Orenda

In Public

Hey, Ivy here! Have a great day, enjoy the chapter, and thank you for reading!

-- Ivy :)

Johnson drags me out of the castle, keeping a painfully strong grip on my bicep. He walks purposefully down the corridors, pointing a sword at anyone who questions what he's doing. To stop me from talking, he threatened me with the same thing.

We wouldn't have paused at the large oak doors leading out of the castle if the guards hadn't forced Johnson's attention away from me. I wait until he's engaged in a fight before tearing off back down a familiar, drafty corridor.

I haven't gone far when two hands touch me, one wrapping around my waist from behind and yanking me off of my feet while the other covered my mouth. I struggle wildly, and a grunt of surprise escapes behind me.

I bite the hand that's over my mouth, and it's withdrawn quickly. "Let me go!" I cry(not emotionally like tears), trying to slam my small body away from this man.

Suddenly, the arm around me tightens so much that I can hardly breath. The hand is replaced over my mouth, but two fingers curl under my jaw to hold it shut. "So pretty," hot breath on my ear tells me that he's leaning close. "it's a shame that was so stupid, my lady. Don't think escape attempts won't be unpunished. Let's go," his grip shifts, one hand sliding down to grab both of my wrists. He walks forward, pulling me behind him.

The realization that I'm going to be kidnapped from my own castle, when I was just talking to the others about five minutes ago, starts to set in.

"Yarren, bring her over here," outside, Johnson is waiting for us.

The man, Yarren, shoves me in the direction of Johnson. I stumble, unable to break my momentum. Johnson wraps his hands around my waist, swinging me up onto his horse. I can't do anything about it, but I try to slide off the other side. Sadly, my captor is too fast for a trick like that. He swings up behind me with lightning speed, one hand wrapping around somewhat loosely around chest while the other held the reins.

With a flick of said reins and a kick in the horse's side, we're off at a lope. I've never gone this fast on a horse before, but the feeling is exhilirating. I haven't even had time to ride a horse for at least a year. Memories of riding in the meadows with my mother flicker to the front of my mind, but I don't allow them to distract me. As fun as it was, and as much as I want to leave this situation, I have to be as alert as possible.

"Yarren, we're not going to go to camp tonight," Johnson yells as he slows down his horse. "We're too far and we'll have the entire kingdom on our tail by the end of the night. We can hunker down in the woods, here. The horses need a rest anyways."

Yarren is behind me, so I can't see his expression. But, he shouts back, "Okay, makes sense to me. There's a stream about an eighth of a mile west, we could make camp there."

"Good idea, lead the way," Johnson replies.

As we trot towards our destination, I catch sight of a strange purple color beneath the horses feet. Intrigued, I lean forward to see if I can get another look at it. Johnson's hand tightens around my waist, yanking me backwards into his chest. He keeps his grip tight the entire rest of the way.

We reach the stream quickly and find a cave on the edge of the water. Yarren jumps off his horse, ties it to a tree where it can get close enough to the water to get a drink, and walks off to explore the cave. Johnson also slides off his horse, but then turns and swings me down, too. "Face me, hands in front and arms at your sides," he orders.

I do as he says, patiently waiting while he ties my wrists. It's not like I enjoy it, but playing along might mean I avoid any extra punishment. Johnson's hands move fast, wrapping the rope tightly around my wrists, tying it off and cutting the rope. To my surprise, he takes my arm and wraps the rope around it. "What're you doing?" I ask.

"I think it'd be pretty easy to escape if you could move your arms anywhere you wanted, wouldn't it, princess?" Johnson answers. He turns to my other arm and begins to wrap it in rope, too, before binding it to my chest like the other.

"Hey, Johnson," Yarren pokes his head out of the cave, "I think this will work great."

"Good," Johnson responds, "we should stay hidden out here, too. We'll need a better place to hide soon, after such a famous kidnapping in public."