Richard was starting to get used to all the running. He was never fit during his time before this quest, but he felt he was building up stamina now.
They ran through the woods until they felt that they would not be followed and found a fork in the road that led in 3 different directions.
Richard sat down, panting from the run. He needed a break, and it looked like the others did as well.
When they had caught their breath and calmed down enough Skylar said, “We need to split up.” No one said anything, so she elaborated on the idea. “Every time all of us go someplace, they find us. We can’t be the cause of any more deaths.” She wasn’t looking at anyone, keeping her eyes to the ground.
“So how do we split up?” Luke asked, “2 groups of 3, 3 groups of 2, or everyone on their own?”
“Well,” Skylar pondered, “If we all go by ourselves, we’d never be able to fight them. That’s how we got captured the first time, remember?” Luke nodded, understanding Skylar’s logic.
“I suggest we have 2 groups of 3. One group goes to the Hilgarian capital and the other tries to lead the Dueglesteiners away from the first group and goes back to Bellona. We need to get help in order to continue this quest. The Hilgarians are kind and good people. They could provide aid where currently, we have none.”
Luke shook his head, however, disagreeing with her. “No, no, that might work, but if we split into 6 groups of 1, it’ll be harder to find the rest. If we’re in 2 groups of 3 we’d easily be caught, no matter what numbers we have.”
“Yes,” Peter agreed, “but 3 groups of 2 might be the perfect plan. The Dueglesteiners would have to split up like us, and we wouldn’t all be on our own.”
It took a minute, but Luke and Skylar agreed.
“Okay,” Luke clapped his hands, “So, who’s going with who?”
Nobody volunteered or anything, so Skylar took charge. “Peter and Alice, you guys should go together. Same thing with Richard and Helen. And I guess Luke and I should go together. We’ll split up at this fork in the road, and we have no idea where anyone is going. In case we get captured, we don’t want to give away each others’ positions.”
Everyone seemed to agree with that, and Peter and Alice volunteered to go on the path to the left. Skylar and Luke would go on the right. That left Richard with Helen, and they followed the path in the center.
…
After an hour or so of just walking, Helen decided to take a break and Richard was grateful for it. Their trip had been quiet so far because Richard did not want to talk and Helen seemed too scared to start a conversation.
It was still very awkward between them. Especially after what had happened two nights ago.
They walked again, a rather boring trip if you asked Richard until they found something.
The burned remains of a carriage.
“I-Is that…” Helen didn’t need to finish her sentence. From what Alice had told them, her family had been on their way to Bellona when they were jumped by the Duglesteiners. Alice had been kidnapped, but her family had been burned alive in their carriage. Richard didn’t like to assume things, but it looked like a Thuron carriage.
Richard glanced at Helen, whose dark blue eyes began to fill with tears, her bottom lip quivering as she shook her head. Then she turned and hugged Richard tight, her arms grasping just above his wast as her body shook with sobs.
Richard awkwardly pat Helen’s back, not knowing what to do.
“It’s okay,” he said softly, “It’s okay. You don’t have to look at it. We can go.” Richard looked over at the remains of the carriage, glad he couldn’t see the bodies of Alice’s family.
“Let’s go,” he heard Helen say through a sob, sniffing as Richard pulled her away from him, shielding her eyes from the charred scene.
…
Hours later, they stopped again, taking another break. That was when Richard started regretting not taking any of the food from the Secret Woods. “If we keep this up, we’ll starve to death before the Dueglesteieners find us.”
“If we go back, the Dueglesteiners will just find us anyway,” Helen said, “It might just be best to follow this path and see where it leads.”
Richard wasn’t sure, and started to argue. “Helen, I-” he stopped, however.
“What?” Helen asked, but Richard shushed her. Helen then whispered, “What is it?”
Richard started to second guess his judgment. “I just thought I heard something…”
He was just about to add something else when he heard it again. A twig snapping. It could be nothing, but the hair stood up on the back of Richard’s neck and his gut told him something wasn’t right.
That was when a single person walked towards them in the direction they’d been heading on the path.
“Greetings, children.” A man wearing a pink tunic with a strawberry blonde ponytail and trimmed beard.
“Who are you?” Richard demanded, standing protectively in front of Helen.
“We only have to ask a few questions,” another man had shown up behind Richard and Helen, also wearing a pink tunic with brown hair and a beard. But this one had a sword at his side.
Richard wasn’t sure who these people were. They didn’t look like Dueglesteiners, they looked more like…
Hilgarians.
It made a little sense, actually. Of course, Hilgarian soldiers would be in Hilgaria. That must mean that Richard and Helen were on the right track.
“What is it you need, soldiers?” Helen asked tentatively.
The one with the strawberry blonde hair asked hesitantly, “Is it true your name is Helen?”
Richard was so confused by the simple question. He did call Helen by her name right before these soldiers showed up, but he didn’t understand why they would ask if her name was Helen.
“Yes…” Helen answered slowly.
“How old are you?”
“Aroung 12, I think. Wh-”
The soldiers suddenly knelt on the ground, bowing their heads. “My lady,” one of them practically gasped.
“My…lady?” Richard was confused. Why would these Hilgarian soldiers possibly bow to the Helen?
“We must bring you to His and Her Majesty, my lady.” The brunette soldier said as he stood and started to walk in the direction they’d been walking before.
Richard and Helen exchanged glances, but Helen boldly walked forward, following the soldiers...
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