The Hunter's Princess

Chapter 2

Serah woke to the sound of her driver's voice.

"Lady Serah, the left road is blocked off," he called, likely for the second time. She blinked the sleep from her eyes. What did Flynn say again?

"That's alright," She called. She rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand and peered out the window. Her parents had surely realized that she had vanished by now. Serah swallowed down guilt. It wasn't as if she was going to anywhere dangerous. The queen was her mother's own sister, after all, and the castle was the safest place in the whole realm.

She held her hands together in her lap. Something wasn't right. She felt uneasy, as if someone was watching her from a distance.

Serah moved the curtain from the carriage window with a timid hand. Woods, endless woods. The breeze called to her. She leaned forwards, resting her elbows against the polished wood of the window. The woods called to her.

The yelling started.

Serah was thrown to the floor as the carriage abruptly stopped.

"Get out of the road!" Her driver yelled.

She gasped as there was the sudden sound of choking, then the sound of victorious whooping.

"We got 'im!"

"What'd I tell you? What'd I tell you, eh?"

Serah started breathing heavily. Bandits. She closed her eyes tightly, praying that they wouldn't check inside. Let them take the bags on the outside and go.

It was then that the carriage door opened. The man who sneered at her was vile and balding. His clothes were as filthy as his skin, and some his rotting teeth were missing. His eyes bulged as he grinned at her.

"Look at that, an extra prize," he purred. "Come here, poppet."

Serah let out a scream as he dragged her out of the carriage, her silver eyes catching the bandit behind him unbuttoning his trousers. She prepared to scream again just as an arrow tore into the bandit's throat.

××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

Xander didn't know what the fuck he was thinking. He was going to wait until the bandits were looting, when they'd be distracted, clumsy.

But the second they dragged the girl out, he fired. He'd done it almost by accident, yet it still went through the throat of the one fumbling with his pants. Loud curses came from the six remaining as they identified the hunter's position. More arrows flew from his fingers. Only two of them dropped, screaming as they died. Stupid, so stupid. Alistair would have killed him for both the recklessness and the sloppy shots. Xander managed to take out just two more before the last were on him. He pulled his hunting knife out from his side and drove it into the chest of one of the two remaining bandits, but the last had a sword. It was descending fast-- too fast.

The blade cut through his shoulder and collarbone. Xander stumbled back, letting out curses of his own. That damned sword was coming down again-- but then it swerved to the side, missing him. The bandit groaned and turned, holding his head as he looked to see the girl holding a blood-soaked rock. She was thrown to the side easily, but her sacrifice had given Xander the time he needed to stab the man in the back.

He breathed heavily, sheathing his weapon.

That was impulsive, reckless.

Xander's eyes slipped to the girl. She'd fallen onto a rock. He knelt down beside her and turned her over. Blood poured steadily from a cut across her left brow, but she was uninjured other than that. Her delicate, expensive dress was now dirty and torn.