Chapter 3 Lost in a forbidden land

"Has anyone told you how beautiful you look" Adonis said appreciating her beauty while they walk their way out of the forest.

"Yeah, a lot of bad boys like you did, and do you want to know what happened to them after?" she asked.

Out of curiosity, Adonis inaugurated his mouth and asked "What happened to them?".

" I chop off their neck and made them tight-lipped forever " she said all these while battling Adonis to the ground and then using her sword's tomb on him.

"Re-relax I was only trying to ask for your name" He pleaded out of fear as he looked upon her eyes which then looked softened when he expressed himself.

"You are not wealthy of knowing my name" she said releasing the sword from his body and now Adonis strutted back up on his feet.

"But we will be traveling together," he continued " what do I call you as we travel" he asked.

"Who's traveling with you?" she asked then continued " I'm only showing you the way out of this forest. Once we are out of here you go your own way and we never cross paths again" she uttered but Adonis only laughed.

"Why do you laugh?" she asked gazing at Adonis who literally didn't want to stop.

"The...d...d...d way you talked about leaving me on the cross road sounds funny, I just couldn't hold back" he stammered trying so hard to quit from cackling.

The young beautiful and vibrate girl didn't pay anymore attention to him, for he was an embarrassment to walk with. He didn't control his sense of humor, he had no man power and the worst of all was he talked a lot.

Never had she encountered such a person. Not even a woman was as loquacious as he was and so she didn't think twice anymore.

She walked down the small pathway which was in between the woods and Adonis followed regardless that they barely know each other. Adonis didn't have much of a choice, she was the only person he had met in the forest and only her could lead him to verify if princess Eden was actually his sister.

He followed her without getting to ask about her name again. He was scared to ask anymore for she might draw out her sword if he dare tried to ask again.

***

Eden woke up to find herself under the arms of a tree. she could barely see the whole place as darkness had covered and a fire place had been made. The flames lighted the place and the young man who saved her earlier walked into her view.

"Have some water, it's good to see you're still alive" he said handing her his crock where he kept his water.

Eden at first gaze at him and was scared to take it but the young man assured her that everything was okay with it and that he had saved her.

"My name is Merrick and I know who you are" he said while Eden drank the water " I've sent a message to your people and I'm sure by tomorrow they will catch up with us" he added.

"My people?" she murmured " does he mean he called Adonis?" she wandered.

"Here's something I caught for us to eat" he says showing her the big bird which looked scary at first gaze.

"I'm sorry, I forgot you're not used to such things" he said, let out a short pause and continued " but don't worry you will only eat this tonight then tomorrow, you return home" he said pulverizing off its head.

He puff a stick into the bird and put it on the fire. He roasted the bird while she watched him and thought about what really was happening.

"where are you Adonis?," she cried, thinking about her brother. The place was really scary and the boy didn't care, he was okay setting up a fire in the middle of no where and roasting a bird happily.

"I think you should probably be around twenty or twenty-one years old in a couple of months from now" he wondered telling her about how she looked.

"Twenty one?"

"Sure" he assured her.

Eden hadn't noticed the change in her body, she was busy running around to survive from the wild wolf and scary looking creature earlier.

It was when Merrick talked about her age, she took a clearer look at herself and then found it to be abnormal. She had grown tall, had a white light skin and her skin looked smoother and soft like she had been applying some kind of skincare product.

She had a lot to ask Merrick but she didn't want to let out words to him because she was still scare of him. Adonis had warned her about talking to strangers.

She waited and watched him roast the bird till it was ready. No words came from him, only eye contacts between the two was enough for Merrick to understand that she wasn't comfortable.

"Take, you can have this part of it" he says after slicing the bird into eatable pieces.

"You see this is what we eat when we're out of town, you take then bit like this" he demonstrated and Eden smirked.

"Does he think I don't know how to eat a bird or haven't eaten one before?" she thought to herself.

"I know you've never been out of the kingdom, well what you saw today is one of leopard's beast " he uttered as she was eating.

"Leopard's beast?" she wondered if she ever heard that name before" who's Leopard?"

" Yeah, Leopard. Your father knows him, I'm sure you heard of him before" he said then continued to roast the bird which was already roasted.

"I never heard of that name not to talk of knowing who my father was" she spoke out. For the very first time her voice was clear and loud.

