Chapter 14
This is insanity.
It’s not quite what I was picturing when I was offered the once-in-a-lifetime chance at being a part of a fairytale romance.
Disney princess fantasy, I think not.
This is freaking Braveheart.
“Mort, I sure hope you’re fast!” I scream as I see the massive gate of the Garthorn Castle open.
The loud siren reminds me of something from ~Silence Hill~ . Goosebumps litter my body as I try to tap down my hysteria at the situation.
Mort nervously pounds the ground with her massive hooves, jumping to the left then right. The rain is relentless, making it hard to see clearly through the night.
What in the world have I gotten myself into?!
I am not sure if it’s the thunder rumbling or the dark riders that are emerging from the castle, but I do know we need to move fast!
Mort also seems to see them and jumps into a dead sprint, hammering the ground in mighty strides. I grab her mane and lean down low, my thighs holding on for dear life.
A part of my brain can’t believe Apollo is going to this great length to bring me back. Is there something I do not know? Maybe they think I carry valuable information back to my evil superiors.
But really, Mort should get a medal for this. Best agent ever.
“Faster, Mort!”
She takes us down a road that leads to what looks like a giant forest. My adrenaline is racing through my veins as we cover ground quickly.
I risk a glance back, my long hair temporarily blinding me, but I see dark riders following us.
I gasp at the sight.
The night appears ghostly, the rain and thunder creating an ominous scene.
As we near the forest’s edge, a low level of mist covers the ground that is highlighted by three giant moons. I have no time to marvel at how fantastical this all is because we now are engulfed in the dense forest.
It’s dark and scary. The towering trees loom over us as Mort tries to weave her way through without a head-on collision with a tree.
I scream as I am hit in the face with a wet branch, nearly knocking me off Mort. I regain control and crouch low, urging Mort on, praying my nose is not broken.
“I sure hope you know where you’re going!” My voice is most likely lost in the rain and wind.
I know Mort was talking to Pierce earlier, so maybe they have a plan.
I see something to my left and gasp—a dark Garthorn rider. “Mort! We have company!” Mort makes a sharp left athletically, jumping over an impressively large fallen tree.
I lean low, feeling airborne as Mort clears it with shocking skill. Mort lands and presses on, finding a wide path to accelerate her speed .
My triumph is short-lived as I see another dark rider to our right deep in the forest. This one is close and is making a beeline toward us.
I look to my left and start to panic when I spot the other Garthorn soldier we just ditched. We are going to be sandwiched!
“Mort!”
The rider to our left is right beside us on the narrow path, and I risk a glance at him. He is gruff and wearing Garthorn armor with a bow on his back.
I see him whip out his long sword, and I freeze, wondering wildly if this is the moment to scream, “ ~lifeline activate!”~
I brace myself for impact.
I can tell Mort sees the threat, and she aggressively moves to her right.
I only have seconds to move my leg and sit side-saddle before Mort crazily rams the rider. The impact makes me lose my unstable seating, and I fall.
By the grace of God, I manage to grab onto her mane, and I’m able to boost myself up on her back like a circus rider. I groan loudly and exhaust all my muscles to gain back position.
I am so thankful that Mort told me to pick being a master rider, or I would have already used all three of my lifelines in a matter of five minutes.
I glance back to see that the rider we slammed into is nowhere to be found.
Mort slows, breathing heavily.
The wind and rain whip me in the face as we stop in the middle of the path. Mort pounds the ground, and large puffs of air emit from her nose. She jolts me, and I think she wants me to get off, so I do.
My legs are wobbly, and my dress most likely weighs two-hundred tons from being soaked.
Mort materializes back into human form and is breathing so hard on the ground I’m actually concerned.
“Mort!” I kneel beside her. “Talk to me!”
She takes another breath and sits up. “I have a r-red alert.”
I start to panic. “Something worse than this?!” I wave my hands around at the insanity of this.
“Pierce is obligated to send any player a red alert no matter what,” she says, and regains her breath.
