Chapter 5

From Toreas

Zara stumbled behind Eric. She tripped and fell, colliding with the young man in front of her. He braced against her, quickly turned and caught her before she could fall to the ground. This was becoming a rather tiresome and repetitive task.

"The way you move, we wont make to the village in a week. If you make it that far anyways. Besides we will starve before that because you scare away all the animals with your noise."

She had not found her posture again. There still was something in her voice that made Eric feel like she wanted to lay down this moment and not get up anymore. He felt like he was being too hard on her, but being more gentle wouldn't help her either.

"I'm sorry. The ground is rough on my feet. It's hard to walk without shoes."

She sat down and rubbed her feet. Of course she was right he thought. He had kept a pair of boots back from the soldiers, but she refused to wear them due to their stink. She had thrown them into the fire herself. Well now, he was sure, she wouldn't mind any smell as long as she wouldn't have to pick needles, small branches and squished bugs from the soles of her feet.

"Yes, it is, which is why I gave you those boots."

At least she had the decency to look embarrassed. But that wouldn't solve the problem at hand either. Looking around Eric was thinking on how they could move faster. She needed some protection for her feet. Just wrapping them in cloth would do nothing against all the sharp things littering the ground.

The forest was just about to wake up. Although most animals kept away, some birds chirped away unimpressed by the princess noisy progress. It was still not bright, but the first rays of sun gave him clearer glimpses of the trees around him. There was not much to work with.

He pulled his dagger and walked towards her. Zara's eyes went wide and before she could say something he walked right past her to a tree just behind her. Stabbing into the tree over and over, he managed to pry two roughly feet sized bits of bark off the tree. They were even almost flat. On the inside was some resin bot other than that the pieces seemed to be whole and not broken.

He knelt down beside her and took the blade to the bottom of her dress. Again she shirked back, but before she could really try to pull away he was done. With two short cuts and one rip, he pulled off a hand wide strip of cloth from the bottom of her brown dress. It would be a bit shorter now. Her ankles would be a bit more prominently displayed as well as some of her calves. Very nicely shaped ankles and calves, Eric thought to himself then concentrated on his task again.

Placing the bark on her feet, he wrapped the cloth around it and tied it off on top. She wouldn't run with this, but at least they could walk normally without her getting any injuries.

Tentatively she tried a couple of steps. It looked uncomfortable, but she did not complain. Walking this way would be a lot more bearable than what she had to endure before.

"Thank you", she said carefully, as if she had to taste the words in her mouth.

He looked at her for a moment, gave her a short nod and walked on.

On their way he collected a small pack he hid before the assault. It was just a small bag with a blanket roll tied to it. It was small, light and contained all his possessions. She had not asked him anything about it, keeping mostly to herself and her own thoughts, but always in a very close proximity to Eric.

"Why do we keep to the forest? That path looked a lot easier to walk."

"And a lot easier to get caught too. Here we are hidden by the trees but still can see the path. If someone comes this way, we will know, but not be seen. Out there, we have nowhere to hide."

Eric pointed to his right, where they could see out of the forest and some grassy areas. The path could be out there somewhere but Zara had no way of knowing.

"Oh", was all the reply she could muster to that.

By late morning Eric suddenly stopped. She had not noticed and nearly collided with him, coming to a stop just short of touching his body with hers. He guided her by the shoulder behind a tree, so she should be hidden from view for anyone outside the forest.

"Stay here", he told her with a seriousness in his voice that made her not even contemplate an alternative.

With that he moved quickly away towards the open grass. She looked down, seeing how he had dropped his pack. For a moment she had been worried that he just wanted to get rid of her, but he would probably want his pack again.

Looking up her fear flared up again, he was gone. She wanted to call out to him, but she didn't even know his name.

The next moment she heard the noise. It was a low rumbling, like a far away river. She had studied many maps but it was not her strong side. Where were large rivers on these maps?

Next she saw a rider. Not water, hoofs, she thought. Closely following the scout came the main force. It was hard to see details, but they seemed to be in a hurry. About fifty riders, all in full armor, but mixed of all different sorts. No banner or colors were visible. It was just leather and metal, all being carried towards the barn.

Suddenly Eric appeared as if out of thin air next to her, making her flinch.

"Mercenaries, like the ones that were guarding you at the barn. Come, we need to hasten our pace."

"I'll try."

"The soldier said that it would be another two days before anyone came. I don't think he lied, so either they are very eager to get to you or something has changed."

The thought of these riders wanting to reach her as fast as they could did nothing to comfort her.

They moved in silence for a long while.

Then they could hear sounds again, this time less loud, but they both ducked behind the next tree. Two riders came from the direction of the barn and rode fast back the way they had come before.

Zara looked worried to Eric.

"What does this mean?"

