The Keys: A Tale of a Beginning and End

Chapter twenty five

I felt terrible having to leave when they needed us the most, but what could we do we had little experience in combat and there was no way we could defeat that many soldiers by ourselves. We continued riding south, staying off the road in order to remain hidden from bounty hunters, soldiers or anyone else trying to capture us. After several hours of being on horse back we stopped, I had nearly fallen off my horse TWICE, the second time Zander caught me and layed me down on a blanket on the floor. I was in and out of consciousness, I vaguely remember seeing them setting up camp, and my second blanket being put on me.

The next morning I awoke to the smell of smoke, most likely from the fire Rosalind set up, I did know that, but what I didn't know was who's arms embraced me. I turned my head and came face to face wth Zander, our noses almost touching, I caught my breath.

If I was staring at him I hadn't realized it, I just didn't want to wake him, he looked so peaceful, his dreams must have been getting better. "What are you doing?" Rosalind whispered to me. "Uuhhh I don't know, I... I kind of am stuck." I whispered back but it seemed to disturb Zander's sleep, and he pulled me into I tighter hug, and I remained there for a few minutes until he woke up.

"Good morning..." Zander said nonchalantly it took him a second and then he FINALLY realized I was having a hard time breathing. "Sorry, my bad." He let go and then stood up and offered me his hand to help me up. Zander and Rosalind worked on breakfast while I checked on our "captive". It seemed like he had been awake for a few hours he had bags under his eyes and his lips were chapped. "ROSALIND!" I called "Get... what's your name?" "My names Collin" he grumbled angrily. "Get Collin some water and save some food for him to." Rosalind nodded and Collin gave me a puzzled look.

When breakfast was ready I went back over to Collin to let him know that I was gonna untie him. "When I untie you don't try to run we'll catch you, just relax and enjoy the food okay, okay." He looked even more confused than before, and followed me cautiously to the campfire and sat down some distance away. I just rolled my eyes and began to eat, Collin didn't eat until he fully inspected the food. "What's his problem?" Zander asked me as he sat down, he looked offended. "It's not your cooking its just that he doesn't want to get drugged or poisoned."

Collin ate his food quickly and asked Rosalind for more, probably because she looked the least threatening. She didn't seem to mind, she was probably happy someone her age was with us, we only found out cause Rosalind was having a nice conversation with him. I noticed that Collin was starting to relax and decided now was the best time to ask him. "How is the kingdom doing under it's new ruler?"