Chapter 155 - Hunting-6

Abigail pov contd.

My fast heart beat slowly turned normal when I saw the fallen beast. The big thump sound brought everyone back from their stupor. All the knights climbed down their horse and checked the bear who was already dead. There was no more sign of life in him.

James pulled out his sword and attacked the dead beauty but it did not move at all, yet the man was not satisfied. To avoid any mishappening, he continued attacking the bear until its parts were almost falling apart.

William was still standing far away, looking pensively at the dead body of the bear, lost in his thoughts. By the look of the situation, I think he was the one who killed the bear. I moved and approached him carefully. 

"Your highness" I called him, as he did not notice me moving towards him at all, though normally he has very strong senses.

He finally came back to her senses and realised my presence. But instead of saying anything, he wrapped his arms around me and then hugged me tightly. 

I was startled for a moment and tried to struggle to get myself free when he spoke in a barely audible voice.

"Please, I beg you, let me stay for a while like this." his voice was pleading, it was filled with pain and before i could think of anything i nodded. He was looking like a scared child who wanted love and assurance that everything was fine. 

I slowly started rubbing his back. He hid his face in the crook of my neck. I could feel his hot shallow breaths on my skin. It was blazing my skin. But I endured. His touch was surprisingly warm instead of being wet and cold.

How much time had passed when his body started relaxing and he left my waist. Slowly moving, he looked at me. I could feel the eyes of all three knights on us. 

"Shall we leave, your highness." they asked and William, who was about to say something to me, stopped and looked back at them.

"Yes, bring the horses. We shall leave now." he said and took steps away  from me. I suddenly felt lonesome as his warmth left me.

"Are you okay?" I asked him and his steps halted, he nodded his head and then started walking again without looking back at me. 

"How did you kill the bear suddenly when the arrows were not working at all?" I asked again when he started moving further away.

"We always keep poisonous arrows for this kind of emergencies. We each had a few of them, and it was killed by the collective effort of those arrows. So, we have killed it together. I should not take the credit alone. Last arrows of James, Lucas and Kirian were poisonous and had a lethal effect on the bear." thorough he was giving the credit to everyone, I was sure that he was the one who had killed the beast.

But it was clear that he did not want to talk about it anymore.

"Well done, Lucas and James. I am impressed with your courageous actions! This was an amazing fight and once again you have proved that you are the best knight of the empire. I will assure that you will get a good reward for your bravery for today" he continued to praise them while they stood there awkwardly looking at each other at a loss of words.

I noticed how agonized they were over how to respond to her praise, but he did not care at all as if he had turned blind eye to their behavior. 

"Sir Abigail, you should thank them for saving your life. If they would not have been here, you could have been killed.'' I smiled, and then nodded.

"Of course, I must thank the person who has saved my life. Thank you." I replied looking straight into his eyes but he again ignored my intention and nodded and patted the shoulders of his dumbfounded team.

All the knights were looking very embarrassed after my clear expressions that I knew the truth yet William was very persistent.

"Thank you, for the praise and the reward, your highness" they spoke after a while as if they finally found their lost tongue.

I still couldn't easily believe that the arrow William shot killed the giant bear, but everything happened in front of me and I could not deny the fact that he was lost. There was something he was hiding and he didn't trust me enough that he was trying to act. But as a benefactor, I would not make things difficult for him anymore. So, I stayed silent and did not call out his lie.

"We shall go now, the sky is turning dark." said Lucas, the most silent one among three of them and we all nodded.

"Would you be able to ride the horse or would you want to sit in the carriage?" asked William, coming closer to me. 

"I would rather ride the horse that sitting with two dead animals in the carriage.'' I replied and he chuckled, color finally coming back on his face.

"You are a knight, this would be a matter of regular occurrence soon. You should be prepared, little bird." he replied as he climbed on his horse and I followed.

But once again when i climbed on Hundred, it started jerking and shaking as if he was not satisfied with my riding over him. I tried to appease him but no matter how many times I tried to hold and pull his reins or shout at him, he was not listening at all and neighing violently. It felt like he was agonizing in great pain.

"Hundred have you hurt yourself accidentally?" I asked but the horse was going out of control completely.

William frowned as he too noticed the unusual behavior of a hundred and walked toward me to help me out.

Hundred neighed loudly, raising his forefeet high. I almost fell from his back because of the abrupt movement.