Rosangela: The Half-Blood Princess

Last night, I wept so much until I cried myself to sleep. The rattle of metal door bursting open woke me up the next day.

I lift my head and looked at the door. I saw two tall and muscular men in black hoodie standing in the doorway. My mouth fell open when I found them holding chains and shackles in their hands.

As they made their way towards me, I sat up and backed away until my back hit the stone wall.

“Get up!” one of them ordered after they already stood in front of me.

Pushing aside the feelings of fear, I refused to follow their order.

Since I didn’t want to cooperate, they roughly pulled me up to my feet. After that, one of them took a blindfold out of his pocket and then put it across my eyes.

“What are you doing?” I tried to slip the blindfold off me, but both of them grabbed my hands and chained my wrists in front of me. Before I could react, they also put shackles around my feet.

“Walk!” one of the men ordered me while yanking my chain forwards.

I stayed still, didn’t want to obey him.

“I said, walk!” He repeated, snapping at me.

“No!” I insisted.

“Do you want to walk on your own or do I have to carry you again like a sack of potatoes?” The man on my left threatened.

“Okay, okay, I’ll walk,” I said.

Reluctantly, I started to trudge forward. Blindfolded, I tripped on the doorstep. I almost fell, but the guy on my right grabbed my arms before my body collided with the floor.

“Watch your step!” He warned me sarcastically.

“How can I watch my steps when I’m blindfolded?” I retorted.

Unexpectedly, the man on the left slapped my cheek hard. “Never speak unless we ask you to! Do you understand?”

I bit my lower lip to hold back a sob.

He yanked my hair up. “Answer me! Do you understand me or not?”

“Y—yes,” I stuttered.

“Good! Now keep moving!” He pushed me over.

“Ouch!” I whimpered when I landed on the floor with a thud.

I heard the man on my right side letting out a frustrated sigh.

“Come on!” He grabbed my arms and hoisted me up. After that, he pulled me along with him.

They dragged me through many turns. Even if I weren’t blindfolded, I think I would find it difficult to remember every turn we took.

After walking for a few minutes, at last we stopped. Out of the blue, the voices of girls screaming and crying met my ears. I right away knew that I wasn’t the only hostage here.

My blindfold was finally being pulled. I blinked my eyes a few times, trying to adjust my vision. After everything became clear, I looked around the room. I found myself standing in the middle of a large hall. I joined in a queue with other girls who were also chained up just like me. There were at least 20 of us. And I was in the hindmost of the queue.

Dozens armed guards were encircling us. They were watching us with menacing looks.

The circle of guards suddenly parted, revealing a tall muscular man with a pale complexion and dark hair. He looked young. Maybe he was in his late twenties, or early thirties utmost. I hate to admit this, but I couldn’t lie that he’s the most handsome man I’d ever met.

“Lord Sigmund,” greeted all of the guards in unison while bowing their heads.

Seeing how the guards all bowed down before the young man, I guessed that he was their leader. It’s a shame why such a handsome guy like him became the leader of these kidnappers.

The man, Lord Sigmund approached the girl in the beginning of the queue and started inspecting her. After he finished with her, he ordered two guards to drag her away.

Lord Sigmund then moved to the next girl and did the same like he had done to the girl before. Shaking his head, he signaled his guards to drag that girl away too.

This continued with the other girls. Every time he finished inspecting them, he would ask his guards to lead them away.

My heart beat faster as Lord Sigmund was getting closer and closer to me. When he reached the girl beside me, I closed my eyes, afraid of what might happen next.

All of a sudden, a cold hand touched my face and tilted my chin up.

“Open your eyes!” he ordered.

Stubbornly, I kept my eyes shut.

He cupped my cheeks, squeezing them hard until made me whimper in pain. “Open. Your. Eyes!” He separated each word like a sentence.

I opened my eyes carefully and my brown eyes met his blue orbs.

Seeing my face, his eyes suddenly shone.

One of his guards approached him and inquired, “How is it, My Lord?”

He let go of my checks but locked his eyes on me.

“Tell the King...” his voice trailed off.

He turned around and faced his men. “We’re going home soon!” he added.

All of the guards gasped in astonishment at their leader’s words.

A guard moved forward and said, “My Lord, did you mean—”

“Yes,” he butted in, “we found her!”

'Oh No, is it good or bad news for me?' I thought.

“With all due respect Sir, are you sure it’s her?” asked one of the guards.

“Positive,” Lord Sigmund answered.

