The Prince and The Prowess

Chapter Eight

 The forest was quiet then, besides the sound of the animals who were awake in the night, like the cicadas and the owls. “We leave on Warn as soon as you’re cleaned up, then.” I said, breaking through the silence.

                “We can’t take Warn, and we can’t go through the forest now, either.” The Prince said.

                “Why not?”

                “The king will know that you plan on going through the forest to get to Oberon. He’ll send his men into the forest, and Warn cannot get very far with two people on his back even though he’s a stallion. It makes more sense to go along the ocean, through the cities to get to Oberon. The king will not expect it, and although it will take longer, we have all the time in the world since you have me.”

                “I guess that makes sense.” I said, I thought about what I had said earlier and thought it unfair. I needed to thank him. “Thank you, for doing this. Truly.”

                He shrugged. “It’s better this way. When I get you home I’ll know for sure that my father won’t be able to find you again and I can go back to the castle without worrying about going to the Southern Region to spy.”

He clawed at a fly that buzzed by his face but accidently swiped at his bloodied cheek. He winced as it gave way to fresh, new blood.

I sighed and picked up a nicely sharpened knife – the one I had grabbed from the soldier. I picked up the long skirt of my dress and cut the white fabric off, leaving my dress so that the skirt hung just below my knees.

                “I think you’ll need this.” I said, throwing him the fabric. It landed on his feet as he winced, trying to clean up his arm wound. He was just making his cheek worse with all that wincing. It was actually very frustrating to watch.

                “Just let me do it.” I said, grabbing the antiseptic from him. “You rich royal people always have others do things for you so you’ve never learned to take care of yourselves.” I put the antiseptic down, and grabbed a damp cloth and ointment to treat his cheek. I dabbed the cloth against the raw skin and opened the ointment jar.

                “I’ve never had anyone to teach me.” He whispered, looking away as I layered the ointment on his face. He almost looked humiliated. I felt slightly bad, because I had been humiliated in front of him before. I hadn’t liked the feeling.

                “You have a mother. A father. Even an older brother. They could have taught you.” I said, trying to make him feel better. I cleaned out his arm with the antiseptic. “Hell, you’re the prince. You could have asked anyone to teach you and they would have said yes.”

                Prince Zayden didn’t say anything as I tore the white fabric with my teeth and wrapped it around his arm.

I looked at my small pile of stuff I had taken from Warn. I found a jar of turmeric. “This will be good for your bruise.” I opened the jar carefully and let the deep orange paste dye my fingers. I reached over and covered Zayden’s chest with it, ignoring the long slash mark across it. I avoided looking at his face even though I knew he was looking at me. When I was done, I reached up to my own face and wiped whatever was left on my fingers on my cheek, which had an ugly pink color from being hit days ago from the Regals who had come into my home.

                “Thank you.” Zayden said, slowly buttoning his shirt.

                “You better be thanking me. I saved you life.”