Sleeping Beauty's little Sister.

Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Gakuen Alice, they belong to the wonderful Higuchi Tachibana-sama. Any Ooc-ness is on me. Inspiration from E.D.B.'s story.

Mikan was relieved when they finally left the swamp behind, but Natsume refused to relax. "Something's not right," he said as they settled into their saddles. "We're being watched. I can feel it."

"Do you think Voracia..."
Natsume shook his head. "I don't think it's Voracia, or anything magical. I think it's... Wait! Look over there!"
"I don't see anything."
"I don't either now, but I could have sworn I saw someone peeking at us from behind those trees."
"Maybe it was a wood nymph or a fairy," Mikan suggested.
"Maybe," said Natsume, although he didn't sound convinced. "You stay here while I go look around and--"

A twig cracked behind them, startling them both. "Let's get out of here," said Mikan. "This swamp is creepy and it will be dark in a few hours. I don't want to be anywhere near Voracia when the sun goes down."
"There's an inn only an hour's ride from here," Natsume said. "It's not very fancy, but the bedding is clean and the food is good."
"I couldn't ask for anything more," said Mikan.

She tried to carry on a conversation with Natsume as they rode through the forest, but he was paying more attention to what was going on around them than to what she had to say. Although he kept turning his head to the side as if he heard riders in the woods, Mikan neither saw nor heard anything unusual. The road soon took them out of the forest and across farmland where low stone walls divided the fields that covered the rolling hills. Every time they reached the top of a hill, Natsume stopped to look back. Mikan turned as well, but the way was always clear.

They reached the crossroads where the inn was located without seeing anyone. While the hostler led the horses into the stable, Natsume went in search of the innkeeper to arrange for rooms and a bath for the princess. Hearing a crowd in the taproom, Mikan peeked through the doorway. Travelers sitting down to an early supper already occupied most of the tables. She smiled at the first curious glances, but when she saw the way people were looking at her swamp-stained clothes and disheveled hair, she stepped outside to wait for Natsume.

Two men stood by the entrance to the stables watching the inn. When one of them noticed Mikan, he spoke to the other and they both started toward her. Although they were dressed in rough homespun, they looked vaguely familiar.

Mikan was still trying to decide where she might have seen them when a third man came out of the inn behind her. "Princess Mikan?" he said.
"Yes?" replied Mikan, turning to face him. In an instant, one of the men approaching from the stable thew a cloth bag over her head while the other grabbed her hands and tried to tie them behind her back. She kicked out at the men and opened her mouth to scream just as the third man knocked her on the head with something hard. With a soft moan, Mikan collapsed in a heap at their feet.

~line break~

When Mikan woke, her head was pounding and her mouth tasted like sweaty feet. She sat up and groaned as the throbbing in her head worsened. A light flickered overhead. Mikan stared at it for some time before it registered in her mind that it was a guttering torch about to go out. Darkness was creeping closer when she stood and staggered against a wall, her head reeling. It occured to her that she was in a dungeon and she wondered vaguely how she might have gotten there. Then it all came back--the swamp, Natsume's suspicion that they were being followed, and the men at the inn. She remembered now where she had seen the men before. It was in the woods shortly after she left the secret tunnel leading from her parents' castle. The men had been talking about her even then.

The torch was getting fainter when Mikan took a step and nearly tripped over a basket. Glancing down, she saw it was filled with new torches, waiting to be lit. Snatching up one of the torches, she held it to the dying light and held her breath until a flame blossomed. Thinking that if her kidnappers had provided her with light, they might have left something else, Mikan raised her head to look around.