- Song of The Page -
WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE: GUNS N' ROSES- APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION

"Are you sure?" The black masked woman enquired, "this doesn't look like a Darkdelve Forest," her voice had a hint of doubt. 

"And how does a Darkdelve forest look like?" Prince Rogan said fuming behind her, still cuffed. It was insane to go into that forbidden forest. He didn't understand why she wanted to go there. Moreover, what had Darkdelve to do with his abduction? 

However, it was almost three hours since Prince Rogan and the strange woman were trotting through the Lushberg road. Long three hours that anyone had restricted his movement. Last time he remembered, he had been tied down to a log when Stephan gave him a punishment for breaking one of his swords, the punishment was most probably for controlling his anger. That was a long time ago, he didn't even remember how young he was. 

Rogan's back was aching as well as his derriere, and even his hands had started to get numb because the blood supply seemed to be restricted at his wrists.

"Would you mind loosening my cuffs?" He hissed. 

"What are the chances that you won't strangle me?" she asked. 

"Like a needle point," his reply came faster, as now he had a great desire to strangle this woman if that wasn't enough then suck her dry. She shook her head, "then not a chance." 

The leaves of the trees around them became more thicker as they went up ahead. She tilted her head over her shoulder and asked, "So, you're a Knight, right? What's your name?"

Her calling him a knight seemed like an insult as whenever she called him knight, he felt she was enjoying the view of his irritated face. 

A muscle twitched in his jaw and he felt thirsty more than ever. But better to wait for the right moment as it wouldn't take too much time when he would have the upper hand. 

He straightened his face and said the first name he could remember of his best knights, "Sir Draven von Krizarte." 

Nonetheless, the woman didn't know he was a prince. She kept calling him with a few unlikely names which he didn't like one bit but each of them had knight in them. That was a good thing if she was hired by Slithrot— which was likely the case— then maybe this time his head would be saved from losing his body. But why Zedan had promised her gold if it was not for the prince's head but a Knight's? Was there some more sinister strategy behind this or she was feigning ignorance? 

"Draven? That's a cool name."

Twigs cracked beneath Jinx's hind feet and it was almost forenoon. He had to praise the woman's brain— if she had any— as she decided they would take the forest path instead of the road that led the next village. She was avoiding unwanted attention and he was sure by now that all of his men were probably on rampage to find him. Especially, when the men were led by General Stephan. Stephan would not let any man- or in this case a woman- lay a hand on him. However, his brows twitched when the thought slapped him that a woman was capable of abducting the prince of Ostrock. It was itching his core and he shuddered at the ridiculous thought. 

"Oh! Shoot!" The woman cried stopping his train of thoughts and got the prince's attention, "the golden emblem!"

Golden emblem? 

"Maybe I lost it while shooting that man. Thor's hairy legs!" She cursed again. 

A gape formed on His Highness's mouth. A golden emblem! That meant she was indeed a master in her work. Men with extraordinary skills and their loyalty throughout their service could get them a golden emblem from Royals. Only General Stephan from Ostrock had received a golden emblem from King Vance for his bravery. He had heard about two knights from Lushberg who possessed the golden emblems. And a few other knights all around Vernon. If this woman had one... 

His bit his lower lip. He had to act like a knight not a prince in this situation where there was a lot of unfinished work he had yet to complete. Being dead would lead him nowhere. 

A sound of marching came from distance along with a few metal clanks. Jinx must have heard it as he neighed. The woman pulled the rein and stopped while she tilted her head in each direction, carefully observing the situation and hearing the approaching footsteps. It could be his men-at-arms which was less likely as the noise came from further up the path. 

She jumped off the horse and said, "Stay here," her hands brushed Jinx's neck as she spoke ahead, "I'll take care of them."

He almost rolled his eyes at her confidence and she pulled out a long black thing from her sack that hung on one side of Jinx, along with other saddlebags. She brought out other black objects and began to give it an appearance which he could not interpret. He watched sitting on his stallion while his hands still cuffed behind his back, aching. The woman seemed to like covering herself with knives as she pulled more and more out of her knapsack. If he had touched her now, he might cut himself. And that attire of her was great at concealing each of her weapon apart from that long heavy looking object that felt more like a misshapen axe. He was engulfed in the scene that he hadn't realized his mouth had a big gape where any insect could find a home. 

The giant sword that he had acquired after defeating General Stephan, was still hanging at her hip. 

