Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Days after Nate and Jen’s engagement, everyone around the palace seems to be busy, which makes it easier for me to sneak out from practice to head back into the woods. I always have this excuse that I am helping up getting the bride ready for the engagement ceremony in Thalia, which is a lie of course. Nate hired a private tutor to help Jen get ready for the event, but my professors do not need to know that.

I was thankful enough that I have gotten quite good at riding a horse. Cloud is my sister’s horse and she is pretty hyper active, which help to train me a lot on how to handle my balance.

I have a cloak to help me hide my presence just in case I happen to come across a bunch of rogues. Even though I can protect myself, I would still rather not have to fight. Upon seeing how Chace used his powers to kill someone, I just can’t shake off the chills and thought that my powers could do such a thing. It’s horrifying.

“Javi…” I try to call out his panther partner since she was the last thing that I saw the other day. “Are you here? Javi!”

I should be calling out to Kellar since he is the person that I wish to see, but after the last thing that he said to me during our last meet up, I don’t think that he is going to show himself.

I have been calling out to Javi for a while now and I still haven’t heard from her. Maybe I am looking at the wrong place.

I should get going now before anyone from the palace notices that I am gone. Or worse, my brother-in-law will found out that I am gone and use his magic to discover me. That guy loves to rat me out to my sister in order to get me into trouble.

“Let’s go back, Cloud. Let’s just try again next time.” I try to pull the reign to the other direction, but Cloud seems to be frozen on the spot. “Cloud?”

Cloud is starting to get restless. I’ve been living in a kingdom where people there live with animals as their spirit partners and I know from experience to always trust an animal’s instincts. Cloud is starting to stomp her hooves on the ground like she’s trying to scare something - or someone - from the trees.

I fix my gaze to where Cloud seem to be facing and keeping my mind ready for any attack.

There’s one particular movement in the bushes that seems to be moving a lot. I was expecting a bear or something else to appear, but it turned out to be vampires. They were so fast that I did not even see them attack until it was too late. I just saw a blur and I just have a little time to focus my magic to send my attacker away from me.

Five. I quickly counted their numbers while they are suspended in air.

Cloud was so startled that she starts to run as soon as one of the vampire was down with a half frozen face. I barely got hold of the reigns when Clouds starts to become berserk and run at a speed that I wasn’t used to. I was scared that I even forgot that we were getting chased.

“Cloud, hold on!” I don’t even know why I am yelling because I am pretty sure that she doesn’t understand me. I can’t even throw an attack to defend us. I see a tiger moving before us and blocks our path. Cloud suddenly stands on her two hind legs, dropping me on the ground. I fell on my shoulder and scream out in pain. “Cloud, wait. No!” I scream, reaching out to her, but she’s already running off into the forest without me, leaving me alone to defend myself.

I got to my feet to face the beast man and also feel the rest of the vampires starting to surround me. Wait, is it me or do they seem distracted? Come to think of it, where are the rest of them?

My right arm, which is my dominant arm, still feels a little numb from the fall. Could I still aim and fight without just one hand? Of course not, but I still have to try.

I call for cold wind to gather around me like a protective shield. The vampires might be fast, but against the cold wind, it is sure to slow them down. One of them tries to move. I struck his feet with ice to keep him in place, but with my non-dominant hand in use, my aim is a little off that I missed.

I almost panicked because my carelessness did not go uncheck by the beast man. The tiger lunge for me. I raise my left hand futilely to block its attack, but it was hindered when something black tackles it away from me.

Javi.

I stay planted and frozen where I stand until I hear grunt and bodies falling behind me. When I turn, my heart lurche at the sight of Kellar, knocking his opponents with the butt of his sword.

“Turn it off!” He yells, trying to make his way towards me. “Stella, turn the blizzard off!”

I was too flabbergasted and relieved to see him that it took a while for me to respond. As soon as the blizzard dies, Kellar grabs my hand. Right then, I flinch as he holds my right hand.

Kellar look at my arm and carries me instead, before turning to Javi. “We’ll go on ahead. Buy us some time, Jav.” He tells his familiar before he starts to run.

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere safe and private. Somewhere where we can fix your arm.”

I forgot what I was going to ask at that moment when Kellar begins to jump down - I did not even know that we were on a cliff!

We were landing and sliding on inclined slopes to get further down. I can’t remember much of it because I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t scream and distract him.

Just who is this person and why is he so different from the Kellar that I knew from my childhood? Suddenly, he is so-

“Stella, you can let go now. We’re here.” I open my eyes only to see that I have burried my face in Kellar’s neck, which makes things more awkward than they already are.

“I’m sorry.” I turn away.

Kellar gently sets me down on my feet, and I can’t help but feel glad that I am wearing trousers and boots instead of heels and a gown. I refuse to look at Kellar, not when my cheeks are flaming red, so instead, I take a look around my surroundings. “Where…where are we?”

“The magic forest.” Kellar answers me as he stands closely to my side. “It’s where the people of Gija took refuge to hide from my father before King Ace and your sister restored the kingdom.” He explains by looking at the thick mass of trees that surround us. “Let me see that.”

“See what?” I turn to Kellar to see what he wants to ask me about and see him looking at my right arm.

“May I?” His red eyes looked so gentle and sincere that it almost made my knees buckle. What is wrong with me?

I don’t trust my voice to answer, so I simply nod my head.

Kellar gently grabs my arm, but in the next second, he yanks it hard, making me scream in pain.

“What the hell!”

“What? I just snapped it back into position.” He sounds defensive when he raises his hands in surrender. “The pain will just subside later on.”

“At least give me a warning.” I grumble.

Kellar looks at me, and I see him quirk up a small smile. “You wouldn’t have let me do what I just did if I told you. I know you, Stella. You never changed.”

He’s got a good point.

“How’d you know that I'd react that way? It’s not fair that you still know things about me, but I know nothing about you anymore, Kellar.” I say solemnly. “Why are you here in these woods? Is this where you live now?”

At my question, his expression starts to grow dim and he starts to turn his back on me. “You shouldn’t be in that forest. I told you not to look for me any more.”

“You said that you know me, so you should have known that there’s no way that I am going to let you go after telling me that.” I breathed out and prepared myself to speak the next words. “I heard something about you. Is it true that you split your soul just like your father did?”

Kellar freezes for a moment before turning to me with a surprised expression. “You…Who told you that?” He whispers, flabbergasted.

“Does it matter?” My voice rises in anger. “Why did you do that?!”

Kellar closes his eyes and rubs the back of his head with a loud sigh. “You would not understand, Stella. Mind your own business and go home.”

“Why should I listen to you?” I cross my arms over my chest.

“Because I said so.” He says, copying my gesture.

“I am a princess. You can’t tell me what to do.”

Kellar opens his mouth to say something back, but he is cut off by a peculiar presence up in the trees. It’s a girl with green moss hair covered with an assortment of flowers that fall gently on the ground. A nymph.

“Ohh…Is this a bad time to interrupt or is this what you folks call flirting?” She asks with a giggle.

Kellar and I turn our gazes to her and get different reactions. Kellar groans and shakes his head, as if this is a problem that he is not ready to deal with at the moment. Meanwhile, I stood there with my mouth hanging open because it wasn’t just any other nymph. It’s a nymph that I knew all too well back in my childhood.

Serena. The guardian nymph of the spirit forest.