Was it an animal? My pulse spiked. Cedric put a finger to his lips and motioned for me to stop. Instinct told me to obey. Even without his instruction, I would've known to stop. I wasn't a fool. I'd been sneaking around since I was eight.
"Ah! Fellow travelers!" a high-pitched voice squeaked, "see me treasures! Yes, yes! My treasures are truly the best. Mr. Olow's treasures!"
A small man emerged before us. He carried a massive backpack that looked more like a moveable shop stand. There was even a small counter attached to him. The backpack-shop stand had several pegs, bracelets and necklaces hanging from them.
The man had barely any hair, but what he did was a bright color of red. He didn't look or speak like a commoner, but more like a foreigner.
"Mr. Olow has necklace of every kind! Jewel, stone, even blue gem! Or maybe young man wants compass? Mr. Olow has–"
"No, sir, we don't need–" Cedric tried.
"No? Oke', maybe hammer? For wood?"
"No, we're fine," Cedric tried to push him aside and keep moving but the man just intervened.
"Ahh! I know just what young man wants! A new bow!"
We both stopped. The man, Mr. Olow, seeing he had a shot, continued to show off. "Yes, I have bow. Look! Look!"
He pulled out a small bow from behind him. I had no idea how he kept it there, but it wasn't my place to ask. The bow didn't look anything special, and apparently, Cedric thought so too. His shoulders slumped and he let out a slow sigh.
"I should've known," Cedric muttered. Then, to the man, "thank you, sir, but we're good."
"Young man sure? Really?"
"Really." Cedric said, his voice starting to let in that familiar sarcasm.
"But I–"
"We're good," Cedric said through clenched teeth.
We pushed past the man. I gave a nod in sympathy and embarrassment, but moved on. The na looked like he was about to follow us, but then reconsidered.
I really wanted to buy something. Everything was such a wonder to me. It wasn't like I didn't know about the items he sold. For example, I knew what a compass was and how it worked, but I'd never seen one.
"Why didn't you buy the bow?" I asked Cedric, "it could've been useful."
"Not really," he said, "a child could've barely shot with it. For two reasons. One, the bowstring was too loose. It wouldn't give enough power to shoot a foot in front of me. And two, the bow itself was a little more than a branch. It would break before I could even draw fully."
I looked at him with a newfound respect. He could determine all that just from glancing at it? Suddenly, I wished that I had some skill like that. Inferiority creeped down my spine, and angrily I dispelled it. I was talented in other things. Cedric was trained as a Ranger, of course he'd recognize bows and their practicality levels.
I rubbed my hands together and breathed on them a little. The wind bti through my clothing as if trying to tear at my skin. But at least the sun was out. It gave some warmth, even if it was scarce. I pulled my cloak around my shoulders tighter. The clothes I wore felt dirty. They were given to me from Daofen. I was running away from Daofen, yet I had remnants of it on me. It was a contradiction.
Cedric's hand suddenly gripped mine and pulled me down behind a bush. I wasn't ready to crouch like he did, and I ended up falling on my face, cutting my lip on a rock.
Before I could scream at Cedric, he clamped a hand over my mouth. He was peeking out between the leaves of the bush, staring dead ahead at something. I removed his hand and slowly raised myself to a crouch like he was in.
About five or six horses were grouping together. On them were knights. I wiped my palms on my pants. They were the Crown Prince's knights. I swiveled my gaze at Cedric, trying to communicate my thoughts through my eyes.
What are they doing here? I locked eyes with him.
Patrol, he mouthed.
I'd heard the King send out his patrol before. The patrol worked together with the Rangers in the way that they both scouted the Kingdom for crimes and bandits.
All of a sudden, Cedric didn't look so composed. I could see his breath was shallow and his eyes full of fear. I couldn't blame him. I was also full of fear, though that was natural for me. I turned back to focus on the knights.
The ones here were waiting for the others to catch up. Two men were talking in casual tones, and others were laughing. My legs were itching to get away. They were much too close to finding us. If they moved ten feet forward, they'd see us.
I glanced at Cedric again. He was completely still. Only his eyes were flying around, trying to figure out what to do, what move to make. Do we stay? Do we crawl away? I watched him shut his eyes, breathing deeply. I bit my lip. If Cedric was worried, we were in more trouble than I thought.
The knights were getting ready to move again. One joked loudly about something, earning himself some laughs. Others just ignored him.
My ankle was getting cramped from staying in the same position. I was crouching, I wasn't on my knees, which would've been much more comfortable. I didn't mean to, but with my leg, absolutely hurting by now, I shifted my foot over, just a centimeter.
