The next morning, everyone seems to be in the best mood, especially the men giving this was the day for the hunt. Ahkmad was most excited for this and actually almost all of the men were gathered in the opened field readying for the event. My mother of course went with my father who wanted to sit this one out to let Ahkmad make a good impression to the others. Truthfully I should be there as well. I readied myself for the day and headed out of my room. There were guards grouped outside of my room just steps away and were whispering about something. I tried to keep quiet and listen in.
"That prince Shahadi isn't your typical sand man." One said.
"I heard he didn't want to join the competition games, how will he show to be the right man for Princess Aza, without showing off his qualities?" The second said.
"I overheard from a villager the only reason they think he was even picked as a suitor, was because his father was in the village not too long ago and inquired King Sefti."
"How disgraceful, Asking our king for his daughter as if she was just anyone."
"Something tells me he's here for other reasons, I hope Princess Aza doesn't blink not one eye to him. You can never trust a trader who trades with our enemies."
That sentence peaked my interest. Trading with our kingdom enemies. The only enemies I can think of that we have had recently and well known to our whole kingdom is the Persi. They have an empire almost as big as ours, they are known to rob small villages and taking as many soldiers as they can put their hands on. Leaving the woman as equivalent to slaves and breeders to make more soldiers, though his process is taking some time, My father suspects he is gathering a lot of men to over take even us. What would the west gain out of making them allies and potentially us enemies, why come seeking a union if you still plan to make business with the enemies? Something seems off about that. What should I do? Should I tell my father? Apart of me feels he would not believe me if I told him such things, I have never been one to insert myself in the affairs of war or business. It's best just to keep my mouth quiet. I left the area without being seen and with the information in my pocket. It may prove to be useful in the future. Surely my father knew about the trades, if the soldiers knew.
I left quickly to go down to the market. I do enjoy eating the fruit from down there. My mother told me that I should not have any fruit that shows blemishes, but in fact those are the ones that are the most sweetest. It's my little secret. There was a certain peace being left alone without anyone to hover over me or even question my whereabouts. This has hands down become my favorite part of the festival. I saw these exotic flowers that were being sold, They were purple and long in length, with a pasty purple. They were pretty. I bought some to bring to my mother. I tried to go to the field where everyone was during the event, but I got lost trying to follow the memory I had from when I was a kid. I didn't attend this in years, but I'm sure my father would want me there. Just how long will I walk before I hear anything, people or even animals at least. At this rate my flowers would be in bad shape to even present to my mother. You would think that how long I lived here I would know these woods like the back of my hand. They were pretty contained as well. My father never really mentioned to us where this patch of green came from. There was rumors of it being there due to magic, but of course these were stories told when I was a kid. I walked until saw animal foot prints in the dirt. Oh no, I may have entered an animal's territory. I instantly looked around for any other hints. These prints were pretty big. Like a type of feline. There is no way my father would have let a lion live in these woods, not this close to the village. I started to hear the smaller bushes ruffle. I started to feel my body shake with fear. What do I do? Flowers weren't going to help me in this situation. All I could think about was running but couldn't move my feet. I heard a low growl and watched as a pair of gold eyes appeared within the shade of the bushes. I ran fast clutching the flowers close to my chest. Without paying attention I fell to the ground. Great what a perfect time to fall. I turned around and with a quick flash something jumped in front of me causing me to close my eyes. I heard a weak roar. I opened my eyes to find a small Panther. Similar to the ones that Ratuk had. How? There wasn't a small one when I first saw the first ones. This one was cute. His fur was almost purple shine in the light. I've been seeing that color a lot lately, but in the most beautiful ways. I laughed at its little aggression it had towards me. It was as if it was trying to learn to stalk its prey. It straightened its body from a defensive stance to almost curious like. I leaned my flowers out to it, and he walked to me slowly. Sniffing closer but cautious. After it got closer, I pulled it in my arms which caused it to flail around. I held it close hugging it, eventually I heard purring and its eyes got bigger. He started to get relaxed. I did always wanted an animal. I wonder if my father would let just this favor go.
"Where are your parents?" It flicked an ear and jumped out of my arms.
It started walking back down the path forward. Was it leading me there? We walked awhile. The attention span of this cub was in and out, it would play with the bugs around and then focus back to the path. So cute. The more I spent time with it the more reasons I found in my head to convince my father to keep it. The further we walked the more chatter I heard. We were getting close. I heard a horn blow and cheering followed after. I got worried. That was the horn to the start the game. I looked closer forward, and I saw the people and contestants in front of us. That means we are in the center of the hunt. We have to move, if they shoot any arrows or throw any spears, the cub can be hurt easily. As I turned to find the cub, he seemed to disappear.
"Little one where are you?" I said in fear.
He jumped out of bush, seemingly playing with me again trying to scare me. Just as I walked forward to him a slight whistle followed by a pierce in the ground frighten me and him. It was an arrow. The cub ran out of fear straight forward towards the contestants. I got so scared I ran after him. Arrows were still flying and I was scared. I couldn't let that little cub get hurt. If they were shooting arrows that means an animal must be near by. In the distance, there was a boar running towards us. So much was in motion that I started to feel sick to my stomach. What could someone like me do? I felt stuck and wanted to cry, I feel something bad might happen regardless of my help. As the boar came closer into view, I froze, The boar was huge. I felt the sweat roll down my back as I felt rooted to the ground. Before I could think, the little cub jumped out in front of the boar, causing the boar to use its tusks to defend against the cub. It swept the cub to the side while turning around redirecting his own path. The poor cub laid on its side. I felt weak and stumbled to the cub. I grabbed him softly. He seemed hurt with his ears folded back. I knew this would happen, I should have known something would happen. I held him close to me. At this point getting him to safety and help was more important than flowers. I continued forward to the open field. Just as I reached the edge, the coat ran out into the crowd, causing the men to continue throwing at a close distance. I shot out in the open field falling to my knees gripping the poor cub.
"Stopped!" I yelled.
"AZA!" I heard the cool and husky voice of Ratuk.
"Aza?!" Ahkmad fled after.
"Aza?" My father rose from the thrown.
I felt so dizzy and nauseous, I fell to the side with the baby cub. Just as my eyes closed shut, I saw so many surrounding me. I couldn't tell faces. Slowly I lost control of my eyes and they closed.