He's observing me, as if he's trying to figure me out, puzzle me together. He's staring at my eyes, trying to make eye contact with me, but I avoid.
"Look at me." He demands.
Surprised by his command, I hesitantly make eye contact with him briefly, only for a second. I quickly look away.
He leans back, taken aback, Pausing; Still looking at me. He almost seems, confused? A long silence. "What's your name?" I gulp before responding, my throat dry, I cough.
"A-Aryah..."
I blurt out my name without a second thought. He just stares at me, awkwardly close. He moves his eyes down to the rest of my body. Suddenly feeling very self conscious. Is he checking me out?
After a minute he quickly scoops me up. He stands up, leaning over, sliding his arms underneath my knees and behind my shoulders. I jump at his unexpected action, still unsure of his true intentions.
"PUT ME DOWN!!" I scream at him.
"You don't touch a woman without permission!"
He pauses, un-phased by my outburst. He chuckles and moves his gaze down to mine. His eyes were mesmerizing, an ocean blue with a mix of grey storm; Lost in them. "That was a quick change in demeanor?" He raises an eyebrow. "Well, are you able to walk? It seems your pretty beat up from whatever happened to you." He shrugs. I shrivel in a little when we make eye contact. He has a coldness to his body. I inhale sharply; His smell is intoxicating. "Jesus what is that?" I think to myself. My mind draws a blank as I try to figure out his scent. He sees that I am deep in thought, taken away from our conversation. He moves his face an inch away from mine. I stop breathing as I come back to reality. He can feel me squirm. I avoid eye contact.
"Do I make you uncomfortable noble?" He smirks. Is he enjoying this? My tongue freezes. Paralyzed. As I stare blankly at him I repeat desperately in my mind. "Say something. SAY SOMETHING!" He chuckles.
"I'll take that as a yes." He can feel me tense my body. "Well relax, we have a long walk." He pauses. "Well I guess I have a long walk." He says sarcastically.
"Err..." The only sound it seems I can get out...
"Are you going to let me carry you willingly?" He tilts his head to the side. I continue to stare blankly at him. "I knew it. Easier for me if you just do what I say"
What a dick.
"I can walk!" I blurt out
"Hm, she talks." He smirks at me.
"I think thats pretty unlikely princess, seeing as your ankle is the size of your head."
"I-I...uh" Goddamit my body is against me today.
"Just let me do it." Moving his gaze forward, he begins to walk with me in his arms.
"What are you doing!?" I blurt out at him. "I am still unsure of your true intentions."
"I saved your life, no?" He raises his eyebrow at me. A pause. "If I was planning on killing you, I would have done it with the rest of them." He says matter of factly. "I guess that's true. T-thank you..." He says nothing. "Where are you taking me?" I ask. "To the direction of the capital."
"The Capital?" I ask confused. "Yes... Is that not where you are from?"I think for a moment. Nothing comes to mind. "I...I don't know?" I shrug. He immediately stops walking. Shooting a look at me. Furrowing his brows. "What!? What do you mean you don't know?" Intimidating is an understatement. "I...I don't remember" He furrows his brows further, tightening his grip on me slightly. "Who do you advocate for!?" He yells at me. "W-what? No one! I don't know what you mean by that?" Why the hell does everyone ask me that. "Where were you coming from? How did you get into that situation?" He lowers his voice but still stern. "Don't play games with me princess, you've seen what I can do" He spits these words at me like knives. "No, No! I swear! I-I woke up on the dirt road this morning. " "You woke up there!?" Trying to put the pieces of my story together. "Yes... I believe something happened to me. All my memories are from this morning" I look down in sadness. I could feel his heavy breathing through his cold chest.He stops momentarily. Thinking. Suddenly he turns around, changing directions. "Where are you taking me!?" I yell. "If I drop you at the trail, you will be in the same situation I found you in. Lost." "Oh... but I have to find my home? Where I came from. What happened to me. My family!" I begin blurting out anything that comes to mind. All things I hadn't thought of until this moment.
