7_Ropes and gems
His words were accompanied by a cold look of contempt.
Going still, Amethyst slowly moved her eyes about, studying the unfriendly faces that glared down at her. A hard gulp was forced down her throat, a slight tremble shaking her sword.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she began sweetly. She had one plan and she would stick to it. “I’ve overestimated your masculine pride. I didn’t think you’d accept help fighting a girl who’s got nothing but a sword. I guess your muscles are just for show. You’re big and mighty but, faced with a challenge from one as harmless as I, you rush into the arms of your brethren.”
The men erupted with loud shouts of both shock and anger, calling out her blasphemy against their leader.
Harald chuckled. “Oh, she’s good.” Gunnar looked at him and he choked, wiping off his smile. “I m-meant rude. She’s rude, off with her head!!”
Thoran stood in silence, his mind actually rushing with several reactions to her bold words. This woman. She was the strangest creature he’d ever encountered. How could one be so afraid and so fearless at the very same time? She was baffling to deal with.
Gunnar clenched his jaw as he watched the insolent girl. He wanted to deal with her immediately but doing so would make her words seem true, thus lowering Thoran in the eyes of the tribe. But for Thoran to deal with her himself would be… harsh, to say the least.
She was senseless, she clearly didn’t know who she was challenging. It was as though she was on a mission to die as painfully as possible.
“Is everything packed?” Thoran questioned, his mildly annoyed gaze focused on Amie.
“Everything’s packed,” Ivar said. “We’re ready to leave, Steel.”
He nodded. “Leave.”
Gunn looked at him. “And you?”
“Leave, I’ll be right behind you.”
Going silent, Gunnar slowly looked at the girl foolishly holding a sword against Thoran Steel. She’d just firmly stamped her own death seal, she deserved whatever came to her.
“Exit the camp!” shouted Gunnar.
With responsive shouts of agreement, the men started to hesitantly retreat, climbing aboard their carts and horses. There would’ve been a fun battle to witness, but alas, they couldn’t ignore Steel’s orders.
When the men had left the campsite and disappeared into the dark forest trail, Gunn turned to face Thoran.
“Don’t be long. We haven’t got much time.”
With a dismissive grunt, Thoran nodded.
Sparing the girl a final glance, Gunn turned on his heel and marched out of the now silent campsite.
Finally. Amethyst battled the urge to smirk. They were alone! She had successfully gotten him to take her on alone! Oh, she could feel the power coursing through her veins!
She would end him and she wished every single person who’d ever belittled her was here to witness it!
“Well, poppet?” he murmured, watching her. “I believe you said something about… a battle.”
“That’s right,” Amethyst said, taking slow steps in an arch around him. “Actions have consequences, Mr. Barbarian. And, today, you’re going to learn what it means to pay for your sins.”
A sharp bolt of something electrifying sizzled inside him and he found himself taking slow steps toward her. “That so? And, I believe, you’re my punisher?”
Amie’s steps went from circling him to backing away from him. “I… I am, indeed. Prepare to beg for mercy!”
“When are we leaviinnngg?” Jade groaned, leaning against their vehicle as she stared up at the evening sky. Darn it, she hadn’t managed to get Arroe all to herself even once. He kept marching his responsible self about, taking care of stuff whilst the other alphas were partying. Damn him and how attractive he was.
“Leaving should be the last thing on your mind!” Milana said from the open front doors. “We literally can’t find Amethyst!”
Straightening, Jade gasped. “What? But didn’t you say she’s probably at the army’s training centre again?”
“I thought she was, turns out she’s not.”
Natalia walked out of the castle, marching down the stairs. “I’m going to find her.”
“Natalia.” Raiden rushed out after her. “Talia, let the servants look for her, you have no idea where to start!”
She spun around to face him. “We can’t just sit and wait, Raiden. You don’t understand. With Amie, it’s different.”
Milana sighed. “It really is quite dangerous for her to be missing. If something happened to her healing gem, she could be unconscious somewhere.”
“Oh, my God!” Jade whispered. “What do we do? We have to find Amie!”
“Don’t panic,” Natalia ordered. “We’ll find her and she’ll be fine.”
“But the yearly ritual isn’t over, Talia,” Milana pointed out. “Let us go and find her, you and Raiden can’t leave the kingdom until the end of this week.”
With a frustrated groan, Natalia turned away.
“Natalia,” Raiden said firmly. “I know how important it is for us to find Amethyst and I’m willing to use all our resources for us to do so, but there’s no way we can neglect our duties as the royals of this kingdom. Amie will be found, don’t worry.”
She bit her lip, calming herself. “Fine, but… where is she? Raiden, she’s been gone all day.”
“Here.” Cyrus was walking over, a reluctant Eroz behind him. “This man should be able to tell you.”
“What did he say?” Raiden quietly asked his brother as soon as he was close enough.
“I didn’t ask him anything,” Cyrus muttered. “It’s bad enough that I had to personally summon him, I didn’t want to make things more uncomfortable by actually talking to him.”
“Eroz,” Natalia said tiredly. “Enough time has passed. Where is she?”
Cringing, Eroz looked around at them as he thought his answer over. “There are several possible answers to that question…”
Raiden nodded. “Go on.”
Sighing, Eroz crossed his arms as he organized his own thoughts on the matter. This was the worst. He should’ve listened to his gut when it had warned him to tread carefully. “Well, here’s what the princess told me she’d be doing. She said she’d be going to a sword festival. That’s why I’d been giving her tips and tricks on sword fighting.”
Natalia frowned. “What? What blasted sword festival? The tribe I usually go to isn’t having a festival for another month!”
He shrugged. “Maybe she went to another forest tribe?”
“No,” said Milana. “That’s the only possible tribe of swordsmen that Amie could know about since that’s the one Natalia’s always frequented.”
“What’s the other option?” questioned Raiden.
Tensing, Eroz took a careful step away from Natalia. “She mentioned… she mentioned Barbarians.”
“What?!” the sisters collectively said.
“Barbarians?” said Cyrus. “Why on earth…?”
Shaking his head, Eroz shrugged both shoulders. “Look, I don’t know. She asked me what I knew about Barbarians because she’d read about them and was curious. We spoke about it all through training, I might have mentioned places where they make their camps or certain secret locations where they store their treasures.”
“But why on earth would you do that?” Natalia questioned, her voice tinged in exasperation.
“I didn’t think she would run off to discover some Barbarians on her own,” Eroz said in defence. “She’s never seemed like the type to make such wild decisions.”
“Are you kidding?” Jade muttered. “The only thing that stopped Amie from joining Natalia on every forbidden adventure was her ailment.”
“And she was healed of that ages ago,” added Milana. “There’s nothing to stop her now.”
“Wait.” Natalia raised both hands. With widening eyes, she looked at Raiden. “You remember the bizarre questions she was asking? About the theoretical man who would attack me in our castle?”
Raiden looked at her for a moment and then groaned. “Surely not. You think she was attacked by a man and so, following your advice of training and going for revenge—”
“She went after the bastard, yes!” Natalia felt panic surge within. She'd always known Amethyst would one day cause chaos. That day had finally arrived.