Two

Two days into our journey and all I did was complain. I wasn’t used to walking for long periods of time and used that as an excuse to annoy Nathaniel and George. I told them that we should’ve stayed behind and helped everyone out like how Luke did. I called Nathaniel and George a bunch of cowards for placing our well-being over others and that made Nathaniel snap. 

    He told me that I wasn’t in any position to say anything since, “I’m just a sheltered little brat with no sense of gratitude. We are all lucky to have escaped with our lives, and we’re cowards for that? George and I almost gave my life to save you and that’s what you say? That we’re a bunch of cowards because we didn’t stay behind with Luke? Luke is probably dead anyways!”  I knew that was probably true, but I didn’t want to think about how another person died for me. I replied that he was just as sheltered and spoilt as I was and that didn’t put him into any position to be self-righteous towards me. 

    George, who was probably tired of hearing two spoilt brats bickering, asked us to go collect firewood as he carefully laid Donatello down and used his jacket as a blanket for him. I didn’t want to collect firewood, but I also didn’t want to argue any longer, so we agreed and went into the woods. As Nathaniel was actually collecting wood, I was wondering around, as it was the first time I was able to explore a wood. Nathaniel told me not to go too far, but I ignored him and kept wondering. 

    I saw a pile of berries in the distance and told Nathaniel about my findings. He rushed over to me as I reached out for them. When I picked them up, a giant net grabbed the both of us and suspended us in the air. He blamed me and I tried to push the blame elsewhere, but our argument attracted the attention of two hunters.

    Two hunters, Paft and Caft, came out of the woods and were slightly disappointed when they found us, but that turned to anger when Nathaniel called them Daft and Caft. Caft laughed at the insult with Nathaniel, but Paft hit him on the head and told him not to. I did the same with Nathaniel. They then took out knives and told us to stay quiet. But as quickly as they took out their knives, they just dropped to the ground, unconscious.

    A woman came out of the woods and asked us about Donatello, who we mentioned in the argument while suspended. At first, we didn’t say anything, but she promised to cut us down if we told her, which we did. She kept her side of the promise and cut us down. She asked us to take her back to camp, when we asked her why she wanted to know about Donatello so badly, she told us that he was her lover. Her name? Joan.

*****

    We returned to camp with Joan and to all of our reliefs, she was indeed who she said she was, since George recognized her. She rushed over to Donatello to check on his condition. She told us that she didn’t think that he’d last for much longer in his current condition and redressed his wounds with the bandages she had with her. We filled her in about everything that had happened and George mentioned that we were on our way to her brother’s house to figure out their next move.

    She was a bit surprised that George wasn’t planning to immediately leave for Ceres

after leaving Donatello at their house. He implied that Nathaniel and I were probably being hunted down by whoever planned the coup. They would expect us to go to Ceres. Hearing them talk made me feel so clueless, but I didn’t ask for an explanation. It didn’t really feel like it was my place to do so. Joan joined our group and we continued our journey to a small house on a hill. A man came out and rushed us inside the house. 

    We ran up the stairs and George hid us in a small, hidden closet with Donatello, while he hid somewhere else. A few minutes later, we heard the sound of soldiers marching and soon the sound of pounding on the door. They asked the man who was hiding us where we were, and he said that he hadn’t met me nor Nathaniel, and he hadn’t seen George since his birthday, two months ago. I heard them come into the room and held Donatello close to my body as I held my breath.

    Their heavy footsteps grew louder and louder as they approached the closet door, and Nathaniel grabbed his sword, just in case. I was planning my escape in my head. I was going to drag Donatello to the horse outside through the window and ride away, somehow. Luckily for us, the guard was called back down the stairs, and right before they were about to leave, we heard Joan ask, “What’s going on?”

    They said Donatello and George planned a coup against the royal families of Pasiphae and Ceres and kidnapped Nathaniel and I. She expressed her dismay at the news and  promised to notify them if they heard anything from us before they left. When the coast was clear, a lady came to get us and we helped her put Donatello on a bed. She was the man’s wife, a physician named Sarah, and our saviour? John. 

*****

    He prepared us dinner and even gave us new clothes to change into. George asked him what happened in the last three days we were in the woods, and he told us that he and Donatello supposedly kidnapped me and Nathaniel and killed our parents at the party as well as all the other party guests. The reward on his and Donatello’s head was enough to make any poor man live a comfortable life with servants and a mansion. 

    He offered to let us stay for as long as we needed, and Nathaniel and I were rushed off to bed while they kept talking. Nathaniel stayed with Donatello to keep an eye on him and protect him, while Joan let me sleep with her in her room. I had other things like my sore feet or grumbling stomach to keep my mind occupied, but as I closed my eyes, the gravity and weight of reality began to settle in.