Most Wanted

Chapter 14

When they reached the nearest town, they dismounted.

"It's probably not a good idea to stop here," Hugo advised.

"I know, but we need to trade Bertha. She's been ran a little too long. We need to switch her out with a fresh horse so that we can move faster." He patted her nose. "Sad to see her go, but I think she deserves to go to someone that can give her the best life and actually get use her. I rarely got to ride."

"I'm sure she'll find a good home," Hugo assured him.

They came to the horse stalls in the town where horses were sold. A woman looked at them. "Well, that's a mighty fine steed. One of the best I've seen," she said in awe.

"That she is," Varian agreed as he petted Bertha affectionately. "We came to trade her."

"Well, I believe she is worth two regular horses," she replied thoughtfully.

"What's the fastest you got?" Varian asked.

"Here, I'll show you. He's very tamed and is meant to be a race horse. For your horse, I would trade him and give you some change."

"You have yourself a deal," Varian said.

"Perfect! So, let me get the papers to sign." She came back with the papers and a pen and ink and set it on the table that was typically used to hold riding tools.

Varian went to sign, but Hugo took the pen. "I'll sign it."

"But-"

"Better under my name."

"Right..." Varian handed him the pen. Hugo signed it with rather beautiful penmanship.

"Woah, where'd you learn to write like that?" Varian teased.

"Ha ha," Hugo muttered. He gently wrapped a comforting arm around Varian's shoulders as the lady lead Bertha into the stalls.

She came back with the other horse and a small sack of coins. "He's all yours." She took the signed papers and tipped her hat. "Have a nice day."

"Thank you. You too," Varian replied. His saddle and bridle had already been switched from Bertha to the new horse. "Alright, Jack. Let's see what you can do."

"Jack?" Hugo asked.

"Yeah, I have to call him something, and I prefer something simple," Varian explained as he mounted. "Are you coming or what?"

"I'm coming." Hugo mounted behind him and wrapped his arms around Varian's torso. "We'll need to find a way to get you to sleep while I drive soon," he said.

"Yeah, that way we never stop moving, but we'll figure it out later. Right now, we need more distance."

"So," Hugo began as they began to ride. "What's the plan when we get to Corona. I know we're going to become Coronan citizens, but like, what do we do after that and how exactly are we going to become citizens in so little time?"

"I didn't just chose Corona because it was the closest to where we are. Their citizenship is super quick and easy. I know, because my parents became citizens of Corona for my mom to get the medical treatment she needed. After that, we'll figure things out. Maybe find my parents. We can certainly crash there for a time. Then we can figure out where were going from there."

"Sounds good enough to me," Hugo replied.

"Good, because that's the only plan I got."

"How did you get out?" Hugo asked.

"Well, getting out was fairly simple. I could have left long ago, but I had to keep my two year contract. After that, well... I had to keep my promise to marry him-"

"You're married?" Hugo cried incredulously.

"I burned the papers. All we did was sign them. We didn't even do vows. I drugged Mazouwi so I could find the papers and burn them. It was so satisfying."

"So you're divorced?" Hugo asked unsurely.

"I mean... not legally, but yeah. Close enough. We have no legal proof of ever being married either sooooo..."

"Huh, that's a lot to wrap your head around."

"Yeah, I decided not to think about it too much."