• Chapter six- Meeting
    Her eyes sparkled in the night

    “what happened?” Annaline covered her mouth, “ who knows.. lets check their camp..” they ran towards the light. They stopped dead in their tracks when they had reached the camp, the air was heavy with the stench of blood. “Even if senna planned an assault, they would not have known about our plan… unless…”

    *crack*

    Raiden looked at his back with wide eyes “ Unless this was all a trap!”

    *clap* *clap*

    A man who covered himself with a black hood and a teeter mask, he wore all black except for his mask, which was half white and black and looked as if it were a joker mask. “It took you long enough…” he stopped clapping “and now you have brought me more cash, hand over the princess..” Raiden gasped “ how did you know she was the princess..?” he chuckled “because its obvious”, “so you planned all this? You single handedly.. did all this…?” raiden felt still, “ Indeed, I watched carefully inside your castle and overheard you talk about some guy named Eriden. So I did a little research and saw he was the master thief of Evianna..” he paused, he signaled another man to come out of the shadows, the same impostor of eriden. He fell to the ground, only then did they realize the dagger imbedded on his back. “meet your impostor, and with that I lured your princess out. A perfect captive wouldn’t you say? And added to that, the king shall give me anything I want. oh, another bonus, I found one spy and well.. told him to send you a fake message that senna would make a surprise attack.. ” Annaline was stunned, “ your… pretty smart… but what have we done to you?” he stood at the same place and made no move as he answered their questions “ Isn’t it obvious? Blood money keeps me alive, it puts bread on the table. And.. I wanted to test the intelligence of your kingdom *sigh* what a mistake, your all a bunch of fools drinking beer..” In a heartbeat he suddenly appeared beside Annaline, he grabbed both her wrists, he whispered softly to her ears “you know.. you should not stand and awe at the abilities of your enemies” before raiden could react he returned to his previous location. “Behold the abilities of the master thief of senna!” raiden wasn’t surprised to hear a master thief of senna, but was surprised at how fast he was, he stole Annaline from under his nose. “ If you would like to retrieve her, come find me in senna… I shall wait till then..” “ Raiden, don’t leave me!!” she pleaded, “ don’t worry… I shall find you..”

    ~meanwhile~

    One spy has overheard the conversation. He quickly dashes for the castle, on the way he thought about for much money he would earn with such information. He also decided to exaggerate it by saying that raiden was one of them who kidnapped annaline. “ they what?!” the king shouted in disbelief, “FIND THEM!!!! I WANT THEM ALL CAUGHT DEAD OR ALIVE!!”
    “calm down” the queen said, “ I cant believe that raiden was part of this.. he always seemed so loyal..” he looked at the queen “ Im gonna find them.. and let them pay..”

    ~~

    “oww oww..” annaline found herself being piggybacked by the stranger, “ what happened..?” she asked, she still felt pain in the back of her head. “ I had hit you in the back of your head, you fainted not too long ago” “ ohh yeah…hey..!” she remembered,“ Why are you kidnapping me?!” she started squirming and banging hitting his head with her fists, “let go! Let go!” His grip on her arms was tight and his arms kept her legs from kicking. “relax..”he said, she puffed out her cheeks “ let me go!” she was caught off guard as he released his grip, she fell to the ground. “ oww oww.. you actually let go..?” he looked at her, “ you said let me go.. did you not?” he sat down and leaned on a tree, he placed both hands above his head. She brushed off the dirt from her dress. “okay, so… Im gonna leave now..” she started walking away,

    *shing*

    “yipe!” she jumped, the dagger had almost hit her. “ I cant let my Annaline run away now, can I?” he chuckled, “my annaline…?*sigh*” she stood in front oh him and pouted, she stared at his teeter mask. “what is with that look princess?”he asked “ Don’t you feel hot with your clothes? I mean the air is so moist, the humidity is already killing me.. your wearing pretty thick clothes and a cloak as well” she replied, he leaned forward and was just an inch away from her face..

    “ So you want me to undress in front of you?” he ran his fingers on his shoulders and unclasped his cloak, Annaline blushed. “that’s not what I meant you perv...” he chuckled “ I was only going to unclasp my cloak..” he placed it around her. “it might be hot now… but when night draws it will turn chilly.” He leaned back on the tree. “Good night, another thing… if you try running off again I wont miss this time, I will hunt you down like a dog” he gave her butterflies in her stomach.. “ I…I don’t need your cloak… I can sleep without it.” She handed it back, he took it. “ Don’t blame me if you freeze to death the next morning” Annaline could not see his face, but she could tell that he had a smirk on his face. She leaned to another tree opposite of him and tried to sleep.