I glance around the spooky dark forest. “Where is the other rider?!”
“Queen Irena wants you dead. She sees Apollo’s infatuation with you and knows that Laura will never get to marry him. This is what me and Pierce talked about earlier.”
She continues at my stunned expression, “Now I’m not definitely saying he is madly in love with you, because we don’t know. He still could be crazy enough to kill you for lying to him.
“He seems wildly unpredictable.”
I swallow, wiping the rain from my face.
“But Irena is an evil witch and knows you are the lost daughter of the King of Galleon. And if her infidelity is found out, she will be publicly executed. So you see why she would want you dead—and fast.”
“Ok.” I look around, feeling spooked. “So what’s the red alert? And why is there no one around us?”
Without answering me, she takes off into a sprint. “What in the hell?!” I call after her, following her, my skirts almost making me trip.
We stop at an unconscious soldier that apparently was slammed into the tree by Mort. She turns him over and takes off his bow, tossing it to me.
“You will need this.”
I glance up, seeing the sky reflecting a deep purple, and the ground rumbles as if the gates of hate opened. “Talk to me! ”
“We have to make it to the village of Demour, which is not far, but we can hide out there until we can come up with a plan of action. I have to talk to Pierce ASAP when we get there.”
My eyes widen, and I see dark shadows darting in the trees around us. “Mort?! What are those?”
I whip around to my left then to my right, my breathing harsh and frantic. I hear branches breaking, and I look to Mort, who is backing up, wide-eyed.
“I’m not sure! I’m not logged in, but I think that they are a very dangerous animal. Some wolf breed brought on by Irena. Use your bow!” And with that, she becomes the gray horse, stomping about nervously.
Right!
Awesome sauce.
~Please don’t freak out.~
I hear a deep growl that is so low it almost sounds like vibrations, for the human ear is most likely unable to pick up octaves that deep. Mort rears up on her hind legs and neighs loudly.
I swallow and turn slowly to see a wolf-type animal—except that it’s not. It’s not at all a wolf. Maybe if a wolf had a baby with a grizzly bear.
It is mere feet from me, eyes glowing yellow and long trails of saliva falling from its knife-like teeth. I stop breathing, too scared to move, for it may make it come after me.
I hear Mort making lots of noise, but the creature is crouched low and homed in on me. The ground is rumbling again, but I am locked eye to eye.
I slowly try to take a step back, but that only makes the low rumble from its throat become louder .
I’m so screwed.
~Don’t cry.~
Be brave.
I am trembling, ready to yell my lifeline, as it crouches even lower, the beast snarling louder. This is it.
Time stands still as I see it lunge at me. My heartbeat is echoing through my head, and my erratic breathing is all I can manage.
I jolt backward and yell, “Lifeline act—”
An arrow pierces the head of the beast right through the skull.
I fall to the ground in shock, utterly numb to the core. Eyes wide, I glance to my left, seeing Apollo on a magnificent black mount with riders behind him.
He is standing in his stirrups with his bow aimed at three more to my right, firing at them with a skill that exceeds mine.
His long black coat flaps in the wind, and his face is like stone, jaw flexed, and eyes intense.
I watch him kill more as he yells something over his shoulder to his men, touching his chest plate as blue light flickers under his soaked coat. He is magnificent.
I watch in awe on the ground like an ogling schoolgirl.
That’s when I notice the bandage on his muscular thigh as he stands. He jerks his stallion to the left, trying to calm the massive horse, the black hair reflecting the moonlight in the pouring rain.
Suddenly our gazes lock, and I suck in a harsh breath.
He looks livid.
I scramble to my feet and back up, almost falling again. Apollo sits in his saddle and holds up his fist to stop his men from coming at me.
He stares at me, then glances at Mort as if he is reading my mind. Lightning flashes behind him as he shakes his head ~ no~ .
I ignore him and mount Mort, feeling every muscle in my body protest. Apollo gallops up to me, controlling his wild stallion with ease.
