Kingdoms (kaimaki fantasy AU)

Chapter 14: Help?

THANK YOU FOR THE 300+ READS EVERYONE 🥳

The a couple of the next chapters were inspired by scenes from the 2007 movie "Stardust" one of my personal fantasy/romance favourites. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it.

I don't think that this chapter is my best, but I hope you all like it.

"So, how long will it take to get to this town?" Kaito asked. It had been a few hours since he and Maki got back on solid ground. Kaito felt like his feet had started to blister again since he started to get used to this much walking. He hand to wrap bandages around his feet to try to at least dull the pain a little. He and Maki had stopped to eat. They were thankful for the extra rations Gonta had given them back at the camp otherwise they'd be going on empty stomachs. They'll have to refresh their supply when they get to the town.

"Two days at least." Maki said after a minute. She was only guessing, but judging how fast it had rolled into the afternoon at this point, she as more or less right. Either way, unless they found shelter again, they'll be walking along the road in the dark. It was too dangerous to do that out in the open.

"That doesn't sound good. Unless we come across an inn or cottage or something on the way, we won't get much cover at night." Kaito muttered, trying to hide how nervous he was. It was a poor attempt. Maki picked it up very easily.

"That's what I'm afraid of. Maybe we should've asked Miu to drop us off at the town. It would've been faster." Maki said, clearly beating herself up. Kaito wanted to tell her that it wasn't her fault for not thinking ahead like this. Then again, a big air ship like that would be extremely hard to drop off its passengers near the town, they would've been spotted for sure. Even if it was a mile or so away from the town. It was too much of a risk. Kaito was ready to make another suggestion but then he heard something. It was behind them. Kaito turned around focused on it carefully. When he heard the sound of a horse and wheels approaching, he was worried that it was the guards again. However, he felt like leaping for joy when he saw that it was just a small wagon coming towards them. As far as he could tell, there were two people at the front.

"Maki Roll, look." Kaito called to Maki. She was only a couple of metres in front of him, not noticing that he had stopped walking. Kaito suddenly started waving his arms, trying to get the attention of the driver and their companion. "Hey!"

"What are you doing?" Maki hissed, grabbing his arms. She didn't know what he was thinking, but she wasn't sure if it was a good idea to grab these strangers' attention.

"They might be able to help." Kaito explained, looking desperate. Maki could understand where he was coming from. She wanted to find somewhere safe for them to be for the night. The problem is that Kaito can't just flag down every person they see on the road. That was just practically asking for an ambush.

"We don't know if it's a trap or not." Maki tried to warn Kaito, wanting him to try to think about his actions before he acted upon them.

"We gotta try something." Kaito begged. Maki was hesitant. She really didn't want to a worse case scenario happening. Maybe it won't happen. If it does, she's more than ready for it. Seeing that Maki was willing to give it a try, Kaito once again waved his arms to get the driver's attention. It seemed to have worked as the wagon slowed down to a stop, halting at least a couple of meters from Kaito and Maki. The wagon was plain wooden colour with flowers skill fully drawn with expert detail. Two girls were at the front of the wagon. One of them seemed to be younger. She had short red hair and brown eyes. Her eyes were half lidded, showing that she may be tired. She wore brown boots, a knee length red dress and a black blouse. On top of her head was a pointed hat, showing that she could possibly be a Mage.