Eliza and the Queen

Chapter Ten

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Sir Merek was so mad his faceturned two shades of red. Tristan did not mean to help the witch. Hesaw her struggling to reach the surface and no one would or couldhelp her. He didn't want to see her drown. His mother had taught himto help people and when he saw her fighting for her life, he knew hehad to help her. He had forgotten what the other knights would thinkif he helped her. Now he knew and was now fearing for his life. Helowered his head listening to Sir Merek yell for what seemed likehours. Then he stopped to breath a few minutes before yelling abouthow they would never get the witch now. Tristan felt no regret forhelping, but regretted letting the others see his weakness.

"You helped the mostdangerous witch escape! Explain yourself Sir Tristan!"

Tristan looked at him andanswered with the best lie he could come up with. "She was going todie sir. The queen wants her life so I saved her life. She escapedbefore I could hold her."

Sir Merek thought about his liefor a few minutes then grabbed his sword from the ground and sighed.He looked out over the river scratching his curly beard thinking hardabout something. Tristan watched him hoping the queen wouldn't hearabout his incident. He felt the warm air hit his cheek making himfeel calm even though his heart raced as he waited to hear what wouldhappen next. The other knights remained quiet a few minutes beforegathering their things as well.

"No more helping this witchor the next person who does will find the same fate as her in theend." Tristan nodded and followed the knights off into the forest.Did he do the wrong thing helping her escape or would his mother beproud?

They followed the witches trailthat she had accidentally left behind. Tristan fell behind watchingthe birds in the trees feeling jealous of their freedom and how theywere not involved in the queens evil ways. He wanted to be a bird.Wanted to fly away from all the evil in this world and not worryabout anything. He thought of the witch and how beautiful she was.She had the most beautiful blue eyes and beautiful blonde hair thathung around her face. He did not see evil in her eyes. He saw a girltrying to find something. He was trying to show the other knightsthat he was just like them, but he was not doing a very good job. Hisheart was too kind to do this. He was a failure.

They rode for several hoursfollowing the trail, but never catching up to the witch and herfriend. Tristan was tired and wanted to rest, but didn't want toupset Sir Merek even more. Instead, he relaxed thinking of his motherand how at nights, she would tuck him in and sing him to sleep. Hismother sang like an angel and he loved to hear her sing. He wishedshe would sing to him now. He missed his mother.

Artesia was a small village butoverlooked the mountains and was very beautiful. The grass was greenand flowers grew everywhere. The warm air made farming bearable. Thepeople looked so happy as if they knew nothing about the queen andher plans. Most of the people were farmers and sold most of theircrops in market. The smell of fresh baked bread filled the streetsand it made Eliza hungry. They had been traveling all day and gotworn out having to rid their trail of the soldiers. Now both lookedlike they had not rested or eaten.

"They are very welcominghere. We are safe here for the night. The soldiers will never catchup now." Shakira said.

Eliza nodded and held the reinstightly. She had walked the rest of the way here not wanting to ride.Her feet ached, but she knew her horse was even more tired. When theyreached a small post to tie the horses, they tied them to it andwalked around. Children were dancing around selling flowers andsinging song aloud. Eliza watched them smiling. The last time she sawa child smile like that was when her sister was playing in the fieldsand was having the time of her life.