Angel & Hero

20. Arrested

Emée's Point of View

We spent a few seconds of silence in the carriage then all laughed nervously at the same time. I could finally exhale, the guards couldn't follow us anymore and hadn't even seen us. We had time before they gave the alert.

Sébastien and I were out of breath from our race, covered in leaves and branches, dirt on our boots but I didn't care. I was out of this hell, I would never get locked in that bedroom again or be humiliated and silenced by Alexandre.

I rested my back against the seat, after so many hours spent standing up, I finally got to sit down for a while and rest my aching legs.

"Hello, Sébastien, Emée. I am Ariane, a royal guard of the Hero Kingdom. I have been working with Prince Léni personally for some time now with Jasmine, who is driving. We have been looking for a plan to get you back ever since you disappeared, Emée. I'm glad we finally found you. How are you feeling?"

"Relieved." I laughed. All the emotions were building up and I felt like laughing and crying at the same time. I hadn't even noticed that the accumulated stress and the abuse had worn me out of all of my energy. I was an empty shell but as always, I tried to look for the bright side of things: it was a chance to start over.

"That's good to hear. We are pretty far from our destination so I suggest you get some sleep, I will wake you up when we arrive." Ariane said.

"Where are you bringing me?" I asked.

"Prince Léni doesn't want you to live by yourself and you mustn't be fond of that idea either." I nodded in agreement. "The royal palace would be an obvious place to look for you and your houses as well so Prince Léni asked, if you agree of course, to make you stay in his private cabin in the woods. No one knows about it except him, us and King Rédi. Alexandre won't find you there and it's only temporary until that demon is judged." She said with clear distraint in her voice.

"I trust you, do what you think is best." In reality I was just so tired, I wouldn't even have found the strength to argue back. The movement of the carriage was shaking us and despite my state, I didn't think I could sleep in there.

"Perfect. It's about an hour away in the forest but it's pretty deep so the carriage won't be able to go far enough, you will still have to walk a little. Here, I also brought water and food. You're going to need it."

"What is walk a little?"

"Well, depends on how well you sleep for the next hour, it's usually about thirty minutes." She chuckled. I wanted to smile as well but honestly I had my daily dose of physical exercise for the year and the perspective of walking again didn't particularly delight me.

Ariane handed me and Sébastien a gourd of water and we greedily drank from it, my mouth was so dry! We were also granted some delicious bread, they didn't make those in demon territory! Crispy crust, tasteful inside, it was heaven after not having eaten since lunch. And Ariane even gave us some sugary fruits, I felt reborn again. What can a full stomach do your mind...

Slowly, I felt my eyes closing despite the constant shake of the carriage on the irregular road. I knew I was going to be woken up in less an hour but a short nap was till better than nothing, especially if we had a few kilometers to cover. So I fell into a dreamless sleep.

~~~~¤~~~~

I woke up from being shaken by Ariane. She had her hand on my shoulder and Sébastien was already outside.

"Hey, wake up Emée. We have to start walking and then you'll get a good night of sleep." I stretched and got out of the vehicle. I still had so many questions.