章 9: river ghost
Empty handed, stranded, with the cold wind that blew in her face as if giving vengeful slaps to her loyalty, Humerah stayed silently still among the sunflowers swaying around her.
Her small figure was hunched over, chest pressed against her thighs as she wrapped her arms around her feet and supported her chin over her knees. Her lower lip was jutted out in a pout, smacking against the upper lip in some random movement of passing time and giving herself something to do.
Her pleasant blue eyes were glued, unblinking, to the night sky as her fingers drummed over the sides of her thighs and feet tapped against the ground. Her body swayed to and fro in motion, head filled with fantasies of her Princess saving Crown Prince Zephyr and them kissing under the moonlight.
It was so romantic of a thought, for her, that had her squealing in her head and jittery in her fingers. "Ah! Humerah, stop thinking about the Prince and Princess with such indecency!! They are holy people and your head is ruining them! Respect them...!! But I reckon they would look lovely together! And their children— no, Stop thinking!!" She hit her forehead, knocking her empty head as if communicating with her brain cells and asking them to concentrate on something better than fantasies that could get her killed if someone around knew how to read minds.
Insecure and paranoid of the sudden thought, she looked around haphazardly, wondering if someone around could read her mind. There wasn't anyone or anything but the buzzing bugs around. Phew. "They don't speak the same language as you, Humerah, simmer down," She patted her thundering heart and decided to concentrate on better things.
She waited for a signal from her mistress or her princess, anything— a fire, a shout, a melody in the distance or the call of her name— that could confirm their safety. But nothing came for a long while.
In the calmness of the night, different from the background buzzing of the insects, a repetitive gallop overpowered. Humerah sprang up on her feet, wobbling a little at that suddenness of the action, and tip-toed to see if her Princess was coming back for her.
But the horror that laced her sight was beyond supreme. It dropped her gut and made her insides churn for all she saw in the distance was the Royal Horse retracing its footsteps on the stony path and a orange hue ascending into smokes above the Whispering Woods.
An empty horse. A fire. Smoke.
"No no...my princess- what happened? Is that...a signal? Are the woods... burning?! A-re you trapped my princess?!" She stuttered in sheer affixation of slipping fear.
This was the signal! She needs to inform someone! She needs to do it quick!! Her Princess and her mistress were captured and in need of help!!
Biting on her lip, she looked around with frantic gestures, eyes flooding with concern. She cannot ride a horse— no, it would be no use trying to. How does she get to Faber Meadows before it is too late?! Running? Her footsteps are hurried now, uncaring of the flowers she was crushing on the way. Stems break under the burden of her weighted responsibility. She runs, mind running a mile a minute, she wishes her feet could catch up. She was never a great racer...so...How does she reach to the Crown Prince in time?!
Another crushed sunflower, another cold gust dropped the temperature around but warmed her heart instead, the river beside flowed peacefully.
The River.
River Akane! It flows all the way over to Faber Meadows!
"My princess, wait up, I'll bring your Prince Charming for you!" Humerah exclaims, not considering the pros and cons of the situation but thrusting herself in it. A will of madness had overtaken her being as she rushed over to the River, buckles of her black shoes clinking with each heavy step. She stripped off her ruffled maid attire and threw her shoes on the bank.
She may not be as intimidating as Belladonna or as perfect and charming as her princess but if Humerah was good at anything but gossip, it would be swimming. She is a fisherman's daughter. The sea is in her blood. A river has got nothing on her.
"My princess, hold still, I shall save you!" Humerah dramatically exclaims before jumping into the river with only her chemise, bra and bloomers on. Her small hands and feet leisurely thrusted against the water flow, swimming upstream.
Just like the days when she was young. She and her siblings would swim around the coats of the Empyrean Ocean all day along, waiting for their father to come back from his day's catch. After the day was over they would grill fish by the ocean and relish in the warmth of summer and narrate their day's experiences to each other.
Until her father never returned one day. Until the villagers sent Humerah and her siblings off to work for the Royal Household. It has been five years since Humerah had stepped feet in a water body. She had no reason to, anymore.
Until today. River Akane felt like home to her. Each thrust forward was an exhilarating stroke towards her freedom. She missed her father, she missed her siblings, so she's going to earn loads of money to get her siblings back and find her father.
And in order to do that, the Princess must live!
Swimming all the way to Faber Meadows was definitely not the easiest way, but it was faster than taking the ever winding paths that led there. A swim would be straight, direct and she would make it in record time. She has to. She must.
