"Make way!"While the voice was echoing outside, Aliyah was whimpering after accidentally b.u.mping her head on the edge of the seat there. She involuntary closed her eyes, her body curled into a ball inside the rocky floor. Within her mind, curses kept raining.
Seconds ago, did someone put a curse on her? Why did she jump in shock when the obese man fell? Even if that was a normal reaction, why jump in the wrong direction.
The girl kept scolding herself even though she knew that the "what ifs" and "whys" in her head were stupid questions. None of those would change her current predicament. But at the height of emotion, people really always find it hard to control their thoughts and feelings.
Right now, she was feeling regretful as she could already guess where she landed - a carriage not driven by a good individual.
When the pain subsided, she opened her eyes, yet the contorted arc of her lips did not ease. Aliyah struggled to get up from the floor because the carriage kept turning from left to right and it was shaking so badly that she suspected the d.a.m.n driver was drunk! Hey, if this was the modern era, not to mention the kidnapping, even DUI would get one in trouble with the police!
After so much difficulty, the girl finally managed to get herself on the seat and looked outside. She then swiftly roamed her eyes around, ignoring the panicky crowd left behind. When she saw were no signs of people going after them, her heart dropped.
"None of the knights are coming to my rescue?"
She didn"t know who was driving but since the ride was so shaky, there was a high probability the person was in a hurry to shake off pursuers. There was only one person in her memory who would want to leave the church"s vicinity so badly. The fake messenger!
This era was really dangerous! The people here were all dangerous!
Deeming that she could stay in the carriage, she started checking out where they were, how high the carriage"s floor was from the ground and how fast it was.
For a moment, she felt fear. Who knew a horse-driven vehicle could be so fast! Was the horse on steroid? Not long after, she shook off the stupid thoughts and decided to jump off. It was quite surprising since if other ladies were in their shoes, not many would choose the same option in fear of pain and of getting wounds.
Aliyah? If she got injured, then so be it! At least she wouldn"t be dragged somewhere she didn"t know.
"Jump!" At the thought, she did take a deep breath, protected her head with her arms and then leaped from the moving vehicle.
Behind her, the carriage still continued to drift away and even became a bit faster since the weight inside disappeared.
"Uggghh…" The girl who had rolled a bit deeper into an alley groaned but swiftly got up when she realized the place where she landed seemed a little too smelly and dark. She ignored her aching left thigh and the cut on her elbow.
"I need to go back to the main road and meet up with my family knights," she told herself with urgency.
But when she was rising from the ground and dusting her silk dark green complicated skirts, she suddenly froze at the silhouette that appeared in front. Her eyes turned round and disbelief flickered through them.
Was it the teenage swindler? He just turned his face her way for a second so she was quite sure that it was him! But wait! It didn"t add up. He was supposed to be driving the stolen wagon so how come he was in the same alley and even standing a few meters in front of her?
"Gos.h.!.+ I must be dreaming!" The girl lightly slapped her cheeks using both hands.
"Save the young lady! The vehicle is getting further away. Run faster! Catch up!" Behind her faint masculine and familiar voices rang. She then regained her senses. Right! No matter if it was the same youth or not, nothing was more important than to immediately reunite with her guards!
"I have to make them aware I"m here!"
She turned around, planning to shout so the people from the castle would know her location. But shortly after, her body stiffened, and her heartbeat started to race.
There was a group of people who just entered the alley, blocking the way back to the busy road. The dim surrounding was already a headache. It could make the people searching her not see her there. Yet a relatively tall wall made of men even appeared. And they all appeared like people who would not let her pa.s.s through them!
Sure enough, the men in front stilled upon seeing her, a lost lamb who looked attractive as a dish. But not long after, seemingly having thought of something fun, they all began to laugh.
Aliyah became very nervous and her palms became sweaty.
"No way…" She started shaking her head.
There was no way she would go forward! Not after seeing the weird smiles on those people"s faces and the meaningful stares they traded with each other! One glance and she knew they had no good intention!
Seeing the men were hurrying towards her, her face paled. Before she knew it, she already lifted her skirt, not hesitating to bolt away in the opposite direction.
Who cares if the youth swindler was also there? Who cares if this person mysteriously popped up here while having that horse-drawn carriage as a distraction? There was no need to think hard about it. Just run! Run! Run!
Up ahead, there was also a suspicious gathering of people and her senses were warning her from going there, so she chose to follow the pretender who took the right turn.
A couple of seconds later, this young man looked back, probably distracted by the collective footsteps that were gradually nearing him. He then saw her, a woman being chased by more than five men, all with reddish eyes s.h.i.+ning in excitement as they wildly laughed.
The eyes of the youth widened. "F*ck!" With horror written all over his face, he immediately sprinted forward. Of course, he would escape since it would be a stupid act to get into a fight when he could avoid it! Who knows too if there was somebody in the bunch behind them with an unusual fetish for young boys?
Aliyah"s chest was already heaving badly since her body was so delicate and was not used to physical activities. But she did not dare stop running, not even after the pretender gave her deadly stares.
"Why are the most alleyways occupied by gangs? Or a dead end? Or with scary dogs?" In frustration, she pulled her hair one time.
Subconsciously, she started going after the fake messenger, copying him as he zigzagged across the maze-like alleyways. Many a time, the youth would yell at her to stop following him as they jumped through obstacles like bags of garbage, logs, mini-hordes of rats, and even dead bodies.
"d.a.m.n troublemaker!" Half an hour later, the faker spat out in hate.
As for Aliyah, she felt like dying from fatigue. But even so, she also felt like she had made a great decision. Even though the hostile youth looked like he wanted to punch her in the face, he indeed had helped her lose her unwanted pursuers.
Now, she could already see the light… most likely the end to the unnerving maze and an exit leading to the main street.
"I, I… don"t want to be… in a d.a.m.n alley again…" She panted for breath. It was hard not to cry and complain after formally exiting the place. She even began to harbor a grudge against the church.
"He he." Her statement garnered an unnerving chuckle. She looked at the source.
Near her, the youth who laboriously sat with his back against the wall glared at her while raising his fist... Gone was the intellectual who had led two important clergymen by the nose using his glib of the tongue and nonsense.
"... h.e.l.lo... Fellow transmigrator, can we please not resort to violence and just talk like modern civilians?" She wanted to say but she couldn"t speak them out loud due to the ominous look in the youth"s eyes.
Aliyah suddenly found herself wanting to curse after realizing that she was not only lost, but stuck with a guy whose fist was probably itching to break her nose.