Different worlds

12. On the hunt

POV ???:

The carriage slowly advances to my destination. Why was I taking a carriage instead of a horse? Oh, I remember now, because princess Helen was scared of them. In reason for that, I had been treated to the royal carriage, and royal it was. The bunks where the princess and I are sitting on are covered with the finest velvet, the walls varnished and covered with complex images of flowers and animals, gold leaves embellished the vines tangling around them.

I sigh loudly so that the damsel beside me will take a hint of how much her presence is unrequired. She doesn't pick it up and understands something else entirely.

-Oh Leith, I know this ride is a bit uncomfortable but know that it makes me understand how much you cherish your work, you're so mindful, going around the continent for my dear father to capture criminals, she says with her honey-filled voice.

Instead of answering, I sigh again, not giving a damn that that might affect 'her royal highness'. But she still goes on, the fact that it might be because of her obliviousness or her dismissal.She talks about the weather, the countryside and the low-life villagers living there with a lightly tone.

-I hope none of them come up to the carriage and ask for an autograph, I just couldn't bear it. she says the last phrase whilst wrinkling her small, trumpet nose, quickly getting on my nerves.

Suddenly, the carriage's bell rings, we had finally arrived at the village those two revolutionaries and murderers had been spotted.

Technically, only one was seen, the boy, but I was confident the girl would be there right beside him, probably his partner or helper since you would need a bit of assistance to kill 5 hunters, even if they are amateurs. Four had been found dead because of a curse, looking as though they were still alive, just, sleeping, when as the fifth... I clench my fists in anger until the sharp pain of my nail sinking into my palms brings me back to my senses.

Those two criminals were monsters, they needed to be brought to the high dungeons and then serve their sentences. They had managed to escape every sticky situation they might have gotten into but prison cells were waiting patiently for the couple of misfits to enter them.
Thank the gods I am here to assure that that happens.

I swing the carriage's door on my left and jump out before hearing Helen screaming.

-Don't walk there, it's dirty!, she says before adding, Those filthy peasants should clean up behind them, what else could be more important than setting a good example and ease nobles' passages?, she yelped.

Maybe surviving?, I think, giving a swift judgmental glance at the princess.

Helen and I had once been childhood friends, she was kind, empathetic, selfless... then the accident with her mother happened and her father had turned mad, influencing her behavior and thoughts, trying to buy her love and respect with gifts, making her turn into an entire different being. Part of me wanted to believe that we could still be friends, the other reminded me of the cold person she had become, as well as my fiancé.

A mage of level four had accompanied us, or should I say, accompanied Helen, he had been given the order to come in help in any possible way. My men, about a couple dozen, had followed behind the carriage, ready to follow my orders as fast as possible, to impress me I would like to think, after all, I was going to replace my father Agnor as general as soon as he would stop the job to live a more tranquil life.

I had been assigned the fourth legion on this case and Edmond, my second, came forward.

-Sir, I propose we first inspect the site then find hints and retrace the murderers' passage.