The Red Cape

III.

Volume I.

Rose kept stumbling over the thick, moss covered tree knots. She wouldn't normally, she was usually careful. But, she was sleep deprived and she desperately needed something to eat.

She yawned widely. She kept waking up in the middle of the night, flicking her eyes open and sitting up, looking around the dark, misty forest for her.

She still looked around warily, her eyelids falling slightly, not fully recovered from her memorable nightmare.

Hunter had said nothing since they woke up, and it worried Rose deeply. Did he think of her as weak? Or even insane?

Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves galloping in the distance reached the pair's ears. Rose and Hunter looked at each other, shocked.

They were traveling in the deepest parts of the forest. Not many came through those particular parts for various reasons, such as legends to stories.

They looked at the source of the sound, then back at each other. Then, they raced over to a large tree, hiding behind it.

They pressed their backs to it, Rose edged around it and peeked around the trunk.

From what she could see, there were about fifteen soldiers dressed in black amour marching or riding horseback on pure white steeds.

She pulled her head back behind the tree, breathing hard. She faced back towards Hunter frantically.

"What is it? Who are they?" Hunter said in an almost inaudible whisper.

"Start climbing the tree," Rose ordered, with a mortified look on her face.

"What?"

"Just climb!" Rose hissed.

The pair started to climb up the tree hurriedly. Rose shook with terror and almost fell as she nearly missed a knot she was about to place her foot on.

She hadn't seen those soldiers since...

She tried desperately to push it out of her mind as the made her way to a high-up branch.

She leaned against the branch as she made it to the top. Hunter came right behind her and followed her lead.

Once the soldiers passed them, Hunter turned to Rose with confusion.

"Why did we climb a tree to get away from...from whatever they are?" Hunter asked her.

"Because I don't want anyone or anything to know that we're in the forest," Rose lied, "Makes it easier to travel through."

Hunter looked at her questioningly, clearly not believing a word she was saying.

"Look, we agreed to help each other right?" Rose asked hopefully.

"Yes," Hunter said hesitantly, "But-"

"No," Rose cut him off, shaking her head, "That's what we agreed to, so let's keep it that way."

"If we're helping each other," Hunter said tentatively, "I want to know who I'm helping. And why they are afraid." He said gently.

"I'm not scared."

"Aren't you?" Hunter continued. "Why the nightmares? Why the panic from those soldiers?"

Rose looked off into the distance.

"We said we could trust each other," Hunter reminded her.

Rose looked back at him, her eyes glistening with fear.

"Why don't we tell each other where we came from?" Hunter suggested.

"The kingdom of Frigan," Rose said, "A village by a palace. That's where I came from."

Hunter nodded. "I came from a small village in a forest, far from a palace." He looked at her expectantly, for her to share more, but she remained silent, so he kept going.

"I lived there with my aunt and uncle, my parents passed away when I was young. I hunted and gathered in the fields; I brought some of our meat and crops to a market," he inhaled heavily, "One day I went to the market and came back to the village to see it burned to the ground in a horrific accident."

Rose looked at him with sympathy. "I'm sorry," she said.

Hunter nodded. "I've been on my own ever since, traveling from place to place, trying to survive."

Rose stared off into the distance again.

"We'd better leave," Hunter said, "Which direction are we headed?" He asked.

"Southeast," Rose said.

"Alright," Hunter agreed. They climbed down the tree. Hunter jumped to the ground. He sat down and examined the injury on his leg from the ogres. He untied the red cloth torn from Rose's cape and saw that his injury was nothing but a scar.

"Whoa," he told Rose, "Fancy cape you got there."

Rose smiled a bit. "It just stopped the bleeding."

"D'you want to tell me what else it did?" he asked.

Rose smiled more, looking down at the ground.

"Well, then," Hunter said, "Let us go."

So, the pair walked off into the forest, Rose's cape sweeping the forest's floor.