"So its not a coincidence that the place that Minerva was talking about and the place that was your home is the same location." Falcon whistled.
Nadia had underestimated the concomitant of having a routine. Without intending to she found her footsteps stopping in front of the blackened soot of what remained of her meadow. Not even a sliver of its magnificence remained. She would have liked Falcon to have seen this place in its full glory.
She shook her head, what am I thinking?
"Is this what would have happened to the house in case that stone had landed there?" Nadia asked.
"This is a first. I have never heard of a spoor burning up its destination to cinders."
"That would have been funny, accidentally killing the person you were paid to find."
Falcon arched his eyebrows, "No. It wouldn't have been."
Nadia sat down at the edge of the blast crater with her back to a tree trunk. She heard Falcon sit not too far from her.
"This is where your birth mother left you with Minerva." she heard Falcon say.
"Not really."
"Hm?"
"We don't know for sure it was my mother." Nadia proclaimed.
"Would it be harder to bear if you think it was?"
Nadia didn't want to admit it but it was true. She didn't want to assume that her birth mother did not want her. So much so, that she came to a prison detached from the outside world to leave her at the mercy of a stranger.
Stop thinking, she castigated herself.
"There are a lot of spots like this scattered around the woods. Isn't this a magnolious forest?" Nadia said.
"I have a pretty good idea now of how far this forest stretches and I think its mediocre at best."
"Mediocre?" Nadia's head blanked with a zap. How could these woods be anything less of transcendent.
"A real forest, a jungle , you wouldn't feel so home there. It is not supposed to feel like home to humans. It has ancient trees that have been there since antiquity. The trees so closely knitted that a mere human is not able to weave his way around it so gallantly. It has everything from humongous beasts to small venomous vipers. A jungle is lawless to its core, only the strong can prevail.
"But this one is too methodical. Like everything follows a rule. The trees , the shrubs even the animals. Everything keeps a respectable distance from humans. This is just ... wrong. Humans are in no way the apex predators"
"Sounds like something I would read in a book."
"Well I have seen it with my own eyes."
"But beasts have been extinct for years."
"Here. Only here." he remarked softly.
Nadia could a feel her chest zinging with anticipation. She could barely control her voice from trembling, "Are there different species of plants and animals out there than in these islands?"
"Too many, miss. You would lose count. "He gave her a small smile.
Nadia quelled her excitement. It was too soon.
"Who is your benefactor? the one who paid you to find me?"
"Your family"
"So I have been told multiple times but who?"
YOU ARE READING
The Caged Princess(Book 1)
Fantasy"If her head wasn't stuck under water she would have wailed and cried. Her body trembling. She had no sense of self. Hardly noticed that the water's temperature had dropped further to a freezing degree. "There was just one thing. One solid thing. T...