    ~11:00~

    The night had drawn in since 5 hours ago, but Annaline could not sleep. She stared at the guy as she shivered; she wished that she could borrow his cloak again. (he is right, I could freeze to death in this temperature.. Why did I have to wear a dress on my way here..) she looked at her pink dress, it was up until her knees. She had no jacket or coat and that dress was supposed to be for summer and not for this kind of cold. “ uhhmm.. are you awake..?” she finally asked, no reply. “ h..hey..” no reply, she stood up and again sat in front of him (Many people look so innocent when their asleep, with their eyes closed no one can see the darkness that lies within…) she thought and smiled (now.. about the cloak…) She crawled beside him and took the cloak from his arms, “ ….” He started mumbling, his head leaned closer to annaline, his mask was loose. ( I wonder what he looks like..?) she was tempted, she breathed in and lifted one hand. *gulp* her hands were shivering as she touched his mask. (take a deep breathe.. a deeeep breathheee) she started thinking, then withdrew her hand.
    She leaned on the tree,(Trust is important.. I will find out in time..)she slowly drifted to sleep…

    ~

    “get up..”
    “huh…wh..” she mumbled
    “get off my lap..” he placed his hand on her head, she lifted her head and faced him, her mind was turned off.. ‘hmm..? good morning..” she mumbled, “ good morning..” he replied softly . Her eyes widened,
    “GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” (Why did I sleep on his lap!!!!)

    He held his mask with one hand and laughed.. “ your very funny.. you know that?” he stood up, annaline held her head with both hands and had a weird look stuck on her face, her mouth was wide open and her cheeks were red. “ we have to continue walking if we want to reach Evienna” Annaline was puzzled, “don’t you mean Evianna?” he looked at her, “no, Evienna, I asked one general about it before killing him.. he said beyond Evianna..” annaline jumped with joy, “ so we are passing my kingdom?” “that is correct, I shall drop you off from there..” she looked at him with compassion “ You’re a pretty kind person after all, but why kidnap me and kill those people in the camp..?” “it was to retrieve more information about it, and I kidnapped you to be able to pass the gates of your kingdom” he answered. “ how cool!~! you thought of everything~!” Annaline was pretty oblivious to the troubles she was in for.

    “ ohh… by the way.. did you hear anything last night?” she asked while blushing.. “no, why ask?” (he slept like a kid..how cute…) “ ahhh.. its nothing..”she started giggling which annoyed him. “we shall set out for Senna first, we need to be prepared for the long journey..” “okay~”

    ~Senna~

    They had finally reached Senna, the kingdom of greed. The streets smelled of alcohol, almost everyone who passed them were drunk and waving cash around. Annaline covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief. “I feel quizzy..” she said as she looked at one person who just barfed in front of them, he looked at them. “Well well, Shadow long time no see..” he looked at Annaline and grinned, this grossed out annaline. “how beautiful.. how much for this merchandise?” Annaline’s eyes widened and looked at shadow, he was quiet. “ Does that mean she is free?” he was about to touch Annaline’s face when Shadow placed his arms around her, he then pulled her close to him and covered them both with his black cloak. “ not for sale..” “ehh?” he raised his beer bottle, “C’mon don’t be like that.”. Shadow started walking along with Annaline who was still being held, he got pissed and threw the bottle to Shadow, it missed. Shadow turned his head, “ you do that again I shall take that bottle and shove it inside your throat.” His voice was cold; he then continued walking. The man bowed and apologized. A few minutes of silence, “Soooo… Your name is shadow?” she asked softly, “that is correct”, “does that mean you grew up here?” she asked again, “ Your questions are bothering me, stop talking and enjoy the view..” he ordered (errr… what view? All I see are buildings..) “okay..” she answered.

    ~~

    They stopped at an abandoned 2 story building, they walked up the stairs “this was my house when I was little..” Shadow slowly opened the ancient door which leads to his one room home. Annaline entered the room“ pretty small..” she checked the room “ and not much furniture.. its only a broken lamp and bed..” he entered as well. “not much of a home isn’t it?” he asked, “are you sure you lived here?” she looked concerned. “ well, I was taken in by a new couple that had just moved in here a few years ago, day by day I would get either get slammed in the door and whipped by my dad and be told a weakling for not fighting back, or get sexually harassed by my mother.. then on my fourteenth birthday my mother entered the room with a gift wrapped in a box ” Annaline sat on a small chair. “ and then?” “she said… that I had to do something for her before she would give me the gift, she started unbuttoning my shirt, knowing that something was wrong I pushed her away… she fell down… and screamed..” Annaline was engrossed with his story, “then my dad came barging inside with an alcohol bottle on his hand, he ran towards me and bashed the glass on my head…” Annaline covered her mouth,” and then..?” “ my head was pumping, I was thrown back… I tried standing up but he pushed me towards the table. I noticed and empty bottle of wine, so I took it and bashed his head, the glass broke. My dad was still breathing and he still stared at me. I gripped the broken bottle and continued bashing him in the head…my mom tied to run out of the room, but I threw the bottle to her like a professional assassin, then it pierced his back, both bleed to death…I simply watched them die as I felt no sympathy towards them…” Annaline was surprised he could tell such a story with no emotion whatsoever. “So that is why you turned out like how you are now?” he nodded weakly “well, its going to be a busy day tomorrow, you better get some sleep..”