The Last Princess [EDITED]

Chapter 8

IVY'S eyes widened. She seemed, like I had been so many times, speechless. "Who are you?" She spit out quickly, the dirt rising a bit as her hands curled into tight fists.

The man, strangely, smiled.

He looked a bit older than her. Where had he got such power from? Elves had the power to manipulate earth. Dirt. Soil. Rock. How had he controlled vines?

He wasn't done.

In one fluid movement, he raised his hand, and the net of vines pushed back the dirt. It splintered and fell to the ground.

Ivy gasped.

Regardless of the situation we were in, I felt some satisfaction at seeing her helpless. Not for long, though. She didn't give up that easily. Not the Queen Ivy I knew.

She raised her hands and swept up another huge wall of rock. The man ran in front of me and thrust his hands up. Leaves rained down on the wall and somehow made it crumble to pieces.

I took a step back.

"Who are you?" Ivy yelled again. The man shook his head, waving his long, light brown hair, as they continued fighting.

It was getting so dark by now that I could hardly see the attacks. But one thing was very clear to me. Whoever he was, the strange man wasn't using the earth, as Ivy was. He was using vines, leaves, even branches and occasionally flowers. I had no idea how he was doing that.

As Ivy kept raising walls of dirt and rock to push at him, he would block them all and attack with — well, with the rest of the Forest.

He made it look effortless, while I could see Ivy tiring.

I snapped to attention as Ivy raised a tall wall of dirt and rock, much taller than she had made it before. Moonlight shined on a bead of sweat trickling down from her brow as she held her hands aloft.

The man likewise raised his hands and captured the wall with his net of vines. Sweat dropped off his face too, as he made a pushing gesture with his hands. The vines pushed against the wall, which swelled against them.

Both of them were straining hard.

Just as the vines snapped, the wall collapsed. On top of Ivy.

The man didn't waste a beat. "Come, Princess!" He yelled, as he took off into the trees. Away from the palace.

Though I didn't care for my mother, I couldn't help but glance back at her. Not one bit of her was visible under a pile of rock and dirt. Why was I worried about her, even after all she had done to me? I tore my eyes away from her, glancing back front. The man was far ahead.

But I wasn't going with any strange man without knowing who he was.

"Who are you?" I yelled, running after him.

Without glancing back, he responded, "A rebel."

I froze.

"W-what?" I managed to stammer finally.

He stopped, realizing I wasn't following him. "Princess, you need to come with me. I'll explain everything as we go."

But a rebel? The same people who had just attacked my castle, and while he had saved me, I had no reason to trust him.

I crossed my arms and stood up taller. "There's no guarantee you won't harm me."

He sighed. "You have my word that no harm will befall you, Princess. I swear on Nalvia."

That didn't bode well, given that I didn't have much trust when elves swore on Nalvia anymore. Ivy probably hadn't died, she was stronger that that.