Crack!
My breath caught. I saw Cedric's eyes widen in fear and anger. I heard the knights' voices stop instantly.
"What was that?" I heard a knight murmur.
"It probably was just a bird or something, Ilka, I wouldn't worry," a knight rolled his eyes.
But a knight, by the looks of it the leader, put a gloved hand in the air, hushing the others immediately. He sat up straighter in the saddle, looking around, scanning every inch of where we were. Finally, his eyes focused on the bush we were behind.
I held my breath.
I heard movement to my right, but I didn't dare turn to look. All I knew was that it was from one of the knights. Very faintly, I heard the sound of cord being pulled. Before I could begin to wonder what the knight was doing, an arrow shot at me, missing me by inches, causing me to fall to the side!
"You! In the bushes!" the lead knight yelled, "out in the open where I could see you!"
When neither Cedric nor I moved, the knight yelled again, "this is your last chance! Come out! We are armed!"
To prove his point, another arrow was shot directly in between Cedric and I. I yelped and scrambled out.
Staring at me were eight knights. On their right breast I could see the emblem of an eagle wing, the King's emblem. The archer had his bow drawn and pointed directly at me while the others had their swords out. One of the horses stamped impatiently.
Would they recognize me? Would they throw me back into the prisons? But I didn't need to worry about going back to jail because the Prince set me free. Right?
I suddenly realized that Cedric wasn't with me. I glanced sideways at the bush. I couldn't see him, I was too far before the bush, but I didn't dare say anything or even give him a look. He would be in more trouble than me if he were caught.
The lead knight raised his chin, in a confused manner. "What are you doing here alone, girl?"
My tongue babbled by itself. "I was collecting berries... my lord." High titles could only help, maybe flatter the knights.
"You do not seem to have any baskets with you," a knight pointed out.
I lowered my head. "My lord, I ran out in a rush. The basket is back there." I nodded toward the bushes.
"You!" barked the leader to another knight, "go check behind the bush!"
Numaer, this was bad. I cursed my tongue for talking so fast.
The knight that was ordered to check obviously thought this whole thing was a waste of time. He huffed as he slid off his horse and rolled his eyes at me. A couple of knights snickered.
He approached Cedric, who at this point, I wasn't sure why he was hiding. Why not just reveal himself? Wouldn't it be easier for him? I prayed to Numaer that this would turn out fine.
Just let us continue traveling. Let this pass quickly.
The knight stopped in his tracks when he saw Cedric. Then, without warning, he grabbed Cedric by his shirt and hauled him up while taking the bag of food and yelling, "Daegal!"
The lead knight showed no surprise. That either meant he was really good at acting or he was expecting us. If he was expecting us, he knew us. If he knew us, he'd know Cedric escaped the dungeons.
Cedric was brought forward. He looked completely messed up. His face was covered in dirt and mud and he seemed to chop his hair so that it was uneven. He must've scrubbed mud on his shirt too, because his shirt was filthy and even torn in some places. I'd been sure it wasn't like that a couple of minutes ago. Even I could barely recognize him.
Clever boy.
"Who are you!" the knight who grabbed him yelled.
He looked down in a shy manner and said some words no one seemed to catch.
"Speak up!" the knight ordered.
"The – I'm her brother," Cedric responded, eyes cast down.
Daegal narrowed his eyes. "And what were you both doing so far away from your homes?" He raised an eyebrow. "We are not close to the forest's edge."
"As I said, we were–"
"Yes, you were collecting berries. But could you not do it closer to the edge?"
I bit the inside of my cheek. Daegal was remarkably calm. He didn't raise his voice or even use a superior tone. Hearing a knight like that sounded so foreign to me.
"It was my fault, my – my lord," Cedric rushed in, still keeping his head lowered.. "I like exploring and I dragged her along."
Daegal looked at us for a few moments then said, "alright. Well, head back now. The forest isn't safe for kids like you."
"Yes, my lord," Cedric said.
The knight let go of him and jumped back on his horse looking slightly disgruntled. Cedric and I didn't move until they had rode off. When they finally had, Cedric turned on me with fire in his eyes.
"Come on," he spat.
I understood he was angry at me, but he couldn't blame me totally. It wasn't my fault!
But you moved your foot, a voice in my head argued.
No. It was not my fault. And I certainly wouldn't apologize. Anybody, including him, could've made that mistake. With that thought, I hurried to catch up to him.
"Come on, we need to move, they won't be fooled forever," Cedric grumbled.
"Cedric, I-"
"It's fine, Aelia. Come on." He didn't look at me.