Hunted Queen

Chapter Twenty Four • From Dawn to Dusk

-William- 

Dawn had arrived and there had been no news concerning Jade. No scouts had returned to report back on her whereabouts or her well-being. He had nothing! Well... he had the silent stares of his friends and his father. But he had nothing new. Just silence and an all-devouring and crushing pain within him. 

In the middle of the night, William's father had suddenly started to chuckle and smirk. It didn't even seem like he could feel the corners of his mouth slowly twist upwards, or the low sound of his chuckle leave his body. At first, seeing his father like that had angered William beyond comprehension. But when confronted, his father had said that he was thinking of Jade and how sorry he felt for the lot that had captured her. How he believed that she would fight them with what little she tools she had, his father's smirk had turned into a sad smile after that. That tongue of her will most likely put some of them in their place. His father had mumbled, afterwards his sad smile had transformed into a solemn line. The pain and devastation had been drowned out from hearing his father speak of her. His heart broke at the mere sound of her name. His stomach churned from the thought of what could happen to her. His face wanted to break out into a faint trace of serenity from what his father had said, but it never did. Not after remembering her screaming his name. Was she still screaming? 

That mouth of hers could also get her into even more trouble than she's already in... William had sighed and pulled his hand through his hair. Silence had fallen between them room shortly after that. 

No one had made an effort to urge him into speaking since then. The only thing people around him did was inform him whenever his eyes locked onto theirs, that there was no news. 

The rest of the night had consisted of him trying to figure out on how to get Jade back, alive. It. took a lot out of him to stay on top of his temper and quell the urge to rush after the men that stole her in his bare feet. The urge struck him like small quakes. One after the other, they rolled over him and rendered him close to useless of anything else than silence and walking back and forth. And now and then, he thought of the baby. The baby! Every time he realized that Jade was carrying his child - their child - his heart nearly shattered into a million pieces. 

Dawn's yellowish and orange misty light slowly turned into daylight. Fog clung to the chilly air and it slithered through the camp like bony fingers. 

At midday, William was dressed and walking through the camp - when he had accomplished to put a shirt over his head and step into a pair of trousers, he wasn't sure. Walking to each end of the camp was the only way of getting some sliver of privacy. If one could call being eyed down by every man around 'privacy'. At least no one tried to speak with him while he was in motion. He felt empty and drained of all energy as he tried to grasp that he was going to be a father. But as soon as the thought started to settle in him, images of losing Jade and the child, stole it all away from him. 

It wasn't until dusk that the sound of a horn being blown reached his ears. He was staring down the muddy path that went through the camp. Men came out of their tents, rose from sitting by bonfires and stopped with whatever they were doing as the horn sounded a second time. Faces turned to watch each other, some noticed him standing in the middle of the path and landed on him. Then, they returned to where the sound of the horn had come from. 

William fixed his gaze on the other end of the camp, waiting. Even though he felt close to dead inside, his heart started racing. 

Jade. Was the only thing he could  think. It could be news about her. What else would it be? 

A man came stumbling into the camp. From the look of him, he couldn't place the weight of his body on his right leg. Every step he took with it made his upper lip crawl up over his teeth, turning his mouth into a snarl.