Of the Forest and Sea

Chapter 2

The next day, I went out to look at the traps I set. A large hare sat in one of the traps, but something felt off about this scene.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement behind a tree.

"Princess. Giving yourself up, how good of you." I unsheathed my dagger and started to walk over to her but stopped when she just looked at me and laughed quietly. I watched her bend down and pull on a rope.

"The great trapper, trapped!" I swung around in the air, my feet bound together.

"Let me down, you little witch!"

"Certainly." She almost cut the rope before I stopped her.

"No, don't you dare!"

She walked back and set the hare free, before walking away.

"Ooh, my foot! Please! Wait! This is really hurting. I can feel my head swelling"

"Oh no. It was like that before. I will let you down if you do one thing for me."

"What?!" Oh, my head was throbbing.

"Just promise you will listen," She sounded so desperate. "Say 'I promise'. Just say it!" I stayed silent until she pleaded.

"I promise." She smiled at me for a moment, but I wasn't going to listen while still hanging by my ankles. "All right, you beat me. Now let me down."

"Very well." She sliced through the rope and I landed on my back. The demon dog wasted no time in running towards her side.

"What about him?"

"You're a De Noir. He very probably will hurt you." She through my dagger on the ground and I sat on the fallen tree.

"Well, I'm listening." I heard a bird shriek and knew we didn't have very much time. I listened to her tell the story of how she knows where the pearls are. I wanted to help, for some unknown reason. But something made me want to help her. I saw the bird, and decided it was time to leave.

"Bye."

"Robin, please!"

"I promised I would listen to you. And I have."

"Robin you have to help me, you have to!" I gripped her shoulders, despite the growls from Wrolf.

"You are a Merryweather." His bark echoed loudly, and I let her go, seeing more fear in her eyes. "Right now, I ought to kill you."

"Kill me, and the whole valley dies with me! You and I can stop it, and we only have until moonrise. Tonight!" What do I do?

"I'm still listening."

As we walked through the woods, I stopped for a second to tie her ribbon onto a branch, the same blue ribbon that my friend pointed out on one of the trees a few days ago.

I ran back to meet up with her, and she questioned me as soon as I got up to her.

"What was that?"

"False trail."

"What were you doing with one of my ribbons in your pocket?" There was a hint of genuine curiosity in her voice, and I could feel her smiling. I couldn't help but smirk. I'm surprised the ribbon hadn't fallen apart with how much I handled it.

"They're in a tree, but it's very distinctive. It has massive roots, twisting around a big, dark hollow. And-."

"I know where that is." I leaned up against a tree, and sighed "Suppose for a moment, I do decide to help you. And suppose we actually manage to find the pearls. What then?"

"Well we'd...return the pearls to the sea and then we'd go-."

"You know my father's coming after you."

"It's just a matter of finding them before he finds me." You've got a point.

For a moment, just for a moment, I felt pity for her. I tried to kill her once, locked her up, and kind of forced her off a cliff...