A Faithful Choice

Chapter Eight

Matt missed Ayla. His corgi was always happy, and she was the last present from his mother. Corgis were hard to come by, and his mother bought Ayla before she would have gotten beat to death. A shout from the others shook him from his daydream.

"Oh my goodness! What happened to you?"
Matt ran over to find Ben on his hands and knees, bleeding. New gashes in his face and body were streaming of the red liquid. Matt gasped. He thought people who got stoned died. Apparently Ben was the only living victim to tell the tale.

Sara was staring at Ben with tears running down her face and worry written all over her figure.

"Ben! What hurts the most?" Ben indicated to one of his legs, which was bent at an odd angle. Matt gaped. Ben broke his leg. Ben's face went from sickly pale to green in a matter of seconds.

"Ben! I'll get your leg set as soon as possible. I just need a lot of bandages for you. Alissa, go into the right saddlebag on Aero and take out the bandages. Quickly! He'll bleed out!"

Matt looked over at Abigail and found her face pale. She wavered on her feet for a minute and fainted. Matt sprinted forward and tried to catch her before she hit her head. Her body hit the ground, and Matt managed to catch her head before she hit on a rock.

"Miss Sara! A little help over here!"
Sara shouted back, "I am kind of tied up here! What's the issue?"
"Miss Abigail fainted!"
"Just let her rest!"
Matt shouted his thanks and lay her down where her bedroll was. He felt as if he was going to throw up. One of his best friends could die and Lady Everett could never wake up. His situation was hopeless.

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

Abigail stared at Ben as he fell to his knees and averted her vision to Sara. Abi's nurse looked like she could cry, scream or throw up. Abigail wanted to put an arm around Sara, but she couldn't move her feet. Abi watched as Ben's face went from snow white to sickly green. Abigail saw black spots dance around her eyes and felt herself falling before she blacked out.

When she came to, Matt was leaning over her, worry written on his face. "Are you all right? What happened?"
"I-I don't know. I was watching Ben and he turned green and-"

With that, Abigail retched, turning her body so that she wouldn't throw up over Matthew. He held her still so that she didn't choke herself, and laughed when she sat up.

Sara had apparently finished with Ben and came over to see if Abigail was all right. After finishing her survey, Sara went back over to Ben.

"Will Sara be all right?"
"I have no clue what you mean. She just got her boyfriend back."
"Yes well, her boyfriend is covered in blood and has a broken knee. I do not exactly think Sara is too thrilled about that." Her weak attempt at sarcasm made Matt laugh even harder. Abi smiled and felt grateful when Alissa came over to talk to her. Alissa shooed Matthew away and smiled when he faked insult.

Abigail felt better as the day progressed. Due to Ben's sudden appearance, they could not move camp without another horse. Everyone finally came to the conclusion that Ben would ride on the back of a horse, and the others would hope he did not fall off.

The next day, Abigail felt normal again, and they decided over a quick breakfast that they would get back onto the trail. Aero had ropes attached to him to hold Ben, and Sara jumped on to help him up. Her stubborn horse refused to be mounted again by someone who was not his owner.

Billy helped Abi up onto her mount, Joy, and handed her the reins. "No falling off Joy, understand?" Abigail nodded, and Billy walked off to mount Chief. Chief was a pony with black and brown splotches all over the rest of his coat, which was white.

"Everybody got everything?" After everybody nodded, Nate began to lead the way to the peasant's village.

After what felt like ten hours, Abigail was sore in the saddle. Alissa and Ben were the only others who appeared sore. The horses were tired, but Sara kept nudging Aero on so repeatedly that Abi felt sorry for the poor animal.
"Can we stop now?" Alissa cried out. She looked stiff in her saddle, and Abi knew that sitting stiffly in saddles made pain a lot worse.

"I'm afraid we are not even halfway close to the area that we could stay in."
Alissa groaned, and Nate gave her an odd look. "Why? Does anything hurt?"
"Yes. I'm getting a little sore in my saddle."
Nathan smirked. "But of course ladies have to ride for days where you're from."
"I'm from where you are, so yes! My issue is that I have not gone on a long ride for years!"
Nate nodded, and Billy gave a sideways smile to Abigail. They found another clearing and made camp there.

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

Richard was furious. His goddaughter had up and left the day that Sir Jackson was to take her out. Sir Jackson had spent a lengthily amount of time preparing everything too.

"King Charles!" He called, wanting to speak of the issue with someone who cared about Abigail's wellbeing.

"Yes, Richard? Whatever is wrong?"
"Abigail Everett has disappeared! There is no way to tell where she went!"
King Charles's face went from shock to pure anger. Richard inwardly knew that King Charles wanted his niece safe and protected. Richard wanted the same for Abigail.

"Sir, when did she leave? One of your knights should have caught her leaving if anything."
Richard felt offended for having everything pegged on his knights. They were the most loyal men he knew. Even if most of them were boys, they were highly skilled.

"I have no idea, Your Highness. Parker has disappeared, Griffin is shut away in his chambers, and Jackson is moping down by the river."
His Highness nodded, knowing that Jackson's plans were to have dinner by the river at sunset. Richard told Jack that Abigail loved the different colours of the sunset, and Jack had eagerly came up with an idea.

"Sir Jackson cannot stay down there forever, my duke."
"I am aware, Your Highness. He will catch a cold and freeze to death. His mother would not like that."
King Charles nodded, and Richard felt a sense of relief knowing that he was not alone in worrying about Sir Jackson's health and abilities.