Chapter 32 : The Man in the Mask

I started making my way towards the village market, trying desperately to shake off the feeling that I am being followed. Did I alert the Blood Sect people already?

I sped up when I reached the market and to my astonishment found that the market was lively and full of buzz. I had thought that the Blood Sect would impose punishments or restrictions but a quick scan around the village had informed me that that there weren’t any red robed men scouting. Maybe their guards are prying while disguised as normal villagers.

I quickly immersed myself further into the crowd hoping that I would lose whoever it was that was following me. I stopped by a store selling vegetables and pretended to be interested in the dirty radishes in front of me, while I kept my one eye firmly on the mirror hanging on its wall.

“Would like to buy some Miss?” The scrawny shopkeeper asked me excitedly.

Ha! Got you! Now I am the one playing the game. I smirked into the mirror as I caught the owner of the robes that were following me intently.

I shook my head tentatively at the shopkeeper and took off into a sudden run, jumping above carts and baskets and sliding like a snake through the crowd. I was running at a break neck speed.

Then I slammed the brakes hard, digging my feet in and stopped abruptly in the middle of the crowd and turned around in a blink of a second.

“Ah…” he yelled as he tried to slow down his speed and ended up right in front of my face.

“I knew there was something shady about you. “ I snickered.

The man in front of me however didn’t look scared or even pissed that he had been caught, instead he looked proud. He looked me in the eye for a second, then threw his head back and laughed out loud.

The man in the mask, the old man I had met before….the one with the weird half mask, who claimed he was from the Earth Sect, was now standing in front of me laughing his lungs out while I stood there glaring at me. I grimaced as his maniacal laughter started attracting curious glances from the crowd and I immediately grabbed his hand and dragged him behind me.

Only after we had passed through the market and was now safety hidden in the woods did I let go of his hand. God, I hope I don’t run across any wolves or lycans…

“You clearly don’t belong to the earth sect. So answer me truthfully ,which Sect do you belong to? The Blood Sect?” I yelled in a superior and monotonous tone while unleashing the Urumi from my waist and extending it in front of me.


He took a step back wearily, holding his hands up in a surrender position as he replied, “ The people here seem to think that I belong to the Blood Sect”

I let out a hiss , swearing. Ugh! So the blood sect indeed was following me.

“The people seem to think?” I repeated, tilting my head.

When he nodded , I shot at him again, “Then which Sect do you actually belong to?”

“I don’t belong to any Sect my child. But if you insist on classifying me , I suppose the Blood Sect indeed comes close to it.”

“Huh?” came out my elegant reply.

Great! He was smirking at me now. I swished the Urumi in front of him, threateningly but he didn’t even blink. Ugh! I was just embarrassing myself. For god sake, I have no clue what I am supposed to do with this. I mean a sword makes sense, but what do I do with a long, swishing, lasso like sword. I can’t use it to plunge it into my enemies.

His eyes twinkled with amusement as they followed the Urumi’s movement.

“You have no clue how to use this, do you?” He stated stoically.

I dropped the Urumi to the ground resignedly and sighed.

“Would you like to know how?”

I looked at him with narrow eyes.

“How do you know how to use an Urumi? According to Stella , only very few men could manage to tame this weapon” I hissed at him.

He rolled his eyes as he replied, “I never expected an arrogant female like you to get so well with your husband’s concubine.”

“Only very few people can claim to tame the Urumi. Even Dominic and Stephanno couldn’t use this” I repeated, ignoring his gleeful expression.

Stephanno….the moment I uttered his name out loud, I felt a pang in my chest. Over the past few days I have cried like a silly child whenever I come across something that reminded me of him. But I am way past that now….I am done crying for the man who betrayed me.

The old man must have sensed the turmoil of emotions wagering on my face as he took a step forward, with a painful look on his face.

“ Ah…first love….First love is always supposed to end bitterly. There are very few people who have the good luck to be with their first love forever.”

Huh? I jolted back to my senses as I fixed him with a murderous glare.

“Did you just read my mind?” I shouted at him, offended by his prying attitude.

He simply shrugged as he continued scanning my face.

“Stop reading my mind” I shrieked at him, my voice turning all squeaky.

“It is not something I can control , Your Highness. It is kind of an occupational hazard.”

“Oh now I am back to Your Highness….what happened to child?” I shot back at him.

He took a step closer again, keenly assessing my face seriously as he asked, “What would you prefer I call you? Your Highness or My Child?”

