Freedom

Chapter 9

Just for fun, this is how I picture Issac and Daniel in
animation xD
***
Not knowing where I was going, I just followed down the path and tried to remember where we saw the river. I honestly feel scared. What if I get caught? Asher can't save me. I need to be careful. As I limp my way down the path, I hear water gushing. I followed the sound until I see a river.

"Oh thank Goodness," I say in relief and scooped water filling the bottle to the brim. I quickly limp my way back up the path. The problem was I wasn't very sure where exactly we were camping at and that made me worry all over again.

"Okay, we can do this. Just remember where we walked by" I say to myself and start looking around my surroundings. "Okay? Everything looks the same" I say worriedly.

"Hey" I hear. I freeze immediately. "I knew you would get lost," the voice says again and I instantly knew now who it was. The figure comes out from the trees and bushes and it was Asher. Peace settles in me and without a thought, I ran. Pain strikes up my ankle and I fall down. The bottle drops, rolling towards Asher.

"Be careful... gosh you are so clumsy" he helps me up from the ground and I dust my dress.

"Sorry" I smile sheepishly.

"Thanks," he says as he picks up the bottle from the ground and stood up straight. It only took a second before he passes out on the floor.

"Asher!" I shout and touch his forehead. "You are much warmer than before!" I panic. I quickly put his arm around my shoulder and picked up the bottle, and roughly found my way back to the camp we were at.

"You are so heavy Asher" I struggle to carry by his arm and lay him down on the ground. I quickly pour some water into the cloth and wipe it around his face. He is still unconscious and I have no idea what to do. I guess the only good thing to do is to wait till he gets better.

My stomach suddenly grumbles and I feel this pain in it. "I think I'm hungry," I say to myself. "Too hungry" I wrap my hands around my stomach not knowing what to do. The thing that came to my mind was to open Ashers bag. His bag only had a few biscuits left and pieces of bread. I take the bag out to eat some of it.

Finally, I was full. Well, not really full. I'm not used to eating just biscuits and bread. My stomach is starting to hurt again. I frown and drank some water.

It's only the afternoon and that's when the sun really shines. Good thing we are under the shade of the trees. Though because there is no wind right now, it feels so warm. I lay on the grass beside him sighed. My stomach really hurts and I think I need food.

As time go by, I start to feel weaker. my breathing gets heavier and starts to see black spots. "No, I can't pass out now. Not when Asher is passed if out too" I say as my eyes close and I was fallen into darkness.

Probably minutes passed, no- hours passed and all I see is blackness. However, why do I feel like someone is rocking me? Rocking me to sleep? Is that how I should put it? My eyes still feel heavy but my mind is active, is that even possible?

I feel a bump and my eyes open seeing light. I frown at the bright light that is above me and put my hand over my eyes. As my vision clears I look to my left to see Asher sleeping soundly.

"What's going on?" I say to myself.

"Oh hey, you are finally awake" A voice scares me and I quickly sit up to get a clearer view of the person but I could not see because the person was in front of the open-air carriage we are on.

"Um who are you? Where are you taking us?" I ask as anxiety fills in.

"I'm from the village, not far from here." He says and pauses for a moment. " I was trying to hunt this rabbit but it ran into a bush and that's when I found you two unconscious on the ground," The person says and I start to relax a little more.

"Oh th-thank you for helping us" I breathe. I really thought we were going to be kidnaped. Thank God, he's just someone from a village.

"Don't worry about it. You two really look sick, I think it's best if I bring you to my village to get you back on your feet" The person turns his head around and faces me. It was a young man. He smiles and turns to look back at the road.

"Thank you so much-" I clutch my stomach as the paint flows back in again.

"You alright there?" He asks

"Y-yea" I try to say in a not so weak voice. My stomach really hurts. I could pass out again.

"You don't sound too good. It's alright, get some rest, we are almost there" he says and I lay back down beside Asher. Surprisingly he was still asleep. I put my palm onto his forehead and it was less warm than before. Though I think he still has a fever.

"Someone is going to help us" I whisper to Asher and push his hair back. He obviously doesn't respond and I just lay there observing his face. I still couldn't help but feel bad for what my family did to his dad. I still have no idea about his mother but I really hope I can fix this. I want to give him the happiness that he should have.

I sigh and close my eyes till I felt the carriage stop. I open my eyes and got up slowly. "My name's Daniel by the way," he says as he approaches me and gives me a hand to help me get down.

"Thank you, Daniel," I say weakly. My stomach hurts like crazy, I have never starved like this before.

"Wait a minute" Daniel pauses and looks at Asher. "You know this guy?"

"Uhmm yes?" I say confused about how to answer that. " uh- yeah we were traveling together" I reorganize my thoughts and smiled.

"That's funny, he said he won't be here any time soon," Daniel says and I frown in confusion.

"What do you mean?" I ask

"Oh, you don't know?" He raises his eyebrows. I shake my head in response. " Asher lives here, but he told us he wouldn't be back so soon and I found you near where we live so I was just wondering why he's around here" he explains and I think my mind was just blown. Asher lives here? I look at the village. It was a different from where I lived. It looks dull but very lively.

" I had no idea he lived here" I smile as I look at the children playing. "Wait- wait so if he lives here, and the treasure is here, why doesn't he just stay here then?"

" Asher does stay here still, he just said he had to take care of some things in town" he shrugs. He pauses for a moment before saying, "Uh- sorry what about the treasure?"

"Oh he said he's looking for a treasure and he needs my help," I say

"Treasure? Wait, you mean- oh...." he suddenly realizes something which I have no idea. " I see, his on a lookout for his mum again," he says as he turns around to pick up a sack of fruits inside. I didn't really fully heard him but I heard the word 'mum'.

"What?" I ask

"Oh, nothing" he waves it off. "Come on, follow me," he says leaving Asher. I'm sure I heard something about his mum. Wait, is it his mum or Asher's mum? Now I'm confused. What did he say?

"What about Asher?" I quickly limp next to him.

"I'll ask Brother to carry him," he says like there was no big problem. " Isaac! Could you help me carry ash?" He shouts and in the distance, his brother who is taller than him walks to us.

"Asher is back?" He says surprised.

"Yea and his, well unconscious," Daniel says sheepishly and looks at where Asher was.

" What happened?" Daniel's brother says with concern. Daniel shrugs his shoulders in response. "I'll just go get him" His brother sighs and jogs to where Asher was.

"Daniel? What took you so long-" A lady in her 40s walks up to us and paused to look at me. "Oh my goodness" she gasps, covering her mouth while looking me up and down.

"I'm so sorry to budge in, we were-"

"No my goodness! Don't be sorry. I'm sure I know why he brought you here. Your feet and knees are all bruised!" She says worriedly and grabs my arm and pulled me gently with her. "Follow me, I'll clean that up for you" and I followed her. A part of me felt relieved, I thought I was in trouble when she saw me. But another part of me was feeling anxious, I was worried about Asher. I am very sure he is having a fever. I hope he wakes up soon.