Heed My Warnings And Survive
Chapter Three: A Secret Revealed

Chapter Three

A Secret Revealed

I woke in a small tent, arms bound behind my back. My lungs felt tired, and my head foggy. I looked around taking in my surroundings. To my left lay a single bed with fur pelts in place of blankets, and to my right Kiara sat, hands bound like mine. I could tell she had struggled against the ropes because the skin on her wrists was red, and raw.

“Are you ok?” I asked in a low whisper. She nodded, although her eyes were red. “Did they hurt you?” She shook her head, and winced. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding in. Ok she’s not hurt, but we’re still tied up. How do we get out of this? I asked myself. I scooted over toward her.

“Come sit back to back with me,” I told her, getting up, and shuffling over on my knees. “I’ll untie you,” I told her. She did as I said, and I easily untied her bonds. Once her hands were free she turned and started undoing the knots binding mine. She fumbled a lot, with the thick coarse rope. Sniffling a few times. When she finished I turned to her. I furrowed my brow seeing that she had shed more tears. “What’s wrong?” I asked. She held up her hands. Her wrists were red still, and her fingers bled from the rope. I studied her hands. The wounds weren’t deep, and they’d stop bleeding quickly, so I wasn’t too worried. “Do they hurt?” I asked, gesturing to her fingers.

“Not much.” Her voice sounded raspy, and that was when I noticed the mark on her neck. Bruises all around, as though someone had choked her.

“I thought you said they didn’t hurt you,” I said, lifting her chin to get a better look at the bruises. She pulled away.

“I struggled after you passed out, and I had a better chance of escaping so they had to make sure I didn’t fight against them,” she told me. I nodded, and didn’t make her let me look at it, cause I knew if she struggled against me, she would hurt herself more. I balled my fists, and my face heated. I hadn’t known Kiara long at all, but she had a sort of truthfulness about her that made the thought of her getting hurt infuriating. To keep myself from punching something I went to the mouth of the tent to look out, but as soon as I did the burly man from before entered. When he saw me crawling toward the entrance, he kicked my chest, pushing me back. I caught myself before my head could hit the ground, and rubbed my chest. That’s definitely gonna bruise. I thought.

“Trying to escape, little boy,” He jered. I glowered at the man, as I rose to my knees, he came over and bound us with the rope once more, making sure to tie them extra tight, and making sure to tie us to the tent poles so we couldn’t untie each other. He gave a toothy grin that made me want to vomit. “You can’t get out. The camps very well guarded.” I felt a sinking feeling in my chest.

“What do you want from us?” I said, my voice sounding calmer than I was. The man chuckled, an awful gurgling sound.

“Your pretty little lady had a lovely jeweled bracelet in her bag, which means she’s either rich, which means I could get a hefty sum for her, or she stole it, and that would mean it’d have a bounty on it, and that would also give me some coin,” He snarled. “Now get some rest, we’ll be walkin in the morning.” He laid down on the bed. I growled. As if I could sleep in this position

“ We’ll try our best, but we might choke on your stench,” I mumbled quietly. Not quietly enough however, because the man’s fist collided hard with the side of my head. I grunted as the side of my head hit the post behind me.

“Are you ok?” Kiara asked, from where she sat. I nodded. I could tell there was blood trickling down the side of my face, but I decided to ignore it for now. I let out an exasperated sigh, as I looked at the man’s hand which had a ring with a jagged stone on it. The man sneered at me.

“Watch your tongue boy, or you’ll get worse than that,” He said, turning to the bed, and laying in it, it creaked, and groaned under the weight of his body, and it took only seconds before I heard snoring.

A few moments passed, and I didn’t dare breath for fear I’d get another much harder punch to the head.

“We’ll get out,” Kiara said. Hearing the strain of her bruised vocal cords made my blood boil. We were going to get out, no matter what.

“Alright, let’s get some rest, we’ll get out tomorrow,” I whispered to her. She nodded. She rested her head against the tent pole, and fell asleep quickly.

I woke with a grunt as I was kicked in the stomach.

“Get up boy,” A different man was talking, not the saddle bag guy. I scowled up at the man who had kicked me.

“Don’t provoke him,” Kiara whispered. I gritted my teeth, and bit back my insults and curses. I looked over at Kiara, and studied her neck. It looked a little better, but still bad. Then a realization. came to me.

