The Wanderer

Chapter 1

            Her breathing came in heavy gasps as she sprinted through the forest, fleeing her pursuers.  She leapt over limbs and shrubs, trying not to trip on the gnarled roots that lay buried beneath the leaves.  If she was not quick, she would be buried beneath those leaves as well.  Her curly blonde hair was pulled and snatched as it caught on branches and her fingers were bleeding from pushing hundreds of brambles out of her path.

            She shot a quick glance over her shoulder.   She could not see them, but she knew that the four heavily armed men were not far behind her.  Why, oh why, did she have to walk into the clearing at that moment?  Why couldn’t she have minded her own business?  After what she had seen, they would not let her live.

            She could have run straight home, but what good would that have done.  Those men would have just broken down her door to get her, killing her family and anyone else who stood in their way.  No one would believe a peasant girl over four royal guards.  Why, they might even find a way to make her look like the one to blame.  She shivered at the thought and kept running towards the large lake ahead.

            Although she wore heavy skirts, the men who chased her were weighed down with heavy armor and swords.  They also did not have the advantage of knowing the terrain, as she did.  The head start that she had on them was just enough for her to use to her advantage.  As she neared the lake, the men still had not come into sight.  In fact, she could not even hear them, but that did not fool her into thinking that they had stopped following her.

            Quickly, she ran onto the dock, her bare feet hardly making a sound.  Knowing, she had only a couple of minutes before the men would catch up to her, bringing them in sight, she dove off the dock, entering the water with barely a sound.  As she resurfaced, she brushed her hair out of her face and swam towards a patch of cattails that grew rather thickly.  They surrounded a small piece of land, barely four feet wide that was nearly invisible because of the abundance of shrubs and lichen that grew unhindered.  It also helped that several trees had fallen into the water near this spot, further hiding it from view.

            She neared the small island and pulled herself up on it, hiding out of sight, for once thankful for her ugly brown gown.  Her wet gown clung to her, as she hunkered down into the overgrown foliage.  She shivered and whether it was from fear or being wet, she didn’t know.

Taking slow breaths she forced herself to breathe quietly rather than gasp for the air she desperately needed.  Her eyes grew accustomed to the darkness of her hiding spot and she breathed a sigh of thanks that there was not much of a moon out tonight.  As she watched the tree line surrounding the shore, four men came running out, but came to a quick stop.  She saw them look around confusedly and strained her ears to hear what they had to say.

            “Where’d she go?” a stocky young guard with dark hair said to his companions.  He surveyed the lake, not seeing a sign of her, and turned his attention to the flat plain surrounding the lakeshore.  “If she’d run this way, we’d see her.  There’s not a place to hide out here.”

            “She must have run a different way.  I told you I thought I heard her running on our left, circling back around us.”  He grabbed the helm off of his blonde head and threw it to the ground, muttering under his breath.

            “Shut up!  Both of you!” the tallest of them said.  His eyes shown angrily in the moonlight and he glared at the other three.  “If it wasn’t for the fact that the three of you are idiots, we wouldn’t be chasing anyone right now!”  He stepped closer to his companions, towering over them menacingly.  “I told you to make sure the area was secure.  And what happens?  A girl, a tiny…measly… PEASANT GIRL…comes sauntering into our little ‘gathering’ at the worst moment.  She saw everything!  Do you understand what this means, you idiots?”  He paused, but no one dared to speak.