"Don't look back. Don't look back." Izzy whispered under her breath as she watched the mysterious girl run in front of her.
The shock had fully set in. Nothing felt real. The trip, the attack, Louis. It felt like a dream from which she was struggling to wake up. Her legs were carrying her, but it all felt out of her control.
The girl in front was slightly taller than Isadora, but still small in stature. Her clay orange hair was sprinkled with leaves and twigs and it made Izzy wonder if that was on purpose or not. She was agile, the girl, leaping through the trees and over rocks and other obstacles as if she was weightless. Despite the heavy fur coat she wore.
As fast as they could run through the forest it felt as if it was running with them. Actively getting larger and more dense. But Izzy had never left the palace long enough to even be in out a forest, let alone trapped in the middle of one. It felt never ending.
When she was younger, Izzy would sneak the stable boys into the palace to play games with on the days too rainy to ride. One afternoon they decided to see who of the three of them could run the fastest- her or the boys. They knew that getting caught wasn't an option so the kids usually congregated in the lower southern portion of the palace where no one but the kitchen servants resided. So they set up a small obstacle course in the south corridor hallway. Silently they stole chairs and extra boxes from the kitchen and placed the various barriers in their path. When it was finally time for the race, the kids lined up at the start and Izzy did the official countdown. When she hit "one" they were off in a flash. Leaping over the boxes and sliding under chair legs Izzy had beat the boys with a miles length between. But when she turned around to gloat her win, she saw one of the boys' feet catch on one of the chair legs. The crash echoed through the halls, alerting everyone with ears. And in this case, alerting the passing king. He quickly sent the princess back to her room while going to take care off the boys. She never saw what happened next, only from that point on the stable boys refused to step even a toe into the palace walls again.
Running through the forest now felt just like that moment. She was by no means as graceful as the other girl but Izzy was surprising herself with how well she was keeping up. I guess running for your actual life will do that to you.
After what felt like an eternity of running the fire haired girl halted at the edge of a small clearing. Izzy let her hands slide down her thighs and rest on her knees as she caught the breath she happened to lose on the way.
"Are you alright?" The girl finally broke their silence. She seemed to be watching Izzy much more intently than most, and continued to check behind her. Despite her being a stranger, she appeared to genuinely be concerned.
Was she okay? Of course she wasn't. Izzy was far too concerned with the girl in front of her to even begin to tackle her feelings right now. The girl was her age. Her hair matched the clay freckles that dotted along her cheekbones. She was fit, someone who looked like they couldn't afford not to be And in her hand clutched, A dagger. The blade shone in the small amount of sunlight traveling through the trees. This girl was ready to kill. Before Izzy had a chance to examine anymore, the girl spoke again.
"August," she said plainly. Her facial expression remained hard.
"Excuse me?"
"My name. August." She extended her hand, but Izzy found herself unable to take it. It still didn't feel real. August brought her hand back to her side. "I know i'm the last person you want to trust right now, but you need to listen to me. We need to make it back to my house before whatever that," she motioned to the forest behind Izzy, " Finds you again. Okay?"
The words hung in the air for a moment as slowly they were processed. She finally nodded her head in response.
"Great," August quickly said, tightening the ties on her coat. She turned away from Izzy, beginning to search for the right direction to go.
"Izzy!" The word left the princesses mouth before she could even think to stop it. It was the first time she had spoken since the attack, and she could hear the scratches laced in her voice. It startled them both.
Her mouth continued, "My name is Isadora. But you can call me Izzy." Her hand shot out to shake the woodland girl. August simply looked down at the hand, a small smirk flashed across her face for just a moment before it was taken over by a scowl.
"Nice to meet you, Princess. I hope you can keep up." And with that she turned and began running off into the forest once more.
