"Hello, my baby. Mama is sorry she locked you up for so long," she said in a child’s voice to...a chicken? That was what was so important she couldn't leave behind? I peeked over her shoulder to get a better look, which was a big mistake. That vicious little creature jumped out of her arms and ran straights towards me. Wings flapping and talons scratching. I didn't have a choice, but to take off in a full sprint as it was trying to peck any part of me it could.
"Get that evil thing," I yelled at her. She just stood there with her head tilted watching. "HELP ME!!" She snapped out of it and quickly grabbed the thing. She put it back in the bag hanging it from a tree branch close to the ground. Was that considered animal cruelty? Turning my attention back to her I noticed she was…laughing. As in she had another expression on her face, rather than anger. I must have hit my head, on something hard. Like a brick, maybe? I searched around for something else I could knock my head to just to make sure I was seeing correctly.
"Are you laughing?" Her hands were grabbing her stomach and she was curled over trying to hold herself upright. She looked so happy just giggling. It was different from the way she had acted all night. She immediately stopped once I asked.
"I wasn't," she declared back straightening her dress then smoothing back her hair.
I raised an eyebrow and replied, "That wasn't truthful at all. Want to try again?”
"I don't," she stated as she crossed her arms and turned her head the other direction. I chuckled at her response. Her mannerisms were kind of cute. I'm sure that's not how she was trying to come off, though. To me that made it even more so why it was. I wasn't going to press for the truth, at least not for that. What I wanted were answers to what happened tonight.
"Fine, but do you mind telling me why there were scary looking men who acted as murdering you was the only thing on their minds. Wait... don't tell me if it's going to get me murdered along with you." My life mattered too. I can't lie and say I didn't think about dropping her off somewhere far away from me then saying goodbye. I wasn't going down with the ship. One of us had to live to tell the story. I shut that idea down quickly only because it wasn't a very nice thing to do, but then getting me murdered with her wasn't a nice thing to do either. I thought carefully about if whether or not it might help me help her if I knew. Maybe knowing why they wanted to murder her would make a difference. "I've changed my mind. I want to know why. It'll assist me in understanding what just happened. And I might be curious. Just a tiny amount. Not a lot." She was frowning and the area around her eyes crinkled. Was disappointment she was expressing or was it disgust? Either way she was stuck with me now.
"It doesn't matter whether your curious or not because I won't tell you." Her voice sounded sweet, her words not so much. It hurt much more than I thought it would when the possibility of her telling me no came into my mind. It was alright because I suppose...I would still help her.
"I won't get killed if I'm around you, though, right?" I stood there for a moment before I actually thought about what I just said. She had the right to shake her head in disappointment after I asked that. Of course, I could get killed if I was around her. That's what it looked like happened to the men that came with her. "Can you please give me a moment?" I walked a couple of feet away from her without waiting for her to respond. I said to myself, "Do I really want to help her? She seems like a liability, but if I don't help her something bad could happen to her. That'd be a shame. But then again if something bad happened I wouldn't know about it because I'd never have to see her again." I slapped myself and answered with, "I'd feel guilty not knowing if something did happen. Why did it have to be me that happened to come across her path?"
"Do you always talk to yourself?" I rubbed my head awkwardly turning to face her.
"Only when I'm stressed out," I answered. I wanted to add that she was the one stressing me out and that I did just save her life not too long ago.
"I'm perfectly fine by myself. I don't need you." This girl was as vicious as her brute of a rooster. I felt my hand go to my chest, which was stinging. It was like her words were a dagger and someone just stabbed me in the heart with it. I couldn’t take it, her beauty was the only reason her words didn't kill me yet.
"You're so...mean," I said falling to my knees from the pain I felt just communicating with her. She had her hands on her hips while rolling her eyes and said, "Stop being dramatic. It's not that serious."
"It is to me. Can't you be nicer to me? I did just save your life!" I watched as she actually looked like she was considering it. Please say yes, please say yes.
