Light of the Unexpected Adventure

Chapter 28 Protecting

Gabriella's POV

That's when my attention is grabbed by something moving above me. I glance up to see that the guard is peeling off a piece of his armor, throwing it to the ground beside me. Why would he ever think this is the time to take off his only source of protection from these beasts? And probably the only reason he is still surviving for this long. I watch as he swipes his sword and hits anything coming close to us with the incredibly sharp blade, but his actions won't be enough to last for a long time. He does what he can, so between sword swipes, he is stripping off one piece of armor after another, like this is exactly what needs to be done just for us to survive.

"What are you doing?" I spat at him for undressing at a time like this. What reason would he have to take off his armor? Does he just want to die quickly or have some sort of death wish? I thought he was supposed to be protecting me, this doesn't look like that. I shake my head as he exclaims. "I will handle this. Don't worry." I roll my eyes at his unwavering confidence in himself and what seems to me like brainless actions. That's when I notice that he is already out of a fourth of his armor. I look around, seeing another undead being.

It growls and then swipes out towards me as I quickly pull my legs in even closer, up against my chest, causing it to miss me, while pain erupts through me even stronger than before. It might be easier if I just let them have my legs to take some of this pain away. I feel the tears continuing to pour, the fear and pain are too much to ever try to control, especially when death is at your side. Louder growls erupt next to me as I see the same beast swiping in my direction again, but this time connecting with my ankle and instantly swiping my legs out from my body just so it can grab my limbs. Before I know it, I am being pulled away.

I frantically wrapped my arm around his calf, so I could hold onto Leo's leg for support. Almost causing him to fall, but he holds on, being the steak in the ground that I need at the moment. "Don't let go!" He demands as he stays stable while he tries to swipe at the beast's grip on my leg, but Leo is too distracted wanting to help me that he isn't paying attention to the beasts coming at him. He is instantly tackled in the side by another undead, who took advantage of his attention being with me.

The abrupt movements and scary realization hits me as I scream out in terror, then pain as I feel my open arm, that was not able to hold onto Leo, being grabbed by another beast as it's claws cut my skin open just as easily as fileting a fish. The top of my arm burns around the open wounds as I watch blood pour from it effortlessly. The only part of my body that is not being clawed at is still holding onto Leo's leg, keeping me anchored here, for the time being.

Pain consumes me at this moment, as only the desire to live is what takes over. The tears well in my eyes from the overwhelming pain as I let those feelings consume me, along with everything else inside of me. Then follows a strength I never expected, which builds instantly. The intense feeling of wanting to live to see the next day, to get my promise completed and feel at ease once I leave this place, is screaming within me all at once. But I know that the only way this will ever happen is if I am alive after this attack. But that doesn't look like that will be the case. This strong feeling is fueled by the fear running rampant through my body.

That is until I can see that a light fills me entirely, lighting up the area before it shoots out in every direction. The beasts are taken with the beams of light as they are thrown and turned to dust mid-air. A numbing feeling takes over, only for a moment until all of the light is gone from within me. I pry my eyes open as I look around. All that survived this is Leo and I. I'm instantly propping myself up to my elbows before sitting all the way up. I groan in pain while I pant for air before my head pans all around us.

I don't see any more beasts, but my eyes instantly lock with the widened orbs of a shocked-looking Leo as he is lying down on the ground besides me. He is panting just as I am, showing me he is at least still alive. Luckily for him, it looks like the chest plate he left on protected him from death's close friendship. Especially since his arms look just as bad as my legs and arm feel. It doesn't look like his face was touched, mostly just his arms.

He sits up without hesitation as our eyes connect, both carrying the same weight of worry in them. "Are you alright?" I squeak out, before sucking in a sharp breath. But he doesn't answer me, as if he doesn't care if he is in one piece. He uses the open dirt path just to crawl over to me before he grabs each arm individually, then to my legs, using only his most gentle touch to look at the details. Just checking out what he can see of me, showing the results of all the cuts I have gained within this fight. With the adrenaline draining from my system, I hold back the tears as the pain hits me tenfold.

His eyes never leave mine for longer than a second. I observe as he shakes his head, looking worried for me even though he is hurt as well. I have no idea what he is thinking, and there is a part of me that wants to ask. I want to know why he has this devastated look on his face while looking at me injured. He acts as if he truly cares for me when I know that is not the case. I am just a stranger to him, unless you look at this from a different angle, since he has seen many glimpses into my life thus far and getting to know me by the hours we have spent together. So he is not a complete stranger to me anymore.

