The Assasin's Princess

Dragon's lair

        Mora wandered out of the palace, and kept to the outskirts of town. She silently disappeared into the forest. She hoped that the Prince wasn’t much of a hunter to actually be able to track her down. Maybe he Just wouldn’t care to find her?

        She waked most of the day, ignoring the pains form her empty stomach, and soon heard the roar of falling water. The cool breeze caught a tendril of loose hair and made it flutter across her face. She tucked it back in place as she peered over the edge of the cliff. Slowly she back away and lowered herself down to draw her knees up to her chest at the base of tree.

        The sounds of the water crashing on the rocks brought back memories from that horrible night. The cashing water melted into the cashing of the table and chair that she went through as she crashed to the floor. She gasped at the pain from the unforgiving impact.

        Prince Avlar growled as he picked her up by a fist full of hair and threw her onto her bed. She tried to scramble away, but he pinned her down viciously. “No! Stop it,” she was fighting desperately but he was so much bigger than she was. “You can’t do this, let me go!”

        “I will wait no longer, I will have you now.” He ripped the dress up to her naval and tore into her core so hard she felt herself rip open. He pulled the dress top down, took a breast in each hand and squeezed as hard as possible, and stooped to bite each one in turn.

        “Avlar stop! You are hurting me, “ she cried as he continued pinching and biting her breasts and pounding her core from below.

        “You will learn to like it or keep your mouth shut!” He growled as he rammed her even harder.

        “I will tell my father if you don’t stop!” Tears fell freely, the pain unrelenting now.

        “Tell him what? That you are a w***e, that is what you are now, you are my w***e. You had s*x before you were married, no other man will ever want you again. Your darling father will never speak to you again. You have no bargaining chip, you have nothing.”

        Mora sobbed as she pushed herself up away from the tree towards the rim of the falls. She could end it now, quick and mostly painless, no one would miss a person like her anyway. She inched further over the edge as the little rocks skittered over the edge and disappeared into the spray of the water.

        Dorban had received his mother’s urgent message about the girl and had begun a desperate search for any sign of her. He had almost missed her had it not been for the breeze off the falls carried what had to be her scent to his nose. He paused when he saw her perched on the edge, she was going to jump, he had to stop her.

        “NO!” He vaulted towards her, managing to catch one wrist before she fell. The way he fell it was difficult to reach her and not fall as well. “Reach up and take my hand,” she glanced up briefly but her gaze fell to the water again. She was sliding through his fingers, “I’ll lose you if you don’t reach up.”

        Their eyes locked as her fingers left his and then the mist closed around her. Without a single thought about how dangerous the situation was he jumped after her, maybe he could save her if the fall hadn’t killed her. Once under water he found her limp body sinking in the murky water.

        He had almost made it to her when the serpent -like dragon appeared from under the turbulent falls. It took a hold of her leg but before it could drag her even further down Dorban pulled his sword and sliced its head clean off. Dorban was gasping for air when he finally resurfaced with the unconscious woman in his arms.

        It was less than graceful when he flopped her up onto the shore, he didn’t care, she wasn’t breathing. He straddled her hips and pushed on her chest several times. Finally the water she swallowed came bubbling out as she coughed and convulsed. His shoulders slumped in relief, she wasn’t conscious, at least she was now breathing steadily.

        Being unconscious would allow him to dress her wound a lot easier. He glanced down at the girl as he worked, his mother had said it was urgent that he find her and keep her safe, had she meant for him to keep the girl safe from herself? He studied her face now as she lay before him, she was tiny compared to him, everything about her was perfectly shaped and proportioned.

        She was beautiful from what he saw. The one glance he had of her eyes had revealed their brilliant emerald green. Fear clouded them however and that worried him. Why would someone so beautiful be alone and so afraid?

        Mora woke slowly, this was wrong, she should have died. The sound of a crackling fire drew her gaze and she quickly realized that she was in a cave. She remembered the dragon, had it dragged her here? But dragon’s can’t make a fire, it was pilled neatly in a ring of stones. It had been made by a humanoid. The man. The one that had her by the hand, he must have made the fire. She tried pushing herself up but couldn’t, she was tightly wrapped in a blanket.

        “Don’t move too much, you don’t have on any clothes.” The deep voice came from outside. She couldn’t force herself to breath as the large man stepped inside the cave, and slowly came closer to stand just before her feet.

        She was frightened, purely panicked at the sight of a man so close when she had no clothes on, just a blanket stood between the two of them. He wasn’t surprised, actually he expected it, during their extensive conversation last night she had told him she would be this way when her mind cleared. After spending all night listening to and comforting her he had absolutely no intentions of ever leaving her alone again.

