cloaks good and swat the living daylights out of whatever talking-walking creature was running around in my hair. It's either endurance or death right now though.

TAP, TAP, TAP..

Strangely, I recognized that sound to be that of the prince's footsteps. From the sound of his steps, he was moving away from my vicinity already. Slowly, i opened my eyes and resumed peering into the dresser's hole.

"If you happen to know her, where was the last place you saw Letitia and what was she doing?" The prince asked.

Still bowing on his knees, the rogue replied, "At the pond near the almond tree, your highness. She was chasing after someone."

"I see." The prince replied.

"Your highness, the limit for the portal will be up anytime soon and I've ordered everyone to round up and start going back to the kingdom. I observed that, ehm, I mean, since your highness came incognito, I thought it might be useful to let you know." The rogue broke the short silence.

"Since you are aware of my presence,then there must be others who know also?" The prince replied, turning his head towards the portal. I moved my eyes towards the portal too and started thinking of how to go back.

"Definitely not!" The man replied with such vehemence that the rumour about the prince being a cruel, low-key killing machine since he was young, popped up in my mind and I got the shivers.

"Oh. That.." the prince said, pausing as if thinking of something before giving a cold smile, "....seems good."

Too bad the man didn't see the eerie smile, else he would've made a dash for his life because his head flew off his body not long after.

I watched with curiosity as the prince kicked the body out of his way and it was strange how within few moments, I was getting used to seeing dead bodies already. 'Was there another motive behind the prince's killing? Why does it feel like he isn't really killing for fun like people say.'

"Mother..Just what are you up to?" The prince mumbled, pulling the hood back over his face. "Time to clean up those walking disasters." He said, vanishing on spot.

'Teleportarion.' I thought to myself, amused. I never thought I could meet someone with gifts because they were very rare but here I was, seeing many gifts being displayed.

It didn't take long for the screams and howls of the rogues to reach me. Undoubtedly, the prince had embarked on a killing spree and with such deadly ability, it wouldn't be too hard to end them himself. What I couldn't understand though, was why all this is happening, but first, I've got to get myself out of this mess.

I turned my attention towards the glowing portal on the hill and it seemed I'll have to go through while no one's watching. Carefully, I started the tedious short journey towards the foot of the hill and... oh no, did I just say while no one's watching?? Take that back.

There were men in black armour with the royal emblem on their chest, guarding the portal!

'Have I been destined to be doomed? Goddess please do something!' I desperately cried inwards.

The whole battle was starting to get more bloody and the only thing keeping me alive was this magical black cloak! One wrong step in this abbatoir of a place and I'll be kissing my life goodbye!