Fake Princess
CCCLXXIII Chapter
Haruki and Izumi pulled their horses closer to us, “hurry up, Sa-chan!” Haruki again raised his voice, I quickly raised my right hand dropping the head covering on the robe I was wearing, “what are you guys doing?!” I screamed loudly followed by my head staring around.
My head moved quickly to the side as the sound of the leaves rubbing against each other rang out, my eyes slightly enlarged as dozens of black shadows approached. “What do they say?” The whisper of Izumi standing beside my horse managed to make my eyes turn to her.
The black shadows became more and more visible as they stepped forward, looking at the dozens of humans who had stopped their footsteps before us. They were all wearing clothes made from dried animal skin, the smudged patterns on the clothes they were wearing, were very eye-catching.
Dozens of women wore animal-shaped wooden masks that covered their faces. As they stepped, the indentations on their bodies were clearly visible behind the skin of animals that tightly wrapped their bodies. “Who are you?” I asked with a slightly elevated tone to them.
They were silent, not a single sound came out of them, all they did was walk forward with arrows pointed at us. I moved down the horse, both of my legs stepped past Haruki and also Izumi, “Sachi,” Izumi's voice sounded as I had stood my back to them.
“If you come closer, I will kill you all,” I said, I clasped my bow tightly as they still set foot closer.
“This voice? Like I've heard of it, but where?” I murmured softly as a faint voice touched my ears.
My head, which had been bowed before, was lifted back up when Haruki's shadow suddenly walked past me. Haruki said words that I did not understand to them, some of them looked at each other before lifting back their bow to Haruki. Haruki moved his hand into the robe he was wearing and then took out a gold-plated circular slab towards them.
The female soldiers wearing wooden masks stared at each other, long before they stared at each other silently before they marginalized the body, opening a wide path before us. One of them came forward, and he raised his hand towards the road. Haruki turned around and slightly patted my shoulder, he again walked past me with one of his hands pulling the reins that tied his horse.
I turned back around to wrap the bow I held earlier to my shoulder, my hand moved back to grab and then pulled the reins that tied my horse while my legs stepped following Haruki. The woman wearing the wolf mask walked us along, followed by the rest of the men who followed us from behind. The wolf-masked woman stopped her footsteps, she turned to look at us alternately with one hand pointing towards the horses we were carrying.
Haruki pulled his horse closer to a large tree and tied the horse to it. He walked back to me by raising his palm, I raised it and then I put the bridle I was holding onto him as my body turned to grab Cia who was still sitting on the horse. Haruki pulled my horse when Cia was already carrying tightly, “give Cia to me, I will be carrying it,” Izumi's voice suddenly sounded from the right side of my tube.
I turned to her who had been standing beside me, “are you sure, nii-chan? I mean, you've got that big bag on your shoulder,” I said with a slight glance towards the bag that holds all our needs on its shoulders.
“I understand,” I said walking away from her, “nii-chan, are you okay?” I whispered slightly as my two feet had stopped beside Haruki.
Haruki turned to look at me with her hand patting my head slowly, “I'm fine. No need to worry,” he said smilingly looking at me.
Haruki grabbed my hand, clasped it firmly as his legs again stepped closer to the wolf-masked woman who was still waiting for us. We walked together down the moss-filled stone steps in the gorge, the more narrow we went down the more our feet were on the rocks, I even had to tilt my legs to the side just to stand on the stone steps.
The stone steps we climbed ended up in a cave mouth, the wolf-masked woman stepped back and disappeared into the darkness that enveloped the cave, “don't let go of my hand,” said Haruki again stepped forward followed by the stronger the grip that he did to me.
I stepped behind her, our eyes darkened instantly as we entered the cave, “straight, the woman walked in front of you,” Izumi's voice filled around, I turned around … He looked at her eyes that looked beautiful in the dark.
“Abspiring eyes isn't it?” Haruki muttered softly beside me, I again set my gaze staring blankly into the dark shadow that enveloped us.
I bit my lips a little bit as I felt my legs sink down, “be careful stepping. The mud was very deep,” Izumi's voice was heard again, followed by my legs that felt heavy to move.
From far away, there was the sound of water gurgling that filled the ears. The more I stepped forward, the clearer the sound that sounded followed the falling points of light was seen. The sunlight that fell over the cave pit felt like a helper light to my eyes, I turned around.
I turned back to the wolf-masked woman who had submerged her body into the river flowing before us. The woman moved down the river that is not too heavy, “be careful,” said Haruki again heard, I glanced a little at her who had been standing in the river water.
Haruki raised both of his hands towards me, holding them tightly to my waist as I slowly jumped into the river following him. I looked back, looking at Izumi who was walking behind us with Cia in her arms while her other hand held up the big bag she was carrying over her head, Aeneas who walked beside him was the same .. He lifted the bag that had Uki in it on his head, I stared at him who was still trying to walk even though the river water had touched his chin.
The situation around us was back to light, when the river water we were after made us come back out of the cave. The wolf-masked woman again stepped forward near the intersection of the river on the right and left. The woman continued to walk forward near the mainland with a village above her, “nii-chan, where did you actually take us?” I made a soft voice to Haruki followed by my increasingly powerful palm clasping his hand.