Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 (19 page)

“I wish I had someone who felt that way
about me. But most men are just “dogs”. Like my father or your
brother. You know they can be with many women at the same time. For
them, women are just objects to satisfy their desires.”

“Are they really “dogs” or are they
poor unfortunate people who haven’t met or maybe will never meet
that one special person, who makes their world go around? Look
there’s the cliff!”

“Oh, finally. But you know. You might
be right, I’ve never thought of it that way. It definitely takes a
man to know a man.”

“Over there, it looks like a foot path,
come on.” They walked along the foot path, it appeared like it
wasn’t used so often. The trees have grown tightly around it. “Be
careful, this area seems to be much denser than the other part.
Here come close to me!”

“Is that even possible? I already have
my arms around you and we’re pressed together like this.” She
responded.

Ali smiled, “I can think of one other
way that we can get physically closer.”

“How?” She asked not really paying
attention to what he said.

“I’ll show you soon. But not today.” He
said while giving her a cryptic smile.

“Whatever you say.”

“I wish I had a machete to cut these
branches and leaves.”

“We’ll have to make do with what we
have.”

“Yep, you’re right. Look out, there’s a
protruding branch in front of you.” He said while pushing her head
towards him.

“Thanks, I almost lost an eye back
there.”

“Don’t say such things. Knock on wood.”
He said while knocking on her head.

“Ouch.” She said.

They carefully walked down the foot
path, clearing away the branches with their arms.

“Are you sure that your ankle is all
right?”

“Yeah, it’s nothing that I can’t bear,
in fact, I think it’s hurting less than before. Like I said, it’s
an old injury. I easily sprain this ankle, but it usually gets
better by itself after some time.”

“I guess I have to take your word for
now. At least until we can have it checked out by a physician. But
I still want you to avoid putting pressure on it, as much as you
can.”

“Okay.” She paused, “Do you hear that?”
She threw her hand against his chest to stop him.

“It sounds like people
talking.”

“Do you think it’s them?”

“Let’s not take any risk, it could be
the illegal loggers the Village Chief was talking about. We need to
find some place to hide.”

“Abang, over there, look, the trunk of
that tree is twisted down towards the ground. We can duck behind it
and still observe this path.”

“Let’s go. Take it easy, don’t strain
that ankle of yours.”

He helped her to get behind the trunk,
then went to her side. “Do you see that? The leaves are moving in
different directions, it looks like it’s a big group of people.” He
held her hand tightly.

The sound of people talking became
closer and closer. “Abang. “Paramita whispered in his ear, “I only
hear men’s voice, it doesn’t seem to be any women and children in
that party.”

“You’re right, keep your head
down.”

Chapter
Sixteen

The group passed by in front of them,
they were not the Royal Guards. Ali observed ten rugged looking
men, they were armed. Three had rifles, while the others had sticks
and machetes swinging them around to clear their path from the
leaves that grew surrounding it. Ali held Paramita’s head down,
making sure they don’t spot her. The men passed by without
realizing they were there.

“Let’s wait a few minutes just in
case.” He whispered to her.

She nodded without saying anything,
holding on firmly to his hand.

Ali let thirty minutes go by before he
felt that it was safe for them to go out and continue their
route.

“Let’s go, careful.” He said as he
helped her climb over the tree trunk. “Hold on to the trunk so you
don’t have to put your body weight on your injury.” He told her,
before jumping over the trunk.

“This way.” He said once she had her
arm around his neck. “Let’s try to move as fast as we can. We need
to make sure we put a good distance between us and those
men.”

He quickly but carefully led Paramita
back to the footpath and helped her to it. Thanks to the group of
men before, the way was clearer now, as they used their machetes to
cut down the leaves that obstructed to way.

“Abang, over there, look, I can see the
road. Can you see it?” She asked him with excitement.

“Yes, I see it, come on.” He
answered.

They rushed as quickly as they can. The
road was empty.

“Let’s not wait in plain sight, we
better find a hidden place to stay until the Royal Guards get
here.” He looked left and right. “Mita, I don’t see any good hiding
place, let’s head to the bushes over there.”

Paramita looked in the direction he
pointed. “Okay. Let’s go.” She replied.

They were about to walk into the
bushes, when they heard a familiar voice, “Your Excellency, Your
Highness.”

They turned around, it was the team
leader, waving both his hands in the air from across the main road.
Ali waved back at him.

“Captain Bagas. It’s good to see you.”
He shouted.

The guards rushed over to them. “I’m
sorry we couldn’t come for you last night. The rain was so heavy,
it wasn’t safe for us to head out.”

“We understand,” Paramita replied
kindly. “Is there just the five of you? Mr. Suparta the Village
Chief told us that the Commander of the Royal Guard is coming out
here.”

“Yes, ma'am.” Replied the team leader,
“He left the capital early this morning, but we couldn’t wait for
him to arrive to come looking for you, so we left
first.”

“Ah, I see. Thank you.” She replied to
him.

“Captain, Her Highness Puteri is hurt,
we have to move slowly.”

“Yes, sir. Please let’s go this
way.”

“Captain, one more thing. Earlier we
came across a group of men that looked quite suspicious, maybe they
are a gang of loggers or poachers, I’m not sure. But we need to be
careful, just in case they turn around and come up from behind us,
or if they have any other members of their group coming this
way.”

“Yes, Raden. We will keep a look out
for them.”

Ali positioned his arm around
Paramita’s waist again, and she hung her arm around his neck. “Are
you okay?” He asked her

“Of course, it just my ankle, it’s not
as though it’s life threatening.”

