Thursday, March 17, 2016

Chapter 43

They looked at each other for a moment before acting as one, leading their horses off road into the small cluster of trees.
"Good thing the forest doesn't end for a couple more miles, huh?" Cayle whispered, grinning at her.
Deanna rolled her eyes as they crawled forward to get a view of the road.  
They stopped just inside the tree line, where there were a few bushes to hide them should whomever is on the horses look in their direction.
They didn't have to wait long until the horses crested the small hill.
There were 3 riders, each with their own packhorse tethered to their horses. They were silent as they continued passed Deanna and Cayle's hiding place, before splitting up.
One man took the road north, the other two took the road to the south.
Once the riders were gone from sight, they slipped out of their hiding place and back towards the horses.
"Did you see what I saw?" Deanna asked, a frown on her face as she removed a collapsible bucket from her saddlebag and filled it with water for Krennan to drink from.
Cayle nodded. "One of those men was bearing the royal crest, but he looked no more a royal guard than I do."
She sighed as she leaned against a tree.
"What do you suppose we should do?" Cayle asked as he filled his own collapsible bucket for Starfall.
"I don't know." She said. "If there is an imposter in the royal house, we should warn the king, but would he listen to us?"
"Why wouldn't he?"
She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Really? A farmer and a fugitive? We'd be locked up before we got within two feet of the throne room."
He opened his mouth to reply, then shut it again. He couldn't argue with that.
"Then what are we supposed to do? Just let an impostor, a possible assassin, roam the castle grounds?"
"No," She said, picking up the bucket and putting it away, while also retrieving an apple and feeding it to Krennan. "We head back to the Dukes castle and talk to the others, we still need to rescue Marianna."
He didn't reply, so she continued. "Once we've accomplished that, then we will try and think of something to do about the 'guard.'"
'He nodded agreement and they led the horses out of the small copse of trees and mounted, immediately breaking into a gallop.
                                                                           *
They spent a restless night in the saddle, stopping only to water the horses, before they would set off again.
When the light of day was just cresting over the hills in the distance, the Dukes castle came into view, and with it the Kings pavillion.
"Finally." Cayle said with relief.
Deanna nodded agreement and they spurred the horses into a trot towards the kings' camp.

1 comment:

  1. Ha, awesome. They just hid in the trees when the guys came up behind them! I loved that little sentences from Cayle and eyeroll from Deanna!
    That was a fun chapter.

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