The Ill-mannered Door (humorous sci-fi)

22.2: The Wisdom Hedges

I froze in place as the light from a lantern flashed back and forth over the hedge that was all that stood between us and discovery.

"You see something, Dale?" I heard a nearby voice say.

"Thought I heard somethin'," said a closer voice, likely Dale.

I wasn't sure what they did to strange men that they found hiding behind hedges in the darkness, but I didn't want to find out.

The tense moment drew on, and more lanterns started to illuminate the hedge. It was a good hedge, but surely wouldn't stand up to careful scrutiny much longer.

There came the sound of the door creaking open again, but I didn't dare to even turn my head to look.

The voice of the king called out, "Oh, you're still here. Good. I'll walk with you."

"What? Oh, hello again, sire," one of the guardsmen said and the lanterns turned away from our hedge.

"Yes, it's dark out here. I'll walk with you for a bit. You've got some nice lanterns there and I've forgotten to bring mine."

"Certainly, sire."

"All right, off we go then," the king said, and the guardsmen followed him as he headed off down the road.

A few moments passed before I started breathing again.

"My leg fell asleep," Derek whispered in the darkness beside me.

I whispered back, "If the king hadn't led those men away..."

"Yep."

"Think he's coming back?"

"He'd better. Probably be awhile though. Better get comfortable, eh?" he whispered before adjusting position again.

I cleared some more stones out from under me and sat down in the dirt, stretching out my sore legs.

"What are we going to do, Derek?"

"Wait."

"No, I mean after. Do you think we can stop this whole nasty nuclear destruction business?"

"Don't know, Thomas," he said and then went silent for a while. Then he said, "Sorry, I wish I could say yes, but I can't."

Time passed, and I eventually laid down in our place of relative safety behind the hedge.