“You cannot outrun me, Angel!” he yells over the wind and rain.
I have zero plans now, and I also doubt I can outrun him either. ~This man has mad skills~ . I need to think of something fast that will save my cold freezing ass.
“I will not go to the dungeon!”
Great.
I’m in no position to give orders.
His hair is tied back, and being wet, it appears much darker, giving him a very dangerous appeal. Apollo in the rain and being nothing short of a superhero is a little much for the female brain to take in.
I am breathing hard as my eyes go to his lips and I remember how well he can use them.
Be still, my heart.
Apollo tilts his head, and a grin spreads over his lips. “Do I have a choice? You did, after all, assault the Crown Prince of Garthorn,” he says, and kicks his mount even closer to mine.
~Oh, right, his thigh.~ His eyes travel over my soaked body then back up to my face.
“You need to come with me or you will catch your death out here. And I’m not just talking about the cold. Evil is out tonight, and you will get killed without me!”
“Isn’t that what you want anyway? I’m confused!” I yell back at him, griping Mort’s mane even tighter.
He is perplexing. First he wants to lock me up, then protect me, and the next ravish me?
“Who are you?!” he yells, jerking to control his mount .
“I am the lost princess of Galleon! Look at my eye color for Pete’s sake!”
There I said it.
A claim like that could get me hung, but who cares.
I wait. Did he hear me? His eyes are narrowed, and he stares like I have grown two heads and five boobs. I swallow, waiting for him to speak, but he doesn’t.
Then dread sinks in. He must not believe me and thinks I am a looney. I didn’t exactly pick the best time to tell him, I get that! The ground abruptly rumbles, and Apollo looks to his left.
“We have to move now!”
He jerks his stallion around and yells orders to his men, then turns back to me, extending his gloved hand to me. “Come with me!”
I’m not idiot enough to say no to that.
I go to reach for him, but all I can see is blinding white light. The crack of lightning is so great that my ears are ringing.
This spooks Mort, and she takes off into a mad sprint, trying to get away from the loud cracks of lightning.
“Mort!” I yell. “Calm down! Stop!”
I hold on for dear life, praying not to fall to my death. I have no idea where she is going, and I don’t even know if Apollo is following.
I hear yells from behind me, and it sounds like him. I glance back and see him right behind us as another flash of light almost blinds me.
His mount nudges Mort to the side, making room for Apollo’s stallion to gallop beside us. He stands up in his stirrups and leans far over to grab Mort’s mane—something that looks extremely dangerous.
Apollo forcefully pulls Mort, changing her direction, which almost made Apollo slam into a tree if he hadn’t jerked his horse to the left .
After a few terrifying moments, Mort stops, and I nearly yell in relief.
As my eyes adjust, I see that we stand on the very edge of the cliff. Like, ~right~ on the edge, making me gasp. My situation keeps getting worse and worse!
“Oh shit!” I yell in alarm. “Mort, back up slowly, for the love of God!”
As Mort slowly backs up, pieces of the cliff start to break off and fall.
“Get off the horse!”
I look behind me and see Apollo and his men. He stands out in front, not coming any closer, about twenty feet away.
“You are on an overhang. It cannot support your weight!” he yells with his hands up. He throws off his big overcoat, revealing his black billowy shirt from the masquerade. “Get off the damned horse now!”
He slowly inches forward.
I nod, carefully easing myself off Mort. I whisper, “We can do this. Just back up slowly.”
“Gently!” I hear Apollo’s panicked voice.
I am off, and I tiptoe my way from Mort, barely breathing. ~Be strong, little cliff~ , I plead. I swallow and glance back at Mort. “Slowly…Easy does it.”
She takes a step back, and that’s when I hear the crack, and everything happens so fast.
The edge of the cliff breaks off, and I jump.
I land on the new edge of the cliff, but when I glance back, I realize Mort was not so lucky.
“Mort!” I scream, and I feel my eyes well up with horror. “Mort!”
