She was going to die!
In the blink of an eye, the thought of death had already crept into her mind. Overwhelming despair left her unable to move. She could only close her eyes and wait for the instant the blade sliced across her slender neck.
But the pain she expected never came. Instead, warm blood splashed across her face like a column of water.
The Princess gasped and opened her eyes.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught only a glimpse of the vicious warhorse carrying a headless corpse as it rushed past her in a frenzy. The missing head bounced several times before finally rolling to a stop at her feet. The Princess instinctively looked down.
Her eyes met a pair of unseeing eyes that had never closed.
Blood-red veins webbed across them. Their owner's face still bore an expression of terror and disbelief. The Princess was so shaken by the sight that she staggered back a step. Blood gushed from the wound, pooling on the ground and soaking the tops of her feet.
Her emotions had lurched from one extreme to another, and now she felt as though every last ounce of strength had been drained from her. Her arms and legs trembled weakly; she had to drop to one knee just to keep from collapsing. Before she could make sense of what had happened, cries of pain rang out one after another from the pursuing soldiers.
Hope ignited in the Princess's heart.
Gasping for breath, she gritted her teeth and looked up.
The night was dark and lightless. Though the Princess was an ordinary person and did not suffer from night blindness, her vision was still poor after dark. Even with her eyes strained wide, she could make out only a few blurry figures.