And she does.
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He was sitting eerily still, staring at his calm reflection lit orange in River Akane as Faber Meadows, his home, burnt behind him. He caressed his sleeping child's forehead with a deep sigh.
A rustle from the river made him look up.
Only to see a sickly pale hand erupt out of nowhere and stamp itself with a loud splat on the banks of River Akane.
And the man screamed like a Banshee announcing death, all but crawling backwards in pure mortification as his child rolled to the side.
Next resurfaced the hair that spread over the water surface like tentacles floating— and the man coughed into a faint.
"It is the River ghost!! The River spirit!!" Someone shouted as the head slowly emerged out of water, wet hair sticking like second skin to the pale of its face. Screams resounded when the body wiggled out of River Akane, slowly but surely making itself visibly draped in white.
"She has come to take the souls of our people!!" Someone shouted.
"A vengeful spirit!! Throw salt at her!!" Someone else shouted.
"Stay still or she will eat you up!!" was someone's suggestion.
Crown Prince Piaget Goldstein's dewy green eyes widened as he took a few hasty steps backwards, pulling Zephyr by his sleeve and wordlessly pushing him in front.
"Excuse me?! Don't you dare make me a bait!" Zephyr snapped, pulling Clover by his collar and thrusting him in front of the royal duo. Piaget and Zephyr exchange a subtle nod of acknowledgement as the blonde boy gritted his teeth before spewing a fresh flurry of curses.
"Why you little insolence of princely excuses-" Clover begins, fingers carding through his hair, only to earn a head smack from Zephyr.
"Be quite! You're attracting attention of the spirit!" The brunette whisper-shouted, mocha eyes widened in a state of pure scandalized horror.
The sickly pale girl who was now stood slightly hunched and shivering on the banks the river, drenched and shriveled, spotted the grand party of Royalty in between the stillness of the place. Everyone had stopped doing any action, whatsoever, standing statue still to camouflage with the surroundings and willing might as well to transform into stones while they were at it. They would if they could.
It was the result of some unsaid command, a wave of someone copying off another as they all stood still and no soul even thought about questioning it. Well, everyone but Clover.
"Maybe it is about time you both sorted that rivalry in hell," Clover seethed, holding eye contact with the sleazy spirit as he squeezed in between the small gap offered by the resistant Princes, trying to stand still but also not letting Clover pass through, and stood behind them.
All that shuffling caught the woman's attention, who snapped her shaky neck at them. Blue eyes gleaming under the yellow hues of the fire around, glaring a blistering green down the Princes' soul.
"YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS!—" Her voice came our dragged, shaky, scratched and whispy in his ears.
Zephyr definitely considered it possessed and, with all due respect, screeched like a teenager. Almost deafened by the loudness, Piaget scooted a few steps back to create distance but Zephyr caught him by his sleeve.
"In the name of the Holy Empire, take him! He's a pureblood!" Zephyr shouted, propelling Piaget forward. The man yelped, with the least etiquette he could muster, and almost toppled off his face. Almost.
Instead, the blonde prince retaliated with a loud eloquence, "No! That man is younger and fresher in spirit! His soul is quaint!" And pulled Zephyr closer to the ghastly woman. His hand accidentally presses against Zephyr's injured shoulder and the second prince winces in response.
Enraged and in pain, Zephyr confesses out loud, with his mocha eyes narrowed at Prince Piaget and an insane smile gracing his lips, "I know I am fresh and unbelievably dashing of a person, but he skips Sunday Cathedrals!"
Gasps.
Harsh loud gasps, the only insult people could muster while trying to be motionless, were directed at Crown Prince Piaget who faltered in his footing, sharp jaw hanging low in bafflement as his pale green eyes weighed down with betrayal. Sunday Cathedral was a holy tradition of EDA and Zephyr might as well had rephrased the words, 'HE IS A TRAITOR' and plastered it on his face.
The ghastly appearing woman took steps further, now almost running, towards Zephyr.
Piaget, regardless of being consumed by bafflement, was quick to notice this progression.
"She is looking at you! She is coming for you! She wants you! You liar!" He shouted back, stealthily shuffling away from the woman's perspective. And Lo! She indeed was coming for Zephyr Elstan!
Zephyr choked over his words, stepping backwards, bumped into Clover and winced as his injury collided with Clover's body. "Your Highness, you need to get your shoulder checked by the healer," Clover whispered in a moment of haste and concern.