"All done. Now, "she turned to look at him and added, " Be the decoy while I finish them off." She started toward the forest then stopped, Rogan could hear the sound of something grinding. It wasn't until a few seconds that he realised that it was his own teeth doing the work. 

Before vanishing in the woods, she turned back and said, "and try to lure them to you with your charm, Sir Draven." He thought he must have imagined it, because he had a strong feel that she winked behind her mask while saying those things. 

Decoy? How dare she! He was the one who makes people his decoys not the other way around! 

Prince Rogan could feel the veins bulging out from his forehead but a few shouting noises broke his trance. Soldiers with bull crest marched out from the deep forest and spotted him immediately as he was right in their path. The commander pointed at his men and they tightened their grips on their arms at the sight of him.

Prince Rogan's trained eyes scanned the soldiers who were with heavy armours and spears, maces and swords. The crest was something that Prince Rogan was familiar with. Men of Pyreaz, Lushberg's south-east border and his next destination. Seemed like he was aiming for the right direction and persuading the woman to follow his plan without her notice. A smirk threatened to appear but he remained straight faced. However, the only obstacle was the cuffs. Were his hands free, the men would be dead in a minute. 

"Halt!" The commander shouted.

Wasn't he already? 

"Why would I?" Rogan asked dryly. The commander might have a problem with his eyesight as Rogan's stallion hadn't moved after the woman left. 

The men seemed to realize he was alone as they relaxed their hands from their weapons. It irritated him. If it wasn't for this forlorn cuffs, they would dare to relax. Were they not aware of who was he? 

"This is a feud against Ostrock. You do not seem to have a Lushberg crest," The commander pointed. More men arrived encircling him. Well, armed men around thirty-forty.

"And why would I be wearing a Lushberg crest? That would be an insult to myself," his words cut the commander in two pieces and he drew out his sword, his face borrowed the look of an angry bull. A sinister smirk spread on His Highness's lips. He didn't know what the woman was planning but he certainly wanted to put up a fight. However, it came a moment later that he realised that he was a bit of compromising position. 

That wretch of a woman! A few obscene words formed in his head however, he wasn't a man to throw insults at women. But this one was different... She was making him angry. So angry that he would not falter to give her a piece of his mind along with the colorful words that he had learned from those journeys with General Stephan. 

"A knight of Ostrock!" The General exclaimed, Prince Rogan wasn't surprised, his armour displayed his country's crest.

"Surrender yourself, your horse and your money," he shouted. 

"No." His reply came without a delay, while the men prepared themselves to surge forward.

"Take away everything and kill him," the commander ordered and five men came forward pulling their visors down. 

A swoosh came like an arrow cutting the air and two of them collapsed on the ground. Blood oozing out of the small holes on their heads. Everyone looked at each other while Prince Rogan's brow shot up. Another one of the witch's tricks. 

Not a second passed and another two soldiers fell on the ground and now every men in the enemy troop became alert. 

"Shield up! It's a trap!" the commander shouted, "capture that knight!"

A few of his men ran to His Highness but collapsed on the ground joining their dead companions for a toast. Others stopped their movement, looked at the Prince wide eyed. 

Their commander shouted, "What are you waiting for? Capture that knight or I'll shove my sword in your..." -the horse neighed, probably panicking in the situation while Rogan tried to balance himself on it. 

But it wasn't as difficult as for the Pyreaz men, now they had to choose whether they wanted their commander's sword in their important part or the invisible swoosh in their head. The later one seemed less painful as ten or more men surged toward the Prince. 

Not a yard crossed, their body busied themselves being dead and joined their friends on the ground. The blood stained the forest floor, while their commander looked at Rogan with wide eyes. A torrent of fear appeared in his eyes.

"What- What kind of sorcery is this?" He stuttered. 

Other men formed a shield wall to guard the commander while a few of them had difficulty to decide their next move as they stood like a bunch of idiots. 

However, they didn't have to wait long as a shadow appeared behind them out of nowhere and with a swift swing it slashed the two men. Their bodies tumbled down on the ground. Everyone's eyes fell on the lean shadow and their eyes went wide. The strange entity made an appearance with a giant sword in one hand and a long knife in the other. Prince Rogan almost released a breath as she made an appearance herself, he wondered if she could take down this many soldiers all by herself or not. But then he remembered that she was the carrier of a golden emblem, that fact itself made him narrow his eyes at her. If she had that emblem then she had the potential, maybe he'd see something interesting here.

