The Last Princess

Chapter 70

"Someone's coming." Aiden hissed.

The three of us tensed immediately. "Who?" Arden asked in a hushed voice. "How am I supposed to know who?! I just know that some elf is in my shield and we have to hide. Now!" Aiden said. I exchanged a worried glance with Maple, and we picked up the swords.

"Hide where?" She asked. "I don't know, look around!" Aiden said, whirling around in a circle, apparently looking for places to hide. "There!" Arden pointed to a hollow beneath a tree, large enough for all of us.

"It's too visible!" Aiden cried. "Just get in!" I told him. We ran inside with the weapons, shoving them behind us. We crouched in there. I was in the left corner, next to Aiden. Beside him was Maple and in the other corner Arden.

"We'll be seen easily!" Aiden fretted. I rolled my eyes. This was easily fixed. A plus side to Nalvia's visions was that I was feeling more attuned to the Forest. I closed my eyes and willed a curtain of vines to sprout from above and cover us. When I opened my eyes, we were completely obscured from the surrounding area. Of course, that also meant we couldn't see what was going on outside, but that couldn't be helped.

Aiden was staring at me, looking surprised. I shook my head at him. "That's all it took, Mr. We're-going-to-be-seen." He huffed and pressed his lips together, now looking annoyed. Then he mumbled something under his breath that sounded remarkably like 'Showoff'.

"I am not-" I was interrupted by Arden. "Is this really the time?" Aiden glared at me smugly. I glared right back, staring him down. He shifted and looked at the others, saying, "Keep your head down when whoever it is comes. But keep your ears open. It could be anyone." 

"Like your father, looking for us." Maple said, whispering. He grunted and nodded his head once. We were all silent, waiting. I barely took any breaths. Finally we heard the sound of hoofbeats. I felt Aiden tensing beside me.

He tapped the back of my hand, and I looked down. He spread his fingers. Four. Four horses. Four riders. I nodded at him to show I understood. But who were they?

"There's no one here, Sir." One of them said. "Search the area." Another said, his voice commanding. Aiden's fist clenched, his fingers brushing against my hand. I looked up and saw dirt rising up in front of us, forming a wall between us and the elves.

I couldn't make out what they were saying, only gentle murmuring, even though the four of us were dead silent. "There's something here!" One of the elves yelled. He was very close, by the sound of his voice. Aiden grabbed my hand.

I heard some scrabbling noises. Someone was at the front of our hollow. I stopped breathing. It was like everything just paused. Finally the rider yelled, "Nothing!"

I let out a breath as his footsteps faded away. Aiden let go of my hand, and I saw the wall of dirt crumble down slowly. We could hear what they were saying. The one with the commanding voice was yelling, "We have to find her!"

My eyes snapped to Aiden. Me? He shook his head and shrugged, indicating that he didn't know. "And the others." Another one of them said. His voice sounded familiar. Maple gasped. I shot a questioning look her way. 'Rebels' She mouthed, eyes wide.

Which meant they were searching for us. 

I was thankful they weren't Ivy's soldiers. But I also hoped they didn't find us. "The Princess is more important." The leader said. "So are the other three. We have to find them all." The one with the familiar voice said.

"Yes, all of them! Now let's move out!" The leader ordered. "Thank Nalvia we don't have to go by that horrible trees way we were sent by from the camp." One of them said. The others grunted agreement.

Finally the sound of the horses faded away, and we crept out of the hollow. We were silent for a moment, just breathing. Finally Aiden turned to Maple. "How did you know those were rebels?"

She shrugged, looking a bit embarrassed. "I recognized that guy. The one who said that they had to look for the rest of us. Pecan. That soldier we met, remember? 

Pecan, of course. That was why his voice had sounded so familiar. Of course he'd be looking for us. A lot of rebels were, probably. "We'll have to be careful." I said. "They shouldn't be lessening our army by sending soldiers out to look for us." Aiden said, looking frustrated.

"She's kind of a big deal, you know." Arden said, retrieving our weapons, looking at me. "You must have known him well, to have recognized his voice so easily. And we couldn't hear very well." Aiden said. I detected a suspicious edge in his voice. There was a tinge of pink on Maple's cheeks. "I've know him for a long time, yes. We're friends."

 Then she shot a glance my way, begging me to change the topic. I did. "Guys, we should leave. We know they're looking for us, we have to keep moving. "

"Let's go." Aiden said, and we started walking.