In The Woods ➳ H.S.

☙ t h r e e

Perhaps it was the sudden boiling of my blood. Or perhaps I was still a bit panicked and was not thinking as clearly as I should have. Or maybe I was just so exhausted to the point where I wasn't fully conscious of my actions anymore.

Whatever the reason was, I found myself with my bow raised and an arrow aimed at the prince.

Barely a second after I did so, the man in the red uniform beside the prince drew knives from his belt and threw one in my direction.

The tree behind me splintered. I jumped at the sound, and my heart raced. Fear finally over powered whatever instinct I acted on and I released my hold on the bow.

It was stupid, really. With a sound as loud as that, I was sure several ravenous animals were springing towards us as we stood here—and I just let go of the one thing I could use to protect myself with.

"Who are you?" To my shock, it was the prince who addressed me, and his voice was considerably less harsh than the guard's. Although it was still filled with an adequate amount of disgust.

"Ella." I lied, not wanting to shame my family. Surely if I was to be publicly executed, and my real identity went around, Christian would have a difficulty finding a job to support Lea, all because of the shame I would have brought to our name.

"Ella?" The prince said, his brows shot up, and a sneer still on his face. He either didn't believe me, or was shocked that I actually answered.

I didn't care.

I looked down on my feet, only now did I saw the new rips on the fabric. I took a quick moment to ponder on how I must have looked; dirty, tired, and, quite possibly, insane.

"Liam, lower your sword. It's scared to death." I heard his deep voice mumble. I heard the guard - Liam - as he whispered something back, but at that time I didn't catch it. I didn't have time to be insulted by how the prince referred to me either, as if I was just a mere object.

My ears picked up the sound of rustling leaves and when I turned around, I saw what ran from just a few minutes ago.

I swore under my breath and quickly grabbed my bow from the ground. Pieces of dirt and soil sunk under my nails as I did so, but that was just another layer of dirt to add onto my already filthy exterior.

I dashed forward, to the two nobles. Their faces shocked at my sudden movement, yet they weren't quick enough to stop me.

Liam, the guard, went to draw another knife from his belt. It was, of course, to be thrown at me again, but he was too slow.

I placed both of my hands on his shoulders, and used him as a lift to climb up the tree behind them.

I nocked an arrow on my bow as quickly as I could once I was on a high enough brach. I took notice of Liam as he aimed a knife at me just as I drew the string of my bow back.

"Run now, you prats!" I warned, before I let loose the arrow on my bow and quickly loaded it with another.

The first arrow impaled itself right on the head of the first wolf, its body fell limp to the ground immediately.

It was on that moment that Liam and Prince Harry turned around - and obviously spotted the four remaining wolves in the distance that ran towards us.

Liam pushed the prince away and shouted at him to go run ahead, just as I launched the next arrow, this time only caught one of them on the leg, and merely slowed it down.

I saw the prince took off in a different direction without any hesitations. As if leaving a guard to die in the jaws of a pack of starved wolves was nothing to his conscience.