"Scouts. They expected the other soldiers to be there. Now they sent scouts to see if they got delayed. They will ask in the next village if anyone has seen them."

"But did they not notice that someone was there before?"

Eric shook his head.

"As long as they don't look too closely, they wont notice anything out of place. The only thing they could see is the blood and arrow hole on the side of the barn, but I smeared some dirt on it, which should cover it up nicely. But in a bit more than a day, the scouts will reach the village. There they will get told about their comrades having passed through a few days earlier. Another day, maybe two and they are back with the main force."

His instincts had been right again. She was a lot of trouble and it could only get worse from here on out.

"If we walk fast, we can reach it unseen in two days. But what then? Leaving you there would do you only good for a day or two. Then the main force would return to it and fifty angry soldiers will tear the village apart, looking for you."

Her worry deepened. What was she supposed to do? She was a princess, heir to the throne, she should know what she should do next. But she didn't. Books and tutors only prepare you so far. This was a lot different. But then she felt relatively safe, even though she was uncomfortable. For some reason this strange rescuer was giving her the confidence that they will find a way though this.

"Should we even go to the village then? I mean if those men come there, wouldn't it be better if we avoid it all together?"

"No", Eric said decisively. "We need some supplies. Food, some clothes for you, shoes for certain. I could get by on my own, but unless you want to starve or freeze to death we need to go there."

They walked on for most of the day. Both were tired and had only stopped once for a silent meal of dried meat. Both were getting tired.

In the late afternoon it began to rain.

They had reached a lighter part of the forest, where trees did not stand as close to each other and so they were exposed more to the elements. Eric pulled out a concealed hood from around his neck and pulled it up. Zara just put her arms above her head, she had nothing else.

Tired, wet and cold, they stopped at a large tree, standing in a group of other trees, giving them some reasonable protection from wind, rain and keeping them out of sight. He chose a spot, where the large tree was slightly curved towards the trunk. With some loose branches, he swept the place where he intended to lay down and then put those branches to either side, to conceal them even more.

Both sat down, leaning against the tree with their backs. Zara was clearly very tired, but she was also wet and cold. Shivers ran through her body.

"Can we make a fire?"

"Even if I could get something to burn in this wetness, a fire would be easy spotted here. I don't want to risk it."

"Cold..", was all she could say as the cold shook her body to the bone.

"You can have my blanket."

As he unfastened the strap holding it to the pack, she was regaining her composure again.

"Please, can I lean on you, for warmth?"

The last time someone said that the woman tried to stab him, with his own dagger. The time before that she wanted not warmth but outright heat. Somehow neither time felt like this. She was frightened, cold and wet, she probably needed some reassurance just as well as warmth.

He nodded.

Throwing the blanket over his shoulders, he leaned back against the tree, in a half reclined position, holding his left arm open wide invitingly. Carefully she came closer to him and pushed her body against his side. Her head came to rest just below his chin, halfway on his chest. Pulling the blanket around them, he rested his left arm around her back and on her left arm. She was shivering slightly and very cold to the touch.

"You didn't flinch", she said in a slightly surprised voice.

"Why would I?"

"You are touching a royal. Everyone flinches when they do that."

"I've been with women before, I know how that feels. There is no difference in general between your touch and theirs."

She stiffened slightly in his arm.

"I assure you, I have no unseemly intentions. It's just a touch, nothing completely foreign to me."

Her body relaxed a little.

"How was it?"

"Was what?"

"Being with a woman."

He had a sharp remark on his tongue about it not being her damn business, but then swallowed it and instead just flat out answered.

"Feels good. Why do you ask? Never been with a man?"

It took a bit for her to answer. He knew from the slight stiffening in his arms that she was uncomfortable with the question, but then she had asked him an equally private question. He was pretty sure that he would get in serious trouble asking the princess something so boldly in the kings court. But they were out in the woods, in the cold, on the ground, huddling for warmth while rain fell all around them and the day slowly came to an end.

"No", she shook her head slightly.

"Tired", she said and moved her head a little, getting more comfortable in his arm and against his chest. He could feel her relax.

"We should get some sleep, there is a lot of walking ahead of us."

She nodded slightly against his chest.

Her breathing was shaken once in a while by a cold shiver, but it was getting more even. He enjoyed listening to her breath and see her small movements. When he thought she was about to sleep, she spoke again.

"I don't even know your name."

"It's Eric."

"Eric", she said the word, testing how it sounded on her lips. "I like that."

A beautiful smile bloomed on her face and staid there.

He wasn't sure what to say. She was already breathing evenly again. Maybe she had fallen asleep some time ago and was just talking in her sleep. So she probably wouldn't even remember any of this in the morning.

With her this close and the thick blanket around them, they were both getting warm pretty fast. He would not admit it to her, but he enjoyed feeling her this close to him. It did not take long for exhaustion to pull Eric into a restful sleep as well.