Merrick chuckled " you must be kidding, everyone knows your father, the king of Annapolis" he uttered.

"An-na-po-lis?" she wondered if she ever heard of a place called Annapolis.

"I remember entering a house called Annapolis with my brother which landed me here and now I'm lost and don't know what the hell this place is" she uttered explaining things to Merrick.

Merrick didn't take her serious, he thought maybe what happened today got a little impact on her brain so she should be okay after resting.

"Now you listen to me, " Merrick said cutting her off the topic of coming here with her brother.

"News spread out that the princess was missing and whoever found her is getting a pay.I took out my time and found you. Your portrait is everywhere in town" he brought out the portrait and showed her then continued" Everyone knows you were running away from your wedding with prince Kendrick, so don't tell me about any darn man" he uttered breathing heavily then calmed himself down.

Eden was already scared and had clenched her legs together using her hands then hide her face in-between her thighs.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you princess Eden" Merrick humbled himself before her. " Marrying prince Kendrick is the only way to stop the wolf king Leopard and that is why I am so concerned" he explained.

Eden still didn't bring out her head which she had buried in-between her thighs. She only wondered about what was going on and how she became a princess of a strange land.

"If you wish to know about everything I know then I'll tell you" Merrick said drily and these words from him fiddle Eden to lift out her head from her thigh.

"Are you really going to tell me everything you know?" she questioned and he nodded his head. " Everything"

"Just ask your question and I will answer you right away" Merrick said now having to eat his own part of the bird.

" I want to know everything, who the king is, who Leopard is and what is this place, everything you know " she said and there Merrick began to talk.

***

King Fredrick is king of Annapolis, he took after the thrown from his brother after the great war with the wolves. He has govern the people for more than thirty years and everyone lived in peace after the wolf clan fell in chores...

No one heard of the wolf clan for a very long time and the terror they brought on humans till Leopard took over power.

He is currently mobilizing all the wolves from the clan and they are gaining back their ground. Wolves has began feasting and attacking humans more than every before.

"I don't understand you, is this Leopard human?" Eden asked feeling terrified of the things Merrick talked about.

"He is neither human nor a wolf" his respond got Eden even more confused.

"Neither human nor a wolf?" she muttered.

"Yes, don't you get me?" he asked then continued " some wolves can transform into humans" he exclaimed and Eden's expression looked awful.

"Your marriage to Prince Kendrick will help stabilize and prepare the kingdom for the battle as its the only way for Prince Kendrick's army to fight for Annapolis" exclaimed.

"So who's this Prince Kendrick?" Eden asked having to enjoy Merrick's story telling.

"Well I don't know much about prince Kendrick" he paused then continued " but I do believe he is the supreme lord of magical powers, controller of the great army" Merrick said and all Eden did was chuckled.

"I'm feeling a little bit sleepy, maybe I'll go to bed first while you go on," Eden said turning her back against him.

"What a boring story, all I hear is prince prince prince, he can go to hell" she murmured not believing anything that Merrick had just told her...

Her main priority was to find her brother Adonis and then return home with him safely. She didn't want to believe any story of being the princess and having to marry a so called prince with supreme powers in order to save their land.

She had read so many books on such topics that talked about marrying a man to save her family or kingdom. Merrick's own wasn't going to be strange to her although she had seen a wolf during the early hours of the day.

It was all normal because they were in the middle of nowhere but the scary looking human wasn't something she has ever seen before.

****••``~

"Massage, massage, massage" the king's subordinate who was know as his very close coordinator or consult screamed as he ran from the palace's gates to the king's bed room in the late hours of the night.

The guards were all standing till and watching him make the run to the king's bed room.

"My king, my king, I pledge my loyalty to you" he said bowing to the king who was awoken by his vibrate shouting and screams.

"Good massage arrive from outside the palace, Princess Eden has been found " he announced.

"What?" shocked and happy at the same time " Run, get a carriage to go out of the kingdom and bring back my daughter to me" he uttered having to feel a little bit of joy in his heart.

"Yes my king, I shall do as you say," Consultant Jade said blowing again to King Fredrick before leaving to get some guards who would go pick up the Princess.

"Zion was right, I needed not to worry" King Fredrick said with joy and some excitement over the news.

***