The princess and the hunter

2.

POV; ELAINE

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"Father please, I didn't mean to-" "I am SICK of your excuses! You have hurt us enough!" I try to keep up with his pace as he holds my wrist ever so tightly. Arlon is probably getting the care he needs right now. I wanted to go with him, I wanted to stay by his side, but my father had other plans for me. "Aeyoung, grab Elaine's travel clothes!" He commands her as we walk by. She doesn't hesitate and hurries up the stairs. No. No no no. "Father!" He stops at the sound of my voice and turns towards me. His flat hand makes harsh contact with my cheek. I struggle with words to find. I don't know what I can say to him. We stand in front of the gates, waiting for Aeyoung to give me my travel outfit. Help. "I can't believe I tried protecting you." He tells me, and I suddenly wish Aeyoung was here already. "I can't believe I was so stupid thinking I could somehow take care of you!" The words hurt, but I swallow them anyways. I have to swallow them. I did wrong. I hurt my brother. I deserve this. "The clothes, my kin-" "Put them on, Elaine." "Why?" "Put them on!" I feel ashamed when I change from my training clothes into my travel outfit. I usually like the fit, but I can only hate feeling them on me right now. "Elaine Versare, I, king Chanwoo," I already know what he's going to say. He only says one sentence that starts with this. "Hereby banish you out of Lyle." "Father I-" "I do not ever want to see your face on our land ever again." 

He's so sure of his words. He's so sure of banishing his daughter. "Unless you find and kill Turi's war lord and bring his hand to me. That is when I will forgive you." "I am your daughter!" "You are no daughter of mine. You are nothing but a curse." I take my chance to run away from him as fast as I possibly can. I don't think, running past Dongchul, who just came out of his room. "Elaine?" I ignore his caring voice, running up the stairs and towards my room. I have no plan whatsoever, which makes sense now that my father has officially banished me. I lock my door behind me and sit on my bed, raising my hands and curling the tips. I keep the door shut with my ability to do so, even though it takes all the strength in my body once they start banging on my door. Concentrate, Elaine. My oldest brother's voice is easy to manipulate into my mind. I always tend to let myself hear him to calm down and find the focus I need. I close my eyes to find and channel his voice, and once I do, the screaming becomes louder too. "Open this door right now!" Even when my father manages to unlock it, it stays shut. Use everything you have, Elaine. Trust in yourself. I open my eyes, not aware that channeling the power with my mind makes them glow, and look up at the door. It breaks under the sight of my eyes, and instead of keeping it shut, I break it open. Pieces of wood fly around my room and the hallway, the burst shouting out an ugly sound. 

I takes me out of the focus, and my eyes suddenly see my father kneeling. One of the bigger pieces has torn the skin of his arm, bursting right through it. "F-Father I-" "Guards!" He doesn't show one glimpse of pain. He only shows hatred. Hatred towards me. Hatred towards his own daughter. Guards come rushing towards me, and I hate myself too. I hate myself for doing the most stupidest thing. Who goes to their room when they get banished? What kind of bullshit is that? They both take one of my arms, and when I try to ball my hands, I feel nothing. No power, no channeling. I'm useless like this because I haven't managed to control it. "Stop.." I burst into tears. I wanted to seem strong, so that my father sees at least something else than the failure his wife once was. Well, those are his words, of course. Mother was my everything. Yet my tears flow down as I beg the guards to stop. "Stop please.. Please.." They drag me down the hallway, down the stairs and back towards the gates. "I will do better!" Father walks after us, his eyes never leaving mine. "Father please!" He doesn't even bother yelling for a witch to heal his wounds. He's too focused on getting me out of here. They eventually dare to throw me onto the floor, landing on my hands and knees. I look up through the strands of escaped hair. I look to the outside world, a place I barely was allowed to come. Now he's suddenly asking me to live there all on my own, with only one purpose. But how am I supposed to find my purpose? How am I supposed to find and even worse kill someone I have never seen? 