No.
No.
She is fine.
My body is shaking. My mind is malfunctioning. Of course, she is fine. She’s a freaking agent! I’m sure she had excellent training.
“Angel!”
Apollo apparently has been screaming my name for some time. I glance at him to see him on his knees, face pale.
“Focus! You must get off the cliff now. I can’t come to get you because I’m too heavy! You have to come now before another lightning strike!” He motions with his hands like I am dumb.
Apollo looks petrified.
Through the haze of my mind, I’m touched. I look at his rain-soaked face and see genuine fear for me, and I would almost say he is two seconds from a full-fledged freakout.
I will have to reflect on this later, I decide, as I look at the jagged cliff I am laying on.
“Oh shit.”
If I fall, I can scream my lifeline, but Apollo does not know that. Hence the absolute terror etched into his features.
“Crawl!”
I nod and slowly start to crawl, and I can feel the cliff cracking. I look up, heart pounding. “It’s cracking!”
~Oh no.~
Apollo’s chest is heaving, and it looks like he enters a state of extreme focus. He stands and yells to his men, and I watch as they bring him a lime green rope.
Apollo works so fast it almost takes my mind off the fact I will be airborne in a matter of seconds. He takes out his arrow, which is tied to the rope, and aims into the forest and shoots.
He is talking to his men as he wraps a belt around his trim hips and fastens the rope to it.
I feel another crack and can now see it on the surface. “Apollo!” I scream.
I look up to see Apollo sprinting at me right as the edge gives under my weight. I try to move, but it’s no use. The cliff is just too fragile.
I scream, grabbing at nothing but air, seeing the mountain edge slowly becoming out of my reach.
Seconds feel like minutes as I fall, looking up for any signs of hope.
I then see Apollo swan dive off the cliff after me, and in a matter of moments, I feel his body collide with mine. I feel his arms around me, and I grab onto him desperately, my legs wrapping around him.
The rope has a little give to it, but nothing to lessen the pain Apollo must feel when the rope goes rigid, stopping us from our descent. We jerk to a standstill rather violently.
I hear him yell and groan in pain as he tries to get a better grip on me.
“Wrap your legs around my waist!”
I am hanging on him as best as I can in my billion-pound skirts.
“Son of a bitch! No wonder the cliff broke!” Apollo hisses as he grabs the rope with both hands, steadying us upright. His arm muscles are bulging, and the veins in his neck are protruding with his effort.
“Take off the fucking skirts!”
“How?!”
“My knife,” he gets out. “Belt buckle.”
I reach down to the front of his pants and feel around his belt, coming dangerously close to his manhood. I have a dirty mind even when I’m about to die, apparently.
I find the knife and pull it out so fast I make Apollo gasp in fear. His dark eyes meet mine, only inches away.
“Be a little more careful,” he struggles to get a better grip, “around that area, would you? If I pass out, we are both dead.”
I try not to smile and start ripping away at my skirts with one hand, stabbing myself in the process. “Mother f—”
Apollo rips the knife out of my hand and cuts a few strings in back, and my skirts fall, the weight sliding right off my legs as Apollo holds me up. I’m left with my tattered black lace slip and my thin underwear.
My heart is still beating erratically. Of course Apollo is good at removing women’s clothing. I guess now is not the time to be a prude.
I hear him groan in relief at the release of weight. He uses the rock wall to help him climb up, little by little. “You never said where you acquired your dress,” he whispers in my ear.
My arms are wrapped tightly around his neck, pressed to him as close as one can get. I still can’t believe he just dove off a cliff to save me. “I will have to kill you if I tell.”
Hey. That’s a classic one-liner.
No judging—he has never heard it before.
He chuckles, and I can feel his hot breath on me. “You claim to be Princess Ursula? That is quite the claim,” he grunts as he pulls us up and up.
“Yes.”
“That changes everything.”
I glance at him. “You’re not throwing me in the dungeon?”
“No.”
“Where then?”
“My bedroom.”