Chapter 5

I quickly hid together with the mysterious man behind a bush and waited for the owner of the footsteps to reveal themselves. After some time, a man appeared before my eyes. I hid deeper into the bush so that they could not see me, but then the man raised his nose to the air as if he was trying to sniff something.

I did not understand why he would sniff the air and I thought maybe I was smelling of too much perfume so I sniffed my own body and saw that I really was smelling of perfume… a lot of it. I tried to turn to the mysterious man beside me for enquiries but yet again the man had already disappeared without my knowledge.

“Talk about reliable” I whispered softly under my breath, as I looked at the man who was still searching for someone. After sometime, he finally left, since he didn’t sense anyone. His gait was so majestic and I could see that he was one of the armies in charge of the tunnel.

I popped my head out of the bush and made sure there was no one else before following the first path I saw. There were actually two paths but I went through the path that was more stylish and beautiful, with each sides of the path designed with beautiful orchids and I felt like touching them.

There was this adrenaline rush in me to venture deeper into the path and I stopped one second when my stomach growled. Pressing a hand on my stomach, I frowned. I didn’t prepare any food to eat and didn’t know that the moment I left the palace, I would be hungry. I felt like a fool and continuously kicked some pebbles on my way.

I suddenly felt pain on the back of my head. Someone smacked something against my head and I groaned in pain. I pouted and swerved my body to the side so I could see the person who hit me on the head. It turned out to be that mysterious man who continuously disappeared from my sight.

“You are so clumsy” he chuckled to me, and I tilted my head to the side, not understanding what he meant by me being clumsy. Once again, I witnessed the beautiful smirk on the man’s face and it made me remember that I had not asked of his name.

“You have not told me what I should address you as!” I asked while rocking my legs back and forth in a pleased manner not noticing that his face had changed, I realized it too late when I raised my head up and saw him smiling again.

“Is my name that important?” he asked yet again, always sarcastic as always as if he didn’t know that a name was very important. I watched as he jumped down from the tree and walked up to me. Something was behind him, but I couldn’t see, I became curious.

“Judging from your eyes, you want to know what I am hiding behind my back, right?” he smirked and I just had to nod since that was definitely what I wanted. I watched as his hand which were hanging behind him revealed itself and within his grasp was a roasted chicken, at least that was what it looked like.

I looked at him oddly with my brows furrowed, “Are you my guardian Angel or something? Did you know I would get hungry Or its just mere coincidence?” I had to ask, my voice sounding a little bit high-pitched and my mouth was slightly salivating. This amused the mysterious man very much judging from the warm smile on his face.

“You can say guardian and you can say I knew, take it however way as you wish” he said and that only increased my confusion but I knew it was useless trying to get information from him so I quickly took the chicken and sat down on the floor to eat. I removed the mustache on my face, they were so itchy and I also removed the cap.

“If anyone saw you right now, they would never think you are a princess instead they will call you a bandit.” he interrupted me, while I whipped my head to look at him. Whatever he said made sense because it would have been good if I was a bandit, I would steal and still get away with it.

I chose to ignore him since I was eating. I was taught to never talk while eating and frowned when I remembered my childhood days. Times when I was loved and felt like a real princess, the way I was eating the chicken slowed down for a bit and The Mysterious man noticed it.

“You can call me Mist” he said and this finally grabbed my attention, he finally told me his name, something I have been waiting for a very long time, well at least for two days.

I immediately ranted about everything that I wanted to say to someone for the past few days, and I was surprised he listened to everything, because he was just nodding and asking questions that were necessary.

“I know about all of this” he said again shocking me to the core. I first doubted the ethnicity of what he called himself as but it was the truth because he knew that I was hungry and also knew about my pasts and present life.

“You have to take care of yourself, because this is just the beginning but something is coming your way so you have to prepared!” he warned me. I couldn’t help but shiver and my mind suddenly got swept by waves of curiousity. All this talk now made me lose my appetite and I reluctantly stored a chicken leg in a piece of clothes.

“What is coming my way?” I asked as I enthusiastically stretched my hand to catch his but my hand went past his leg, it was then I knew that he was really my guardian Angel, he didn’t answer but his body faded before my eyes, and I did not know why tears trickled down my eyes but I felt something live me.

I suddenly felt like I was left alone and it was only me and no one else in the world to worry about me. I started walking on the beautiful part, it was no longer beautiful but I still felt venturing deeper into the woods.

After sometime the trees became dry and creaky when the wind blew, it was getting scarier and I rubbed my hand on my arms to lessen the chill I felt, no matter how much I felt like turning back I just couldn’t.

They were not any beautiful orchids on each side, it was filled with dead black leaves as if something contaminated the whole area, and I flinched when I heard the crows and reluctantly started running with my eyes closed.

I didn’t want to die now when I had not done anything at all. I continued running and did not realize it until I stumbled into a cave. Opening my eyes, all I could see was total darkness. It was so dark and musty that I coughed, feeling choked.

There was a sound of clanking chains which made me stop what I was doing, and try to continue walking but then I tripped over a stone and fell to the floor, the clanking of chains echoed again and I became more curious as to what that was.

I looked at the reflection from aside and tried to find the wall, immediately I touched the wall everywhere lighted up, and I was amazed at what I saw, a hand was pressed over my gaping mouth as I looked at the monstrous yet furry thing chained to huge boulders at the side.

It looked easy to remove to me. It was at this moment that I remembered the creature before me. It was something I read in the myths and also heard from the people. It talked about a monster in the woods that was huge with sharp teeth and long claws capable of tearing it's prey into shreds. This beast was fearsome at night but was kind hearted an handsome like a man at day time. The beast was a werewolf. It was a man who was cursed and chained to live the rest of his life in this cave. I thought it was just a myth and there was nothing to it but seeing the creature right in front of me, I just couldn’t help but think about it…

I slowly approached the creature without even knowing it and it seemed to notice my movements so it raised its head up and glared at me with its golden eyes. I felt frightened for a second and stopped in my tracks but then I saw this pained look in its eyes and I felt like releasing it from its suffering.

I unconsciously stepped forward but then the creature growled, as if warning me to not to move an inch, just as stubborn as I always was… and am still stubborn. I continued to move my legs till I was just a meter away from the creature.

The creature bared its fangs at me, and I could see his elongated canines. I was about to touch the snout of the beast but that was when it snapped, it opened its jaws and bit down at me, but I quickly withdrew my hands and stepped back very scared, but that was not all…

The beast tried to step forward obviously still trying to bite my head off…

“You stink, get out of here, you disgust me!!” the beast roared in human language. I got very scared and quickly left the cave but I didn’t see where I was going and ran down a slope…

I was still shocked as to why it would talk and why it growled at me. Remembering the look on its eyes, I couldn’t help but feel pity for it. I really wanted to free him but I was still scared and shocked.