The Forbidden Princess [Paused]

Chapter 17: The Almost Rescue (Jesse's POV)

"Yes!" Liv exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air. "We finally made them retreat. Good work team!"

"Eh, they were simple," I joked.

Liv rolled her eyes at me then turned her entire attention to Caiden. I was about to say something else but figured neither of them wouldn't hear me anyways. They were too focused on each other's eyes.

I shrugged and ran back to the bush where I left Charlotte so I could stare into her eyes. Although she can't see at the moment but oh well. "Charlotte! We defeated the-"

I didn't finish my sentence. I dropped the sword I stole off the thieves and ran back to tell Liv and Caiden the bad news.

"Caiden! Liv! It's Charlotte!" I huffed.

Caiden turned towards me, clearly confused. "What?"

"She's not there! I left her behind that bush and now she's not there! What are we going to do she's the main part of the plan we need to find her before it's too late and-"

"Jess!" Caiden grabbed my shoulder. "Calm down, man. We will find her. Blind girls can't get very far. She was probably scared and went somewhere else to hide, that's all."

"Right," I said, taking a deep breath. "We will find her soon."

Caiden nodded and walked towards the woods, Liv right behind him. I stood still, looking at the spot I shot Charlotte down in. I just realized it was muddy. Gosh I'm a horrible boyfriend.

At least she couldn't see it, I told myself.

Still horrible, I argued.

I looked closer at the mud to see the exact spots that Charlotte had placed her hands and her feet. Okay, so she did realize she was in mud then...

The problem was, if she crawled away, there was no marking in the mud that she did so. Instead, there were distinct footprints leading up to the bush and going away from it. I started to follow them but realized Caiden and Liv weren't near me, so I called out for them to come over towards me.

"What is it?" Liv asked, drawing her bow, readying to shoot something.

"Nothing to shoot, but look." I pointed to the ground. "These footprints were at Charlotte's bush and they lead away from it. Charlotte didn't crawl away, she was kidnapped.

~~~

We continued to follow the tracks for hours but there was no sign of Charlotte or her kidnapper anywhere. Finally, when the sun was beginning to set, we could hear faint voices and a squeal that sounded too familiar for comfort. We got closer until we could see the people then ducked behind some bushes to stay out of sight.

"We should keep moving, Your Majesty!" someone said. "The castle is near and we need to get the princess back before her friends catch up to us!"

The man that was called "Your Majesty" had his back turned to us so we could not see his face. I looked around for Charlotte and immediately found her. She was sitting by the firelight, her dress tattered and muddy and her hair hanging in strings. She wasn't interested in the current conversation and just stared stone faced into the fire. She had her hands tied with rope in front of her, a handkerchief tied around her mouth. But even in these conditions, she looked as beautiful as ever. I couldn't tell if she could see yet, but I was hoping she could so she could look over and spot us.

The man was still thinking once I turned my attention back to him, but he suddenly spoke. "No. I want them to find me," he said loudly. He turned around and faced the woods, lowering his voice. "I want him to find me."