Reina: Return of the Princess (*COMPLETE*)

Chapter Twelve

The thought of him watching her, almost made her scream. "Uuuugghh!" she spouted.

"Calix, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, so you don't need to come and spy on me, if that is what you were thinking. Plus, I can take a bath as long as I want - thank you very much." With that, she turned and marched down the path grumbling. She couldn't wait to take a nice cool bath. As she was walking along the riverbank, she stopped under a dried up old tree and took off her shoes and socks. It felt good to be near the water.

As she reached up to take off her dress, a long, thick, snake came out of the tree and lunged for her. She scrambled and tried to dodge it, however, she was too slow. It twisted around her and squeezed. She tried to scream, but all that came out was the last bit of air in her lungs. She could hear the sound of its mouth hissing right by her head. She scratched and clawed at it, but it was no use. She felt herself slipping into unconsciousness, when she saw her rescuer slice the serpent with his sharp sword. He unwound the large snake from around her motionless body. She collapsed as Calix swooped her up off the ground, and carried her back to the campsite in his arms.

When she came to, she was confused, "What happened?"

"Jaculi! What were you thinking walking under an old dried up tree like that. Did you completely forget that the most venomous snake on the planet lives in dried up trees and prey on any living thing that walks under its branches? How are you feeling? You had me pretty worried. You were lucky I was there in time." He put a wet rag on her forehead and gave her a drink of water.

She said, "Wait! How were you there in time? I thought you were up at our campsite? How did you get to me so fast? I didn't even have time to scream out. Did you follow me?" she asked. He looked down sheepishly at the ground, and drew circles in the dirt with his stick.

"How dare you? That is...well, it's perverted," Corinne said, disgusted, as she touched her throbbing head.

"I didn't follow you down so I could watch you bathe Corinne. I followed you because I wanted to make sure nothing happened to you. I would have turned away until you were finished. Anyway, it's a good thing I did. You were a goner. Less than five minutes from being out of my presence and you're one breath away from dead," he said, matter-of-factly.

"Uh-huh, right." She rolled her eyes and turned away.

"What - no Thank you? Well I'm not surprised. I don't think I've heard those two words escape your lips the entire time we've been together. You know, you drive me crazy. Typical Siri," he muttered.

"Me? Uh, don't even get me started. And you know what? I never asked for your help in the first place."

They both sat glaring at each other. After an eternity of silence, Corinne shifted uncomfortably on the ground, "I just want to go home. I miss my family, my friends and I'm worried sick. I don't know you that well, and I'm lost in a forest full of things that want to eat me for their dinner. I'm just sorry if I've been a little rude, that's all."

Calix nodded. "Apology accepted." He grabbed her hand to help her up and he paused a moment before he let her hand drop. She suddenly was very aware that she still hadn't taken a bath. This time she just filled up one of his pots with water and heated it over the fire. She gave herself a sponge bath out of his eyesight, or so she wanted to think. Corinne lathered herself with the grapefruit body lotion from her backpack so she could smell clean and brushed her hair. Calix watched her a lot now, but it didn't bother her as much.

After taking care of herself, Corinne came back to find Calix talking to a tree. "What are you doing?" she asked, while pulling her hair up in a ponytail. He told her that he was finding out where to get materials to make a canoe. "Oh. So how come they only talk to you?" she asked.