Aaaaaaalright, we're back to Kalysta now. Remember, William has just left her on the outskirts of the city, facing south, though the sea lies to the southwest. Woot woot! The journey is on! Almost... aha.
Kalysta simply stood there, staring into the unknown. Another step would take her into a time out of her control. Moving forward, she would have to relinquish control and go blind, with no structured plan. All she could do was plead with the other rulers and hope they would give their promise of support finally.
She turned and looked at Starling. He stood there calmly, waiting for her to take the lead. She reached out a hand and rubbed his nose gently, letting him become familiar with her touch. Eventually, she climbed into the saddle and stared out before her once more. It was time.
She headed south, walking Starling in a stream to hide her his tracks. The nature of the mission meant she couldn't allow anyone to follow where she'd gone. It irked her that she had to go so slowly, but she didn't want to run Starling ragged so she kept him at a walk.
It was peaceful, this. After everything going on back at the castle, there was nothing that felt better than getting away and not having to do something constantly. No one was bothering her and she wasn't having to answer for what she was doing. For once, she had made her own decision, in spite of her father's wishes, and she would stick to it.
Of course, the exhaustion of the past few days caught up with her as she continued. It was the worst time to have her wits dulled, because the dangers of the road were very real and very apparent. Any traveler could face problems, but a woman alone in particular.
Hoping to change appearance and look nondescript, she stopped and washed the remaining makeup from her face in the stream. Then, she took the blonde wig off, put it in the bag, and took out a shirt. She used this to cover her hair and provide a type of hood to obscure her face.
She remounted and continued, fighting sleep and gravity's pull on her eyelids.
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Starling's snort woke her. He made the noise again, and she shook herself into alertness again. He'd stopped. She looked around and a moment later he whickered. To her horror, another horse neighed in response.
"Well, well, well, lads!" a man's voice called from the darkness. "It looks like someone didn't listen when their mum told them not to travel after dark."
A chorus of laughter followed, echoing from all around her. She was surrounded. She looked, but the darkness was deep, hiding them all. How could she be so stupid? How could she have let herself relax enough to fall asleep?
A torch flared up, held by a roughly-dressed man. It shone brightly enough to give her a view of about twenty men, arrayed around her.
"My goodness that's a nice horse!" the man said, nudging his horse forward. "And it's weighted down so much! What a problem, lads! What do you say we help out this wastrel in unloading her horse? It's not good to make horses carry too much."
Cat-calls and whistles filled the air all around. Several men laughed and called encouragement to the obvious leader of the band. Kalysta tried to control her breathing as fear gripped her.
"Now, now, men," she said uneasily. "There's no need to be doing that. I'm just traveling back to Westtown after making my petition before the Crown. Let me return in peace and do your business with someone who can afford it."
The snap of a twig made her turn her head sharply and in the process the top covering her hair slipped off, exposing her face.
"Ah!" the man exclaimed, "a young noblewoman! Don't fill us with those lies. Why would a young noble be traveling all on their lonesome? Not even the men attempt that. And you a woman? Either you're really stupid or there's something else going on."
Her mind raced, trying to come up with a realistic story that would scare them off. "My hired men are meeting me up ahead," she responded, blustering to sound brave. "I foolishly left in the night in order to reach them earlier."
"Foolish is exactly how I'd describe it, lady," the man replied. "Now, I'm a big supporter of learning, so how about we teach you lesson? We take your horse and supplies. That will teach you not to make such foolish mistakes in the future. Also, me and my men haven't had food in a day or so and we're starving. We need those supplies more than you do. I'm not without my kindnesses, though lady, so we'll leave ye unharmed. Is that agreeable?"
"Absolutely not!" Kalysta protested. She didn't trust them. No bandit would leave a lone traveler alive to report the theft. Time to put up a front. "I don't have anything else! I am a widow, and I lost everything to pay my husband's gambling debts."
"You're a little young to be a widow, lady, if what I can see of your face is anything to judge by."
"Death has no concept of age. It simply takes."
"Enough!" another man interrupted. "We're wasting time! Let's get this over with and go!"
"José, patience!" the first man ordered. "There's something off about this situation and I plan to find out what it is."
She was stuck. What would they do? How could she get out of this? As she looked around she could see she was surrounded, about ten men on horses making a fence about her.
Further contemplation was interrupted as one of the bandits suddenly dropped sideways off his horse, falling to the ground with a thud. Another fell next to him, and this time she caught the flash of a knife as it hit the man's neck. She spun around and watched as another man fell with a cry, an arrow in his chest.
"Attack!" the leader called. "Scatter! Meet back at the warren!"
Kalysta cowered against Starling as the thundering of hooves around her sounded the escape of the bandits. She clutched the horse's reins and leaned in close.
Strangely, a different set of hooves came toward her, announcing the arrival of someone else; her rescuer, perhaps?
The newcomer leaped from his horse and stopped on the other side of Starling.
He started pulling and tugging at the ropes holding her luggage on. Was this another bandit, scaring away the competition and swooping in on his own?
"No!" she shouted as he tugged again. "Don't touch that!"
"Calm yourself, Princess," he hissed. His blue eyes flashed at her shocked look and he continued, "Yes, I know who you are! I'm checking to make sure your gear is stowed properly!" He moved away again and bounded back onto his horse. "Come here!" he called, holding out a hand. She stayed where she was. "Name's Louis; I'm with Zayn!" he rushed. "Get over here! We have to make a run for it! Just take my hand, damnable woman!"
Once more, she went against her proper judgment and grasped his palm firmly. She seemed to fly as he yanked her onto his horse behind him.
"Hold on," he ordered. "We're not stopping 'til we reach Westtown."
He reached over to grab Starling's reins and kicked his heels with a "Haw!"
The horse lurched forward beneath them and she clutched at his shirt. They were off at a pell-mell run.
"I said hold on, blast you!" he yelled. "If you take a tumble I'm not coming back!"
She wrapped her arms around his torso and clutched her hands together tightly, pushing her face against his back.
What had she gotten herself into?
A/N: Sooooooooo a million apologies for taking so long on an update! Again, a million things conspire to make it this way. I'm in college and I have a huge courseload, I write and edit this all myself, I don't have good internet accesss, and right now I'm actually skipping studying for tests because I wanted to get this to you guys. #loveme
Anyway, I really hope that you guys still like this and I really want to hear from you all, what you think, what you predict will happen, what you like or don't like, whatever!
There's more Zayn and Kalysta coming up, I promise! It's going to get really mushy, so don't rush it! All in good time.