Princess of the Damned (6 page)

“
I will never see you as a woman.”

He rolled over on his back to give her back her space. Night after night he had battled with his insomnia, but that night was different. His body was relaxed enough for his mind to rest. He was able to sleep soundly that night.

The sand had covered
their tracks, but Ce knew his way around the territory. There was only one quick and smooth road connecting the Western and Northern Kingdom. Merchants feared this road because it was plagued with bandits, but the Northern Prince would not find it a problem.

Ce clutched the pale pink gown in his hand as he urged his camel to move forward. When he arrived at the oasis, he found it stuck on a palm’s leaves. He knew for sure it was Nala’s. Her sweet scent still lingered on the garment. He found some comfort that it was the garment and not her corpse left to rot in the desert.

He had expected this. His only hope was that she survived until he could get to her.

He quickly hid the pink gown from view when his sister caught up to his pace. Her attention to details did not let him succeed.

“
That’s her gown is it?” his sister asked.

“
Nothing gets past you, does it?”

“
Do you still want her back?”

“
I will get back what is
mine.
”

His sister eyed the gown in his hand. “What’s left for you? It’s ironic, really. You were saving that beautiful flower for your wedding night only to have your enemies trample all over it.”

He shot her a warning glare and she returned a cold smile. If his sister added another insult to his injury, he might snap.

“
A smart woman knows when to speak and when to shut up. That tongue of yours will get you killed one day.”

She wrapped her arms
around his neck and leaned her body towards him. Sayan grabbed her by the waist, lifted her up from the horse’s mount, and then let her down on her feet. His tunic was so big on her that the collar fell off one shoulder and the length ran to her knees.

The warm sand felt good beneath her feet, so she dug her feet further into the sand and felt something soft and moving beneath her heel. A cobra jumped out of the sand, hissed, and aimed at her calf. She caught it by the neck, its fangs half an inch from her flesh.

A quick swing of a dagger cut its head off and sent it rolling on the sand. Nala looked up. The prince was sheathing his weapon back into a leather case. He picked up the snake’s head, placed it on a rock, and smashed it beneath his boot.

“
You didn’t have to kill it,” she said, “I frightened it first.”

He knelt down on one knee and pulled her ankle toward him. He inspected the length of her leg.

“
Did it bite you?”

She shook her head. “No.”

His expression softened a little. “Be careful where you step. There is no cure to a cobra’s venom.”

“
It will put me out for a little while, but it won’t be able to kill me.”

“
I thought that only men think that they are invincible.”

“
Are you one of those men?” She smiled when his brown eyes met her green ones. “I have heard much about you in the recent year. They say you are only battles away from losing your soul.”

“
You knew where I was all these years, but you never bothered come looking for me?” He interrogated.

“
Were you expecting me?” She asked innocently.

His hand reached out for her slender neck. “And all of these years I kept making excuses for you! You’re no different than any of them!”

“
Why would I look for you? I don’t even know you.” Her reply was as calm as a stagnant surface. The prince loosened his grip on her neck. She looked at him, still perfectly calm.

“
What happened?”

She blinked at his question.

“
What happened to you after you left?”

A whirlwind of sand suddenly surrounded them. A man appeared behind the prince and rested his sharp blade against the prince’s neck.

Nala scuttled back when she saw him.

The man’s hair had the same color and texture as hers. She felt a rush of panic engulfing her. His clear blue eyes were so incredibly cold that it sent shivers down her spine.

The prince pulled up his own blade to block the sharp edge from severing his head. He pushed the enemy’s blade back and rolled onto the sand in one fluid motion.

Nala quickly found shelter behind the prince’s back while he stood in a defensive stance. She tugged on the back of his tunic with shaking hands.

“
Make him go away…” she muttered. “Please make him go away…”

“
I see,” said the man, “he is your lover.”

With those quick words, the man disappeared into thin air.

She had lost strength in her legs, but fortunately the prince turned around to hold her up. She hid her face in his chest to regain some emotional balance.

“
What is that man?” the prince asked, questioning what he had just witnessed. “Don’t be afraid, he’s gone now.”

“
He’s not gone…he’s always around. I could…feel it. He’s always following me.” She sobbed. “I’m so afraid of him. Make him go away…”

“
Do you know him?”

“
I…I don’t want to remember.” She shook her head. She used to be curious about her past, but now it is just too frightening. There was always an overwhelming feeling of anxiety when she tried to remember. Her heart would ache agonizingly. “I don’t want to remember at all!”

She had fainted
in his arms.

Sayan picked her up and carried her to the tent the soldiers had erected for him. The bright sun would not help her condition. The soldiers assumed that she fainted from dehydration, but Sayan knew it was from shock.

He didn’t know what had happened to her after she left him, but he could guess it was traumatic enough for her to reject it entirely. She knew that man, that creature, and she was frightened of him. The Nala he knew was never afraid of anything, so he was stunned when he felt her shaking hands on his back. She never showed a hint of fear, much less screamed out like that. Nala was always curious about her past, but why did she say she didn’t want to remember? This girl was not the Nala he knew at all, but eight years could change anyone.

Is that how long it had been since they parted?

He was dumbfounded at the realization. She must be in her thirties by now, but she didn’t look a day older than adolescence. He reached for her face, sliding his fingers down her cheeks. He was surprised at how soft she was. There was not a flaw on her face that could reveal her actual age.

