Vanished (I LUV U.) - Abide With Me Book 1

Chapter 10 - An Answer

Things are getting complicated...in this novel and in real life. I'm kind of in an irritated mood right now, so hope you like this chapter anyway. :)

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Chapter 9 – AN ANSWER

June 5, 1499

“Anita, my sister, is dead!”

“What?” At first, Zenzu didn’t care as much. He wanted to, but he just didn’t feel close enough to his wife’s sister as he hoped. The fifteen year old examined the blood stains on her skin and asked, “Are you okay? What freaking happened to you!?”

Alaya took ten seconds to answer. Her emotions continued to squeeze her tear glands dry. She couldn’t control herself…

“Tell me!” Zenzu insisted. He grabbed her by the arms and shook her until she regained her composure. The banished princess sucked in mucus and wiped her nose.

“I…I do not know where to start…”

***

Alaya watched her kill of the day get torn to pieces by rowdy entelodonts. They sank their gruesome teeth into the pronghorn’s skin and started pulling the entire thing apart. Her grip on her dagger tightened, but she was no match for these creatures the rhino-sized killer pigs of death.

The rumbling from her stomach slowly ate away her strength. Alaya looked at the torn-up body of the pronghorn. Suddenly, steak with enetelodont drool and germs doesn’t seem so disgusting…

No! You are Alaya! You are still a princess! she repeated over and over. 

Just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, a familiar, mouth-watering smell filled the air. Alaya remembered it well. It was her favorite.

“Grilled pronghorn,” she reacted. The wind was carrying the delicious scent upstream. There was only one place that could’ve come from. Alaya was too hungry to resist.

***

Alaya’s eyes scanned the vicinity. The tepees all around were making it harder to spot any oncoming witnesses.

In the Hachen Village, meat would always be cooked in its very center. Upstream and downstream, there was a wide expanse of flat land. Any creature or banished human who dared try and steal from them would be doomed.

That was, unless you were Alaya.

Slowly, she ran from tepee to tepee, stopping to catch her breath and to check her surroundings. The soles of her Roman sandals were surprisingly quiet. Even the wind was louder. Alaya was like a ghost moving in a very crowded village.

Soon, the smell of meat was getting stronger and more irresistible. Within her, she could feel her stomach trying to kick its way out of her body to devour those delicious grilled pronghorn steaks.

And then, she remembered her sister. Anita. Her thirteenth birthday was nearing. Alaya wanted to go to her sister’s tepee and say hello, but her stomach said otherwise. Besides, she’s been declared cursed by the shaman. Would she ever get a chance? She wanted too…

Unlike most girls, Alaya almost always followed her stomach.

Before she took another step, the banished princess scanned her surroundings. No one is here, she realized. Alaya made a fast, silent sprint towards the next tepee.

Suddenly…THUD! Alaya stumbled backwards, but regained her footing. While massaging her aching forehead, she felt something sticky wrapping around her fingers. The princess pulled her hand back into view and found cooling wax dripping from her fingers. It wreaked of a familiar scent…