Chapter 137: The Lost Princess

Chapter 137: The Lost Princess
Her heart pumped hard in her chest as she tore through the woods.

Mists swirled all around giving her the perfect cover she needed, but the hurried sounds of her feet gave her position away.

Yet, she could not dare stop.

She could hear their footsteps, hot on her trail. Two pairs of legs ran after her. As a nymph she was fast, but as werewolves, they were faster.

The clouds of mist that was a blessing was also a curse, because it obscured her view. It seemed the mists seemed to get denser the more she ran deep into the trees.

She had no idea the direction she was taking. Beyond Sabine's house, she was not familiar with the landscape. She barely knew her way around this plane. Whenever they left the house, she was always in Sabine's company.

Not that she had gone out much, she spent most of her time crying and sulking the early days of her arrival.

If she was thinking properly, she should be heading in the direction of the town. But right now, her head was messed up and she just wanted to get away from them, as far as possible.

If she made it, she could always find her way back to town. Survival was key.

Therefore, she charged forward blindly. Her hair whipped in the wind, flying behind her back. The blades of grass slashed her arms and her legs. Stones and thick shrubs tore at her bare feet. Her toes kicked the ragged edges of loose rock and pain spiked up her leg from broken toenails.

The sound of her frenzied breath filled her ears.

A sharp movement behind her made her whip her head around. When she turned back, she ran face-first into a tree.

She staggered backward, her head ringing from the impact.

Her speed had added to the force of the collision. Blood ran down from her temple, into her eyes, blurring her view. Losing her focus, she reeled on her feet.

Unable to continue her race, she scrambled to a bush nearby and hid inside a thick cluster of sage and ferns.

A few minutes later, two men burst into the spot where she had cracked her head on a tree.

"I no longer hear her footsteps," one observed.

"She must be close, but I can't smell her," another stated.

They couldn't smell her?

Must be the sage masking her scent. So when they continued forward, she picked up a few leaves of the sage and began rubbing it all over her body.

Her head throbbed badly, her feet felt sore and she was exhausted from all the running.

She sat quietly in that spot, safe in the protection of the bushes. She might as well stay here and wait for them to get tired of looking for her and leave.

She had just come to that conclusion when the men reappeared and circled back to the tree.

"We have run miles ahead, she is not in front of us," the first one complained.

"Let us check behind us, she may have turned around and run the way she came," the other suggested.

They both nodded and started their way back.

This would be a long day, Bernice mused within her. They should just give up already and go home.

She wondered where Sabine had gone to. Had she gone somewhere safe where this evil witch would not be able to find her, or had she gone straight to Wayne and Rojan to seek help?

Her mind flipped to Candice and she felt guilty. She had not seen her since she recovered, because she did not want to bother her with her own problems. Yet the news she would receive would leave her in a panic mood.

She tried to picture how Sabine would break the news to her;

"Hi Candice, good to see you are fine. Breaking news: Bernice has been captured by an evil sorceress and oh…Bernice is also an amortal nymph."

She shook her head to clear the mental image. She did not want to imagine the anxiety that would consume her friend.

Way to go, Bernice, try to spare her the burden of worrying about you, then go ahead and give her many things to worry about.

She chided herself.

Her eyes started to droop close in sleep when the men walked into the spot again. She jerked herself awake and slowed her breathing.

This time around, they were not alone. The witch and the other man she had disarmed were in tow with the duo.

"You say you lost her here?" Zipporah asked the men.

"Yes," both men answered.

"Why do I have to do everything myself?" Zipporah said and raced her eyes to the sky.

Then she touched the sapphire necklace on her neck and began to murmur some incoherent words. Blue flames started to appear in her palms, when the fire had grown big enough, she blew it out of her palms.

Bernice watched the flame diffuse into the air and spread into different directions of the forest. Then she felt an invisible force coil around her like a rope and began to lift her up from the ground.

Soon enough, she was floating, just above the bush she was hiding. Out in the open for everyone to see.

"Oh, there she is," Zipporah said smiling.

The two men immediately rushed forward and grabbed her, bringing her over to the witch and shoving her to her knees before their mistress.

"You have been a naughty little nymph," Zipporah said and took hold of her chin, squeezing her cheeks together.

Damn it, she had been caught.

What was she going to do with her now?

"What are you going to do with her?" One of the men asked, mirroring her thoughts.

"Nothing interesting, except of course, if I want to scry for something," Zipporah said dryly.

The witch was just about to let go of her face when something caught her attention.

Zipporah blinked and turned Bernice's head sideways to get a better look at her neck, then inhaled a sharp breath "The mark of Zeus."

What mark?

"The mark of Zeus on a cloud nymph," Zipporah repeated, dazed.

"What are you talking about?" Bernice asked, confused.

"You, my nymph princess, are a long way from home."