        “Did you take my clothes?” Her voice shook as she asked him.

        “No.”

        “Well, where did they go?”

        “You gave them to me,” He squatted down and stoked the fire. The light glinted off his dark eyes when he looked at her, he pointed next to her, “they are right there.”

        “I did not!”

        “You don’t remember?” She nodded no, “When I suggested that you dry them you striped down right in front of me. You didn’t seem to care that I watched you, you seemed to like it. You really don’t remember?”

        “The last thing that I remember is the dragon. What did YOU do to me?”

        “The question should be what did YOU do to me? The first time you woke up you took a swing at me. Just because I saved you, almost got you too. I got you to calm down and that’s when I said that you could catch pneumonia in those wet clothes. You stripped and almost immediately passed out. When you woke up wrapped in my blanket you cussed me for saving you and doing all this to you. You called me Avlar.” He paused, “the last time you woke up you wanted to pay me for my help. You offered yourself to me said that I could have as much as I wanted.”

        “You are lying.” She demanded, shaking her head furiously.

        “You talked a lot last night, you called yourself a w***e. A name I don’t think you deserve, and certainly not one you’ll hear from my lips.” His eyes were magnetic, drawing her in and breaking her invisible barriers unknowingly.

        Her eyes beyond wide, “what else did I say?”

        “You told me everything.” He was rummaging around in a bag, she realized it was her bag. He pulled out the two tiny vials of liquid and held them up. “I told you last night that I would do this.” He uncorked both bottles between two fingers and dumped them into the fire.

        “You told me how your fiancée Prince Avlar r***d you and convinced you that your father would banish you so you left your home in shame.”

        “Stop it!” She cried as she forced her hands out of the blanket to cover her ears. He was lying, but how did he know if she hadn’t told him?

        “Mora, look at me.” She shook her head no, “look at me Mora. You have no reason to be ashamed, you did nothing wrong.” He was down on one knee and raised her chin with a massive knuckle.

        “I lost EVERYTHING because of him! I have no-where to go. I don’t have anything to go on living for!” She finally let the tears flow freely, she was too tired and confused to fight them anymore.

        “I’ll tell you like I told you last night, you are worth while to me, you will always have a place with me. You are important to me, and my mother.”

        “Your mother?” She was confused until he remembered talking to the queen, “Prince Dorban?”

        “Yes. She told me to look for you and I am glad I did. It would be a shame to waist something so beautiful.” He caressed her face with the same knuckle that raised it.

        “Did,” she swallowed hard, “did I tell you who my father was?”

        “You didn’t have to. Every one in this galaxy knew Prince Avlar was engaged to the Mirinite Princess. You are the Assassin’s Princess.”

        “Was this before or after I gave myself to you?” She looked as if she may cry, he couldn’t have that so he retreated slightly.

        “Before.” He could see the questions she wasn’t asking through her eyes, “and no I did not accept your offer. You passed out before I could do more than kiss you. I wasn’t about to do the same thing to you that he did.” He stood so he could leave her alone, he could see that she was getting overwhelmed.

        She watched him move away from her, like he were going to leave her alone again. “Dorban.” He stopped at the mouth of the cave and glanced back over his shoulder. “Would you have taken me?”

        “If you would have had a clear mind and knew what you were doing?” She nodded “Yes. I would have made you mine. But you weren’t so I am waiting for the day you can make that offer and truly mean it.”

        “What if I don’t make that offer again?”

        He turned as if to leave her and said, “when you come to trust me you will. You won’t heal if you don’t rest, get some sleep.”

        “Heal? What’s wrong with me?”

        He came back to kneel at her feet and uncovered her bandaged calf. “That dragon took a good bite out of you.”

        “But those dragons are poisonous!” She exclaimed as she pulled the blanket closer around her chest and craned her neck to try and see the wound.

        “That is why you were delirious.” He said as he recovered her without lingering on her bare skin. He tucked the blanket in firmly around her without looking her in the face.

        “You cared for me?” He nodded as he stood, “no-one has ever done that for me before. Thank you.” The thank you stopped him as he came to the mouth of the cave.

        “Like I said, get some rest.”

        “Will you be far?” She asked softly.

        “I will be outside.” He turned and finally left her alone.

        Mora settled back, deeper into the blanket, pulling every bit closer that she possibly could. Could she trust Dorban, should she trust Dorban? Could she get him to prove himself to her?