Cassandra's Great Adventure

The Morning After

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping. My eyes flitted open groggily at first, but I quickly became alert. I touched the bump on my head, suddenly remembering the events of the night before.

The cave... The Thieves' Guild... Adam...

At the thought of his name I immediately realized that he was nowhere to be seen. I scanned around the lakeside and saw nothing but the beautiful scenery. The glow of everything at night was great, sure, but it was nothing compared to the colors that I was seeing now. A family of ducks floated out on the lake, making the shiniest ripples in the water. The soft breeze made the flower fields slowly dance, with all kinds of colors shifting in the wind. The valley was so beautiful, and I would have loved to spend a day relaxing in it. But when have I ever had time for relaxing?

No Adam in sight, I had to get up and find him. I began to walk across the field when I saw something small in the distance. I squinted, trying to get a better look at whatever was moving toward me so fast. It was coming from the direction of the mountain pass, and as it got closer that one thing became four things.

"There she is, men!" A deep voice boomed from across the valley.

The captain and his goons... I thought to myself. How kind of them to let me get a good night's rest before coming for me again.

They didn't have the element of surprise and there was still a lot of space between them and I. I had every advantage in this encounter, all I had to do was run the other direction. I could lose them in the forest near the other side of the lake. Once within the shelter of the woods, I could scale a tree and wait it out until they passed. I had my plan all figured out. And yet, I hesitated.

I needed to find Adam. What if the Thieves' Guild already got to him? What if Adam woke up and wandered off, and they took him back to that cave? What if they were coming back for me because they had already captured him? Or worse... what if they had killed him? I panicked for a second, all these doubts flooding into my head.

The men were getting closer and I still stood there, my feet planted more firmly than the Great Tree. I shook my head and groaned... No more time for thinking. I took a deep breath and began to run towards the grove of trees. I ran and I didn't look back, the sound of footsteps coming into earshot now.

You waited too long, Cass... You're a coward... This is what you deserve, I thought to myself.

Tears began to fill my eyes as I ran. "It's just the wind," I whispered as I continued to run. It wasn't the wind though... It was these doubts. I've hurt so many people. I did so much wrong... and now Adam was probably gone because I couldn't protect him. Fidella and Owl were on their own somewhere. I was battered and bruised from last night. Adam and I barely made it out of that cave, who's to say I'll make it out of this encounter?

I set off on this journey to find my destiny. I wanted to prove that there was more in me, just like Rapunzel told me. But what if there wasn't? What if I wasn't good enough?

I wasn't even good enough for my own mother... I thought as the tears came harder now.

Everything on this journey had gone wrong so far. I felt so lost and alone. I felt like that scared little girl in Mother's old cottage again... I felt so small. So broken.

I heard footsteps roaring now. The men must've been close. I turned my head, expecting to see all four of them right on my heels. Except they were still at least 10 yards behind me.

Clack, clack-clack, clack-clack.

The footsteps continued. I was fully back to reality now, trying to figure out what the heck was going on. I wiped my tears and continued running, focusing my mind on the sound.

Clack, clack-clack, clack-clack.

I knew that sound. Those weren't human feet...

Clack, clack-clack, clack-clack.

Could that be...?

As I neared the edge of the forest, the brown horse leapt out of the trees right over me. I ducked instinctually.

"Need a lift, m'lady?" I heard a familiar voice say.

I looked up to see Adam atop Fidella, with his hand stretched out to me. I grabbed it and he pulled me onto her back, Fidella neighing happily to see me. As I settled in on my horse, Adam turned and smiled at me. I was suddenly filled with hope again.

He's okay, I thought to myself as I breathed a sigh of relief. And better yet... He found Fidella!

We raced off into the woods, back in the direction they came from and getting farther and father away from the Thieves Guild members. Owl joined us and flew by Fidella's side as she ran. I was beyond happy to see my friend again.

"How'd you find them?" I asked Adam.

"I didn't. They found me," he said with a smirk. "I woke up early and wandered off to hopefully find some food. When I got past these woods, I noticed that Owl had been following me from afar. He was tracking me, presumably because he recognized me from the mountain pass and was hoping to find you. Smart bird, he is."

Owl hooted in agreement.

"Anyways," Adam continued, his eyes ahead as we strode through the trees, "I found some apples and was on my way back to you when Owl swooped in and stole them. I chased after him, and found that he was bringing them to this horse. When I realized it was your horse, I told her I knew where you were and she let me lead the way... I guess we got to you just in time. Are you okay?"

I looked up at him as he turned his head towards me. Normally I didn't like to be saved... I was very capable of handling myself, and I definitely didn't need some man I just met coming to my rescue like some knight in shining armor. Part of me wanted to tell Adam off. Part of me wanted to put up my walls and tell him I didn't need him. Part of me wanted to drop him off here and go off on my own again with Fidella and Owl.

And yet, a few moments ago I was ready to give up everything. I was so broken. And when I saw Adam, he was like a light in the darkness. I didn't care about my pride at this moment, he saved me and I was grateful. And last night, I made a promise to him.

"Let's see if we can figure out how to stop the Thieves' Guild. Together." The words from the night before rang in my head. And just then, I had an idea.

"I am more than okay," I told him, "but we need to turn around."