How am I even supposed to kill someone? I have never killed someone before. Only small animals when I was younger and went out on secret hunting adventures with Arlon. "You can't do this to me.." My father comes standing in front of me and I still dare to look up at him. "Please.." I try to channel my powers again. I feel such sorrow and such anger build inside me, and the only thing I want to do when I look into my father's eyes is kill him. "Find the war lord." "Father you-" "Out of my sight." He pulls me off of the ground. I feel like I've just officially lost my father. Not that I ever had him, that's starting to become visible to me now. "If I see your face in Lyle again and you don't have the hand with you, I will not hesitate to execute you." I stand outside and watch as the gates close before my very own eyes, my father slowly but surely disappearing from my sight. Just like the contact with my brothers, who had only arrived a few hours. You have come on the exact right moment, new friend of mine. I'd almost think you came on purpose. I walk down the steps made of the most beautiful, grey stones. Every breath I take feels like a betrayal. I have to get out of Lyle as fast as I can if I want to get rid of this suffocating feeling in my chest. Stealing a Pesaré from  the market is my only way of getting out of hear on this very same day. I hate how my training suit has hold onto my sweat. I'm trying to ignore the itch I'm starting to get everywhere on my body. The market is large and people usually spread out a lot, so it's not hard to steal one of them. 

The one I lay my eyes on is called Daisy, as it is written on the board. It has a scar under its right eye and I can't help but want to set all of them free. The merchant is busy and the moment he turns around, I make a run for it. The gorgeous beast is easy to get lose and it stays terrifyingly calm as I jump onto its back. I whistle, which is the only sound a Pesaré listens to if you want it to move and try to ignore the shouts of the merchant that slowly disappear from my ears. I want to feel guilty, but Daisy will be out in the wild now, so it's quite a win for her too. I hold onto its manes and feel the warm breeze against my face as Daisy uses her strength to go as fast as she can. The woods aren't far away from here, which means I'll be crossing the border in less than a few minutes. I'll officially be, for the first time of my life, in Turi. In our enemy country. I am quick to think of a plan. I'm a breaker, I can easily pretend to be from Turi when I cross the border. I close my eyes for a split second when the woods finally catch op with us. I set myself out of my home, out of my life and all of a sudden, I'm in the Turi woods with no place to go. A sweet, long minute after leaving Lyle, rain starts to pour out of the sky. I know this myth, but I never thought it'd be true. My father always taught me that if I ever leave Lyle, Lyle's sky will start to cry. I thought it was a beautiful myth about me when I was a kid, but when I found out people use that myth to let everyone know I'm a monster that's supposed to be contained by Lyle's borders, I can only think bad of it. Now that I look back and see that also Lyle is crying its tears, I fail to stay steady.

Finding out it's true gives me all the reasons to scream into the woods. I scream as loud as I can, not noticing the trees crack under the sudden channeling of my powers. I'm far, far away before I can even hear the trees are starting to collapse. I have to force my mind to focus on the road in front of me and how many trees I have to dodge because it's slowly slipping away into a state of mind I've only been in once. I destroyed the whole training dome because of that stupid 'I'm going to lose my s**t' attitude that my mind has sometimes. I try to relax as breathe one with Daisy, but she seems to detect my lost of control too. Thunder and lightning strikes through the big, dark clouds that spurt their rain and I have to hold my breath not to get scared.  "Come on, we can do it.. it's just a little storm.." A storm performed for me. This is my fault. Every lighting that hits an innocent body will be on me. We've had few to little storms in Lyle, as it is the land that shines its sun 360 days of the year. I feel bad for causing the sixth one of this year, which has never happened before. My anger is stronger than my guilt, though. It strikes out the lightning and brings me to another place I have never felt myself in before. black cracks are starting to show on my hands, and they surely crawl up my arms too. I don't even think of the forever marks I now have, to remind me of my ugly curse My power strikes through the trees, the leaves, the grass, even the water as we jump over it. It flies into the air, creating a big wave of water behind me. The moment the waters slams back into its cage, is also the moment I feel an immense pain striking through my body. 

I get thrown off of Daisy, who makes a loud, painful noise before I lose my sight. My back hits one of the trees and the last thing I hear is the pain that comes out of Daisy's mouth. I feel everything slipping out of me, from my powers down to my breath. I don't realize what has happened yet, my body feels like it can finally rest after trying to disappear for an hour long. I wonder how f*****g tough this was for Daisy, carrying me and my problems on her back. 

-

A feeling of warmth is the only thing that I notice when I seem to get back into my body. I manage to open my eyes for a few seconds, still seeing trees and two strong arms holding onto me. I wish I was able to say that I'd rather had died with Daisy back there, but I am glad someone is leading me into safety. If the person even is. I'm on enemy land. But my scars say otherwise, and they might've been the reason I'm being carried right now. I want to stay awake, but my eyes beg me to leave them alone and I eventually fail at keeping them open. I only hope I can thank this person for saving my life.