It hurt, but not more than the priorities at hand. It felt like his shoulder was being burnt with hot coal but the sting dimmed as soon as adrenaline took over.
"Are those your last words to me?!" Zephyr panicked as the woman was almost at hand's distance to him, pale and panting, sickly and ghostly in appearance.
She grabbed Zephyr's hands with hers before anyone could blink.
And chaos ensued.
People shouting, raging, clanking of weapons and dishes as someone started throwing salt and someone started chanting gibberish.
But the woman drew in a large breathe whilst Piaget kept the soldiers at halt with a hand in the air, watching with fixated green eyes, as she all but screamed in Zephyr's face.
"PRINCESS AGNES HAS BEEN TAKEN HOSTAGE BY THE NIGHTMONGERS!!"
"Huh?"
Zephyr, taken aback, blinks dumbly.
"Oh, so she is a person," Piaget lets out a deflated sigh, drooping a little from his proud stance. "No supernatural entity is devouring Zephyr Elstan's corrupt soul tonight, I guess," He grumbles to himself, lowering his hand down as his soldiers stand at ease again.
Clover's eyes widen as he jumps forward and swats the woman's hand away from Zephyr's. With narrowed eyes and a charming smile, he stands in front of her small, pale, form and lines a finger across her forehead, pushing her wet hair behind her ear. She stares in his eyes with a desperation that went beyond loyalty and concern. It was pleading.
"P-Prin-ncess n-n-ne-eeds h-help-" She tried choking out, but as her adrenaline wore down and the surroundings start making more comprehensive sense to her, she felt her goosebumps rise under the pressure of hundreds of eyes etched upon her, staring, watching, judging. The wind made her feel unwelcomed, underdressed, and vulnerable as she shivered involuntarily upon its unwatched gentle kisses. Consent much?!
"Bring the lady a blanket and a fresh change of clothes!!" Piaget orders, pushing past a stupefied Zephyr and walking up to the woman.
But before he could speak, Clover beat him to it. "You're hot, who are you and where have you been all your life?" He smirked, speaking in a breathy whisper, as his pale green eyes wander all over the woman.
She blinked dumbly in reply.
Piaget elbowed Clover out of her line of sight and tried a more civil approach. "Who are you and how do you know about the princess?" He questioned calmly.
His voice is soft, kind, intrusive yet gentle. Almost a caress that wakes her up from the scared reverie of her situation.
This was not the time to play victim, her Princess needed her. The girl, with considerable regret, pushed Piaget away and ran up to Zephyr again.
For the second time in less than ten minutes, Piaget's jaw hung low, eyes playing dead with his soul. Clover, stumbling over his steps, snickered at Piaget's face being on the receiving end of a cold rejection.
"Crown prince! I am Humerah, Princess Agnes' haindmaiden! You need to be quick! Please, Princess Agnes and mistress Belladonna have been captured by the nightmongers!! In the Whispering Woods!" She hurriedly reports while someone puts a cover of blankets on her head. She wrapped it around her body, securely, involuntarily making herself small in his presence.
Zephyr sighed, folding his arms against his chest and pressed his handsome lips in a thin line. A small frown graced his face on the vision of this small, writhing girl, and another feeling of burning hatred raged in his chest.
As a princess, how could Agnes Raqs let a girl as young as Humerah swim all the way from the Whispering Woods to Faber Meadows through the freezing River Akane just to save herself?!
Humerah sneezed twice in the protection of her blankets and Zephyr bit his tongue in fear of freely speaking anything out of context in the presence of Piaget Goldstein and the people of Faber Meadows.
What shameless cruelty was this?!
Zephyr was so close to letting his expressions betray him into a scowl but he rather opted for chipping a rather cold, "I'm still waiting for the part where it becomes my concern," response.
The people were shouting again, frantically cursing and running around with no destination in mind. Fuming over the catalytic mention of the Nightmongers, they burnt with revenge. They found whatever weapon they could and were ready to call an attack but Zephyr pushed Humerah aside and ordered to halt the crowd.
Clover led him to the front, away from Humerah, with a charming wink.
He started saying something. Something loud. Comprehensive and smart. Something that should help the people, Humerah is sure, but whatever it was— she was not registering it. As she received a fresh set of clothes from anonymous hands, all she saw was Zephyr's uncaring and selfish back. A people pleaser with no concern for his love. His Princess.
She saw a man for the nation, maybe, but not someone whom her Princess deserved. Her heart ached in desperation.
