Saudade (Published under Indie Pop)

Chapter 69: The Brothers, the Forest Fairy, and the Castle Garden

Chapter 69: The Brothers, the Forest Fairy, and the Castle Garden

It was happening again. How many arrows do I have to take in this lifetime? How many wounds do I have to endure? How much blood do I have to shed? Would there be more after this? Would it be the last?

Lord Magnus was already pulling at the arrow stretching all the seconds left in my short lifetime. He was doing it like he was only in one of his hunting days; he was aiming at me as if I was just an easy prey. And maybe, an easy prey was what I am at the moment for I was just standing there unable to move, frozen by numbness and fear that crippled me. Maybe a deer would have acted better than I had in such situation. A deer would run as fast as it can upon sensing the danger and escape its hunter's claws. It wouldn't stay there like a ball of meat waiting to be served on the table. But that deer must be a healthy one. For what could a deer do if blood was gushing from its wound diminishing its strength and making it unable to move? I couldn't even feel my own legs at that time. Maybe I panicked because of fear or I was mentally confused because of blood loss. But what would it matter now when I would be dropping dead in a matter of seconds?

I glanced at Threy and held my breath as I watched him leave his opponents and run towards me. It didn't matter that he had the upper hand or that he could take all of them alone. He didn't care that one of his enemies threw a dagger at him and pierced his back. He winced in pain but it didn't stop him. He reached at his back and pulled it out without even a scream. He was leaping through the dead bodies on the ground and slashing down anyone that got on his way. He didn't think that his enemies could see this as an opening and attack him from behind. Or maybe he did, he just didn't care about anything at that time. It was like dropping the world he was holding in his hand and turn his back so he could protect me. I didn't know that he could run that fast. I didn't realize that for him, I would mean that much.

But his speed was nothing compared to Lord Magnus' arrow that was coated in rage and fury. His loud call for my name was muted by my own weakness. I couldn't hear him. I couldn't understand anything. Until the last second came where things happened in slow motion: the arrow cutting smoothly through the wind, Threy's long strides that he was almost flying in the air, and Lord Chester bringing himself up on the ground and lunge at me.

It all happened in less than ten seconds; funny how time slows down when you're about to die. Death was teasing the way I understand things and it all ended when I fell on my back on the ground with a thud. I felt Lord Chester's heavy body on top of me. I gasped for air as if I had forgotten how to breathe the whole time I was standing. The rush of wind in my lungs came as a relief but I paled as I realized that it was different in Lord Chester's case. He was wounded, yes. But I didn't remember him being in a worse condition like this. I frowned in confusion as he coughed and spat blood. I grasped his back and when I felt the length of an arrow impaling his armorless body, reality started to get to me. That was when I finally understand what happened; and how I hated to understand things at that moment.

"No! No! Why did you do that?"

I exclaimed in horror as I saw blood in my hands. I tried to push myself away from his weight and let his head lean on my lap as I check the damage. The arrow went deep through the left side of his back; it was a clean shot – evidence that the shooter was an experienced one.

"It's alright, Primrose. This one's coated in poison," he whispered, stopping me from reaching the bag that was lying a few feet away from us. "My father's arrow never misses its target. That's what makes him incomparable in hunting. Even I, his son, still need to go a long way to rival his skills."