Love In A Sinking Realm ⊰BTS⊱ Steampunk

CHAPTER 5 ➣ Mountain Gypsies

⊰🎩⊱ Author's Note ⊰🎩⊱

Thank you for lending me your name for this story, dearest friend and talented author Eulissah. She participates as a token of our friendship, although the character existed beforehand.

⊰᯽⊱┈─╌♚ ♕ ♚╌─┈⊰᯽⊱

Their muscles were charred and their stomachs growled. Seokjin could not recall when was the last time they fed themselves with real food, and not the scraps found along the road.

Jimin was running out of ammo for his revolver, which he used for hunting. But the destruction ravaging the surrounding valley had scared most of the wildlife away. He would scrutinize with eyes and ears for anything edible, but only mushrooms of unidentified nutrients occupied the exposed roots of the trees.

"I knew I should've paid attention at the biology lesson of Professor Curly...," Seokjin whined while climbing the hill, "He used to talk about mushrooms all the time. He was obsessed with them. It was honestly concerning, considering that he loved to mention all the poisonous ones when he would have the chance. But, all I did was doodle all over my book! He would bore to tears..."

"How could you have known?" asked Jimin rhetorically, "You were a prince, never to leave your luxurious castle. It's me who's been inattentive of his lessons when instead I should know everything about survival. I even passed my survival course as a student of the Royal Agents of the Crown with flying colors. And now I can barely remember how to start a fire."

He froze in his tracks and extended a hand to stop Seokjin.

Suspicious crackles and pieces of branches snapping, as Jimin eyed behind them. Dark figures eavesdropped from behind trees.

"What is it?" asked Seokjin alarmed.

"Shh!" Jimin pressed his index finger on his lips and then spoke to nothingness, "We come in peace! Please, respectable Nelson Clan, we've come here in need of aid. We mean no harm!"

Seokjin winced at one of the figures revealing themselves. Then other armed men of the infamous Nelson gypsy family, stepped out of the shadows, smirking menacingly.

One of them came forward while playing with his knife, "Even if you meant to harm, you really think you'd prevail?"

The two brothers had a hard time understanding his heavy accent, common among gypsies.

"So, what are two pups like yourselves doing lost in Nelson territory? And how the hell do you know where to find us?" the men inquired while approaching them, now spinning his knife with dexterity.

Seokjin's heart started to pound. He saw that all the rest of the gypsies reached for their knives. His brain worked feverishly, planning roots of escape. Maybe through those trees. No. Impossible. The gypsies knew their territory better than them, they would find them and cut their throats in a blink of an eye. He looked at Jimin, who challenged the leader in a staring contest.

Jimin scoffed, "I see that you haven't changed a bit."

"Speak louder, pretty boy!" shouted one of them.

"I said...," Jimin obeyed.

Seokjin panted in agitation. What is he thinking? We're about to be gutted!

"I said I've come here seeking protection by Eulissah Nelson! An old friend!" he continued.

The gypsies glimpsed at each other astounded. Their leader blinked baffled.

Jimin took advantage of their state of shock and kept pressing on, "I believe she's, what your people call around here, a gypsy Witch Princess and her mother Witch Queen. A few months ago she swore to me that I would be under her protection if I ever happen upon her clan. So, I demand that you honor her request and take us to her unharmed."

The leader of the hunting party drew his bushy eyebrows closer to each other in suspicion.

"What makes you think she's here---"

"If you don't believe me, you can ask her yourself when we get there," the boy interrupted him and concluded.

Only to utter the name of Eulissah Nelson was enough to make any gypsy quiver in respect. The men patrolling the forest felt almost forced to obey, despite their initial skepticism.

And like so, their brief journey began, which took them farther up the mountain. Seokjin felt dizzy and depleted of any energy he had, and the uneven ground of the uphill did wonders to exploit his weakened body. In addition, the alcohol he had been consuming was beginning to corrode his guts and brains. As they approached the gypsy camp, Jimin would lay sidelong looks at the pitiful state in which his older brother was of late.

At the top of the boulder, a multitude of traveling vans, carts, stolen carriages, and hovercrafts, horses everywhere, Romani Music coming from every camp, set the grounds for a rather large gypsy community. Dark eyes of all ages stared at the escorted newcomers, disturbing what appeared to be the preparations for a wedding feast.

At the epicenter of the campsite, the largest carriage, embellished with traditional garments, flocks, ribbons, and drawings of every color, marked the home of the chief of the Nelson Clan.

Jimin tried to contain his smile by pressing his lips. The leader of the escorting group went inside the large van and knocked on the door.

Jimin felt nervous and excited, forgetting his hunger and exhaustion for a few blissful minutes.

From the shadows of the inside of the carriage, a beautiful, delicately swarthy, with long black, silky hair and a hand-crafted dress, thin and seductively pretty, teenage girl, walked out.

Seokjin saw Jimin growing more flustered by the minute. Certainly unusual considering his notoriety when it comes to stealing hearts and angering jealous fathers.

The girl listened to the man whispering something in her ear. While hearing, her large glowing dark eyes, traveled first on Seokjin. Then, flattering her pretty eyelids and opening her mouth, eyes widening with recognition as they landed on Jimin.

She nodded at her subject and ordered him to step aside, without taking her gaze off her red-haired guest. Then she spoke with a delicate, but authoritative voice, with the same accent as her men, sending chills down Jimin's spine.

"These two young men are under my protection! You will treat them like family!" she commanded, her eyes glued on Jimin, "And if any other idiot leaves his patrolling post, I will have them ride a donkey instead of a horse for the rest of the year! And Mr. Lee!"

The leader of the party that escorted the two brothers, looked at her submissively.

"Deliver a message to my mother that they've arrived!"

"Yes, ma'am!" he set off immediately, as though if he delayed any longer, his beloved mistress would be disappointed.

Then the beautiful girl shifted her attention back to the newcomers. She walked down the wooden platform connected to the ground and her image became clearer. She firstly examined Seokjin.

"Take this one to the healer and see that he's fed."

Two women from the small crowd that had gathered to observe them, grabbed Seokjin by his arms.

The boy looked at Jimin for reassurance, which he gave with a charming wink, almost as though he couldn't wait to get rid of him.

And finally, after what seemed an eternity for Jimin, she locked her irresistible fiery gaze back on him. Her eyes scanned him from head to toe, an eyebrow raised and a whimsical smile stretched, toying with Jimin's emotions.

"Hello, Jihmm," she said in a low, but agonizingly sensual voice.

Jimin felt the tormenting urge to hug her, but if he laid so much as a pinky on her, he would have found himself with a hundred bullets and knives in his back. So, he had better wait until they were alone.

"Hello, Eulissah. Long time...," he said, without shedding his confident tone.