Louisa's POV
"I'm sorry, Your Excellency, I'm afraid I have other engagements tonight. Doctor Jafar and I have to take His Highness Zabel to the Moonlight Cave. The salt in the cave is considered to be helpful for His Excellency's condition."
Lucian stood in front of Zackery and said.
"Moonlight Cave? I have never been there before. Can I tag along?" Zackery said.
Jafar frowned and said, "Your Excellency, it's getting late and we'll have to spend the whole night in the cave for His Excellency's treatment."
"A whole night camp out beside the bonfire? I'm in. Let's go." Zackery looked quite excited.
Lucian looked reluctant and said, "Your Excellency, it's a dark cave with sulfide. We can't set up any bonfire inside."
"OK, so no bonfire. I'm OK with that. Do you want to go, little girl?" Zackery looked at me and asked. "I've heard it's a beautiful cave with thousands of stalactite and crystals. We can go inside and explore while Zabel's having his treatment."
"I have to ask Lucas, because..."
"I'm sure he's very busy right now. So let's forget about him. Don't worry, I'll explain it to him later. You're coming with me tonight. While we're in the cave, Jafar will do a thorough checkup of you." Zackery said.
I looked at Lucian. There was nothing on his poker face. I didn't mind going out to go out with Zackery tonight to get back at Lucas, but somehow I just don't want Lucian to think that I'm a woman of loose morals.
To my surprise, Lucian said, "Yes, Your Excellency. I'll go and prepare everything."
Then, he walked off with the soldiers.
As soon as Lucian went away, I heard some chaotic noise in a distance.
"I want to go home! This is a dreadful place! I saw someone in my tent just now! He was staring at me with a pair of red eyes! And then I passed out. When I woke up, he was gone!"
I recognized that it was Akela's voice.
"Zack! Oh! Zack! Help me! Please! Those horrible men don't believe me! They think that I'm crazy!" Akela ran towards us in a nightgown. Her red hair was like a flag, waving in the air.
Zackery looked at her and asked, "What happened Akela darling?"
"A man was in my tent! He's got red eyes and a pair of pointy eyes! I told the soldiers and they didn't believe me!" Akela cried out with a trembling voice.
"That's too bad," Zackery said. "But are you sure it was a man? Not a rabbit or something?"
"You mean a bunny? Well, I'll recognize a bunny when I see it. No, I don't think it's a bunny. He did walk on four legs, though. But it must be a man!" Akela couldn't catch her breath.
"Take it easy, darling. So, it's a man who walks on four legs. Tell me more about it. What happened next?" Zackery asked.
Akela took a deep breath and said, "I thought he was going to kill me, so I told him that I'm Akela Nightingale from the Defiant Pack. My brother is Dire Nightingale from the Defiant Pack. If you dare to kill me, my brother will be very angry. He will find you and boil you alive! I saw him doing it once. The man in the pot was screaming and it really hurt! Then, he looked at me with his red eyes and I passed out. When I woke up, he had already left."
"Did he take away anything in your tent?" Zackery asked.
"I don't know... I don't remember what was in my tent..." Akela looked puzzled.
"OK, sweetheart. I need you to go back to your tent and check if anything missing. Then, you can go to sleep. I'm sure Lucas will deal with it tomorrow."
Akela shook her head violently and said, "No way! I'm not going back to that tent! It's a horrible, horrible place! I can't go to sleep, because I'm going to have nightmares! I don't like nightmares. They are like unhemmed skirts! So scary! Can I stay with you, Zack? Like the old days in the academy? My brother used to tell such ghost stories that scared me to cry. You would always hold me while I was sleeping!"
Zackery looked a bit hesitant and said, "Darling, I really wish I could stay with you for the night, but I've promised to take Miss Louisa out."
"Are you going out? Great! I like going out as well! Can I go with you? I'll do everything to stay away from that horrible tent!" Akela pleaded, battering her long dense eyelashes.
"I don't mind going out with Akela." I looked up at Zackery and said. "She looked terrified. We have to help her."
Zackery thought for a while and said, "OK, you can come along with us."
"Great! Thank you, Zackery! Thank you, Louisa! Is that your name? Am I getting it right?" Akela looked at me and asked.
"Yes, my name is Louisa. Glad to meet you, Akela." I nodded and said.
"Josephine told me about you. She said you're Lucas' servant girl. It's so bad because Lucas always kills his servant girls. If you want, you can come and work for me. I might sometimes shout at you and smash things, but I don't kill any of my servant girls." Akela said.
How could someone be so sincerely offensive? I thought to myself with a wry. I was literally speechless.
But I had other concerns.
Somehow, I didn't like the idea of some four-legged, red-eyed creature lurking around in the dark. Even though it wasn't my camp, I still got a bad feeling about it. Plus, Snow told me that some bad people were coming to the camp. That creature might be one of them.
I looked up at Zackery and said, "Can we go to Akela's tent and take a look at it?"
"I don't mind going anywhere with you, little girl," Zackery smiled and said.
"I don't want to go back! It's..." Akela protested.
"You can't go out with us in a nightgown, Akela." I said and winked at her, "Let's go back to your tent and I'll help you get dressed."
"Really? Are you going to do that?" Akela looked at me with her giant round innocent eyes. "Shall I pay you for doing that for me? I mean, you're not my servant girl yet. I haven't got any cash on me, but I have a lot of dresses. You can pick one. They are made of very expensive materials, such as chiffon, silk and satin. If you take it to the pawn shop, you can get a lot of money. I see poor people sometimes do that. Don't worry, I'll ask Lucas to give you to me after the wedding. There will be so many people coming to the wedding. They are all very important people and I'll wear the most beautiful wedding dress..."
Akela kept talking about her dresses and wedding plans as we were walking to her tent. By the tent we arrived at her tent, I had already figured out a few facts -
This girl had nothing in her head except dresses and marriage.
Lucas would never ever get married to this girl.
She knew nothing about what was going to happen to her.