He placed her on the cushions and made sure she was breathing properly. The fingerprints on the side of her neck made him mutter a curse under his breath. He didn’t think he had used that much force, but the marks were hard evidence. Why didn’t she cry out or beg for him to let go? Other women would have.

Her dark lashes fluttered opened. Her pale green eyes looked up at him, soft and vulnerable. Of all the years he had known her, she had never looked more vulnerable.

“
Is he gone?” she whispered the question.

“
Long gone,” he replied. He had questions about that man, but he decided it wasn’t important. “You truly don’t know who I am?”

“
You are the prince of the Northern Kingdom,” she replied.

“
Besides that,”

“
You are a notorious warlord?”

“
Besides that too,”

She looked up at him with a confused expression. “I couldn’t possibly know another prince.”

Sayan lowered his gaze. “When we get back to the Northern Kingdom, we’ll get you some real clothes.” He changed the topic. “I don’t have enough tunics for the both of us.”

“
I just want to bathe. This is the longest I’ve ever gone without a bath.”

“
Sometimes I wonder why you like to bathe so often.”

“
I like to be clean.”

“
If you were any cleaner, you wouldn’t have any skin left.”

Two soldiers entered the tent. One was carrying a small table and the other was carrying a tray of food. They placed them on the ground next to the cushions, bowed, then left. There was a roast chicken, bread, fruits, and a kettle of wine.

“
I know it doesn’t look appetizing to you, but I promise there will be better food once we returned to the palace.” He pulled out a drumstick and handed it to her. She shook her head, refusing to take it. “You need to eat.”

“
I like fruits.” She reached for the green grapes.

Sayan stared at his reflection in the silverware. Had he changed so much in the eight years that she couldn’t recognize him? Surely his voice had changed, but his appearance hadn’t changed that much, had it?

“
Are you meaning you say that you would recognize me if I were a shepherd and not a prince?”

Nala dropped the grapes onto the floor. She stared at him with an incomprehensible look in her eyes.

“
You said that I look like someone you knew, but it couldn’t be because of my status?”

“
The person I know is only a shepherd.”

“
Are you in some sort of denial or are you just used to strange men whisking you away?”

“
The person I knew would never talk to me like that.”

“
Be damned with the person you used to know!” He flipped the table over with a kick. “I will never be so gullible again!”

“
Say…Sayan?”

“
In the flesh.”

She rose up and leaned toward him. Her eyes were searching for familiar features. He jerked away when her hands reached for his face.

“
Will you answer my question now? What happened to you after you abandoned me?”

“
I didn’t realize you had felt abandoned…”

“
There really wasn’t any other way to feel.”

“
If I had let you stay with me, you would have been captured….maybe even killed.”

“
Instead of asking me, instead of walking the road with me, you made the decision for me.” He scoffed. “I hate people like you the most. I won’t believe anything you tell me again.”

She fell into silence.

“
Why are you marrying the Western Prince?”

She looked up. “Three years after I went into hiding, I got caught. I thought the prime minister had finally captured me, but it turned out to be Prince Ce. He told me he fell in love with me at first sight and wanted me to be his wife.”

“
And you agreed?”

“
There is more to it than that, but yes, I agreed.”

“
Then I’m sorry for intruding on your happiness.”

“
How did you-”

“…
Become Prince of the Northern Kingdom?” he interrupted. “I have you to thank for that. After you abandoned me, I joined the Black Army. I went to war, crushed a few rebellions, and eventually gained the attention of the King. That old man was so afraid of me, or rather, he was so afraid I would rebel against him that he wanted to buy my loyalty with the title ‘Prince’ even though Kings almost never adopt sons. People thought that he had gone senile, but he was quite cunning. He forced me to take an oath to never rebel against him or his descendants and he knows that I am a man of my words. From then on, I do his sinister biddings to help him clear the path for his own son. In a few short words, I became a tool – a weapon.”

“
You are not happy.” It wasn’t a question.

“
I am far from happy,” he admitted. “However, it was a tradeoff I could not refuse.”

The battlefield
of the Eastern Kingdom was littered with rotting corpses. The vultures descended from the sky to feast on the remains. The white fabric of a broken flag was being carried away by the wind up into the air to a nearby city. There was celebration music inside the gated city. Wines were served to the surviving soldiers to commemorate their victory. This small victory would buy them some time until reinforcements arrived.

Drunk with the hope of seeing their loved ones again, the soldiers toasted one another. They could have easily been one of the corpses left out to rot. As much as they like to honor their dead, they did not have the man power or the resources to bury them all. They were confined to the gated city walls for protection in case the enemies returned.

Laughter was cut short when an eerie wind mysteriously put out all of the fires. The soldiers quickly picked up their weapons to defend themselves from the enemies hiding in darkness. They did not know how the enemies had gotten through the gate without their detection, but it wasn’t the time for questions. They needed to rely on their instincts now more than ever.

There were many screams that came to an abrupt end. The shadows were moving in all directions. With every scream, they were one fewer. The fires burned again, spreading light to the surrounding area. There was one soldier left standing, shaking to see his enemies. Bright glowing eyes and jaunty smirks were staring at him. There were so many of them.