Her own way

Chapter 16

Dawn broke through the trees, waking Kate from her restless nights sleep. If there was one thing that she could be sure of, it was that no two forests were the same. She hadn't taken much time to look around while she was running away the night before. From her perch on the tree branch, she slowly looked around taking in the scenery. Unfortunately for Kate, there was not much to look at beyond the trees and shrubs below her. There were very few birds around to sing in the new day and judging by the lack of other sounds, there were no people nearby. Kate let out a sigh of relief at that realisation. If there was one thing she did not want to happen right now it was to be discovered by those who kidnapped her. Slowly, she pushed herself further out onto the branch to see if it could hold her before she set off.

An ominous creaking noise came from the tree, making Kate pause in fright. Terrified that the branch would snap, Kate quickly made her way back to the trunk of the tree and held on tight. Her eyes closed as she hung onto the tree and her heart began to pound in fear when the branch creaked again. A tear fell and Kate let out a small whimper. As high as she was in the tree, she knew that if the branch broke with her on it she might not get back up again.

Blinking away more tears, Kate forced herself to make a move. She had been lucky so far that no-one had come this way and found her and she knew that it was still possible that someone could be near. Taking her time, Kate started climbing down to the ground. Thankfully the rest of the branches were strong and she made it to the forest floor without any problems. Dropping to the ground in relief, Kate gave a weak chuckle.

"What is going on here?" she whispered, her voice loud in the silence of the forest. Not expecting her question to be answered, Kate leaned back into the tree trunk resting a moment before climbing to her feet. The fear she felt while up in that tree was slowly leaving her system, allowing her to think more clearly. This was probably the first time that Kate wished she was not out in the forest. It was so dreary in this place, the trees seemed dull and lifeless, the plants on the ground were few and far between and what was there was a pale shade of green, bordering on turning brown - completely different from the deep green of the grass lining the forest floor back home, the vibrant colours of actual flowers that grew there too. Just thinking of the differences made Kate sad, she wished she was back home with her mama, brothers and sister even if they could be a big pain at times. If she had been at home right now she would give them all hugs just to show she loves them.

Kate walked around in a circle, looking in all directions trying to figure out which would be the best to go.

"Moss grows on the north side," she mumbled to herself. Taking a few confident steps towards a large pine tree she began to run her hands over the trunk. "Here mossy mossy... I know I listened to Peter about this or I would have been lost too many times, now where are you?" Her voice took a slight singing lilt. Atter a few moments she stood back with her hands on her hips and an annoyed expression on her face. "This is ridiculous! How can there not be any moss, this is a forest!"Kat exclaimed.

turning her back on the tree, she picked a random direction and stared at the outline of yet more trees in the distance. Well here goes nothing, she thought before starting to walk.

Hours passed and Kate was starting to get fed up.

"Kidnapped, beaten up, and now lost in a wood." Her grumbling had gotten louder now that she was confident there was no one nearby. "Yes Kate, how clever of you to go wandering off in which way, Papa would be so proud right now..Not! Geez how much more forest could there be? The woods back home are so much better than this." It was very clear to Kate that her plan to find her way home had gone very wrong. Not only had she failed to find her way to a village, she hadn't even made it out of the forest. She was tired hungry, and in need of a wash. After travelling for a while in silence, a slight gurgling noise could be heard in the distance and in keeping with her curious nature Kate just had to find out where it was coming from. That noise sounded like water, and water meant a river in Kate's mind. Going from that logic it got her thinking that if she followed it then she could find people!

Soon enough the sound of running water got louder until Kate stumbled through a dense group of bushes and almost fell into a small stream. Giving a big sigh of relief, Kate took a moment to have a drink before dunking her head under the water. It felt cool against her skin, helping to wash away some of her earlier panic and clearing her mind so she could think of what to do next. Going off her earlier belief, Kate stood up and gazed up and down the stream. Judging by the direction water was flowing, Kate chose to follow the water downstream to see where it would take her.

Now in a better mood, Kate began to whistle a tune as she followed the curve of the stream. She could hear the occasional bird chirping away which made her smile, finally a familiar sound! A short giggle escaped her and she ducked her head slightly in embarrassment. Quickly glancing around she assured herself that she was still alone and carried on following the stream. Amused by the twisting path of the stream, Kate kept her eyes down to make sure she didn't fall in while walking beside it. Because of this, she didn't notice the buildings nearby or even the tall walls of a castle not too far away. It wasn't until the distant sound of voices broke through the quiet of the forest that Kate finally looked up. Her breath caught in her throat as she gazed in awe at the sight in front of her.

The size of the castle astounded her, she had never seen such a huge building before, there was nothing close to home that came anywhere near to reaching this size! There were four turrets that she could see, one in each corner and another building peeking out over the top of the main wall. The sheer size of the castle took the any attention away from the smaller buildings that made up the village surrounding the castle. Gaining confidence with every step closer to the castle and surrounding village, Kate started to consider just what she needed to do when she was finally back amongst people.

First of all she needed to get some food, her stomach had been growling for a while now demanding something to eat. Second was finding out just where in the world she was! Maybe that should have been the first thing to do but hunger decided that for her. The third thing she needed to do was get some new clothes and get some sleep. For the first time in a long while, Kate was beginning to have some hope that she would be able to get home and see her family again.