Mistakes, and more Mistakes!!...

*Let’s face it, just how many times can someone come to rescue me?!!...*

**Proserpina**
“Caught you, Princess!” As soon as Sigurd’s charred lips formed the words, exposing his rotten teeth, panic hit me.
“Let me go!” I screamed, banging my fist on his face.
“Stop it,” Sigurd hissed. But I couldn’t stop. My body wouldn’t let me. My heart was pumping pure adrenaline around my veins, making me morph into the most violent person I had ever been. I was shaking with a lethal combination of both fear and anger. It made me want to scratch his skin at the thought of being in the hands of that madman. I had been so goddamn foolish and too pig-headed! I hit my foot in between his legs.
“Aargh…! Damn it, Princess! Don’t fight, or this won’t be pleasant!” He warned, and the grating sound of his voice made me want to do even more damage. So, with that in mind, I kicked again. Only this time, he counteracted my move by grabbing my leg. I tried to struggle past him, but he punched my face in his rage, knocking me down with a hefty blow. I could taste the blood in my mouth. I was too stunned and dazed, which gave him the advantage.
“We don’t have time for a fight, Princess,” Sigurd said in a voice that didn’t sound good. My heart nearly stopped, giving way to a whole new fear.
*He was about to kill me!*
I was squirming around like a fish on a hook in his hold. He grabbed my wrists, holding them in an unbreakable grasp, so I tried one last effort. I pulled my arms and bucked my body, trying to worm my way out of his hold, but he pushed me down, and my arms got pulled out further, making me scream in pain. It felt like they would soon be ripped from their sockets!
“Be good!” He warned, flashing me an evil grin, enjoying every minute of this, unable to keep that sick smile off his face.
“Get off me!” I screamed as I thrashed around, but the blade came back up to my neck.
“Behave!” he shouted back, and the tears started to fall on my cheeks, some landing on the cold blade beneath my chin.
“We don’t need you! Justina will take your place as the prospective wife of Prince Vlad and his brother…so you’ll die!” He grinned at the last part of the sentence. His face turned hard and terrifying, like a killer. He enjoyed watching me squirm. My body went into panic mode at the sight. With each second passed, my heart rate increased, making the pounding in my chest hurt, and my ribcage rattled with fear. The tears came without control.
“Just to warn you, Princess, this will hurt,” he said, flashing me his evil grin. He held up his hand, the blade scrap through the first layer of my skin. I know that this was my time, and I don’t understand why the face of my mysterious stranger to my mind. I don’t know his name yet, but I feel connected to him.
Sigurd tore another slash on my arm.
“NO!” I screamed out in a voice that emptied my lungs. The pain made my body convulse, and blood gushed from my arm. It made its way down through my dress, down my side, and finally dripping down my feet. He then placed his hand over my gushing wound, and my body shuddered in immense pain.
Then a loud sound echoed through the wall. The wooden floorboard made a splintering noise. Sigurd and I looked around the room. Then we both heard a tremendous crashing noise as if a big animal had fallen from the sky, giving off an aftershock on the floor and causing a rippling tremor.
*And there he landed! My mysterious stranger!!!*
His yellow eyes glowed as they tensed at the sight of me. Half of my body was bloodied, and my face had been hit many times. I couldn’t have been pretty to look at. I couldn’t help the fresh tear that fell at finally seeing him again. My instinct made me jump at my stranger. I threw my arms around his neck to hold on as tightly as possible. I heard him chuckle. He wrapped his arms around me and whispered, “I take it you missed me, Raven?”
‘He’s got massive shoulders and narrow hips. If I thought my heart rate was going wild before, now I thought I would go into cardiac arrest! Oh, shut up, Proserpina! There must be rules against ogling the guys when you barely survive.’ I reminded myself.
Sigurd brought the blade closer to me, but my stranger moved faster and was soon at Sigurd. With such force, he punched Sigurd in the face that his body flew through the air, crashing into the room’s opposite wall. I jumped at the thud it made. My stranger’s eyes were an inferno of utter rage.
“You…you came for me…?” I sobbed, feeling the tears fall on my sore red skin. His face softened, whereas his eyes turned normal for a moment. He was about to say something when I saw a flash in the corner of my eye. Sigurd stood up, holding a blade aimed at my stranger.
“Behind you!” I screamed. Before that blade could pierce through his heart, my stranger held out his hand, gripping the edge in his palm with a jerk. The drops of blood dripped down the floor from his hand. His hair fell forward in front of his face, and I just wanted to run to him and push that hair back. Those semi-soft hairs would be sliding through in-between my fingers.
‘Back to being scared, Proserpina; not a great time to be so romantic’, I reminded myself.
My stranger flashed a destructive grin that was pure, undiluted revenge.
“My turn!” He hissed in a demonic growl I’d never heard before, pulling the blade from Sigurd’s grip in one fierce swipe. He then grabbed Sigurd by the throat, pinned him to the wall, lifted him with one hand, and choked him. My stranger’s eyes glowed like a starved beast going in for a kill, enjoying the sight of Sigurd’s pain. Sigurd was wriggling like a worm desperate for breathing.
“Don’t kill him; we won’t leave the Northern Kingdom alive. The king will unleash his whole army,” I warned the stranger as I watched the life drain from Sigurd’s body. The stranger gave me a fierce look as if I had just interrupted his killing frenzy. But then his eyes did turn thoughtful. He dropped Sigurd, making him fall to his knees, where he coughed and wheezed. He clutched his throat, trying to regain his breathing.
The stranger looked down at Sigurd, disgusted with the parasite at his feet.
“You’re right. He needs to live,” the stranger said sternly with a growl. His words made me shake to my core. Something was not right about his tone. The rage on his face was beyond petrifying. He was driven by killer instinct!!
Then, like lightning, he held Sigurd’s back straight and plunged the knife into his eye without even a shred of humanity.
“Enjoy life!” He said to Sigurd with a killer smile on his lips. Sigurd crumpled on the floor. I was still shaking from the fear of what I had just witnessed. And the urge to retch the acidic contents of my stomach was swarming over my body. So, when his hands touched me, I jumped and shrieked.
“If you wanted my attention, you could have just asked me for a date.” My stranger said, winking at me and grabbing my hand as he passed to pull me along after him.
“Sorry?” I asked, confused about his words.
“The answer to your question, ‘You came for me?’ is...Just ask me for a date if you want my attention instead of sticking your legs in shit,” He responded.
“You’re insane,” I spoke, wishing I had a wooden stick to spank his ass.
“Thank you,” he said, tightening the grip on my hands and pulling me forward. I just rolled my eyes.
We walked through the passage to see the bloodied bodies of the guards lying on the floor. Some were almost lifeless, while others were writhing in pain.
“Your handy work?” I asked, moving about the bodies.
“Guilty,” He said, waving his knife at me. Now the mystery of two things is solved. One is why my stranger came so late to help me, and the other is why none of the guards rushed to Sigurd for help.
“Come on, trouble, let’s get your sweet ass out of here.” he said, taking my arm and leading me when something caught my eye, causing me to shout, “Mira.” I wrenched my arm free and turned towards the opposite door.
“Kora, what are you…!? Fuck!” My stranger grumbled behind me as a sword landed on my neck. We were surrounded by the guards when we stepped into the room where Mira was caged.
“What is wrong with you, Kora?” He growled, scolding me.
“Sorry,” I whispered, shrugging my shoulders and making him roll his eyes at me.
“I promise I’ll be careful next time,” I responded.

*Why do I always attract the trouble like the light attracts moths?!!...*