"I assume you hit your head pretty hard based on the gash on the side of your head. And of course the amnesia" I reach up to my head and wince at my touch. I hadn't noticed it. "Amnesia!?" I say confused. "Loss of memories? I'll take you to the prince. Then you can be his problem. "The prince!?" My eyes widen. "I am not properly dressed to see royalty!" I shift in his arms. The thought of meeting such high status made me uncomfortable. "Relax noble. Don't make this harder for me." "Sorry..." "I assure you he won't care" He says plainly. "How do you know" Irritated. "Are you best friends or something?" "Something like that." He shrugs. "So what is it? You work for him or something?" I pry. I wanted to know. "Can you be quiet. You're asking too many questions. I've had enough of this conversation." "I'm just trying to get to know my savior... or kidnapper." "Yeah, well don't try to get to know me. There is no point." He says as he stares forward as he walks. "Fine then. It's not like you're trying to get to know me either." I roll my eyes. "Let's keep it that way." "I'm sorry to inconvenience you" I say sarcastically. "Is that sarcasm I hear?" He raises an eyebrow at me. "Not at all, mystery man!" I giggle. Surprisingly he chuckles with me. "But in all honesty. Thank you for saving me." "You're welcome." I gasp. "You have manners!?" I laugh again. He looks down at me and smirks. "I like that." "What?" I ask confused. "Your laugh." He says with a straight face. I blush at this comment. I can feel the heat in my face. "You're so hot and cold. I can't read you?" "Just cold princess." He pauses. "You are lucky. I normally could care less about a noble. I guess I was in the mood to be a hero today"He smiles his perfectly white smile. God his smile gets to me. Makes my heart constrict. "I see you're also cocky." I smile at him. "What's your name?" "Unimportant princess. I'm just the delivery man for the time being." "I would like to know your name, so that my family can reward you for saving me. If I am a noble as you say, we must have money right?"
His smirk quickly moves to a frown. His gaze darts to mine. I do not need, nor want your money noble. He spits those words at me like daggers. A small tug at my heart when his smile leaves his face. I awkwardly respond. "T-that's not what I meant...I-I meant that-"
"Do I look like I need your money?" "No! not at all I just thought-" "Well you thought wrong. Don't assume anything about me." "I-I'm sorry I offended you..." He rolls his eyes at me. I take my gaze away from our conversation. We come into a clearing. A massive field with beautiful snow covered mountains surrounding us. Noticing the many dead bodies around us. I gasp and jump. Unphased he responds. "Don't worry, there isn't anymore around." "W-what!?" My eyes widen.
He says nothing and continues walking. We continue the rest of the way in silence. His face slowly moves from a frown to neutral. I wonder what he's thinking. I glance up at him. Trying not to be obvious. Observing his features. How can someone's face be so perfect? He had such a sharp jawline. Perfectly straight white teeth. His hair was messy, but it somehow worked. I blush at the realization of how close I am to him. I am disgustingly dirty, covered in dirt and blood. I probably smell and I looke a mess. Yet he's also covered in blood and somehow looks flawless.
"Are you done staring?" He takes me out of my thoughts.
I quickly look back down. There was no where I could escape from the embarrassment. He looks at me from the corner of his eye. Smiling lightly.
"You feel it too?" He questions me.
Completely confused by what he means. "Mmm.. What?"
He sighs before looking back up in the direction he's walking. My eyes widen. What does he mean? He laughs at my facial expression and continues on casually. He lightened the mood and somehow freed me from my anxiety.
I begin to give in to my exhaustion. Leaning my head on his chest as my head feels like it's an extra 30 pounds. I feel awkward but my head is just too heavy to hold up any longer. He doesn't seem phased by it. I slowly close my eyes and soon... I fall asleep.
Quite some time later, he stops at a forest opening. I am still asleep.He leans me up against a tree. Walking over and gently placing me against the tree. Careful not to wake me. He begins to observe my features. Kneeling in front of me. He adjusts my head so it is leaning against the tree. His eyes move down to my ankle. He furrows his brows. Picking up my foot, pushing lightly around my ankle. He whispers...
"You're lucky noble. It's not broken."
He picks up my other foot. Doing the same thing. As well as with my left hand, and then my right. I tighten my hand around his. Holding his hand. He shifts his eyes to my face. I'm still asleep. He smiles lightly. Not wanting to move too much, afraid to wake me. He takes his other hand. Checking the rest of my body for injuries. He grabs my chin tilting it to the side. Exposing the side of my neck. His content expression quickly turns to anger. A scar from behind my ear angled down to the side of my neck. His eyes trickle down to my collar bone. Leading to my shoulder. He moves apart of my clothing to expose my shoulder. Exposing dark purple/blue/yellow bruising. The shade of the bruising told him that they were older and in the process of healing. Not caused by my recent events. He moves his hand over to the other shoulder. Seeing the same thing. I begin to shift in my sleep. He looks back up to my face. I slowly open my eyes. Coming to the realization that I am holding his hand and his face is very close to mine.