"Sorry, but no. That takes energy. I'd rather not waste that on you." There it is the final blow. I fell face first into the hard cold dirt. "Oh my goodness, will you stop! This isn't a performance." We sat there for about ten minutes. I told her I wouldn't get up until she apologized, she eventually complied once she figured out I was being serious.
I dusted myself off and asked, "Where are we taking you back to?" She stepped towards me staring directly in eyes while brushing a smudge of dirt off my shoulder saying, "Agave." I was going to act as if my heart didn't just stop for second at her touch. I think there was something extremely wrong with me. I must be sick. That had to be the reason. Where had my confidence gone? Wait. I see it. It was floating in the direction of the girl standing in front of me. It'd eventually make it's way back over to me and when it did she'd better be ready. For now, though, I was going to catch my breath and focus on breathing because it wasn't coming as naturally as it used to. I didn't know it was so hard to do before.
"Are we leaving tonight. I want to get back as soon as possible?"
"As in right now...?"
"Yes, what if someone followed us? I don't want to wait around to find out."
"Of course, that was actually what I was thinking." No, no it wasn't I said to myself. Stop lying! I was thinking I needed to rest because I was starting to catch a cold hanging around this girl. It didn't really matter what I wanted because I wasn't going to refuse. I don't think I could speak coherently if I tried at this point.
___________________________________
We'd been riding for about three days with minimum breaks. All which were decided by her. I also had started to feel better after the nap she let me take for about four hours before she woke me up from it. Then the next night I got around five, strangely enough I wasn't feeling the effects. I'm sure it was going to kick in when we got there. We had stopped near a run down store, but not too close as she said she didn't feel comfortable going near it. We were close enough where someone could hear us if we screamed. I doubt they would help, but it was reassuring to think it. I had fallen asleep against a tree but woke up with my head on her shoulder. She had sat next to me telling me she was going to keep watch. Maybe that was why she woke me up. I had also learned her name. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be to get out of her either. It went along the lines of…
"You never told me your name," I said as we were riding with a light jog.
"You never asked." I may have been slightly exaggerating when I said it wasn't difficult, but to be fair it was quicker than I thought she would tell me in the end.
"Well...?"
"It's Scarlett." She huffed as if it was troublesome to say those two words. "I'm going to sleep, so don't talk to me." She leaned back against me using my chest as a head and back rest. I grabbed the rein with my other hand instead of just stirring with one hand, so she wouldn't fall if she accidentally slipped. This way I could hold her up too. Besides my arms going numb it wasn't so bad.
It was dark out when we had successfully made it to Agave. I had no idea what the plan was now.
"Scarlett," I whispered. "We're here. Wake up." I put Obsidian in a halt and gently shook her. Her eyes slowly fluttered open searching her surroundings as she did. A confused expression found it's way onto her face.
"Which direction is the palace?"
"I think it's that way," pointing towards it.
"Alright, let's go that way then." Her head was turned upwards just staring up at me. When I didn’t move she said, "Are you going to get down? I need help too." Ah, so that's what she was waiting for. Once I had my feet on the ground, I raised my hands to her waist. Unlike the first few times she didn't hesitate. Both her hands gripped my shoulders as I steadily put her down. It felt like déjà vu hit me, but I didn't want it to end. It was pleasant spending these past days butting heads and remarking to her snarky comments. All that was coming to an end.
"Let's go," I said holding Obsidian's rein following her. I think we eventually found the palace. I was straining most of the time and Scarlett was starting to figure that out.
"Why are you so far behind," she asked? I didn't even realize she was beside me, which was embarrassing because I whispered screamed hearing her voice. Just a bit.
"I can't see anything. Don't scare me like that!" I stiffened feeling a warm grasp wrap around my hand. It was a good thing she couldn't see my face. I'm sure my face looked like a tomato.
"Come on. I'm tired of you falling behind."
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