Zoran's POV (meanwhile...)
After the battle, we all headed back to the temporary camp for lunch. Why on earth did Anna have to go on her own? Couldn't she have at least taken a guard? I thought to myself as we all headed to eat. Then I heard my name being called.
"Hey, Zoran! Are you coming to eat?" asked Justin as he ran ahead to the mess hall.
"Yeah! I starved after that battle," I said as I took my seat next to ray. I gave her a kiss on her temple. "You did a good job-fighting today. I was thoroughly impressed by what you learned while we were away," I said to her while grabbing a chicken leg.
"Aww thanks, babe!" she said while blushing a bit. "How did everyone else feel about the battle?"
"It wasn't too bad. A little surprising on how bloody it was and how different the movies make battles out to be" said Patrick as he started on his second chicken leg
"Yeah I agree, it wasn't too bad. I've been in worse battle before," said Justin
Just then, Jackson came in and put his hands on his head. "I just totally ruined my chances with the princess if I even HAD any at all. Ugh... what have I done?" then he put his head on the table. Ray patted his back.
"Don't beat yourself up, Jackson. You were just following orders and did what Anna told you to do. You didn't exactly have a choice and even though we only just met her... I don't think that the Princess will hold that against you. Just give it some time. In the meantime, eat some chicken and get some rest," said Ray as she piled some food on his plate.
"Yeah, I hope you're right" sighed Jackson as he took the plate and started eating. So then everyone fell into a nice conversation and finished lunch together peacefully.
After lunch, we all got up to head to our sleeping tents. But then there was a lot of commotion down by the entrance of the camp. That sounds like a loose horse or something. I wonder what's going on right now? I thought to myself as I headed over to where the commotion was.
I went to the front of the camp. Just then, Eliza came running into the middle of camp looking frantic, scared, and tired. I looked around and then realised Anna nor the spy was with her. They were nowhere to be found. That's odd. Anna should be here I thought to myself. I began to panic, "Where the fuck is she?!?!" I yelled at the horse.
Everyone came rushing up to me. "Zoran, why on earth are you yelling?" said Ariana who had come out of her tent since Jackson had brought her back to the camp.
"Anna is not here. She is missing and the spy ain't here either. So where the fuck is she!?!? I know there's no way she walked back. So where is she!" I exclaimed to the group.
Patrick walked up to Eliza and touched the sword and crossbow that was left on her saddle. Then he wiped around and faced us. "Her sword and crossbow are tied to the saddle," he turned back around and faced Eliza. "Eliza, where is she? She would never go anywhere without her weapons. So where is she?"
Eliza started scraping the ground with her hoof and looked down at the ground. She then looked directly at me and said, "I'm so sorry"
I started to fall down. I grabbed Ray for support, "No. No no no nooooo" I cried out falling to the ground
"Zoran, shut up for a second. We don't know what happened. Let Eliza tell us what happened first" said Ariana
"I'm sorry. I tried to stop her. I really did. But it was a trap. We had no idea it was meant for someone to get captured" said Eliza
"What do you mean captured?" said Justin who had only just shown up to see what was going on.
"Let me explain. So as you all saw, Anna and I left to go after that spy. Well, it turns out, that spy wasn't a spy and was pretending to be one. But we didn't realise that until too late. I tried so hard to get away but you see, we were already pretty tired from the battle so we weren't able to outrun them. And then--"
"What do you mean by them?" said Ariana
"It was them, your highness. Adam's notorious horsemen and they knew exactly what to do. It looked like we were going to get away, but then their leader, who we thought was the spy. Pulled a cobra out of a bag and threw it in front of me. Anna and I fell over. She blacked out because she hit her head. So they grabbed her up and tied her up. They then tied her weapons to my saddle. Then they told me to ride back to my camp and tell Princess Ariana that 'we have one of your generals' and that they were taking her to King Adam. As of right now, they do not know who or what Anna is. So that's good. But Anna wanted me to tell you to NOT send a rescue team to get her. She thinks she can negotiate peace with Adam. And yeah... that's what happened. After they tied the weapons to me, I came straight back here" finished Eliza
I looked up at Eliza with anger in my eye, "So you're telling me that, Anna has gotten herself captured by Adam's horsemen, and is being taken directly to the enemy and doesn't want us going after her?!?!" I exclaimed angrily
"Err... Yeah that would be it" said Eliza as she looked away again
"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!!!!" I shouted
"Zoran calm the fuck down," said Ray sternly
"CALM DOWN??? Why on earth would I do that??? My sister has once again gotten herself into a sticky situation and you are asking me to CALM DOWN?!?!?" I yelled at Ray
"Yes, I am. You and I both know that Anna is fully capable of taking care of herself. Plus she's cheated death before so what's to say she won't do it again?"
I groaned but at the same time heard where Ray was coming from. I stepped back and nodded. Everyone was silent for a bit until Patrick, who had been sitting on a rock, got up and walked toward Justin
"This is all your fault!!! You were the one to let her go on her own!!! You didn't even think for a second that it could be a trap!!! YOU LED HER RIGHT TO HER CAPTURE!!!" Yelled Patrick as he got closer to Justin
"MY FAULT? What about the fact that no one else went with her?" exclaimed Justin defending himself
"While that might be true, but you told us 'oh she'll be FINE and there's no stopping her'. WHAT A LOAD OF BULLSHIT!!" said Patrick as he imitated Justin
"I'M A LOAD OF BULLSHIT??? Wow, that's rich coming from the guy that only just started talking and getting to know her?" Patrick glared at him. "What? Didn't think I'd notice that if you hadn't come with her, you would've never noticed her or gave her a second of your time? Yeah, I know exactly who you are. One of the popular guys and she just wasn't cool enough for you to even notice her"
"Well, at least I didn't break her heart and then played with her emotions for a year. That's A L L on you."
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!" exclaimed Justin as he leapt at Patrick trying to strangle him. They fell and wrestled to the ground. Trying to kill each other.
"HEY! Break it up" I yelled at them. Justin had managed to punch Patrick in the face but unfortunately for him, Patrick was a hockey player and knew how to punch back. Jackson and I raced forward to break the two of them up. Jackson grabbed Justin and I grabbed Patrick. It took a minute to pull them apart. Ray stood there in complete shock, Ariana was gasping while also trying to calm Eliza down. The rest of the army watched silently. It was a big mess. I pulled Patrick back and whispered in his ear, "Stop it. Patrick, just calm down. This isn't going to help with anything!"
"Yeah well tell that to that son of a bitch. He's the reason she got fucking captured" yelled Patrick as he tried to get out of my hold against him
"Guys please just calm down. This isn't helping us get anywhere" begged Ray who looked pretty close to tears
"Yeah well tell that to HIM" spat Justin and then tried to get out of Jackson's grip, almost successful.
"Everyone calm down, RIGHT NOW!" yelled Ariana as she came back up to all of us. "Look, I know we're all upset that Anna got kidnapped. But we have to stay focused. I will try and contact Aslan asking him what we should do. But in the meantime, everyone should go back to their own tents and either continue training or just get some rest. I know we are all exhausted after today. But you have to get some rest and that's an order. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do." Then she turned and walked away back to her tent. The rest of us kinda just looked at each other for a minute. Then Ray took a breath then spoke.
"Ariana is right, so why don't we all go get some rest by ourselves and then reconvene later" she then turned and walked toward her tent.
I let Patrick go, who had seemed to calm down. He then turned to me and nodded before heading back to his tent, but not before glaring at Justin. I then gave Jackson a signal to let Justin go. Then I head back to my tent to rest for the next few hours.