The Tyrant's Pet

<strong>Neigh!</strong>

Aries held her breath as she held on to the reins tighter on instinct to calm the spooked horse, trying to put his feet to work. She had ridden a horse and experienced the same situation in the past, which she resolved. However, for reasons she couldn't understand, her steed wasn't listening to her, and before she knew it, two of its front feet left the ground, nearly throwing her out of it.

"Hey! It's alright --" Aries squealed as the horse galloped in a frenzy, hunching her body forward to keep up with its speed. She looked around at the narrow trail and realized this was probably the reason the horse was startled.

In the middle of her trance, she went deeper into the forest without realizing it!

Aries clenched her teeth as she tried to regain control over the horse but to no avail. The horse was galloping deeper into the forest until Aries caught sight of the river ahead.

'Not good!' she panicked, knowing the horse wouldn't stop and she would be in deeper trouble.

Aries looked around and mustered her courage to jump off of it. It was speeding so fast, so she braced herself for the impact. She counted in her head and the second she counted three, Aries jumped off of it.

Rolling awfully on the rocky ground, she protected her head on instinct. But she was only human. Hence, as she rolled on the ground without control of what she would hit, Aries inflicted bruises on top of the dirt that clung to her.

"Ugh..." came out a grunt as she clenched her teeth, feeling all the muscles under her skin get beaten like ground meat.

She stayed in her position and when she tried to sit up, she winced at the striking pain in her upper abdomen. That second, Aries was immediately aware she had broken a rib, and it felt like it was stabbing her organs.

Aries carefully moved, watching her every slight movement, hand on the side of her upper abdomen. Sitting upright with great difficulty, Aries panted for air as she broke out in cold sweats.

"What just happened?" she wondered, blinking hard to clear her shaking vision. Her head felt light, but aside from the pain in her abdomen, she didn't feel any other major pain anywhere across her body.

When she got used to the striking pain, Aries lowered her head to check if she got any other injuries. A curse came out of her gritted teeth when she saw her twisted ankle and the blood from the scratches on her arms.

'I haven't killed Joaquin, and I nearly died?' she clicked her tongue in irritation, trying to make herself laugh at the grave situation she was in. "This... is something I haven't foreseen."

Aries kept her teeth clenched as she hunched her upper body, only to wince and grunt at the pain in her abdomen. She carefully bent her knees so she could reach her twisted ankle. Perks of getting tortured for years, she thought. She was used to having a few broken bones.

She took deep breaths as she held on to her feet with her other hand on her heel and the other on her toes. Gritting her teeth even harder and holding her breath, a loud yell came out of her as she twisted her feet to fix her broken ankle.

<strong>CLACK!</strong>

Aries collapsed on her back as she sighed and inhaled deeply when relief flood her body from her ankle to the tip of her scalp after the momentary pain of relocating her joints. Her chest moved upward and downward heavily, staring at the canopies shielding her eyes from the light shining down on her.

"Ah, goodness..." she muttered as she closed her eyes for a moment before reopening them ever so slowly. Her vision zoomed in and out, so she blinked to regain control of her consciousness. Her head felt lighter with every passing second, making her hold her temple as if that would still her shaking vision.

Her brows creased as her forehead wrinkled upon feeling something on her palm. Aries carefully withdrew her hand and gazed at her palm. She narrowed her eyes to get a clearer view, only to realize there was blood on her palm.

Not just blood from a graze, but half of her palm had blood. She touched her head once again and looked at her fingers to confirm where that blood came from.

"I still hit my head," she murmured in distress, resting her hand over her forehead to think.

In her mind, if she was bleeding this badly, and she was still conscious, her body was still undergoing shock. It wouldn't take long before she would lose consciousness.

Aries had no company since she sent all her knights away. She left Conan to hunt for her, and she didn't know where the hell she was, how deep was she in the hunting ground, or if she was still within the safe zone. There were too many things to think about and even if she wanted to blame herself for hallucinating, she couldn't.

"I need to return," she hissed, stabilizing her breathing to prepare herself to go back.

When Aries felt like she was slightly alright, she rolled around until she was lying on her tummy. Using her elbows to support herself, she dragged her body up until she was on her knees and arms, catching up to her breathing.

'You can do it,' she told herself, taking several deep breaths to gain momentum. 'This is nothing compared to... what you did to survive.'

Aries ground her teeth as she pushed herself with her elbows until she was standing on her knees. Her body swayed as her she felt dizzy, but she managed to keep her stance until she reopened her eyes.

"You can do it..." she encouraged under her breath, planting her palm on her ground as she tried to stand on her feet. Aries instantly winced as her sprained ankle ached at her weight, but she stood still until the pain was too much it numbed.

"I need to go back..." her eyes narrowed to see through her hazy vision, dragging her feet, holding on to the trees in the narrow trail to keep herself from falling.

As she walked carefully while fighting off the heaviness in her eyes, Aries suddenly thought of herself that winter. Just like that Aries, who dragged her feet through the ankle-deep snow, Aries felt like reliving that day.