Blood Moon's Paroxysm

Chapter 7

He watches her as she patrols around her house in the dark. He was clutching onto the chimney of the house with his sweating palms, kneeling on the narrow thatch of the cottage as he gradually felt as if he's losing his grip. He's never used to being sneaky and subtle, he's not trained to become a knight and simply just to become an excellent fighter and nothing else.

His gaze tracked her nonchalant movements till he realized that she was looking for him.

He panicked, his gaze frozen at her who was scanning her gaze around her home. He gripped onto his sword as he felt himself feeling insecure about this hiding spot, wondering how in the world did she hint out that someone's here.

For a second, both of their gaze met, and he wondered if she could actually see him in the dark. Her gaze was still and locked at him, as if she could see something.

The prince had only relied on the moonlight to see where she was, but as she strode towards where the shadow of the trees were, he could no longer see her. That's when he knew that he should move.

He crawled till the part of the thatch where he used to climb onto the cottage. Then lowered himself onto the window casing, setting his steps on the unpolished wood carefully before bringing himself down to the dirt pathway.

Standing on the ground, he swept his gaze around to look for the girl, but his surroundings were telling him that he's alone.

The prince turned to the darkness in the forest, hoping to search for any movements but detected none other than an instinct urging him to look behind him.

He did, he spared a glance back and saw her. The girl was approaching him in a subtle way where he couldn't hear the slightest sound she made when she moved. With a sword in hand and the posture she's displaying was enough to tell him that she doesn't come in the name of peace.

They glared at each other, attempting to read something off each other's eyes. He's wondering if she'd consider him an enemy after hurting her. Seeing the flames waving intensely behind those eyes, he bet that she'd slice his arm in pieces after beating him in a fight.

He takes a step forward, testing to see if she really wants to fight, even with her left arm wrapped in bandages. His heart rate began accelerating but he kept his face from showing any signs of anxiousness. He felt his heart hammering against his chest, the air blowing out of his rose more rapidly compared to before. His palms were sweating as his gaze traced her arm gripping onto the sword steadily.

The prince expected the rebel to step forward for the duel to begin but she remained utterly still as if having been turned into stone. Her posture froze but her eyes were still remaining the same death stare she'd always used to look at people.

Strange, he thought as he'd never seen her express reluctance towards a duel.

Right after he made that statement, she switched the sword from her right hand to her left, the one wrapped in bandages. Her gaze stern on his as she directed her steps towards him gracefully as if they're surrounded by couples in a masquerade.

He matched her moves and brought himself forward till they're within an arm's reach.

The prince glanced down at her, tilting his head slightly just to see her sword drawn back and thrusting forward. The sharp tip of her sword aiming for the side of his body, a part of the body which wouldn't be hard to treat if a wound was made.

That blow wasn't the usual lightning pace attack she was known to fight with, giving him a hint that she's either exhausted from that morning's events or bluffing. Either way, he's lucky that the duel starts off with an easy attack to dodge. He slid to the side slightly, and bashed his sword down on hers with hopes of disarming her.