Rikan

Chapter 3

Rikan dropped the wood he was carrying and backed up slowly, until he tripped on one of the bear cubs. The bear roared and hit Rikan with her huge paw. He screamed for help, hoping that someone would somehow hear him.

The prince began crawling away from the bear, and with the strength of adrenaline, began to run. But the bear was faster.

The bear caught Rikan and had him pinned to the forest floor. "Help!" He screamed. The bear went to bite Rikans head but he moved it just in time. Tears were streaming down his face as the fear of death crept up on him. He was about to lose all hope when he heard a horse whinny.

"Help!" He called again. The hoof prints were getting closer. The bear scratched at Rikans weak body as he let out a scream. It was about to strike him again when a arrow pierced the bears skin. The bear let out a loud groaning sound and turned around to face its enemy.

The bears chest was now exposed, giving its hunter a good shot. The person in the hooded cape pulled back and let the arrow fly. The arrow struck the bears chest. It screamed once more before it collapsed on top of Rikan.

"Agh!" Rikan yelped as he tried to push the corpse off of him. The stranger that had defeated the bear dismounted from their horse, and walked over to the injured prince. "Please don't hurt me."

"Why would I do that?" A familiar voice said. The person took off their hood, revealing a head full of bright red curls.

"Michelle." Rikan let out the breath that he didn't know he was holding.

"Do you now see why I can't trust you with these simple tasks?"

"But... How? How did you find me and defeat that bear?" He asked, ignoring her complaint.

"Please! I know these woods like the back of my hand!" She stuck out her hand, offering to help him up. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I think I'm alright. Just a few fractured bones here and there." Rikan took her hand and pulled himself up. He yelped in pain.

"This is exactly the reason why I didn't want you leaving the campsite. Now you're all broken and bruised. How are we supposed to cover that up now?"

"I'll just tell them that I fell off of Crescendo."

"They would have to be stupid to believe that! Look at you! You definitely did not fall off a horse." She helped Rikan onto her horse. "Come on. Lets just get back to camp. I'll help tend your wounds." She hopped on the horse to sit behind him, and grabbed the reins.

"No. Let me. I can't let you do all the work."

"I think you've done enough."

"Controlling a horses reins can't be that hard." She thought about this for a moment.

"Fine. But I'm trusting you with this." She wrapped her arms around the prince and buried her face into his back as he commanded the horse to gallop throughout the woods.

"If you hug me any tighter, I won't be able to breathe." Rikan joked. "Just trust me."

"I- I do trust you."

"Well, why are you hugging me so tightly for?" He chuckled.

"Because... Because I'm afraid of losing you. You're the closest, and the only friend I have. You can't keep on risking your life like this."

He laughed. "I'm not going anywhere Michelle. I'm Rikan, the Prince of New Beijing."

"And that's exactly the reason why I'm scared." He halted the horse to a stop, and turned around to face Michelle.

"Look into my eyes." He tilted her face up to his so he could see her eyes. A few tears spilled down her cheek, and he wiped them away. "Michelle, I'm sorry that nature hypnotizes me and that it leads me into trouble. But I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself."

She smiled at him. "You would've been dead back there if I hadn't came to the rescue."

"Yeah. Thanks for that." He smiled his charming smile at her.

"Ugh, stop it! You remind me of Maris's father!"

"Excuse me? I am nothing like Carswell Thorne. I am much better." She laughed.

"Just hurry up and lets get back to camp. I've picked some veggies and fruit while you were out." Michelle said as her stomach growled.

"Yum! What type of fruit?"

"I found some wild strawberry and raspberry bushes. There were also some wild carrots and spinach. I know it's nothing compared to the palace meals... But I did my best."

"Are you kidding me? That sounds delicious!"

"Well let's hurry up and go!"

Rikan grabbed the reins and pushed the horse into a gallop. Eventually they came across their camp again. Michelle jumped off of the horse, and helped the badly injured Rikan off. "I'll go get the food down from the trap. Go sit underneath that tree." She pointed to a tree where a blanket was under. It was covered with leaves and it looked all scratchy. But Rikan preferred it more than the royal duvet's. It reminded him of a small family home. The feeling brought warmth to his heart.

He limped over to the tree and fell down on the blanket. He was exhausted from that bear attack. Rikan sat himself against the tree trunk and patiently waited for Michelle to return.

While he was waiting, Rikan looked at his injuries. He felt his head and pulled his hand away to find it covered in blood. He then made his way down to his left leg. It hurt a lot. Rikan touched it just a little bit and shooting pain shot up through it. He grimaced and leaned back against the tree, feeling defeated.

"What's wrong?" Michelle asked as she approached the prince. He tried to smile at her, but he was sure that it looked more like a frown. "Does it hurt that bad?"

He nodded. "Is it as bad as I think it is?"

"Uh..." She hesitated for a second. "No. You'll be fine." Michelle didn't want to lie, but she knew that's what she had to do to keep him calm.

"I hope so." He mumbled.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to go grab the first aid kit from my horse." Michelle said as she sprinted away.

Rikan watched her run from him and towards her horse. She had a worried expression on her face and it pained him to see her worried. He wished that he could wipe the worries all away, but he couldn't.

But I could... No! I shouldn't. I had vowed to never use my bioelectricity. Thoughts clashed with each other.

"Hey. It's alright. You're gonna be alright, Rikan." Michelle said. He had opened his eyes. He didn't know that he had closed them. She was standing right in front of him, digging inside the first aid kit. She pulled out a needle. "Ok Ri. I need to inject this into you. It will take away all of your pain. Do you trust me?"

The needle looked so sharp. He was scared of it but he knew that Michelle meant no harm. He swallowed and nodded as she approached him with the needle.

He felt so dizzy. He could see three Michelle's. Rikan didn't even feel the sharp point of the needle yet. He shouldn't be feeling drowsy. He went to push Michelle away as he tried to get more oxygen into his lungs, but instead he collapsed on top of her and fainted.

~

Hey Lunartics. Just thought that I should let you know that I haven't read Winter yet, so I'm sorry if everything is not the way it was in Winter. Once I have it, I will try to change some stuff to the way it is in the book.

Thanks for understanding.