Colliding Elements (Original Draft)

3. Earth Detected

The sky was now pitch black, bright constellations filling in the darkness. The Gemini constellation was very visible in the night sky, Hunter swore she saw it move a few times as she looked up at the stars. Bugs were flying around and in the hay that everyone sat on, a few horseflies biting people. Hunter smacked another one off of her neck and wiped her hand on her light brown skirt, getting the fly's guts off of her hand.

"That's just disgusting..." she muttered to herself before combing her fingers through her hair. The night was getting colder and the cloak that Hortensia had given Hunter was not of thick material. She pulled the cloak closer to herself, shivering from the cool breeze. "I hate the dang cold so much..."

A man next to her glanced over, seeing Hunter shaking in the cool night. "You know it's not that cold, right? It's only about five degrees cooler."

Hunter looked at him, a bitter look in her gaze. "That temperature drop is too quick! I hate anything below seventy..." Hunter muttered the last part as she now crossed her arms to trap what heat she had left in her body.

The man sighed and began to take off his jacket, making sure his black ponytail did not catch on the collar of it. "Here, wear this for now. You seem to need it more than me."

"Oh please," Hunter stopped his hand from coming any closer to her, "I don't need any of your pity. Keep that jacket. I don't care if I'm cold. Plus, I don't need anyone trying to make a move on me."

He looked at her with a confused look. "Make a move? I don't think I've ever heard that saying. And whatever it means, I did not intend to do whatever it is. I just wanted to help you."

That's when Hunter realized she had to drop her modern-day dialect and advanced knowledge. These people didn't even know about a light bulb, not even a musket either. "Just don't bother me, alright?"

"I won't bother you again, ma'am," he spoke while still watching Hunter carefully. "But... I would like to know your name. A lovely woman has to have a lovely name to go with it."

Hunter was taken aback by the question, trying to think of an old name to use quickly. "My name- Rohesia. I'm the daughter of Rohese."

The man beamed a large yellow smile, another thing they didn't have was toothbrushes sadly. "That is a very beautiful name. I'm Caesar. I'm the son of Caesis. Hopefully, we can be friends in the palace?" He looked at me with a childish look, waiting for me to answer back.

"Maybe we can be if we see each other," Hunter spoke into the palm of her hand. She was still thinking of a plan on escaping. She was thinking of sneaking away as everyone entered the castle, but they might do a roll call.

Just what can I do to escape? Hunter thought to herself. I could plan on sneaking out in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep. Just need to get past the guards and I'll be free to find my way back home.

She stayed silent the rest of the ride, swatting flies off of herself as she sat there on the messed up bushel of straw. She tucked her legs up under her and repositioned her skirt to cover as much of her chilled skin as possible. The trees passed them by as the cart continued to move. Hunter watched nature pass by, noticing a lot of trees and plants that looked like ones back home.

She laughed, "I could make my own essential oils here it looks like. Almost every type of plant in their collection is in this world." She grabbed onto one of the boards as the cart went up a little from the back wheel hitting a rather large hole in the dirt road. She let her grip loosen up as they got a little ways away from the surprise jump. She looked through the trees at the black horizon, seeing the moon not far off of the horizon line. It was late at night, knowing when they were to arrive the castle was impossible to tell now.