The remaining soldiers lunged at her and with a roar, she flipped herself fluidly and aimed for their eyes or throats. Prince Rogan found himself leaning forward as he watched her both arms move in a way that had never seen any warrior move. It was as if those arms itself were the two weapons which moved by their own free will. The woman danced, the clanging of the swords seemed more like the music that entranced him. He saw as she kept up at a fast pace rarely faltering at any step. It was like a rehearsed symphony, the way her body moved, the way her weapons bent according to her will and the way the enemies were slaughtered at her hands. She moved like a storm crashing and finishing them off from her path. It was a mesmerising sight for Prince as he never had expected such valour from this woman but then again, he had never seen any woman fight in his life. He stopped his mind from moving towards the direction where he was picturing his sweet sister wielding a sword. It was preposterous!

"Kill him!" The commander shouted sending another set of men from his shield wall while the wall marched towards her and their spears raised outward to lunge a strike.

However, she seemed to be well aware of that coming formation of shield. She moved her sword chopping off a soldier then elbowed another one. It was almost a chaos as these many vampires were solely fighting one woman and losing. Moreover, Rogan found it hard to believe that a woman carried enough strength to slash through the hard skin of the vampires. His thoughts halted when he noticed a soldier sneaking up from behind the woman.

"Behind you!" Prince Rogan shouted before he could realise and now everyone's eyes fell on him. The woman tilted her head towards him and nodded while her hand which had the knife moved to the sneaky soldier and cut his... balls? 

"Arghhhh!" The man shouted and tumbled down to the ground holding his genital— now, not existence— organ and she swung her sword through his throat. His head toppled down from his shoulders and next man came. And another then another. It was like a wave of the men that crashed onto her yet she moved further fighting all of them.

She turned to the coming shield wall which wasn't far away from her, and threw a stone at them. Prince Rogan's mouth fell open and he rolled his eyes. Stone? Was she insane? A stone couldn't break a shield wall. 

But the later sight indeed made His Highness to change his perspective on stones as smoke started rising from the shield wall and the men started to cough and within a moment they scattered away. Whole army was either rubbing their eyes or covering their noses, unable to stay still while the clever woman without ceasing continued slashing through them one by one using the cloud of smoke as her shield. A few of them tried to fight back but it was futile. She was moving like she could see everything in that grey smoke while Prince Rogan could not see anything clearly. He could only fathom a few monochrome grey shadows swinging their weapons in the air. 

A wicked grin spread on his face. It was an enjoyable sight for him, however he didn't notice as one of them had escaped from that smoke screen and almost reached the Prince with the intent of killing. With a roar the soldier ran to the Prince closing the gap between them while his hands bore a sword pointed towards his heart. 

Prince Rogan would jump of his stallion but he didn't. That had nothing to do with his pride as he was proud enough of himself but he had another plan. His hands might have been restricted but his legs weren't.

The man almost reached him and swung the sword with all the power he could muster but Rogan bend backwards dodging the tip only by an inch. He kicked the man with so much power in his chest that he could hear the cracking of his ribs. The man groaned with agony and stumbled back but he wasn't going to back down. He got back on his feet, tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword and once again lunged, this time the sword tip was a bit lower and it wasn't easy to avoid that. 

The sword tip almost reached his abdomen when a knife hit the man's neck and his body limply fell on the ground.

Prince Rogan turned to look at the source and saw the woman's hand was still up in the air. Then she moved her hand to her wrist and the cuffs came loose and parted. A smirk curled up the corner of his lips and he jumped down from Jinx's back. A few soldiers were already crossing the distance and approaching him. He took the dead soldier's sword feeling the light weight of it. It wasn't even half in the weight as his sword was. But now, he didn't have a choice, did he? 

Besides, his sword now had a different wielder... 

He took one glance at the shadowy figure in the smoke and swiveled the sword. The soldier's sword hit with a clank with his and broke in two. While the poor man was registering the fact of his broken sword, His Highness's sword had already done its job. 

He scoffed in his head. They were just the green lads. Excitement rose in him as it had been quite a while since he had felt the need to use his sword. 

A sinister grin appeared on his lips and the soldiers before him retreated a few steps back, gulping and shaking under his fiery red gaze. A new kind of emotion appeared on their faces - fear. Now that's what he liked.

-------
[Edited by Sam8136 date: 10th March, 20; third draft: 22nd August,2020]
(2909 words)
-------

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

If you're seeing this story on any other platform other than wattpad you are likely to be risk of malware attack. If you wish to read this story in its original safe form please go to wattpad on MichelleManisha. Legal action maybe taken for plagiarism. Thank you.

©Haruka Tachibana