I jump up onto my feet but quickly fall. He catches me. Gliding me down slowly
"Relax! You're okay." Confused and out of breath. "W-what were you doing?" I question him. "I was making sure nothing was broken. It seems your ankle is just badly sprained. As long as you don't jump up like that again" He chuckles.
"W-why were you..."
"Oh uh. You grabbed onto my hand..." He shrugs. "It's okay noble. You were asleep." He pauses. "I noticed you had a lot of bruises." "You're so observant." I roll my eyes at him. "No. I mean they look older than a day old." "I can't help you. I don't remember anything." I shrug. He looks down at me. Conflicted. "I'll be right back." As he walks back into the forest. "Don't move." He says sarcastically. "No duh" I roll my eyes at him.
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He's gone for at least 45 minutes. I lean against the tree. Basically staring at nothing. I've already outlined every tree branch. Counted every squirrel that runs by.
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Some more time goes by. The sun starts to set. I hear some rustle in the bushes.
"Hello?" I call out. No response. "Hello!?" I yell louder. I desperately search with my eyes, the surrounding area. Until I see leaves moving.
A girl pops out. Strawberry blonde bun, brown eyes and the same dark leather as Davon and Patrick. She searches the ground until her eyes finally meet mine. Her eyes widen as she leans back in surprise.
"Oh my god! I actually found you!" She smiles her not so innocent smile.
"Who are you? Get away from me." Making an awful attempt at being confident. I was obviously the underdog here. Being injured.
She stands and thinks for a moment. Not responding to me at all. "I'm going to get a huge bonus for this!" She says to herself. Pleased with her discovery. "I dunno how you lived through that, but the boss will be happy to see you're alive. So you're coming with me."
"I'm not going anywhere with you." My mind goes in fight and flight mode. My words speak fight but all my body wants to do is flee.
"Then why aren't you running?" She laughs at my pathetic attempt to be stern.
As I am staring at her face, I can see in my peripherals that mystery man is standing in the distance. Assessing the scene. He stands there for a moment before casually walking up behind strawberry blonde. No fear in his eyes. He was looking at her like more of a nuisance.
I couldn't respond to her question. I was focusing on not looking at him. To not give away his position. He then reaches up, placing his hand lightly on her shoulder. She quickly glances over her shoulder; but before she could make eye contact, she falls unconscious. She falls flat on her back. My eyes widen. I stare down at strawberry blonde, who was now laying in front of me.
"H-How did you...!?" He looks at me before calmly responding. "Close your eyes Aryah." I sit there in shock, mouth wide. "You're not going to want to see this."
"Um, yeah... okay." I shut my eyes tight. Covering them with my hands. My hearing becomes heightened but I don't hear anything...
"Alright you can look."
"Oh..." There was no blood? No wounds...? "Is she...?"
"She's dead, yes." A long pause. "It seems she knew you?"
"It seems..." I respond, still in shock. He says nothing. "Where did you go? It took so long." I roll my eyes. "Sorry, I brought you back some food."
He removed the body. Dragged her off into the distance and threw her somewhere. Gone for about 10 minutes. When he came back we sat in silence and ate the berries he collected. You could see on his face he was deep in thought.
"What are you thinking about?" I question. "Hm? Nothing."
"Are you ever going to tell me your name?"
"Hm. No." I roll my eyes. "You're so fun to talk to."
"Hm?" He obviously had no interest in having a conversation with me. I sigh. Fighting with my inner thoughts. What am I doing. Who the hell is this guy? I'm just willingly going with him!? He takes me out of my thoughts. He stands up, adjusting his shirt. "Alright let's go."
"Isn't it late?"
"So?"
"Uh... You know what, I feel like I'd recognize something in the capital. Would you mind taking me there instead? I'll find my way there." He pauses, thinking. No expression.
"No."
"No!? What do you mean no!?"
" You heard me." He shrugs. "I don't think it's up to you!?" Anger filled me. "It seems that I am the transportation. So, it is up to me."
"Take me to the capital!" I scream. He reaches down to pick me up. Wrapping his left arm around my shoulders. I reach up to push him away. He grabs my wrist. My vision hazes. Until darkness takes over. He places my arm across my body. Slipping his right arm underneath my legs. Lifting me.
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END NOTE: Hey loves! Check out my story "The Shadows" on the "Episode" App in the Fantasy genre. Comes with visualization to the story! xoxo