Huh? What the hell? I saw raw anguish in his eyes as he muttered ‘My child’. Did he loose his child or something?

I blinked in surprise at his vulnerable expression and recoiled myself as I replied, “It’s your tongue. Do whatever you wish….As long as you don’t call me bad names, it’s fine”

“Then My child it is” he replied tenderly.

I cleared my throat and took a step back, overwhelmed as he called me my child again. Selma had addressed me as ‘child’ at that time. Maybe it was an elderly thing, but why did I feel a knot in my stomach when he uttered ‘My child’?

“You miss your father?” He asked questionably.

“I told you to stop reading my mind”

“And I told you that it is an occupational hazard, My Child” He replied softly.

I suck in a deep breath as he called me ‘child’ again. Ugh! My emotions are all over the place.

“Yeah…you are not really a merchant are you? So what do you do?”

“I don’t think you would believe me even if I told you the truth which I don’t intend to” he replied calmly as he bent down and took the Urumi from the ground.

“You know the first time I met you, I thought that you were the spitting image of your mother. You look exactly like her but you are nothing like her.” He said softly, tears spilling out of his eyes.

I looked at him confused and asked, “I am nothing like her?”

“She was elegant and womanly, wise beyond her years always poised ,but you …..your attitude ,your character…everything is like your father.”

“Yeah, I know. I apparently have his walk. According to Amos, even the way I walk reminds him of my dad.”

I frowned as I saw his eyes narrow at the mention of Amos.

“Amos approached you didn’t he? Did he challenge you to a duel?”

I gasped. He had hit the nail right on its head. He started bellowing, going into a full on rage

“This is preposterous. How can an elder of the council challenge a weak eighteen year old to a duel?”

“Weak…Hey!” I yelled at him.

He started walking to and fro with the Urumi clutched tightly in his hand.

“I am not a weakling. I may look all elegant like my mother, but yourself told I have my father’s attitude and no one in their right mind would call my father a weakling!”

He stiffened, putting a stop to his wild prancing as he quietly turned his head and locked eyes with me. I swore I saw a tear escape from his left eye but he wiped his eyes frantically, then took a moment to collect himself. I frowned when my gaze traveled down to his arm …..the arm that held the Urumi. He looked so comfortable holding it, as if he had done it a million times earlier.

Both of us froze at the same time as our eyes started scanning the woods when we both heard the rustling of leaves. I don’t think we are alone in here.

I looked at him and he gestured to stay quiet as he sneaked his way into the bushes. He immediately jumped back when he saw a wolf emerge from it. I saw several wolves approaching us. Ugh! Wolves again. Hadn’t I made it perfectly clear that I don’t want them as allies?



I saw him narrow his eyes as more and more wolves crept in. I frowned, they weren’t just standing there like last time, they seemed to be surrounding us, making us back to a corner.

Some of the wolves looked like pups. What the hell?

I looked at him again, perplexed. He was twisting the Urumi back and forth, swishing it in the air, with such expertise that would put a Master to shame.

The wolves attacked first. Great! I didn’t have any weapons. The hairy white wolf lunged at me and I immediately raised my right hand to block its sharp teeth. I saw blood dripping from my arm and frowned. I shook the wolf from my arm frantically, while kicking its shin. It let go with a yelp as it hit the gigantic tree. I looked at my arm closely which was now covered with blood but I didn’t feel any pain.

I rubbed my arm with my sleeves and was about to tear of my sleeves to wrap my arm up when I found out there wasn’t any cut there. I blinked in confusion. I hadn’t felt the teeth sink into my arm. It had only scraped by my bracelet. The blood that I had rubbed onto my sleeves weren’t mine it was the wolf’s. I zoomed in on the wolf who had attacked me earlier and found him laying on the ground with his back pressed against an enormous tree.

His mouth was dripping with blood. I curiously stepped towards him, ignoring the raging fight going beside me. The old man was taking on five wolves at the same time and merely swishing them aside like they were annoying flies in his porridge. With a jolt, I realized that the wolf’s teeth were broken. I looked at my bracelet again and found that there weren’t any bite marks in it. It looked as good as new. I frowned…The knife had a golden tilt but its body was made of some kind of crystal. What kind of crystal can do this much damage?

“Jessica” The old man yelled at the same time I felt a pair of teeth bite into my shoulders. I yelped in pain as the wolf tore apart my sleeves and sunk his sharp teeth in, tearing apart my skin.