Once Upon a Time

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

I woke up to a pounding sensation in my head. Groaning, I tried to reach up to put a hand to it, but my hands couldn't move. I groggily opened my eyes and looked down at them to see that they were tied together, the harsh rope cutting into my wrists, making them bleed slightly.

"What the..."I started, and the memories came rushing back to me in a blur. I was obviously somewhere in the forest, kidnapped, and Anna was somewhere in here too, but I didn't know exactly where.

I looked around the dark tent, my eyes adjusting to the dim lighting. My heart pounded loudly as I struggled to find out where I was, although I knew I wouldn't be able to.

Suddenly a bright light flooded into the room from the door, shining on me as I sat on the ground. I quickly shut my eyes to keep it out, momentarily blinding me. I opened them after a couple seconds and saw two figures standing in front of me, the light behind them making it hard to see their faces.

The male figure held out a sack of what I assumed to be gold to the female figure, who was crossing her arms and looking at me, a smug look on her face.

"Thank you for showing us where she was." The man told her as she took it.

She smiled, her blonde hair glinting in the light. "No problem." She told him. I suddenly knew who it was.

"Fern?" I asked in disbelief. "How-how could you?"

She smiled and walked over, bending down next to me. "Well, you see, after you abandoned me when we escaped the palace, I managed to outrun the guards and needed something to do, because I obviously couldn't go back to the castle." She shrugged. "And besides, who doesn't need extra money to spend?"

I gave her a look. "Um, from what I remember, you abandoned us, using us as bait, and ran away into the forest. Not to mention that I was passed out in the middle of the road and couldn't come and help you even if I wanted to."

She gave me a glare. "So you're saying that you didn't want to help me?"

I sighed and shook my head. "I never said that. I wanted to help you, but I had an arrow pierced into the back of my knee." I stated.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Aileen," She stood up and placed a hand on her hip. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some money to go spend."

I glared at her back as she walked out of the room and shut the tent flap behind her, leaving me alone with her friend.

"So," He started after a moment. "You're probably wondering why you're here." Without waiting for an answer he continued. "Well let me explain. We are nothing but poor bandits because not many people come through this forest, and the ones that do are poor also." He sighed. "When your 'friend' Fern stumbled into our camp, she was lost and hungry and cold, and begged us not to kill her." He made air quotes around friend.

"So. . ." I asked him, getting impatient.

He gave me a chilling smile. "Well, you're very impatient, aren't you?" He sighed and continued with his story. "Anyway, we took her in, gave her food, water, clothes - you name it. When she was strong again, she asked if she could work for us to gain some money before she left." He shrugged. "So we told her about the outlaws that the King was looking for, and she told us she knew them and showed us where you were." He gestured around the tent. "Now here you are."

I gave him a look. "So you're going to give me and Anna to the King?" I asked. I knew that if he did, we were certainly be killed by the guards as soon as they saw us.

He smiled again, the same bone-chilling grin. "You're so smart, Aileen dear. But Anna escaped soon after we brought her to camp."

He walked over to me, pulling out a knife. My heart started beating fast as I saw the glinting of the metal where the sun shined through the thin fabric of the tent and hit it. He slowly bent down and lifted the knife up to my chin.

"Now, Aileen, if you're really smart, when I cut the rope around your wrists, you won't try anything."

He quickly brought the knife away from my chin and to my wrists, slicing skillfully through the rope and making a small cut on my hand.

I gritted my teeth as he pulled away and smiled. "There," He said. "I'm going outside now to check on the carriage. If you even try to escape, you won't get very far. We watch our camp very closely."

He turned away from me and pushed through the tent door, leaving me alone.

What was he talking about? I asked myself. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

I looked in my pocket for anything that could help me escape, sighing when I found nothing. I should have taken the pocket knife that Alden had tried to give me when we were staying at their house. I guess it was too late now.

The tent door opened again and two strong-looking bandits came into the camp. I didn't try to fight it as they dragged me out of the tent and into a carriage waiting right outside the door. They quickly shut it behind me as the carriage started to move.

I sighed and sat back in my seat. Even though I was going to my certain death, at least I was alone.

I heard deep laughter in a corner of the carriage and looked over to it to see the bandit from earlier sitting there, crossing his arms.

"I wouldn't get so comfortable," He told me, chuckling.

I rolled my eyes and looked out the window. He wasn't as scary as he was annoying.

Suddenly, the carriage stopped abruptly.

"What is going on out there?" The bandit asked, sticking his head out the window. He was answered with only the chirping of the birds outside. Growling, he opened the door and hopped out onto the ground, disappearing from my view as he walked up to the driver.

I took my chance and moved to the door. I was about to jump out when I heard a soft voice call my name from the other door. I looked over and saw that Jasper was looking in the window and was waving me over.

"Come out this door." He told me. "He'll see you if you get out that side."

I nodded in understanding, feeling stupid, and dove out the door as Jasper opened it, landing next to him. We then took off into the woods until we knew we were safe.

I leaned down as we stopped in the forest, placing my hands on my thighs so I was in a relaxing position.

"Thanks for saving me," I told him breathlessly, taking huffs of air between words.

He nodded. "No problem. I figured I should rescue you since I'm the one who got you into that mess."

Before I could ask him what he meant, he leaned in and pressed his lips against mine. For a moment, I just stood there is surprise, but when he tried to pull away I melted into it, letting him kiss me. As cliché as it sounded, it felt like we were the only two in the world, and everything else faded into the background. I gently wrapped my arms around his neck as he placed his hands around my waist.

Just as quickly as the kiss had started, it ended when we heard Anna squeal. We quickly pulled away so there was about foot between us and stood there awkwardly, looking at our friend.

Anna stood there at the edge of the small clearing, a happy grin plastered on her face. When Raphael walked up behind her, she looked at him and grabbed his hand, tilting her head to us.

"See, see?" She asked, hopping up and down. She was usually not this happy about anything. "I told you that they would fall in love!"

Raphael nodded, unsure how to react. "Um, I never doubted you?" He said it like a question.

She stopped jumping. "I'm always right, about everything."

We all stood silently for a couple moments, looking at each other.

"So..." I started, swaying on my heels nervously because of the kiss. "What now?"

"Well, before we continue, Raphael and I have something to tell you..." Anna told me.