(Just a warning, this is my worst chapter yet and I have to edit it, but here's the first draft)
“So nice to see you again.” The O’Brynn smiles. “I don’t suppose you remember us?”
“Adi, you know these guys?” Jkahl asks.
“Unfortunately, yes,” I hear my voice quiver, and inwardly curse myself.
“We have some unfinished business to finish,” Scar-face explains, strolling towards us. “Some, ah, topics to discuss.”
“No one injures a guard and gets away with it,” O’Brynn snarls.
“I managed just fine last time,” I retort.
“So you did,” O’Brynn agrees. “That’s why this time we brought reinforcements.”
Half a dozen guards come pouring out of the trees, brandishing swords, guns, and daggers. Jkahl swears, starting to back away, and I follow his lead.
“You didn’t honestly think you could make it all the way to the palace without intervention,” Scar-face sneers.
“A guy can hope,” Jkahl replies.
“Hope,” Scar-face spits out the word like it’s poison. “Don’t be stupid. Hope doesn’t get you anywhere. Motivation, ruthlessness—that’s what gets you far in life. That’s why we’re all guards and you’re just peasants.”
“You don’t seem so important to me,” I snap.
“Adi,” Jkahl hisses.
“No, let the girl continue,” Scar-face silences him. “I want to hear what she has to say.”
“No, let’s be done with this,” O’Brynn urges.
“Just think about it,” I interrupt. “Are you so much better than us? Here you are chasing down a—a little girl and some boy. If the Ruler really thought you were special he’d have you doing something useful.”
“This is useful!” Scar-face argues. “We were told—”
“She’s baiting you, idiot!” O’Brynn pushes him aside.
“He would try to distract you from the truth!” I shout a bit too quickly. It still catches their attention.
“Why would you listen to an incompetent child?” O’Brynn asks.
“Haven’t you ever wondered why others got all the glory and the crucial missions?” I continue. “Your jobs really aren’t so significant.”
Murmurs of agreement arise from the guards at the trees.
“Shut up, will you?” O’Brynn eyes the crowd nervously. “She’s lying.”
“How do we know you’re not lying?” one of the guards calls out.
“Yeah.” Scar-face turns to him. “How do we know you’re trying to tell us differently because you’re holding out on all the good missions?”
“I heard he went to the Ruler’s Hall to get a special assignment last week!”
“I deserve more missions!”
“He’s lazy!”
“SHUT UP!” O’Brynn roared, but the guards were too angry to care.
“He’s denying it; it must be true!”
“I’m getting that mission!”
“You? You’re a—”
The guards started shoving each other, the argument heating up. Suddenly the first punch was thrown, and a full blown fight began.
I grab Jkahl’s arm and pull him to the nearest cluster of trees. “Run!” I whisper, and we sprint as far as possible before collapsing. I clutch at my side and lean against a tree trunk, catching my breath. Jkahl sits, breathing heavily.
“That—was too close,” he pants.
“We need to keep going; they must be after us by now,” I look back over my shoulder.
“How—how did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“That,” Jkahl gestures back the way we came. “I would’ve believed you were a persuasion kid!”
“That’s how I stall,” I explain, sitting down next to him.
“Come on, one of your parents had to be persuasion!” Jkahl insists.
“My mom’s healing,” I reply.
“And your dad?”
I stand back up. “We should get going.”
“But—”
“Come on, they’ll be here any minute!” I start jogging off to the right.
“Adi!”
“What?”
“You’re heading north.”
“And?” I turn around, hand on hip.
“We were originally heading east.”
“And now we’re looping back around,” I continue. I hear his footsteps behind me.
“What do you mean ‘looping back around’?” He catches up to me.
“Well we’re not just going to leave our provisions there,”
“How—?”
“Just trust me,”
“Trust you?” He meets my eyes.
“Why wouldn’t you?”
“Adi…”
“I see tracks!” the sound of the guards in the distance amplifies.
“Come on; we don’t have much time!” I take off again.
