Fear will be your enemy [Jelsa]

Chapter 4: "Nibbly, nibbly, mouse! Who's nibbling at my house?"

Image above is how Triss Merigold looks like.

Hans couldn't anymore. Normally, he could run at this pace for hours, but his wounds began to drain his energy away. "Stop..." gasped the prince. "I think we lost them."

"We have to keep moving" spoke his rescuer as she looked slightly behind her.

"Well, I can't" snapped Hans back as he clutched his bloodied arm. "In case you haven't noticed yet, I have been flagged on my back, and being shot in the arm! Just get away already, before the soldiers loose their dogs upon us."

"Dogs?" The girl's eyes widened.

"Yeah, they keep that arround" said Hans bitterly as he thought about his youth. One time, such a dog had bitten him in his arm. Luckily no permanent harm was done... Hans ' sweaty face glanced up to his rescuer. "Seems you didn't calculate that in...what kind of rescuer are you?" scoffed the prince. He was truly mad at the girl. To bust him out, only to get later caught on?!

"The kind that just saved your life" snapped the girl back. "A little gratitude would be nice."

" The dogs will have me soon anyway, so get out of here." said the prince bitterly. He didn't want her to die for his crimes, let alone by her stubbornness!

"I need you, so you better man up a bit"

Hans, who sat now with his back against a tree, looked up. "Why care for me? You risk your life for a condemned man. You'll be hanged too if they catch you."

The girl was quiet for several seconds. "That's none of your concern."

"Well, it is now!" growled Hans furious by her lack of giving information. "We're in the same boat, and whether you like it or not, I'm not going anywhere untill I get my answers. What's your name, why did you save me, and where are we going?"

The girl looked up and down the prince's body, contemplating on telling him or not. "When we find a suitable camp out of the wind, I'll give you your answers. Not earlier."

Hans nodded as acceptance of the deal. "Very well."

They walked on for another half hour before they found a suitable place by the river. It was a little cave, overhang by waterplants. Thanks to the streaming water, the girl nodded approvingly. They wouldn't find them that soon, as they were out of the wind. The fact that they had walked also in the water, masked their tracks as well. Hans sunk exhausted to the ground, and the sword he had stolen from a southern officier fell to the ground. The girl meanwhile began to fundle with her tinder box to make fire.

"Despite not wanting to be noticed, you are doing quite the opposite..." remarked Hans as the girl lit the fire up.

"I'm not daft." spoke the girl while she poked quickly arround the burning wood. "its for your wounds on your back. They need to be closed."

Hans went quiet by the girl's sharp remark. Of course. His eyes quickly travelled away from her to the bow and arrows she had so masterfully used back at the square. seeing how skilled she was in making campfires and finding the right shelter...She was most likely a huntress... Hans frowned. That a woman practised it, was rare...This was men's work. Unless something had befallen on her family?

"Get yourself washed, will you? Otherwise the wounds will infect from all the dirt that has gotten on you when it's closed" said the girl while still averting to look up.

Hans grumbled at her words. He was a prince, for crying out loud! For a moment he wanted to remind her of her place, but shut his mouth. She had saved his life, and wanted to help him with his wounds...Along with the fact that he was in a weakened state with all his father's soldiers behind him... Better have someone nearby, how irritating they were...