The Assassin And The King [Completed]

|Chapter Thirteen : The Cave |

With every passing hour in the lush green forest as I trudge behind the king trying to match his long strides, I feel more and more annoyed. My eyes narrow at the sight of the blood-soaked tunic of the king.

It is obvious that the dagger must've sliced through a whole lot of his skin. The angry tear in his doublet is a proof of it. But the man keeps acting as if it's nothing.

He should really clean that up if he wants to heal faster.

Although I follow behind him quietly, not voicing my thoughts. What do I care? He can do whatever he wants. But when it's apparent he isn't going to halt or mend for himself,

"You should clean your wound." I chew onto my lips wondering whether I should've really voiced it out loud.

Valerian stops on his parade as he turns to me in one single movement, "It's on my back, Miss Winchester. My hands can't really reach there. It'll heal by itself."

Oh.

Oh. Right. Why did you even speak, you idiot? Ofcourse, he would've cleaned it up if he could. And there was no need for you to point it out either!

I keep my mouth shut for the rest of the way. We walk and walk in silence through the muddy, rocky path as the enormous trees tower over us like giants. We halt only for having snacks we got along with us from the carriage. Within few hours, the sun sets but there's no sight of the kingdom yet.

Short cut, my foot. I'm tempted to roll my eyes.

When the dark clouds gather over our heads, Valerian finally halts in front of a cave carved in stone. I raise a questioning brow his way when he turns to me.

"Let's stay here for the night. By tomorrow morning, the gates will open and we'll be in the castle."

"What gates?"

Valerian gives me a hooded look, "You don't think castles have secret passageways?"

My eyes widen momentarily, "Is this. . ."

"Yes, one of them. But they're enchanted to avoid anyone barging into the castle at the dead of night. These passages only open in the day when the guards are stationed. They're shut down at nights."

Not having any words, I follow behind him silently. An involuntarily gasp escapes my mouth when we step through the stone borders of the cave and into it's interior.

"What is this place?" I ask in wonder taking in the interior of the huge cave which had an otherwise small entrance.

The curved walls are carved in grey stones and the floors in rough cement. The cemented ground starts dissapearing into muddy land after few yards where a beautiful lone cherry blossom tree stands in the middle of the vast clearing. Unlike other cherry blossom which has soft-pink petals, this one has silver petals that glows luminously in the dim lighting of the cave. Berries of translucent colour hang from it's branches like diamond earrings dangling from a maiden's ears.

"It's called the willow tree." Valerian's voice snaps me out of my ogling.

When I look at him, he's pointing to the sparkling tree, "It is believed the tree was grown out of a farie plant seed that accidentally dropped here by the hands of a pixie."