She can't be Tamed

Chapter 4: First Sight

Chapter 4: First Sight

The next morning he felt rested and very ready to claim what was his. Quickly gathering his things and wiping all evidence of him being there in case his prey suspected she was being followed, he continued following the trail through the woods.

It wasn't long before he encountered a bush with small green leaves and little white berries. He worriedly sniffed. Exactly what he'd suspected; Devils Bane. 

Oh no. His prey didn't ate from this, right?

Devils Bane was one of the rarest and most dangerous herbs in the forest. It was a pain killer, and a good one, but if not prepared the right way, you could just as quick become one of the people who took it and never woke up again. You had to be awfully careful, or extremely lucky, if you wanted to take these berries and survive.

What would make her eat those things? Was she in pain? Had she a deadwish? The trail was becoming a bit vague here, so he could not clearly read what happened.

He huffed about his own thoughts. Who said she'd took some, or even one of them? He hadn't even seen her face to face yet and he was already jumping to conclusions, afraid something happened to his prey. 

Hmpf, priorities, he thought. It would just be a shame if nature would get her before he could.

Maybe she just randomly passed the bush and didn't even know about the danger. 

Still, for the rest of the day he couldn't dismiss the worried feeling something was wrong with her. 

--

When he arrived at a small open space several hours later, the tracks seemed to mangle with other ones. 

For a moment he thought someone else had been here, but it was more like she stayed here and walked around a couple times. Maybe she'd done it on purpose, to lose any followers, or maybe she'd been in doubt which way to follow. Anyway, it was working, because he'd lost the right track. And that while this tracks were becoming so fresh; she just had to be nearby.

He decided to climb a tree before she could get a head start and take a look at his surroundings from above. Maybe he could find a clue from there. 

That way he could also find the stream. He knew it was nearby, he could already hear the sounds of the water. 

Although this were his own lands, and he knew the area, he didn't enter this particular part of the forest often. Most of the time they went hunting on the other side of his lands, there was more and bigger prey. 

But right now this was absolutely the perfect place to hunt. He was one with the forest and on the heels of his prey. And what a prey, the best kind you could get. She was smart, and it was just a challenge for him to let her make a mistake and end up in his possession.

He enjoyed this. 

He grabbed the lowest branch of a big, promising tree with still green leaves and pulled himself up. Halfway up he could already see parts of the river, shimmering through the leafs and branches of the trees covering the river walls. 

Almost at the top, where the branches almost became too thin to stand on, he finally got a clear view of the water. After a quick scan of the skyline he discovered no sign of the girl. Nothing that could even lead to a clue of her whereabouts. 

Until... something at the edge of the trees on the river side, glittering brightly in the sun, catched his attention.

And that was when he saw her. 

Just on his right side, where the river made a wide turn, and where nature had created a kind of forest beach. She stood with her back to him, completely frozen at the tree line. Hidden between the branches, like a nervous deer waiting for any sign that she wasn't alone. 

Well, he wasn't going to give her some sign that he was close until he had her securely in his possession. So he stayed hidden and watched silently as she emerged from under a big oak and slowly approached the water line. 

The blinking thing appeared to be a silver shiny bracelet on her right wrist. Maybe a set with the necklace he'd found earlier. If that was the case he was sure this was the girl that was already leading them on for so long. He almost couldn't believe it had been so easy to track her down. He'd suspected more trouble from the stories of his men. Why was it so hard for his men to find and catch her when he'd almost accomplished the task in less then 48 hours?

One feet away from the water she stopped and buried her toes in the sand. After one last check to see if someone was near, she started to take her clothes off. 

Unfortunately she stood with her back towards him, but his eyes stayed glued to her body when she quickly lifted the makeshift shirt she was wearing and revealed a small hourglass figure. A little too thin, he decided. He'd do something about that soon. 

His breath stocked when she also got rid of her skirt with one smooth move of her hips while she approached the waterline. He catched just a glimpse of her beauty before she graciously dived forwards and disappeared under the water.

And just after she resurfaced and whipped her wet hair backwards, creating a rainbow of waterdrops behind her head, starting to brush her hair with her fingers, the branch he was standing on gave in with a loud crack.

-- 

While she was carefully soaking (you couldn't really compare it with washing, here in the river) her long brown curls she suddenly heard a loud noise, directly followed by... angry cursing in a deep, manly voice? Startled she turned around, just in time to see something - or apparently someone - tumbling out of a tree at the side of the river.

Shit! Was she discovered again while she was bathing? This couldn't be true! Maybe it was just a squirrel or something?

Don't be stupid, squirrels don't talk when they fall out of a tree! she cursed her own stupidity.

Had the person in the trees already spotted her before he fell out of the tree?

Not taking any risk she flew out of the water, grabbed her clothes and without looking back she disappeared into the forest.

She pulled her clothes back on while she made the space between her and the river as big as possible. It wasn't long before she heard distant cracking noises behind her, and she knew that, whoever it was who fell out of the tree, was now following her. 

Worst of all, the sounds became clearer every minute. She dodged a low branch while she doubled her efforts to lose her pursuer. This time she heard almost nothing, but she knew he was still following her and was closing in. 

A sudden yell from the direction she was running in made her come to an abrupt stop in a small open place. 

More hunters? 

The one behind her was quickly coming closer, she could hear him again now, and with the others in front of her she saw her chances minimize. 

She could climb a tree, but he was too close. Normally she would've created a bigger gap with the hunters by now. She had the bad feeling that climbing wouldn't help her this time, but she had to do something. She could at least try.

As quick as she could she repeated her standard escape routine and pulled herself up in a small but high tree. 

Hopefully the trees would help her to escape one more time.