Her own way

Chapter 12

Back at the campsite in the forest, Sam and Jackson were deep in discussion about what they had done that day. Sam had a rather unsuccessful day. Having been unable to speak to that family once more, he moved on to several more homes nearby. Even returning to the Jacob’s home several hours later held no better result and no one at any of the houses he went to knew anything of the Princess. The people he had spoken to talked about their neighbours with such fondness, it was easy to see that this was a tight community. There were several times that an answer piqued his interest. When he asked about the local children, what they were like and how they were within this area, the answers he got were so varied.

“Those darn children get underfoot. Some parents need to be firmer, thank goodness the children learn quick else they wouldn’t be able to sit for a week!”

“Ah the Smith’s boys are such a blessing, they help us with the animals. Shame their sister was lost to them earlier in the year. She would have been a beauty.”

“If you want to know about interesting children, just go to the Jacobs. That Kate, she’s a wild one. Doesn’t look at all like the rest but the boys are so protective of the girls. Peter  - that’s the eldest, he watches out for her like a mama looking out for her youngling.”

“My, what do you want to know? The children around here can be such a help to the community. They do what we need them to and they earn their way.”

These statements, in particular those relating to specific families gave him pause for thought. A girl going missing, another gone wild… It was certainly something for him to look into.

Jackson, on the other hand had some success. The idea that had popped into his head that morning about other tracks around the cottage had paid off to some degree. He had not actually had high hopes about discovering any new information, especially as it had been years since they had first discovered the cottage but there were signs that the area had recently been disturbed. Plants had been taken off the door to the cottage and it was clear that someone had been inside the building itself. The tracks from this visitor disappeared in two directions, making it impossible to know which way the person came from. With this in mind, he made the decision to follow the tracks off to the left. It seemed, however that this was not the correct course of action. They followed the tracks for several miles, winding through the forest until they came to a halt by the river. This had not been expected and by the time they retraces their steps back to the cottage the light was beginning to fade. It had been Paul who asked if they were to return to camp, and reluctantly Jackson agreed. Having stared at the tracks for more hours than he cared to think about, he had them imprinted into his brain. There was something about them that was nagging at his consciousness, but he couldn’t for the life of him think what it was.

“Any luck finding that girl?” Sam asked, he had not really been paying attention to what Jackson told him.

“I told you Sam,” Jackson spoke patiently. “I did not look for her. Talking to the boys this morning made me think: what if someone found her and managed to get her away before we got there.” Sam nodded, not entirely sure what his friend was getting at.

“So what, the thought is that she was taken away and raised by an unknown family who have no idea just how important she is to our King, to our country?”

“That’s exactly it. If she was found by a local, I have my doubts that she would have been taken far from here. Thinking about it, the family that took her in is probably one you have spoken to already. Has anyone said anything strange when you spoke to them?”

“There were a few. I have a few leads I want to follow over the next few days. One is that Jacobs family – I tried to talk to the woman again but no one was home when I got there. She was definitely hiding something from us, there was a look in here eye…” Sam trailed off, still caught up in thinking about what he could be missing. Jackson stood and put his hand on Sam’s shoulder.

“There’s always tomorrow my friend, there’s always tomorrow.” At that, he turned and went to his tent, leaving Sam to sit by the fire to keep first watch of the night.

Elsewhere in the woods, shadows lurked. Quiet voices broke the silence of the night, startling wildlife out of their slumber.

“This is the place. Remember men, it’s a snatch. If anyone sees you,” one voice said. “Well, you know what to do.” There were several chuckles at that, all sounding sinister in the dark.

“Yes sir” came many replies. Each shadow could be seen moving in acknowledgement of the command.

“Our lord wants the girl, its taken too long to find her and he don’t want to wait any more.”

“How do we do this sir? Be like bandits?” one voice piped up, overly loud in the still of the forest. A loud smack sounded out along with a whimper of pain.

“That’ll learn you. Keep quiet fool. Like I said, we go and snatch. The girl and anything else you want and can carry. If the rest o’ them wake knock ’em out, no questions asked, they ain’t going with us. There’ll be poachers round in the mornin’ to pick ’em up.” The leader stepped forward into the clearing, taking the first steps in starting their plan. His movements took him out of the shadow and into the moonlight. His hair was messy, covered with leaves. His expression was both commanding and dangerous. His eyes were lit by the moonlight and gave the feeling of evil still to come. If his appearance was anything to go by, the remainder of this unknown group would be just as dangerous to everyone all over the land. The man took another step forward and grinned, there was only one visible light coming from the target building, which boded well for their scheme. His hands moved, indicating to his men that they should spread out and as one, they began to creep towards the building.

At the door, he gave an almighty kick knocking the whole thing off its hinges. A shocked cry broke out at the noise. There was only one person in the room, a male who was quickly knocked out from a punch to the head. As the men piled into the building from all directions, footsteps could be heard approaching the kitchen.

“Son? Is everything alright, you should not be up at this h-!” The woman came into the kitchen and broke off at the sight of six tall muscular men standing there. She was so shocked she did not hear the approach of two others until one grabbed her from behind with one arm trapping her own and the other across her mouth to prevent her from screaming.

The leader chuckled. Two down, three to go. He thought to himself, amused that this was going to be an easy job.

“Tie them up. Find the other brats and do the same. Grab the girl and get going. I want to be near the border by dawn.” He ordered and the men were quick to obey. Taking several pieces of rope and cloth, they spread out to search the building.

Minutes later they returned, two of them with the bodies of two unconscious girls slung over their shoulders. Their leader glared. They were only supposed to have one girl, not two! A look passed between them all.

“They were together sir, we wasn’t sure who we was supposed to grab.” One of the men nervously spoke up. The leader stomped forward and looked at the two girls. One of them had fair hair and a light spattering of freckles across her nose, the other was more tanned with darker hair. He reached towards the girls and grabbed a handful of darker hair. Yanking her head back from against the back of the one who held her, he stared at her face, seeming to search for something.

“This one,” he muttered, letting go of her. “This is the one. She weren’t at the market with the rest so this is her. Drop the other and get going.” He barked out the orders and watched as the other girl was unceremoniously dumped on the floor next to the other two. He gave another dark chuckle as he blew out the only candle in the room and followed his men outside into the dark of the night, not bothering about the open door.

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*A/N: Yes there is some spoken grammatical errors towards the end of this section. It is entirely deliberate and rather reminiscent to how some people I know speak...  :-)