Four

— The-the-terrain... he walks away, putting his trembling hand on the nape. -The terrain is very large, has parts that we have never seen, so avoid going too far and do not approach the water without my presence.

"What’s wrong with the sea?"

— All right, I’m not going in the water!

— I said "approach"! -he warns me. -I do not want you to get close to water, you hear me?

"If he wasn’t so hot, I’d scold his tone of order right now!"

— I heard! -repeat irritated. -Can I go now?

— Go, go right before I repent! -says these words taking me by the waist, unprepared.

I did not realize his movements nor even imagined this attitude. He simply appeared behind me, glued to my back and put his soft hands on my waist, lifting me as far as I could hold on to the saddle.

— Are you sure you want to go alone? -asked worried.

"After this footprint, I’m almost giving up on going..."

— If you ask again, you’ll have to find a way to get my attention. And it’s not anything that gets me out of boredom, so if I were you... I’d fix my gaze on his. I’d start to worry if I decide to get off this horse, because whatever you’re imagining doing to entertain me, I’m still gonna want more. Much more.

— ... -he leaves his half-open lips ready to debate, but the only thing coming out of his mouth is a muffled sigh, as if he’s fighting himself.

"The top head must be begging me to go soon, but the bottom one must be throbbing for me to stay and make him delirious with pleasure!"

But his choice is the opposite of what I expected. His hands join in two palms, sounding like the start that the shaman needed to take me away. If it wasn’t for those claps, I’m sure he would have pulled me off the horse.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few weeks later doing almost the same things every day, Piter makes a point of always watching me from the stable, keeping quiet about my exits without his presence.

Even after several walks, kilometers and kilometers of water, and many trees, I had not yet explored half of all the land. My days were beginning to get boring, until further than I usually go, right ahead I see a wall of stones, with a flashy hole in the middle. Rocks forming a dark cave, are instigating my curious side, causing me to get off the horse and go there crossing the low grass.

As I tried not to fall, or step on an animal, a sound of water began to sound from the bottom. It was not drips, nor a busy puddle, it seemed very the noise of the sea involved with a slight gale. That was not possible inside a hole, much less the possibility of this having no end. So I keep walking without worrying about the madness that was going on in my head, willing to see how far it all went.

I walk a little more and when I think I’ve reached the end, my sights force to understand what it was all about.

— My... God! -travo, leaning on the stone wall.

My feet touch the sand, a sand that filled much of the ground connecting to the sea. To the same sea that our people loved so much and that I had the privilege of having a little piece in my back garden.

I couldn’t see the end. I couldn’t even move my body so perfectly covering my eyes. Because there, there was not only water, also had trees and huge mountains full of plants and birds flying.

It’s like a forest clean and free of any human being, intact in the world. Very well hidden.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Pinch yourself, little girl!"

That had to be a dream, a place like that couldn’t exist inside a cave.

— I don’t think I slept well... I murmur alone.

I shake my head twice and close my eyes for ten seconds, when I realize I need a psychiatrist, I turn to the exit shocked by the most absurd fantasy I’ve ever had. Until Gito enter the water just to know if it was illusion, but then, standing in front of the hole through which I entered, a loud, very loud bang make the sand balls vibrate on the floor.

The first thing my body does when it’s taken by adrenaline, is to run. Just running behind a rock, putting me in the lion’s cage, when in fact I should have left.

"Wait...lion that roars in the sky?"

The sound was chaotic and apparently my courage was even more.

Until I get on my knees behind the rock trying hard to see what was coming, but being hidden and with my eyes closed would have been the best option.

"God!"

It was over, I wouldn’t even risk telling a doctor about it. I would spend the rest of my life locked in the asylum, saying that a winged beast lived in a forest inside the cave that was on my land.

If the place already seemed crazy, imagine telling that there were dragons.

Just a few more minutes and all the crazy stories I’d read as a kid would go back to my childhood.

— Come on, come on, come on... -get hugged in my legs, head over knees.

"It is not possible!"

He’s there, he’s still waiting for me and he’s not going to disappear in a smoke like Alice’s cat in Wonderland.

"The situation would be very different if it was a cute cat, instead of a dragon with huge fangs!"

I expect a chance to run to the shaman, as the darkness in the sky was moving back and forth. My brain was starting a process of courage that my heart couldn’t handle. One was talking and the other was ending in tears.

"It’s now, or never!

I jump out and run like crazy, riding my horse as desperate as I can. The animal does not understand my haste, but continues marching with an unequalled force on the ground.

"I only have two options in a situation like this. One is telling what I saw and two, keeping this secret so that my new home doesn’t become a global hothead..."

Because I wasn’t sure if my mental health was in perfect balance.

As soon as I get to the main door and turn the knob putting my two feet inside, I find myself facing the King, who was with his arms crossed, waiting for me.

"You fucked up!"

He was all firm next to Piter. That scene could be much worse than my father’s waiting for me and my sisters with a felt in hand.

"Go back to the cave, woman!"

Piter was not there for a mere invitation, it was clear that I had put him in a big puddle of shit, when he had done everything to prevent this from happening in recent weeks.

— Do you think you can go out alone? -asked angrily. -I gave you security so you’d never walk away from my supervision... he’d loosen his arms and point his finger at me. -Piter will pay for your stubbornness!

— NO! -protect it without realizing it. -Please... -take two steps to him. -The order was mine, he is not to blame. I was just getting to know the place and -

I beg him to scream, but he comes towards me snorting hate. At the same second my security guard tries to hold him by the arm and I do not understand his boldly unexpected move. Without assuming that something so bad could occur, the King is merciless throwing a full and strong slap on my face.

The sound of the crack in my skin echoes almost the entire lobby.

— GO UP TO THE ROOM NOW! -ordered.

My hand goes up to my marked cheek and the other pulls away the strands of hair that got messed up in my face with the blow. My only reaction is to have no reactions. My eyes fill with tears without me holding back, while I try to swallow them.

I need to understand that being used against my will and getting slapped in the face was the least that man could do.

— Mila... -he says my name with pity, focusing his sights on my mouth.

♡♡♡♡