The Crowned Princess

Chapter Six - For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic

Chapter Six -
For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic
•••

It had taken me half the day to lose the guards from the Kingdom, but after enough hiding and running I had managed to get them off my tracks.

My hair which was curled to perfection earlier this morning was stuck to my face from the sweat that was seeping out of every pour.

The sun had only just risen by the time I started running, but now the sky had turned to a midnight blue with a small crescent moon taking the place of where the sun once was, shading the woods with a haunting glow.

I knew I was starting to get tired cause I couldn't shake the uneasy feeling of being followed, and the darker it got the worse it became.

It's like my eyes were playing tricks on me, mistaking the passing trees and branches as someone catching up with me.

I heard a lot about rogues, how they kill for the sake of killing.

I don't know how I'm going to survive in the woods when I was scared to even blink, let along fall asleep but I was too scared of the repercussions if I went back now.

My breathing had became louder, disturbing the eerily quiet woods and making me more paranoid.

I turn to look on my right side to make sure there wasn't someone or something stalking me, and with the constant paranoia I had forgotten to look what was in front of me, running straight into a stinging nettle bush.

"Fuck me." I hiss before I slap my hand over my mouth, knowing I had to be as quiet as possible if I wanted to make it out alive.

I slowly pull myself out of the bush which was somehow even more painful than running into it.

Even with little-to-no light I could still see my skin had started to blotch over, which had become itchy within seconds of getting them.

I fight the urge to scratch them, instead I search around for some dock leaves to help soothe the flaming pain around my body.

I searched for around five minutes before I stumbled upon a small river that was surrounded by dock leaves and small red berries that I was unsure were edible or not- choosing not to risk it, I ignore them to the dismay of my growling belly.

I grab a cluster of dock leaves and decide to sit at the edge of the river, watching how slowly the water moved so in sync and calming, but no matter how relaxing it was to watch, I couldn't put my guard down.

Grabbing one of the dock leaves I press it on my left arm, rubbing it gently on my blistering skin until I could feel the cooling sensation and tossing a leaf away when it rolled up, and then moving to the next leaf until I had covered my entire body.

Parts of my skin were still inflamed but not half as bad as it was before.

I reached over the river, cupping my hands together to capture some of the cold muddy water and bringing it to my lips to drink.

I let out a quiet cough as I drank the earthy taste, letting the dirty water moisturise my dry mouth.

It wouldn't of been bad if I could shift into my wolf, but I was still unable to connect with Iris.