Only Chance

12.

"Tell me exactly what the note said," I ordered firmly to Ozanne, as we made a mad dash into the woods.

"I wrote: 'meet us at the outskirts of the Eshaizar empire, at midnight three days later'," Ozanne puffed, rolling her eyes. "Okay, I think we can stop running now. We've probably covered half the wood already. And it's not like his guards are chasing us or something."

"Fine," I agreed reluctantly, pausing and bracing my knees with my hands I was so exhausted. I panted a few times, and rummaged through my pack, fishing out a water bottle and taking a few sips before tucking it back inside. Darwyn had gifted us with each a backpack of common things like water and food (which were quickly running out), and our most handy weapons. I had my bow and quiver of arrows and Ozanne had her potion pack.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Ozanne asked after a moment of quiet panting. "We can't give him medicine- father warned us, remember? Beware of the people who search for you. We have to find some way of an excuse...by three midnights." Ozanne took out her own bottle and gulped down mouthfuls of cool water.

"His name," I gasped, "was Prince Arius."

"I heard," Ozanne said briskly, and I was glad I was traveling with her for a split-second. Anyone else, and they'd be screaming at me for accidentally giving away that we could heal Arius.

"No, Prince Arius. You don't know- Oh, yeah...I've never told you...yet. Prince Arius was the one I was about to be shipped off to marry," I confessed. Three years still hadn't erased that atrocious memory.

"Him?!" Ozanne gaped, her eyes widening and face turning pale. "Then we definitely can't give him a potion! I take it back, we can't heal him! He's probably associated with the empress... with that is enough distrust."

"How about this," I figured after a brief moment of contemplating a plan. "We don't give him a potion when we meet him, we refuse. He may be a prince, but my arrows here don't care." I patted my bow.

"That sounds lovely," Ozanne said sarcastically. "What about the guards? Do your arrows care about them? Wouldn't it be easier to just not come at all?"

"Fine," I sighed, crossing my arms, "we go to the clearing and find out what's his problem. He'd be kinda desperate, you know? We could, like, bargain with him not to be evil or something. I mean, I would be desperate if I shot blood out of my... what...? Rib cage, I would be pretty desperate...?" I gagged.

"Good for you, then," Ozanne said curtly, but nodded nonetheless. "Fine. We'll go with your 'go with it' plan. Three midnights...are we getting ourselves into messes already?"

"Well, if a gruesome prince who talks in a gloating voice counts, sure," I said carelessly, and bent down to clasp a piece of twig I'd found on the ground. "Come on, let's make a fire and set camp for the night."

The rain had halted by now, giving in the skies of the fearsome night clogged with sheets of still-lingering clouds, but all the wooden twigs and stuff were soggy and moist. "Maybe not a fire," I added, letting go of the twig, which left a damp impression on my palm. "But we still have food in our packs that Darwyn packed us, right?" I kicked the twig and it skittered away. "You can start eating and make camp for the night, thanks. I'll go practice some archery."

Ozanne rolled her eyes, but she was smiling by now. "Leaving all the dirty work with the lowly not-royal."

"I am not proud of being a royal, but for saying that, you can also find some water in a nearby stream: here," I said, half-playfully and half-acknowledgingly, and handed her my water bottle. I left my pack that Darwyn had given me and my water bottle, everything except for my bow with Ozanne at the clearing for our camp, and then headed off into the woods to practice archery.