The Royal Enchantment {ON HOLD}

Chapter Seventeen

Bruno swung his head around and noticed his niece being concealed by bushes and leaves as she walked in a straight line in a completely different direction Bruno was facing before he decided to follow her and not mention anything about the eerie presence lurking around them. Obediently, Bruno followed the young girl towards a rather open area where they found themselves at the bottom of a mountain. 

Mirabel wasn't sure as to why she was drawn in that direction but something inside her told her to go that way. Had she known she would be up for hiking she'd've come better prepared but without any time to lose, they began to trek up the mountain, much to Bruno's protests. They travelled long and far to get to wherever it was Mirabel was taking them.

Bruno lost his breath faster due to being in his fifties, whereas Mirabel was the one to drag him along. The sun began to set once they reached the top of the mountain. There was a cabin surrounded by trees at the mountaintop, a fairly wide area. Bruno and Mirabel approached the cabin with caution should any danger present itself.

"A-Are you sure about this, Mira?" Bruno stammered.

If Mirabel was being honest with herself, she wasn't quite sure.

"Sure I am!" She lied. "If anything happens, all we gotta do is hope that Dolores is listening in on us right now Maybe we should go check around the back."

"Oh okay. I-I'll go 'round the back."

Mirabel didn't respond to him as Bruno scurried around the back of the cabin while Mirabel wandered up to the front. Mirabel didn't quite know why they decided to split up, but at least if she got into trouble, her Tio would come to her rescue. Before the young woman made it up to the porch of the cabin, she jumped when a croaky voice reached out to her.

Her hand touched her chest where her head looked in the direction of the voice. She spotted an elderly woman seated on a rocking chair, staring rather crossly at her. There was no immediate response from Mirabel but with the elderly woman's demeanour, she stuttered in response. Bruno heard the commotion and almost went to investigate when he noticed something inside the cabin, laid on the couch with a purple blanket on top.

"Javier...?" Bruno breathed.

With just the right angle of lighting, Bruno made out the identity of the person on the couch. While Mirabel had the owner of the cabin distracted, Bruno checked the back door and found it unlocked. He snuck in and made his way over to the couch where his nephew-in-law laid with a bandage loosely wrapped around his head over his right eye. By waking him up, Javier groaned and lazily opened his good eye, setting it on the curly-haired man looking down at him.

Dizzily, Javier made eye contact with his wife's uncle and breathed deeply as he was brought much relief to be in safe hands again. Bruno pulled him up to his feet but held onto him for a little longer until he was able to stand on his own. His ears caught voices in disagreement with one another where upon walking out the door, he was surprised to find Mirabel present, arguing with the woman who saved his life, no less.

By stepping in, Javier shouted over them. "Enough! Both of you! You're loud enough to wake up a graveyard! Mira, Bruno, I am so glad that you're here. B-But... how did you find me?"

"Ehh, it took us a while but we managed... eventually." Mirabel drifted off. "Javi, what happened to your eye?"

His nostrils flared and Javier bowed his head before he made eye contact with her again.

"A jaguar did this to me. And now it's my mission to slay it."

"Wait, what?!"

"Mira, I know how much you value your family's happiness, but this is something I must do. I just want everyone to be safe."

Javier didn't say a word as he returned into the cabin and re-emerged with a spear. He held it tightly in his hand, knowing that he had to face death if he were to protect Encanto. With one last glance, Javier set off towards the jungle to pursue his foe. He didn't go far from the cabin as Mirabel and Bruno followed him along towards a fairly sized spot.

The niece and uncle positioned themselves from behind a large, thick tree and watched Javier with beady eyes as he patiently waited for the jaguar to reveal itself to him - through growls or sudden prancing around him. The tense atmosphere was killer as the imminent fight was on the brink of starting. The slightest bit of movement Javier noticed and became tense, his eye narrowed at the scene in front of him where the sunlight barely illuminated the environment. 

A sudden roar and Javier got caught in a fight with a jaguar. It sprinted at him already at full speed, quickly leaping towards his face when Javier threw himself back just in time to evade its mouth and claws from ripping his head off. He rolled his head back as he spun onto his front as the jaguar posed very menacingly, its piercing eyes unsettled its human opponent. 

When it sprinted towards him again, this time he was more prepared as he slid to one side and used the tip of the spear to cut the jaguar on its left shoulder. It growled in anger of what he did to it and became more violent and aggressive as it sprinted towards him and relentlessly swung its claws at him. Javier's eye widened in shock as the jaguar pushed him backwards until he had to swing and jab the spear at it to fend it off. 

He was cautious of the environment around him as he quickly took to climbing a tree as the jaguar gnawed its sharpened teeth at his feet and calf's. The additional height of fear for Javier was worrying about having his foot bitten on by the jaguar but the adrenaline that was pumping through his body allowed him to get to a safe height. 

He took deep, fast breaths as the jaguar growled and roared as it swung its arm at him, hoping to inflict him some pain in return for the cut on its shoulder. Javier continued to scale the tree just as the jaguar started to follow him. Slowly, it drew closer at the same time Javier made height from ground level where Mirabel and Bruno struggled to see them both visually. 

Further up the ginormous tree, Javier found solid footing on a thick, wide branch. He held his spear with two hands and found that the jaguar was no longer in sight to pursue him. This put him on edge as he slowly rotated his body, his eye scanned the environment around him for any signs of danger lurking behind bushes and leaves. 

As soon as he heard the jaguar roar, he spun around to face its direction but found himself too slow to react when it tackled him off the branch down towards the ground. A few branches broke their fall, scattering the two opponents as Javier had also been separated from his spear that had fallen to the ground. In desperation, Javier made a rapid descent by jumping down from branch to branch until he finally reached ground level. 

Above him, the jaguar roared again, calling for his attention. Javier only just managed to grab his spear and point it upwards in the direction of the jaguar the second it tackled him through unstable flooring, which turned out to be a trap pit. Javier's in-laws gasped as tears began to form in Mirabel's eyes. There was no sound made from the pit. Dust arose from said pit but no other sound nor sight was made. 

"I-Is he...?" Mirabel whimpered. 

Bruno frowned, fearing the worst. "I-I don't know. We sh-should stay here in case the jaguar is still alive." 

"No... no, he-he can't be dead!" 

"Wait, look!" 

Movement arose from the pit. The skin of the jaguar came into view as its unnatural movement provoked the urge to scream until they realised that it were Javier who'd controlled the movement of the dead jaguar. Emerged, Javier crawled out of the pit, breathless but victor of his battle with the jaguar now fallen. 

Bruno and Mirabel ran to his sides and pulled on his arms across their backs as they helped carry him along to their horses in order to return him home. One thing on Mirabel's mind was not only how relieved she was that Javier was alive, but also the fact that they would have to deal with an upset Isabela upon their return to their casa.