I ran swiftly, huffing and puffing, trying my hardest to resist the screaming urge to stop, "Quit trying to make me quit! this is life or death!" I screamed at myself in my head. With each step, my head thumped a bit harder. I feared that any moment now the beast chasing me would be upon me and I would be slain.
I could hear it. Its thunderous paws slamming against the piles of leaves that littered the ground. I was done for. My time on Earth was at it's end.
It was then that I tripped, and flopped onto my back in a daze. It was seconds later that I felt the warm and stinky breath of the creature on my body. His slobber dripping fangs gnashing together. It was time to accept my fate. I was a goner!
A scream came from somewhere. I don't know where. It was a man, shouting something at the beast. It looked up and howled, charging away from me, most likely towards whoever made the noise.
There was a rustling and some grunting, sounds of some struggling. There was a yelp, like from a dog. then silence. There was a bit of rustling, footsteps on the leaf covered forest floor.
Then the man's face came into view. Once my vision cleared, both from shock and from hitting my head when I fell, I saw his lips curl up in a smile.
"Hello there, sir. Are you okay?" I nodded, his masculine voice was deeper then it appeared it would be. now that i thought about it, he looked really young. Like a young teenager.
"Good. Well I took care of that werewolf. You should be fine to continue with your day. Remember this name, Caspian Ailurius. You'll need it in case anything like this happens again."
He smiled and picked up a nearby sword, stained in blood. He slid in into the sheath on his side, waved, and started to walk away. As he did, a backpack on his pack unzipped itself and out poked the head of a tiny lizard. As it stared at me, I stared back.
Something emanated from the odd pair. Something I will never forget. In fact, I might just report him to The Council.
Noor, a dancer in the Royal Court of the Al-Yauzhan Empire wants nothing more than to pay off her debts and lead a nice, simple life-but a chance encounter with the crown prince and his brother brings her into the dangerous world of court politics. As Noor and the princes investigate their uncle and cousin's possible treason, she grows closer to the crown prince, but in order to save the kingdom and the person she loves, Noor will have to risk everything...
A romantic adventure set in an imagined Arabic kingdom, THE DANCING GIRL is a story of court intrigues, romantic entanglements, and secret meetings as Noor and her best friend Amir try to help the princes they're falling for expose corrupt court officials with plans to seize the throne. Noor and Amir are close to having everything they've ever dreamed of...now all they need to do is survive.