The Royal Journey

Chapter 6

I fell asleep before I could see Cal when he got out the bathroom. When I woke up he was gone and I was left to my lonely. I didn't bother to leave and go looking for him either. I was caught in my own thoughts.

I heard the door open and he came in. "You're finally up huh." He brung me food but I wasn't very hungry.

"You need to eat princess."

"Stop calling me that. You know my name."

Turning away he tried to hide a small smile. "Are you ok?" He nodded his head then looked at me. He didn't say anything. His eyes locked with mines and I couldn't bring myself to look away again. "You shouldn't worry about me." I brushed it off and sat there.

"What do we do now Cal?"

He stopped and started thinking. I didn't know what he was thinking or if he still wanted to turn me in or not. "I don't want to harbor the princess, but you seem to always get into trouble. Do you want to go back?"

"No."

"Why not?"

I hesitated before I answered. It bothered me to think there was a chance of me going back. I would then have no choice in my life again. No excitement. No adventure. Just a locked up life and forced marriage.

"I was tired of my life being chosen for me. I left because when my birthday came I'd be forced to marriage a dumb prince."

"A dumb prince huh."

He sat beside me and ran his hands through his hair slowly, calmly. "This isn't the life you should live though. These are the slums not a lavish castle. You people don't care for people like us." He clearly despised us.

"Us people!?"

"Yeah you people! You're just a confused princess who doesn't know hardship. You're selfish."

"I'm not confused! I know what I want!"

"Then why are you here?"

"This is where I want to be!"

"On the run? Living as a peasant? How about you stop whining and change how my people have to live."

I was taken back by his statement. He glared at me. Piercing me with his eyes. "I-I didn't know it was like this when I lived in the castle."

"Of course you didn't.....princess."

I sat quietly with nothing more to say. Was I really selfish. Was I really blind to our country's state of things?

"Don't over do yourself. You didn't know." He handed me the food again and I took it this time. I ate it not knowing how hungry I really was. "We should leave Cal."

"I agree, but right now we have no where else to go."

"There's a festival coming soon in the next kingdom."

He paused and thought for a moment before giving me his thoughts. "Fine, but we need to be careful. There's going to be a lot of people and with that many people someone will recognize you." I knew it was a risk but I always wanted to go to a festival like that. "We'll take a carriage over there. I know a guy."

I got up to get anything I left behind and throw it away. I didn't need to leave a trace.

"You need new clothes so you don't look suspicious, and we need to do something with you hair."

As we headed out the man that ran the inn wasn't there. After all I don't think we were going to pay for the room anyway.

"The travel to the guy will be a distance, so be prepared for anything that comes our way."

I was ready, or at least I thought I was. I knew I couldn't put myself at risk. The only thing was, I liked these new risk. This experience...the everyday life of a peasant. I truly felt bad. Knowing people lived like this and I thought it was.....fun.

Cal grabbed my hand and out of shock I jumped. "Come on already, we don't have all day." I took his hand and my heart wouldn't stop beating. I started to feel...hot. My face was flushed and my breathing was erratic.

"Are you ok? What's wrong?" He brung his hands up to my face and examined me...closely.

"I'm fine." Suppressing my feelings I pushed his hands away and started to walk. I could feel his eyes watching me walk away. The thought gave me goosebumps. Knowing he was watching me.

We walked for a hour into the distance and I didn't know where we were going. "Take a break, you seem tired." There was a rock not to far up the hill so I went to sit on it. "How much longer Cal." He looked around then stopped. "West, we go west from here and will be there by sunset."

Dusting myself off I got up and we continued our journey west.

It felt like hours before we stopped again. Every time we stopped it felt like nothings changed but the time. The surrounding was woodsy but not a lot of trees. I didn't question where we were going or what kingdom we were going to be in. I just wanted to get to our destination.

"Stop." He held his arm out to make sure I didn't go any further. "What?" He didn't answer me. "Bandits....they're close. And if our lucks told us anything, you could be a target if they spot us."

I've seen my father lock up lots of bandits. Criminals that do dirty work for people underground. I wasn't particularly scared, but worry was another thing. "What do we do?"

"We'll have to go off track until tomorrow. It's getting late and we have no time to find a inn." I saw him turn to a river. I was hoping he wasn't going to do what I thought he was. "This way princess." The smirk on his face said it all.

He's going to do it.

"Take your clothes off."

"WHAT!?"

"Hush Zaria."

He turned around while I disrobed. The sun was going down so it was a lot more cool than I believed it to be." Cal did the same and took our clothes. His body was stunning as always. I couldn't take my eyes off him. "Let me know when you're done staring princess so we can get the show on the roll." He smirked at my expression of embarrassment.

"I wouldn't dare admire you." When In fact all I could do was admire him. My thoughts changed as I watched him go into the river. "Follow behind me." I got in and chills ran up my spine. "It's cold."

"I know." Cal said to me softly like he didn't want to do this, but it's all we could do to avoid any upcoming bandits.

Once we got across he started looking for sticks and leaves and I knew we were going to be camping out for the remainder of the day. Once he got the fire started the sun was going down and darkness began to surround us. "Do you think they'll find us Cal?"

"No, not if we keep a low profile. Don't worry we'll be fine." I noticed him lay back on his shirt like a pillow and close his eyes. I wasn't going to bother him while he tried to rest, but I wasn't tired enough to sleep.

I got up to "pee". That was going to be my excuse Incase anything happened. When really I was going to go walk around.

He seemed like he was in a deep sleep so I walked away quietly.

I've only walked 5 minutes out from the camp site and I found a cliff. A clear cliff. No trees but tall grass. I sat at the edge with my knees to my chest. The stars were beautiful. Something that wasn't tainted by hierarchy and government leadership. Something man couldn't break.

My thoughts continued to run from me. I thought about home, my mother and father. My best friend. I missed them, but I couldn't go back....not now.

My concentration was broke after hearing the grass move. There was no wind. It was a still quiet night. So that only meant....bandits. Before I could jump up a bag was forced over my head.