Shirayukihime and The Lost Fox

Chapter 8: The Bastard Has A Knife

Akira POV

"WAIT!!!" I yell. Quickly, I snatch the apple from Shirayuki's grip. They both jolt in surprise and stare at me. "A-Akira, what was that about?" Shirayuki asks me, slightly worried. I don't respond and sniff the apple in my hand instead.

"I knew it," I state as I turn and glare at the basket of apples. "These apples are poisoned." Shirayuki gives a small gasp. Zen looks stunned at me, mouth agape. I look at the stairs and find Kiki and Mitsuhide standing on the stairs, worried expressions on their faces.

"How did you know?" Zen asks. I nod at the apples. "There was a suspicious smell coming from the basket. I couldn't quite place it, though, until Shirayuki grabbed an apple."

"And what was the smell?" Mitsuhide questions.

"Violets, honey, and almonds."

Quickly, Shirayuki grabs an apple and rubs it on her bandages. She takes a small sniff and pulls back, amazed. "He's right. The apples are poisoned."

Slowly, the door creaks open and a man in a grey uniform steps inside. He had blackish grey hair, grey eyes, and pale skin. But what was kind of chilling was that his eyes were what you would consider dead. Calling them dull would be an understatement. No emotions whatsoever showed on his face or eyes.

He scanned the room before settling his stony eyes on Shirayuki. "Ah, so the poisoned apples didn't work? Such a shame." He sighs. "I was planning to poison you, and when you were paralyzed bring you back to Prince Raj."

He looks around while saying, "Now what am I to do?" Zen glares at the uniformed man. "How about you just leave. Shirayuki isn't going anywhere with the likes of you." He seethes at him. The guard ignores his warning and looks at me. Slowly, a wicked grin grew on his face. "How about," he crosses the room to me. "I take this boy with me as collateral?"

My face runs dry of blood as he stood before me, hand outstretched. I leap to my feet, trying to get away from him, but stumble with my injured foot. Before I could fall to the floor, he caught me by the arm and hoisted me up. The others saw that he meant to take me with him, and rushed to stop him. Kiki and Mitsuhide jumped the railing, hands reaching for their swords. He turns around to them, holding me in front as a shield. Out of nowhere, I felt a cold edge press to my neck.

This bastard has a knife.

"Ah, so you're injured. How convenient." He says in my ear. I could hear the smugness in his voice. "Alright. Miss Shirayuki, if you would please come with me. If any of you make a move to stop me, the boy," he presses the knife slightly harder against my neck. "will meet an unfortunate end."

While still holding me up and holding the knife to my throat, he reaches for my belt and fumbles with the clasp of my kendo sword. "You won't be needing this where you're going." He says to me as he unstraps my sword from my hip. "And where is that?" I say calmly. He grins maliciously as he says, "You'll see, very soon."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You are an unusual sight, boy." The guard says as he lifts my chin up to him. 'This damn bastard...' I think to myself as I scowl. He clucks his tongue. "Now, now. A scowl doesn't fit you." He says mockingly.

Since I've been captive, the guard took me and Shirayuki to another house closer to the border. This house was crawling with guards of the same uniform, the uniform that I guessed to be the Tanbarun royal guard. If that prince is here, and I know he's here, he would bring the royal guards with him. This bastard here took me to a small room after entrusting Shirayuki to some other guards. It was a little dark, but plain and no one else around.

And that made me nervous.

He had searched me of valuables and belongings, before tying me to a chair. Thank God he didn't take off my hood. He had found Yuuto's armband, the stupid fox, and moved to take it off. But as I was preparing myself for a searing hot pain, it never came. Instead, the guard was able to slip off the armband without any trouble. I was baffled.

But back to the present.

The guard turned away from me and to the small table sitting against the wall. "I think with your unusual eye color you would be able to fetch a good price." He says as he examines some of my belongings, specifically the fox armband.

'Good price? What does he mean by that—'

My face visibly pales when I realize that he was planning to sell me. He grins at my reaction. "Of course," he says. "I might keep you for a little while longer." He walks over and bends down to my height. He traces a finger over my jawline. "A little while longer seems like the best option." He says, slightly sadistic.

What he doesn't know is that I pocketed one of his knives after he had searched me and that I have been cutting away at the ropes.

When his finger reached my lips, I bit down. Hard. He gives a yelp of surprise and pain as he stumbled backwards. I break the remains of the frayed rope and bolt for the door. I reach out to the door knob, but was jerked back. The guard pulls me into a head lock position.

"Why you...!" The guard said hotly into my ear. He was panting heavily as he squeezed his arms tighter around my head. I gasp for breath as I claw at his arms.

I stomp on his foot. His grip weakens just enough for me to escape. I elbow him in the stomach and he doubles over. I bolt for the table and reach for my kendo sword. Turning around, I was faced with a face red with anger. The guard tries to grab me, but I quickly dodge his attempt sending him into the table. With his back turned, I bring my wooden sword down onto his neck. He drops to the floor, unconscious.

I stay still for a moment, muscles tense with adrenaline. When the guard made no move to get up, I sighed heavily.

"Haaa... this is too much trouble."