Chapter 14: Masked Stranger

A shocking gasp tore from her lips as what happened spiralled in her head, almost like her heart had inadvertently taken a minute pause after witnessing an arrow flash a tiny centimeter past her eyes with such lightning speed and into the bushes by her left.

“Ah” she had taken that narrow miss to be nothing but pure luck as she took a quick step backwards while directing her horse to take another route.

Judging from how perfect the arrow was aimed at her, she could tell whoever shot that arrow was extremely skilled, but it also led her to a conclusion that she wasn’t alone in this forest.

This time around, she chose not to make a run for it, but the shock was still clearly visible on her pale stricken face as she slowed the steps of her horse, quietly wandering through the dense forest while scathing the area with her sharp eyes.

That arrow..... where did it come from??

Her senses were triggered as she waited patiently to hear the slight rustle of the bushes or even a sign to know which particular area the arrow was shot from. Something that would lead her to the dangerous intent she was starting to feel.

With a sigh, she looked up, staring at the light rays above which casted a luminescent golden light over the shade of leaves, forming polka dots on the ground while the giant trees shielded her from the sun using their canopies, but that alone left the forest to look even more austere as she wandered deeper.

.....

The forest became even more quiet than she had expected, as though there was something stopping her from going deeper since she’s never had to follow through the forest in order to leave Euphrasia before. Slowing down even more, she heard the sharp snap of a twig, causing the already alarmed Annalise to turn her head to the direction of the sound.

It came from the bushes at her right, but she didn’t dare drop from her horse like she could tell something or maybe someone was following her, but who??

Squinting her eyes to see deeper through the other side of bushes, her watery brown eyes finally caught something making her ears twitch at the sight.

It was another path, there was another narrow path behind those bushes and when she observed further, she noticed it and that’s when she saw her attacker, but the person had his face covered with a mask, leaving his deep brown eyes exposed to her gaze and when she stared longer into those eyes, she couldn’t decipher where she had seen such eyes before or why they looked familiar.

But that thought was short-lived when the attacker suddenly pointed another arrow in her direction, aiming to shoot her which she didn’t miss at all. The stranger already knew she had seen him.

“They found me already?” Confirming her suspicion in the end, she gave the stranger a look of no surrender and immediately sped up with her horse, narrowly escaping being pierced by another arrow yet again as it flew into the bushes.

A look of disappointment flashed in the eyes of that stranger, seeing her run off on her horse but that only aggravated him to the point he went after her .

No matter what, her days of living has to come to an end today.

Anna rode faster than she ever did as they hurried through the forest and from the corner of her eyes, the masked stranger was at her tail, following her despite being in another path, who in the heavens name is that??

“Hyah!” She gave the horse a gentle squeeze with her feet, hurrying through the earthly path while unsheathing her sword which hung on her waist as she sensed another incoming arrow. Like she had predicted, two arrows came at her but she swiftly turned around with her horse, colliding her sword with the arrow and skillfully flinging them aside. Once again, she met the intense gaze of the masked stranger before turning around to ride past the narrowly strips of naked earth but it felt like the deeper she ran, the more her heart sped up like she was unknowingly leading herself to an even more dangerous place.

The stranger suddenly noticed the route she had taken, causing his eyes to dilate even further as he slowed down on his horse like his impulse had taken control of his goal, refusing to go after her and entering the woods he’d never see himself in.

How can she still run ahead even after knowing what lies in that direction??

historical

Looking away with an expression that was half visible in his eyes, he snapped his fingers and within a few seconds, more royal guards showed up at the scene with their horses galloping to his direction and stopping behind him.

His eyes never left the figure which ran ahead into the Forbidden zone and he cooly uttered.

“Come what may, I want to see her dead body.” The bitterness in his tone could be matched with the hostility in his eyes, he wished to go for her himself but wasn’t ready to risk it. Giving his order, the guards immediately went after the fading figure ahead.

Annalise barely turned to see if the stranger was after her or not, her sole aim was to make it out of Euphrasia and she wasn’t going to stop until she’s out of this place.

Looking ahead, her vision was starting to turn blurry and the path wasn’t vivid to her eyes anymore, she had to rest her head on the body of the horse to regain her sight even if it’s little of it, she can’t go weak now.

Raising her head once more, she finally found the courage to turn around and to her biggest surprise, royal guards were after her but the stranger was nowhere to be seen at all which made her face scrunch into confusion.

How did_where did he go??

“Stop your horse, order from the palace!” The guards declared loudly, bringing Anna back to the present.

Shaking off her dizziness, she realized the masked stranger was nowhere to be seen but now, she was being chased by royal guards to make her situation even more critical. She’d kill herself first before letting them grab hold of her.

Galloping ahead, another entirely different forest was starting to come in sight, something she couldn’t understand and thought it was the trick of light but staring deeper, she realized it was not actually her eyes that were deceiving her.

The forest she was seeing ahead had no source of light, it was covered in darkness and separated from the midday sun, looking like an entirely different world that only seemed to be drowned in shadows of towering malady-brown trees.

The closer she got to it, the more she heard sounds of a plethora of nocturnal ghosts that sent the hairs on her back standing at attention.

She stopped her horse immediately.

What is this??