"How...could he say that...after my princess came all the way for him..." Humerah gritted her teeth, crushing the clothes between her hands. Adrenaline coursed faster in her bloodstream, dispensing the cold in one swift flow.
Hypocrite. Selfish. Unkind. Unloveable. Yes. That's all what Zephyr Elstan was. The love lenses of kind viewing and admiration were forever off for him in Humerah's perspective.
She would have done something, to protect the honor of her Princess that this lowly man just stepped on, but pride could wait to be settled after life was. Her princess needed help. And helped looked charming in the concerned frowns on the face of Crown Prince Piaget Goldstein.
Humerah ran up to Piaget, who was not done hanging his jaw, and held his hand with hers, "Will you help my princess, please? She has been captured! I reckon...she heard voices from the woods and went to check on them...i--uh-- stayed back-- just in case and her horse! The Royal horse ran past me! Empty! And I saw the woods burning! There was fire! Help her, please! I beg of you!"
Her words were broken, her cries were muffled and her voice was clogged. But when she looked up in Prince Piaget's dewy green eyes, there was kindness and concern. What she expected from someone, she got from someone else.
Piaget looks back to check the skies and sees no smoke rising in distance. He turns to scrutinize Humerah and her appearance does not looks like someone serving for the Royal family. There are too many unfiltered loopholes in her confession and, Piaget realises, it could be a trap.
But the sheer desperation in which her eyes and stance seem to be begging for help say otherwise. This would be a gamble, Piaget concludes, but one he would not come to regret.
"A fire in the Whispering Woods would be bad, the trees are too near. We must hurry as fast as possible. But prithee, lady, would you do me a favor before that?" He tilts his head before questioning.
Humerah nods frantically, eyes wide, and the water from her hair flung itself in Piaget's eyes. He squirmed whilst she exclaims without a thought. "Anything! Please! I will do it all!"
Pressing his lips in a line and raising his eyebrows to frantically blink and expel the water, Piaget replies, "Please change into fresh clothes or you would fall sick. I'm sure your Princess wouldn't want that. You are free to take any of my horses and catch up. I'll take a lead now." He tries letting go of Humerah's grip from his hands, as politely as possible, but the young handmaiden just stares at his face.
She is reluctant to waste time but she has already promised. It was conflicting. But it's okay, she must do what is right. Humerah nods in reply to the Prince.
"Change, I must, change, I shall," Humerah nods to herself, letting go of Prince Piaget's hands and picking up the clothes that had landed on the dirty ground in an untidy pile.
As she bent down, thick boots made their way in her perspective. She looked up to see Clover staring down with his pale green eyes narrowed.
"Say, if the horse ran past you...why did you not catch it and ride it back here?" Clover questioned, green eyes as cold as River Akane at winter midnights.
Humerah grabs the clothes off the ground and stands up straight, flushing as color of the living rushed into her cheeks. "I-uhm...i don't know- i, uh, I apologize I don't know how to ride a horse," She confess, embarrassed of her predicament, and expecting mockery—
But it never came. Instead, "Change. We need to hurry," Was Piaget's crisp demand and Humerah instantly followed through, hugging the lump of clothes and blankets to her chest and running off into the distance to find a safe spot.
Clover bit his lower lip, eyes following her clumsy movements as Piaget heads towards his horse. "Why are you doing this? To spite Zephyr? He really doesn't care," Clover inquires, turning to see Piaget mount his horse.
"No, Clover, at the end of the day, princess or not, they are all citizens of EDA and eventually my responsibility to bear," Piaget replied, straightening his back, checking his swords and lessening the weight over his mighty black horse. "I must go."
Clover runs a hand through his hair before letting out an exasperated, "It could be a trap- did you not see how she came out of the river?! Out of nowhere?! People here need you more, your Empire needs you more than your dead body," harsh snap.
Piaget tsked, "I'm sure you and Zephyr will find the most joy out of it."
Clover grimaced, turning to see Zephyr hunched in a bow and talking to a giggling toddler, and back at Piaget sat on his horse, staring down at him.
"You may regret this."
"Not today."
"Maybe, one day?"
"If I payed attention to every bit of paranoid insecurity pooling in your head, Clover Romero Milton, I would age 5 years a minute without moving a muscle." With that, Piaget Goldstein charged his reins over his horse, "Hiya!" He exclaimed as his horse gained movement and rode out of sight.
Clover, lets out a breath, stomping on the ground before sliding towards Zephyr and whispered, "He is going to woo Princess Agnes and get the Raqs family on his side, I bet you."
And Zephyr's eye twitched.
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