The Story Of Dusk

Gong Xu groaned in frustration by this ridiculous situation that he had to face. "Follow me and I will send you home safely or stay here and I will leave you. I don"t care what will happen to you."

Senja gulped, her eyes blinked rapidly, trying to force back her tears, she was used to be left alone, so she didn"t need to feel offended by his words, that was what she thought.

That man in front of her was a stranger, so it was only right if he felt Senja was a burden for him, she could do nothing except following him, even if Gong Xu was allowed her.

"I will count to three, if you don"t get on that horse, I will leave you here alone." Gong Xu threatened her. "One… Two… Three."

Even until he was done with his count, Senja was still standing there unfazed, she looked at him with dull eyes.

After Gong Xu said that and saw that the little girl determined to not take his offer, there was nothing Gong Xu wanted to say more as he rode his horse away.

He thought Senja would follow after him as he didn"t ride the horse too quick, but he didn"t feel the presence of someone followed after him.

The little girl didn"t follow him and this, somehow, made him unsettled.

Meanwhile, Senja looked at Gong Xu"s back in disappointment, she gritted her teeth and clenched her small fist tightly before she sighed deeply.

Her steps were so heavy when she pulled the rope on the horse and started to walk away.

Whichever direction that she took, wouldn"t be a matter as long as it didn"t lead her back to the Black Sword Clan"s mansion, where her step mother and step sister and also the father that didn"t want her, lived.

"Come on." Senja pulled the rope of the horse as she started to walk by feet.

All the stuff that she needed was on the back of the horse, so she didn"t need to carry anything with her. She walked toward the same direction where Gong Xu had taken, though she didn"t want to follow him, but she needed to go out of this forest.

As Senja was here, no one ever crossed the road, this forest was very quiet.

***   

Gong Xu stopped his horse when he was sure no one followed after him, unexpectedly that girl was really stubborn. She chose to stay inside the forest rather than to go back home.

This fact bothered him.

He was very familiar with that feeling, about the desire to be away from the place that you couldn"t even call it home.

But, on the second thought, it was impossible for him to bring her along with him. He didn"t have experience to baby sit a girl like her, moreover, his situation now wouldn"t help either.

That little would be more in danger if she was about to follow him rather than stayed with her stepmother. But, then Gong Xu remembered, it was her stepmother who would sell her away to the black market.

Gong Xu clicked his tongue, annoyed.

He knew his decision to leave her alone there wasn"t one of good decisions that he had ever made, added to the things that she had done to him.

For the very least, it didn"t feel right with him to leave a girl in the middle of nowhere to fend herself, not to mention the fact that little girl had taken care of him when he was injured.

At this point, he regretted to leave her alone. He wasn"t a good person, but it didn"t mean he was heartless.

After a long battle with himself, finally, while gritting his teeth, Gong Xu swallowed back his pride and turned the horse toward the direction that he had taken, back to Senja.

If she didn"t want to go home, then at least Gong Xu would take her to the nearest village. With the stuff that was left by the bandits and a horse, she would have some money to feed herself and rent a place for a month or two.

With that thought in mind, he rode the horse faster.

***   

The black horse with white strip on his front leg that Senja had pulled along the way, suddenly raised his front legs and refused to take another step.

"What happen?" Senja frowned as she tightened her grip on the rope that rein him.

Senja was pulled a few steps back because the horse was struggling to get free from her. "No, stop!"

From the corner of her eyes she could see what the thing that scared the horse; it was a black snake that moved in a wavy motion, slithering toward them.

That snake was quite big, probably as big as Senja"s arms.

Senja had never had experience with snake before, so she didn"t pull back the horse, but moved along as well.

In the other hand, the snake apparently saw Senja as a nice lunch as the horse was way too big. It slithered toward Senja regardless the girl attempted to shooed it away by throwing random things.

"Don"t move!"

A familiar voice shouted an order to Senja when she was about to run.

"But the snake…" Senja stuttered, she pointed at the snake with her trembling finger.

"Just stay." Gong Xu ordered calmly as he dismounted his horse and approached Senja cautiously.

The snake wasn"t a type of poisonous snake, but this type would wrap their coil around their prey and suffocated them.

The snake had circled around Senja"s leg the moment Gong Xu arrived.

While the little girl looked him with tears br.i.m.m.i.n.g on her eyes, Gong Xu pulled out a dagger from his waist.

With lightning speed, he grabbed the head of the snake and cut it. In an instant the coil around Senja"s leg loosened and hurriedly she backed away, but tripped on her own feet as she fell on her back.

Gong Xu was looking at her clumsiness with amus.e.m.e.nt.

"If you ran earlier, the snake will be more aggressive." Gong Xu told her, though he doubted that Senja could understand him now, even so the little girl nodded her head obediently.

Gong Xu held the headless snake until it didn"t move again while Senja was staring at the scene with pale face.

"Why do you keep holding it?" Senja asked, stuttered, but couldn"t avert her gaze from the blood that trickled down on the ground.

"We will eat this for dinner." Gong Xu informed her calmly.

Missing the "we" part in his sentence, Senja shook her head vigorously.

How she could eat something, which just a moment ago wanted to kill her? "I don"t want to eat that…" Senja whined.

"Why do you always object everything that I suggest?" Gong Xu glared at the little girl, who was still sitting on the ground, seemingly didn"t aware about her current condition.

"But I really don"t want to eat that." Senja shuddered to imagine she was going to eat the snake. "I will not eat that."

Gong Xu sighed and brought away the snake toward his horse and put it inside the bag. "If you don"t want to eat this, then I will be the one who eat this." He said callously.

Senja was still in shock as she didn"t heed his statement.

"How long do you plan to sit there? We have to reach the nearby village soon." Gong Xu"s voice sounded irritated, but there was concern in it.

"But, I don"t want to go home." Senja immediately remembered why Gong Xu had left her before. "I don"t want to go with you."

Gong Xu looked at Senja helplessly, regardless what she had faced, she was still stubborn. "I will not send you home, if you don"t want to go home that will be up to you, at least I will escort you to the village, afterward you can look after yourself." Gong Xu said.

Senja still didn"t move as she kept staring at Gong Xu with disbelief, she didn"t trust him…

"Get up now, or you want to meet another snake? The next one maybe will be a poisonous snake." He scared her. "Once we are at the village, we will go separate ways."

"Really?" Senja needed an a.s.surance from his words, despite she couldn"t see why Gong Xu would lie and insisted to send her home. She was just being childish after the shocking moment.

"You can sell the horse and get the money for a few weeks, so you will not starving, after that you have to figure out a way to survive if you really don"t want to go home." Gong Xu told her. "I don"t have obligation to send you to the place that you don"t want, this is only my grat.i.tude token because you had looked after me." Gong Xu explained his intention, so Senja wouldn"t misunderstand him.

"Alright." Senja finally relented. She had thought about that too. At least she still had some time to survive.

"Now, get up." Gong Xu said impatiently, this little girl really didn"t mind with dirt as she could comfortably sit on the ground for long time and only brushed the dust carelessly from her dress before she pulled her horse toward Gong Xu.

"Hop on your horse." Gong Xu became more agitated when he saw Senja pulled the horse with difficulty.

"But, I can"t ride a horse." Senja said timidly while looking at him innocently."

"What?!"