Royals

Chapter 3

We ride till sunrise. We reach a camp outside the village. My back aches from riding and my eyes are heavy, but I will not will myself to sleep.

We ride in to camp and there are more of the kidnappers there, at least ten more. Trees surround the camp; fire pits and blankets lay everywhere. The man stops the horse near a camp fire and jumps off. He puts out his hand and helps me off; once I'm on the ground I shake the dirt off my night gown. I scan the camp site; men walk around with bow and arrows in their hands or sitting down sharpening their knifes. I realize that I'm the only girl here.

I look around and I spot someone leaning against a tree staring at me. He flips the knife in his hands. I stare back at him and then I start to realize that this was the man that I had scratched. Even though it is dawn it's still too dark for me to see what he looks like, but I don't want to get any closer to him then I have too. I look away and stare up into the sky. The sun starts to rise on the west; the colors orange and yellow come in to view. By now my maid would have come in and found out that I had been kidnapped. I know that as soon as my father found out, they would send a search party with Leo at the lead. My stomach growls loudly, I haven't eaten since yesterday morning and I didn't know I was hungry till now. I touch my stomach.

"Here eat this, we will be riding soon." I turn around and I see a man about my father's age standing behind me. He hands me some bead. I don't take it; I just put my hands to my side.

"You know you have to eat sometime, we can't have you dying." The man said and forces the beard in my hand.

"Isn't that why all of you took me? To kill me, it's pointless kidnapping me if you aren't going to kill me or hold me for ransom. I suppose that's why you have taken me, right?" I look at him in the eyes so I know when he's lying.

"I tell you one thing miss, we are not killers and we aren't holding you for ransom. You can trust us. You will soon have answers to your questions, but in time. For now just go along with it and remember, we done want to kill you." The man says and starts to take off the horse's saddle.

"What is your name?" I ask. I might as well know his name for when my people find me I can tell them not to hang this one, just to put him in the dungeon and let him live.

"Andrew son of Raventhor." He finished unsaddling the horse and turns to me.

"Now miss get some sleep; we ride at dust." I follow him to a blanket on the floor next to a fire pit and leaves me there. I sit on the blanket and look into the fire for a moment. I look up and see that from a distance the man I scratched sits by a tree looking at me. I try to ignore it and just lie down on the dirt covered ground and watch the sky get brighter.

I dream the same dream I had the night before but instead of sinking in to the ground and being consumed by the mud I am being pushed by someone. I can barely see because the mud covers my eyes. Hands are wrapped around my neck and they get tighter every time I try to get free, every time I resist they get tighter. Every time I try to breath mud and water pile in my mouth and I choke; I can feel my lungs filling up. Blind and forced to die slowly; mud and water overpower me and I am hopeless.

I wake up breathing heavily. Drops of sweat cover my forehead and I feel like I have a fever although it is ridiculously hot. My hair sticks to my back and neck and my nightgown is damp; I'm in need of a bath. It's quite and I start to wonder why I haven't been reused yet. By now I should be safely in Leo's arms in my castle. The sun sits right above me, its raze beat on my face and I can feel it burning. I sit up and look around. Men lay in various places of the camp site. Some with alcohol bottles in their hands, and some with food still in their mouth. I realize that I am the only one that's awake.