“Pfft, I don’t know why I even bothered
to ask you.” He said.

“Raden, I can help you carry Her
Highness Puteri….” Said one of the guards.

“No!” Ali answered shortly.

“It’s okay, I think he can help me.
You’ve been dragging me around all morning, you must be tired by
now.” Paramita said to him.

“No! Wait until after you bury me,
before you start thinking of letting yourself be touched by any
other man.” He answered.

“What in the world does that mean?” She
asked.

He didn’t attempt to explain. “Come on,
let’s go.”

They crossed the main road and took the
path that the guards used earlier.

“There’s a group of men with weapons in
front of us.” The guard walking at the front shouted to them.
“They’re coming this way.”

“Are they the police or soldiers?” Ali
asked.

“It doesn’t seem like it Your
Excellency.”

“Throw down your weapons and put your
hands up in the air.” A man who’s probably the leader shouted out
to them. Several men came out from the surrounding trees, armed
with machetes.

The guards drew their weapons and
situated themselves in a circle around Ali and Paramita, taking a
defensive position.

The head guard said. “Don’t do anything
rash, what do you want from us?”

One thug pulled a girl out from the
bush and put her in front of him, putting a machete close to her
neck. It was the little girl who took Paramita to see the orang
utan.

“Throw your guns down, or we’ll cut
her!” The man shouted again.

“Men, put down your guns, we don’t want
to risk anybody’s life,” Ali said to the guards.

The guards obeyed Ali’s orders and
threw down their handguns. The thugs came forward apprehend
them.

“Search them, make sure they don’t have
any other weapons.” The gang leader shouted.

The thugs came forward and searched the
guards and Ali, satisfied that they didn’t find any weapons, they
confiscated all the wallets that they found.

The thugs made them walk off the
footpath that they were following and go further into the
forest.

“Look, do you know who we are?” Said
the team leader to them.

“Quiet!” One of the thugs yelled at him
and hit him on the head with the handle of a machete.

Two Royal Guards moved to attack back,
but the team leader signaled them down.

“Walk!” Ordered the leader, gesturing
to the forest.

After walking for at least an hour,
they reached a clearing. The leader signaled for them to
stop.

“Our orders were to kill them all!” The
leader shouted

“Wait, don’t harm her, she’s…” One
royal guard was about to identify Paramita, when he saw Ali signing
him to be quiet.

“No, please don’t kill anyone.” He said
holding his arms up, “I’ll cooperate, I’ll give you anything you
want, but don’t harm anyone, just let us go.”

One of the men walked to Paramita and
grabbed her face. “It’s a waste to just kill a beautiful woman like
her, I think we can make her our wife first.”

The others laughed, they started
cheering and making obscene remarks.

“Don’t touch her!” Ali shouted angrily,
leaping forward to hit him.

The Royal Guards were tense and
engrossed, ready to attack the thug.

Paramita never felt so humiliated in
her life, she briskly moved her head to free herself from the man’s
grasp, then threw a hard head butt directly at his nose. The man
screamed and fell down clutching his nose, blood was gushing out.
High on adrenalin she took the opportunity to launch a front kick
towards his head as fast and as hard as she could, and as the man
landed with his back flat on the ground, she quickly jumped forward
and landed on his sternum then proceeded to stomp his head several
times, until he stopped moving.

Ali and the guards took this as a
queue, they moved attacking the thugs nearest to them. One of the
thugs in an attempt to subdue them, he pulled out a gun that they
had confiscated from the guards, and pointed it at Paramita, who
was standing a few meters away from him. The thug pulled the
trigger to shoot her.

Ali and the guards stopped in their
spot.

Suddenly they heard Paramita yell, “He
doesn’t know how to shoot the Glock. The security is still
on.”

She swooped down, grabbed a stick that
was lying near her feet, and swung it as hard as she could towards
the thug’s hand. The gun flew from his hands, Captain Bagas ran up
and punched him in the jaw, and then the stomach. The thug fell to
the ground.

Ali grabbed the thug close to him by
the collar, pulling him down then planted his knee into the thug’s
stomach, he clasped both hands and banged it against the thug’s
neck causing him to fall to the ground. Ali seeing that the ring
leader was about to flee ran towards him. The ring leader stopped,
turned around then aimed the rifle at him. But Ali was faster, he
grabbed the barrel, and yanked it away, then used the butt to hit
him. The leader fell the unconscious.

It didn’t take long for the guards to
subdue the robbers. “Take off their shirts and use it to tie their
hands behind their backs.” Ordered the team leader to his
men.

Ali approached the man who had tried to
molest Paramita. He was now regaining consciousness. “Stand up!” He
yelled while pulling the thug up by his shirt.

“Give him a machete!” Ali said to the
Team Leader.

“What are you doing, Bang?” Paramita
asked him with surprise.

The Team Leader gave a man a
machete.

“Come on, if you want to go free, then
attack me,” Ali told him

“Abang!” Paramita yelled.

The thug leaped forward and swung at
Ali with the machete, he slashed it aiming at Ali’s neck. Ali moved
backward to avoid the attack. “You missed.” He said.

The thug kept moving forward swinging
his weapon blindly left to right. Seeing that the thug had no
fighting skills, Ali decided to end it quickly. He jumped the man’s
right side and clinched at the man’s arms tendon with his bare
fingers. The thug screamed, and let go of the machete, and held his
right arm with his left hand. Ali pulled the thug’s arm behind his
back, kicked him and pulled on his arm. The man screamed and fell
to the ground. His right arm limp and his shoulder
dislocated.