I noticed him slowly reaching out to me. His hand gently touches over my skin that is injured before whispering. "Uh.. Gabby." He sounds pained in this comment. I watch as his eyes are bouncing all over my features quickly, before I feel his gentle hands continuing to trail over my wounds, as if he is trying to count how many new ones I have. The overwhelming worry in his eyes makes me feel bad that he has to look at me. But he keeps glancing back from the wounds to my eyes, as if his eyes can't resist looking at either one.

"You're hurt." He says under his breath but this words are intertwined with so much worry that I keep getting fooled into the random thoughts flashing through my head that he actually might care about me. Even though I know he doesn't, he just wants me to be alive to go back with him so he can get his prize for me from the King. Or at least that is what I have to keep reminding myself, since that's what he said to me before. So I won't forget it.

"We have to head back to the village, I know of someone who could help you." he tenderly says this causing the panic in my heart and mind to rise because I called it. I knew he would try to make me go back to that horrid place. I feel my heart racing before I push his arms off of me as I scoot away from him, trying to give us some distance from one another. I know he tried to save me and I will be forever grateful for his brave actions. But no matter how comfortable I may feel around him, I know he cannot be fully trusted because of his true intentions when it comes to me getting him closer to the King.

He clears his throat, looking down at the ground for a moment, I think understanding the silent distance I am putting between us. That is before he decides to change the subject. "What.. What was that light that flew out of you and killed the undead? How did you do it?" he asks me looking into my eyes as I shake my head. "I don't know." I softly reply as he nods and looks around. "Ok.. well.. we can try to figure that out later.. But for now, we have to get you taken care of.. we have got to go back to the village, before more come. Since we are far off the beaten path, that will be easier said than done, but not impossible." he says while standing up and looking around us, making sure there aren't more around or maybe looking for what direction we should go.

What he doesn't know is that I won't be going back to that place, no matter what happens to me. I scoot a little further from him. I know there is not much more I can do besides that. "Come on, let's go." he declares before turning in my direction, getting closer, then extending his hand for me to take. I leaned away from his hand while shaking my head. "No.. I will not go back there, only my tormenting pain and agony resides there in the King's company. I fought to get as far away from there as I could. And I know that if I go back, I will only receive my death and I won't have that. I won't let you. There is much more for me out here than pain and death." I spat back as he groaned out looking around.

"No, you really don't wish to go further out there, or to even face that again. We barely made it out just from those beasts alone, but there are many other threats as well, many that you won't want to face. But you think too low of the village, Gabriella. Going back to that place won't end in your death." he says with no confidence behind his words as he looks away from me, not even being able to say this while looking me in the eyes. I shake my head not believing a word he says, since he can't even believe them enough to even make eye contact.

"You don't know that and I can see that you don't even believe that.. So I don't know why you keep insisting on it. I would rather stay out here in the darkness, leaving my future in the hands of those beasts, then going back to that beast within those walls." I state this while trying to sit up, just hoping I can stand on my own, but I know I cannot run if I am able to get up to my feet or not. But I will wobble away as far as I can if it means I won't have to go back to that place again. I watch him turning around and looking in all directions, but I can't imagine he can see much since the darkness has consumed everything, leaving nothing to be seen.

He groans out, throwing his arms up and around for a moment as if he is having an internal battle with himself, probably about me and my decisions. "Seriously? I can't.. ugh... really?" I watch as he pinches the bridge of his nose, thinking about what to do before he starts up again. Stomping back and forth, throwing his arms around while arguing with himself. I can't tell if I am winning or if he is though, so I just continue to watch. I notice all of his expressive movements to himself, as if he thinks he is alone or something. But at least he is not losing his wits in this place when he could be completely lost in his head. But he is not taking his eyes from the surrounding area, which is making me feel better.

I observe him letting out a deep breath before he adds on, "Well.. I think you were blessed this time around with your thoughts, because we probably went too far to go back tonight. I cannot see any of our paths in the distance, and it will be much longer than we would want to find our way back.. So, with darkness all around, it is not safe to go that way.. We will need to make a camp with a fire.. multiple fires. That's what they are scared of.. Fire." he declares this as if he was talking to himself, not even looking over at me as he slips on the armor he took off. Which I think was silly because I have no idea why he would have taken it off in the first place.