Love & Duty

Chapter 29

Tyler had searched all along the river; whenever he saw people or a house, he would stop and ask them about a girl. Everyone gave him negative answers; he was running out of ideas on where to search or what to do.

All clues were erased due to the water; he didn't have anything to follow. It wasn't like he could sniff her out, and his horse couldn't help either.

Eventually, he settled into searching around the area, still asking the people around for anything close to her description. Just when he was about to give up and search somewhere else, he saw a house at the top of a hill.

"Last chance." he told himself. To think that would end up being the place with all the answers he needed.

~~~~~~

"Soph? Soph! Wake up!" he nudges her after she collapses in his arms.

"Don't worry, she is sleeping. Come in; I have to fix her wound." Maria told him. She could see that he was hesitant at first, but he followed her instructions and laid her on the bed.

"How could she just sleep after collapsing?" he finally asks as she works on cleaning and covering the wound.

"I don't know the details, but from what I saw... I'm surprised she is still alive." she shares her thoughts.

"What are you talking about? Why would she die? She is stronger than that! She won't die so easily." Tyler clutches his fists at the thought of her end.

"Maybe she is, but any human who goes without food or water and even rest for God knows how many days could die." she answers truthfully.

Tyler looked at her, his question written all over his face. She could also see the fear in his eyes of what Sophia could have experienced.

"I don't know how close you two are, but you seem to care a lot, so I'll let you know what I found." she sits back in her chair and remembers the state she found the Princess in.

"When I found her, her body was freezing due to her being in the cold river water. That stopped the bleeding on her wound, which I had just fixed. However, suppose I found her a few hours later? She could have died from freezing." she covers Sophia adequately with the blanket.

"When I got her home, I was able to see the real state she was in. The issue was bigger than I thought; she had big black bags under her eyes." she pointed to them as they were still visible.

"Her physical injuries were more obvious than the state of her body. My mother pointed out that it was obvious she hadn't eaten in days, and she was very dehydrated and fatigued."

She leans towards Sophia again and lifts the sleeves on her wrists. "I covered her wrists because they had severe friction burns; they were obviously from ropes. Her shoulder is completely covered in bite marks, deep bites, where blood was drawn out." she uncovers a bit of her neck and shoulder to show.

"I'm no fool, but I really hope these red and blue marks on her neck are not what I think they are. No one deserves to go through something like that." she hugs herself, still looking at the marks.

"Her face started healing a bit after mom found a treatment for it. Her eye was bruised; someone must have struck her hard. Probably the same person who caused all this."

Maria came to speak more, but Tyler shot his hand up and stopped her. "Enough. I don't want to hear anymore." he looks back to his Princess, wishing with all his heart that he was the one who was hurt and not her.

"I need to get her back home. Thank you for everything you've done; I'll make sure we compensate you for everything." Tyler gets up and bows to her.

"Don't be silly, young man. It is normal to help a person in need. It's what makes us human." the mother walks into the room and hands him a small bag filled with bread and cheese.