With the darkness closing in around them, all Kaylee could do was coax her horse to move forward as quickly as possible, even though neither of them could see where they were going. Kaylee had spent plenty of time in the forests around the castle at home, but she had never been in one so dark. Why it was so menacing in here, she couldn’t say, but the trees above her head formed a thick canopy with the leaves so interlaced that it was nearly impossible to see through them.
“Come on, Storm,” she whispered. “Just a little faster.” The horse moved on, and a tree branch scraped across Kaylee’s face. It was hard and unyielding. Even at a slow pace, she was almost unseated. The calls from around her were so loud now, she was certain those people who’d attacked them before were about to surround her again.
It was just a matter of time.
Storm took a few more hurried steps but then a form appeared in the darkness in front of them. The horse whinnied loudly and reared up again, Kaylee held on for dear life as the horse spun on his hind legs. All around them, more figures appeared, screaming at her in a language she didn’t understand. An arrow flew past her head, and Storm began to kick, trying to get away from the danger.
Kaylee was about to demand the horse run back the way they came when she heard a new sound, a different sort of shouting in a language she actually understood. “Get out of here, you bastards!” one man yelled.
Another voice shouted, “We’ll kill you, you assholes!”
Kaylee watched in wonder as the group that had been attacking her scattered and a new band of men came tearing through the trees. These men were wearing all different sorts of clothing, not the same shades of the forest she’d seen on the others, and she could tell by their hats and boots that they were not from this land but from somewhere else.
Whoever they were, she had to pray they were allies of Arteria, or she might be trading one form of trouble for another.
As the attackers scattered, some of these new men followed after them, arrows and swords drawn. Others stayed with her. One of them, a tall, rugged figure whose face she couldn’t quite make out in the dark, slowly approached Storm, his hands out.
“You probably shouldn’t do that,” she said. “He’s scared.”
He was talking softly, so quietly she couldn’t make out what he was saying, but he wasn’t responding to her. He was talking to her horse.
Storm whinnied a few times but then slowly calmed down. A quiet settled around them, and Kaylee could hear her own heartbeat pounding in her chest.
“Are you all right, miss?” the man holding Storm’s reins asked her.
“Miss?” she repeated, remembering that she was dressed like a man. “Why did you call me that?”
He laughed. “You’re not fooling anyone in that getup. Are you okay?”
“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” she said, glancing down at her outfit. “I think I look like a boy.”
“If you did, those bastards from Ketchel wouldn’t have been trying to kill you or take you prisoner,” he replied.
A few of the other men came over now, and Kaylee began to wonder if she was safe, or if she should still be worried.
“Where are you from, lady?” one of the other guys yelled up at her from across the path.
She didn’t want to tell him where she was from. She didn’t want to tell him anything. “Listen, my cousin was kidnapped by a band of rogues just a few hours ago. We were trying to track them down. Have you seen her by any chance? She was wearing a pink dress fit for a princess.”
“Is she a princess?” the first man asked, his face grave now, all sense of humor washed away.
“I’d rather not say,” Kaylee replied. “I just need to find her.”
“If she is a princess, then I hate to tell you this, but you will not find her,” he replied, still holding onto her reins. “And if you are a princess, then I suggest you turn around and ride right back to whatever kingdom you came from and let your father and her father handle this. Or else you’ll both be dead in a few days’ time.”
Kaylee studied his face for a moment. Her eyes were adjusting to the dim light, but it was still hard to see him clearly. From this vantage point, she would say he was quite handsome. Rugged, but with a chiseled jaw and eyes so deep and piercing one might fall right into them. Despite his good looks, she didn’t appreciate his assessment. “I need to find her. Have you seen her?”
He pursed his lips together and slowly shook his head as if to say she was daft for not listening to him. “I already told you I haven’t,” he repeated.
“I’m not sure I can believe you since you seem so hellbent on getting me to ride back out of these woods and on home so that my father can handle everything for me,” she admitted.
He smirked at her. “Listen, Princess, and I am assuming that’s exactly what you are, if you want to stick around in these woods and be captured and tormented by the Ketchelians, then so be it. But you can’t say I didn’t warn you. And we won’t be helping you escape again.”
“Helping me?” Kaylee said, emphatic. “I was fine, thank you very much. I didn’t need your help.”
That wasn’t true. It was just difficult to admit that he had, in fact, saved her life, when he was looking at her that way, like he was so special, and she was just a foolish child.
He shook his head slowly and let go of Storm. “All right then. If that’s the case, be on your merry way, Princess.”
“I never said I was a princess,” she reminded him as Storm whinnied uncomfortably.
“You didn’t have to say it.” He was walking away from her now. The others were, too, disappearing into the darkness.
In a moment, Kaylee would be all alone in the woods again, and she had no idea which direction to go. “Wait! Please?” she shouted, causing him to stop in his tracks. He slowly turned around and looked at her, folding his arms across his muscular chest. “Listen, I’m sorry for being rude. You did help me, and I appreciate it. It’s just… which way should I go? I don’t know where I’m at.”
“That depends on whether or not you’re going to take my advice and get out of here or if you are going to be a fool and keep looking for your cousin that you will never find,” he replied.
She swallowed hard, hating that everyone else seemed to have given up on ever finding Princess Jenna. “I want to find her. I need to find her. Do I go that way?” she asked, pointing in the direction she had been headed before the attack. At least, she thought that was the right direction.
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “If I had to guess, your princess was probably kidnapped by the same band of rogues that’s been taking young women all over the neighboring kingdoms. You’ll need to get to the mountains to find her. You’ll want to go that way.” He pointed in a direction that was a little more northerly than she had been thinking.
“Thank you,” she said. “Do you know who they are? Is it true they are working for King Leopold?”
His face was ashen as he said, “I believe so. That’s all I know.”
She didn’t believe him. He knew more; he just wasn’t going to tell her. It was enough for now. At least she had a direction to ride in and an idea that the rumors they’d been hearing about the kidnappings were true.
Once again, the men began to fade into the forest, leaving Kaylee all alone. An unsettled feeling came over her, and Storm began to breathe heavily as if he was feeling claustrophobic. She patted his mane and assured him that everything was going to be okay, but she didn’t believe that. Not even a little bit.