The Pure Ones

Chapter Fourteen

PENELOPE'S POV

If anyone told me even just weeks ago that I would would be a fugitive fleeing Bravenik with Alistair I would call them insane. Yet there I was, on a horse with him, riding through uncharted lands. It had been days since Alistair and I last had a conversation. I had tried my best to get him to talk but I was usually met with silence. He seemed to be upset with me or just upset in general, and I could think of a few reasons why.

So much had happened in such little time, I had killed a man for starters. The memory of blood dripping from the sword in my hand and the poor man dropping dead, it haunted my dreams every night. I could not believe what a monster I had become, but what troubled my mind the most was the revelation of Alistair's magic. I never knew such a thing was possible, I had so many questions but Alistair was not ready to speak to me. I asked myself why I even felt safe traveling with him after I saw his magic rip off a man's head, but I had no answer, somehow I just trusted that he would not hurt me.

"It's late, we should camp here" Alistair suddenly said as we came to a halt, I closed the pages of my journal. He jumped off Galorian and took off some bags from his saddle that contained quilts and blankets that we would set on the ground to sleep. As I arranged the quilts, I heard Alistair sigh as he looked into our near empty bag of food that we had been managing for days.

"This won't last us much longer. We need to get some food" he said.

"What will we do? I don't see any town nearby, or any people for that matter"

"I'll have to look. Do you mind staying on your own for a while?"

I looked around my eerily quiet surroundings, bleak with dead trees scattered scantily around. I suppressed a shiver as I spoke,

"I guess I don't have much of a choice"

"I'll keep you company!" A familiar purple winged creature said as it flew to me. I had been introduced to Lily recently, I could not even be surprised by her existence given what I had experienced the past couple of days.

As Alistair rode off on Galorian, I slowly sat down on the quilt. I took a deep and uninspired sigh as I rested my head in my palms.

"Let me guess, you're already regretting running off with this idiot!" Lily teased.
"NO! Well I mean, not exactly"
"Well what were ya thinking?! Thought it would be easy?" Lily said as she started to angrily fly around my head, tiny puffs of smoke expelling from her nose. As she spoke I slowly rubbed the patch of mosquito bites on my arm trying to soothe the itch.

"Of course I knew things would be difficult, but that's not what truly bothers me. It's Alistair, I wish he would just tell me why he is so upset with me"
"Pen! Pen! Pen! That boy is not upset with you, not even in the slightest! He is upset with himself!"

I tilted my head,"What?"

I then heard a crackle of branches from the thick forest next to me, my heart jumped as I wrapped my arms around myself. My eyes darted in different directions as I got up and slowly backed away until my back pressed against a hard surface.

As I turned around I had the shock of my life. A man stood right behind me with a red scarf wrapped around his head and face concealing his identity. I screamed loudly and tripped but the man held my hand before I could reach the ground.

"It ain't a safe place for a girl like you to be all alone" he said as his dull green eyes inspected me, he spoke in an accent I had never heard before. He soon noticed the two quilts set on the floor,

"Oh, not alone huh? Then I better get going before your friend comes back" he chuckled before he let go of my hand and started to walk away. I was so confused by the encounter that I almost did not notice the man casually walking away holding a bag, my bag.