The Unseen Curse

Chapter 2

Toby slung the girl's sedated body over his cream colored horse with a loud thump. She was surprisingly light and easy to throw around compared to his previous jobs. He was normally in charge of taking out dangerous criminal masterminds or political foes of big, important figures. He frowned, to him it made no sense that this girl was wanted by a queen that is ruthless, and feared by all.

He started pondering ideas that explained why this girl could be so valuable to this queen while he tied her fragile hands and feet to the saddle, tugging once more at the rope to ensure that it's secured. He spared a glance at her beautifully smooth skin. A bead of sweat trickled down his neck from the heat that built up under his invisible armour. It was starting to annoy him so he stripped his armour and replaced it with his riding clothes. His armour was useful when he tracked down his victims, but it was annoyingly hot beneath the clothing. He had to find a way to give his armour more ventilation if he was going to use it for fighting in the future. He made a mental note of that fact as he got on his horse. He could always fight naked, he thought, but immediately dismissed that thought. His body was too valuable to him, he needed something between him and an enemy's blade.

He rode off, his mind spinning with ideas. What would he do with her? He had to bring some kind of proof to the queen once he'd killed her, but he couldn't expect to walk into her city with an entire body, since she specifically mentioned that she wanted this to stay a secret. Ofcourse, he thought, if I can make it look like an accident it wouldn't arouse any suspicion from her family.

He thought that was a brilliant idea, he could throw her off the waterfall while she was asleep and if the fall didn't kill her, she would surely drown in the water below. But, that didn't leave him with any proof that he could give to the queen. Would she trust his word if he simply told her he had done it? He doubted that anyone would trust a guy like him.

"Where are we going?" A malicious voice whispered confidently in his ear. His head whipped around, his heart busting out of his chest in fright. Terror swept over his whole body when he saw the once sedated girl, now fully awake and untied, sitting upright behind him with a cocky smile plastered on her sweet face.

The shock of the moment rumbled through the hooves of his horse and he bucked violently. Throwing both Toby and his victim to the ground. Toby landed with a loud crack on top of the girl, facing her.

She groaned beneath him, pain evident in her tone. He was sure that she had a few broken bones from that fall, but she gritted her teeth and calmly looked up at him before speaking. "I normally wait till after the first date before falling that hard for someone," she laughed. She didn't deliver her joke with the same confidence that she had before. Even so, he was startled at her humor, she didn't seem to fear him at all.

Her face was turned toward his, but she wasn't looking at his eyes, probably because she didn't know where they would be. She groaned again, this time freeing her arms and tugging at his shirt; "Could you get off me now, I'm being squashed!"

He got up quickly, still in awe. How did she even get loose? He wondered. He was sure he tied the knot miticulously. His mind replayed the moment over and over, not understanding how this girl could get loose without him noticing. She didn't even make a sound when she sat up on the horse, he never even felt her move. But then again he was so distracted by his murderous thoughts. But he couldn't deny the fact that he had never been caught off guard.

Something else seemed to bother him slightly. He thought back about her reaction to him. Normally he is greeted with fear and slandering comments about his invisibility, however she didn't say anything about it. He buried the thought by reassuring himself that it was purely because of the shock of the moment. She didn't have time to react to his state with all the chaos that broke loose in that moment.

"Heya!" He heard the girl's voice shout and then his own horse took off with her sitting comfortably on his back.

"Wait!" He shouted and started running after his horse. There was no way in hell this girl could steal his own horse from him. This was his only companion. Needless to say, the girl did not stop when he asked her to, she kept riding.

"Ah, so you can speak!" She shouted back at him simply, laughing as she rode off into the woods. He kept running after them even after his legs started begging him for a break from the torturous burning. His breath grew shorter and shallower with every movement he made, but he kept going. The distance between them grew larger, until his horse was nothing but a blotch in the distance and eventually they disappeared from view in the dense forest surrounding them.

Toby slowed, stopping to rest his arm on the trunk of a gigantic tree. "Shit!"
He sunk down to the ground, rubbing his temples in thought. He had let himself get distracted by his own insecurities, and lost a chance at a great amount of money. The money didn't bother him as much as this girl's ability to get away from the most notorious assassin in all of the land.

But the thing that bothered him most, his heart reminded him, was that he was upset that he had lost sight of a girl that surprised him, a girl that excited him. He had to find her again, even if it was the last thing he did.