“But My Lord, this girl doesn’t smell like one of us.” The guard suddenly sniffed at me like he was a dog.

'Smell?' I asked in my mind confusedly.

Lord Sigmund inched closer to me and began sniffing too. “You’re right. That’s why we have to make sure of it.”

Lord Sigmund pulled a key out of his pocket and then uncuffed my wrists. I wanted to rub my sore wrists, but he grabbed my left hand first. My eyes widened when I saw him pulling a knife out of his back pocket. His lips curved into a smirk as he put the knife on my wrist.

“No! What are gonna you do?” I tried to shrink my hand away, but he held my hand tightly.

I intended to snatch the knife away from him with my free hand, but he caught it before I could reach it.

“Hold her still!” he ordered to his men.

Two guards approached us. One of them gripped my right hand tightly while the other held my shoulders to keep me still.

Lord Sigmund grinned at me evilly. A scream left my mouth when he made an incision on my wrist. It was small and shallow, yet it is enough to hurt me. He brought my hand to his lips and let my blood dripped into his mouth.

'Oh my God I can’t believe this! He just tasted my blood,' I screamed in my mind.

As soon as Lord Sigmund let go of my left hand, I shook my right hand off the guard and then pressed the wound on my left wrist to stop the bleeding.

“How is it, My Lord? Is she the one?” asked one of the guards.

All the people in this room stared at us, expecting the answer from their leader.

He beamed at his guards and said, “This is the girl we’ve been looking for. There’s no doubt about it.”

“But My Lord, why didn’t she smell like us?” asked another guard doubtfully.

“Let me see!” Lord Sigmund suddenly cupped my chin in his hand and turned my face to the right then to the left, observing it.

“Let go!” I tried to push him away but he was far stronger than me. So even though I had pushed with all my might, he wouldn’t budge an inch.

Lord Sigmund then tilted my head up. When he spotted the locket around my neck, he grinned, and out of the blue snatched my locket until the clasp was broken.

“Hey what are you doing?” I protested.

Ignoring me, he lifted my locket in the air and showed it to his people. “This is the root of our problem.”

“Give it back!” I stood on tiptoe, trying to grab my locket. But he lifted it higher, out of my reach.

“This locket is spelled to disguise her scent from us. That’s why she didn’t smell like us,” he explained.

Everyone began sniffing around me. Immediately, cheerful laughter echoed in the room.

“What are you talking about?” I asked them perplexedly.

Busy with their celebration, they all ignored me.

“CAN ANYONE PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?” I screamed at the top of my lungs to attract their attention.

The room fell silent right away. Everyone’s eyes focused on me.

Lord Sigmund came at me. I thought he was going to slap me so I closed my eyes in anticipation. Unexpectedly, he touched my cheek softly. Carefully, I opened my eyes and caught him grinning at me.

“You’ll soon find out what we’re up to, Princess,” he said with a wink.

He let go of my cheek and turned around to face his people. “Get ready! We’re leaving tonight. At last, after 17 years long, we’re going home,” Lord Sigmund announced happily.

After saying that, he turned about again to look at me. “Unchain her and take her to my bedroom now!”

'He said his bedroom?' My eyes widened in horror. 'Oh God, is he going to rape me?'

Two guards beside me nodded. They knelt down and take off the shackles around my ankles. Then they both clutched my arms and started dragging me out of the room.

“Let me go! Let me go!” I struggled, trying to break myself free. But they were too strong for me; I couldn’t get away from them.

“Please just let me go! You got the wrong girl. You have to release me right now. Please!” I pleaded.

The guards’ steps suddenly came to a halt, forcing me to stop abruptly too.

“If I were you, I would pray that I wasn’t the wrong girl,” one of the guards commented.

I turned to look at the guard who spoke to me. “Wh—what will happen to me if I am the wrong girl?”

He smirked at me then replied, “Because you’ve seen our faces, I’m afraid we have to waste you.”

“Wa—waste me? You—you mean, you—you’re going to kill me?” I stuttered.

Their evil laughter automatically answered my question

“Wait! And then how about the other girls? What will happen to them? Are you going to kill them too?” I asked in panic tone.

“It depends on what Lord Sigmund will say about them,” replied the other guard.

'Oh God, they’re going to kill all of those girls. And my fate will probably not be much better than them.' I shivered at the thought of that.

“Come on!” They yanked me forward. This time I didn’t fight and let them escorted me to the destination.