The Horse in the Prince's Stables

Chp. 17

for the side art :)

dang. this is epic.

ok guys, the moment you've all been waiting for... here in chapter 17!  :o

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                                                                                          =17=

=Philip=

          What did I do wrong?

          One moment I had taken the plunge and kissed the girl I believed myself to be falling in love with, and then the next her eyes are brimming with tears and she's pulling away from me.

          "I'm sorry," her voice sounded tight and choked. "I'm not the one for you."

          Her words cut straight to my heart.

          What did that mean? How couldn't she be the one for me? 

          She vanished into the forest, as I had seen her do many times before. This time however, she leave me feeling rejected and confused. My mind couldn't quite grasp what had happened.

          "Aurora!" I cried after her. Jumping to my feet, I plunged into the woods, the instant darkness forced me to grope around, reaching out to try and avoid tripping over roots or impaling myself on pointy tree branches. "Come back!"

          As my eyes adjusted, my search for her became more frenzied and intense. She seemed incredibly upset, and the reason why alluded me. But it didn't seem safe at all for anyone to be blindly running around in the forest at night. I chuckled humorlessly as I realized that that was exactly what I was doing. The thought of her being alone drove me onwards, despite the idea that I could possibly be risking my own life. Any other night wouldn't have bothered me so much. Aurora had been calm and collected then. Now she left in tears and I could tell that something much weightier burdened her heart. Whatever that was, it could cloud her judgement.

          I have to find her!

          Suddenly my foot snagged against a thick root, sending me stumbling into a solid wall of a large tree trunk. Agony exploded in my side, causing a stifled mixture of a gasp and cry of pain to launch forth from my throat. My body automatically froze, trying to locate the cause of the injury, my mind spinning from the hurt and theories of how to deal with it. Sweat collected on my forehead, my breaths coming and going in the form of shallow panting. Gingerly, I touched the wound, flinching at the new wave of fresh pain. It seemed that upon hitting the tree, a tree limb had pierced my flesh.

          I cursed my own bad luck.

          Sucking in a breath, I grit my teeth together, and yanked my body away from the wretched tree. I shoved my wrist into my mouth, muffling my scream. I didn't want to attract any strange blood thirsty carnivores that could be lurking in the night. Staggering to my feet, I began to backtrack, knowing now that the safest place for me would be back at my camp. Guilt tore at my heart as I knew that my search for Aurora had to be abandoned for now. 

          Slowly, I trudged back to where a faint yet familiar orange glow provided a source of light. If I had traveled any farther, I might've lost sight of it all together. I pressed my hand against my fresh new wound, blood trickled through my fingertips, soaking my shirt and pants, feeling hot and sticky.

          My mind began to wander, trying to focus on something other than the agony my body screamed up to it. Everything from the puzzlement of Aurora's reaction to the little red eyes that stared up at me. I couldn't understand. Did I rush it? No, she didn't seem to min-