“Kiara,” I whispered. She looked me in the eyes. “You’re a princess, get us out of this.” Kiara looked at me wide eyed. But before she could say anything the mouth of the tent opened, and the saddle bag man entered.

“They’re not up yet?” He said annoyed. Kiara straightened her back, and looked as regul as she could whilst tied to a tent post.

“I am Princess Kiara of Tarni. You will let us go at once.” She talked very precisely, and demandingly. “Or I shall have you thrown in the castle dungeon.” The man studied her face.

“The princess of Tarni is known for always wearing a ring on her finger. You don’t have it,” he said, trying to disprove her claim. Kiara looked at me. I straightened my shoulders. And cringed at the words I was about to say.

“I’m her betrothed,” I said. “I have promised to wear this ring until we are wed.” flattening the palm of my hand against the tent pole so he could see the ring. The man cursed as he examined the ring.

“And what’s your status boy?” I looked him in the eye.

“I’m Prince Elias of Krothar.” I picked the kingdom that the man would be least likely to know about, and prayed he didn’t know that the prince of Krothar was the New prince, meaning he was still an infant. The man cursed and growled, and paced the tent. The other man- the one who had kicked me- watched the burly man tentatively, as he swore up a storm. After a few moments of this he stopped pacing, and looked back at us.

“Get out of here, before I decide to gut you both,” He growled, as he cut our hands free. I stood, and held out my arm to Kiara, as if I had the bearings of a prince. She linked her arm through mine, and we exited the tent, heads held high, The big man exiting after us. He barked at his men to let us pass, I didn’t want to ask for our supplies back, for fear that he would change his mind about letting us go. I walked as slowly as possible without trudging. For some reason I didn’t want to drop the act of being betrothed to Kiara, I wanted to stay in that role as long as possible. But we reached the edge of the camp, and once we were out of sight of the camp, we bolted, we wanted to get as far away from the camp as possible.

We ran for only moments but it felt like days. My lungs burned as I panted. I glanced at Kiara, who had collapsed onto a stump. Once I regained my breath I walked over to her.

“Let me see your injuries,” I said, tapping her chin. She tilted her head up, and I looked at her neck. I reached for my bag, then cursed when I realized the bandits still had it. I groaned and scrubbed my hands over my face. My hands jumped to my pockets, and I started digging through them. I found a small vial of just the liquid I was looking for, relief washed over me as I looked at the vial, thankful the bandits didn’t search my pockets. I held it out to her. “Here, this will soothe your throat, and help it heal. Only take a little though. I wanna save it.” She took it from me and drank a little. She looked instantly better, the bruise had yellowed slightly, and even her wrists looked better. She sighed with relief.

“Thank you Draven,” She said, her voice sounding less hoarse. I nodded, and went to get wood to start a fire

The night came quick, and the temperature dropped rapidly. Kiara and I huddled next to the small fire I had made. Kiara shivered, and I scooted closer to her. I didn’t mind the close proximity because her body heat warmed me more than the fire. She huddled closer, and my face grew hot. I grimaced at the feeling. Now is not the time. I thought to myself, but my face grew hotter. I rolled my eyes.

“Draven,” Kiara said, breaking the silence that had taken most of our day.

“Hmm?”

“You knew I was the princess?”

“Yeah,”

“Why didn’t you address it?” She looked me in the eyes.

“Cause you didn’t tell me, therefore I figured you were hiding it, so I didn’t pry.” She nodded.

“Can you tell me about your home?” She asked, turning back to the fire. I sighed.

“I had a friend, well three, but my closest was Zander, he’s kind, but strong, and would do anything for his family. Then there’s Finley, he’s a little sneaky, and likes to cause trouble, he and Zander are excellent swordsmen, Finley trumps him though, cause he has more speed, and agility, cause Zanders kinda big, then there’s Neireida, she the sweetest woman you’d ever meet.” My heart warmed as I talked about her. “She’s caring, sweet, gentle, beautiful, she’s perfect.” I sighed as I remembered my home.

“You sound like you miss them.” I nodded.

“I do. My mother, father, and sister too.” A pang of sadness hit me as I thought of Asterina for the first time in months.

“Why did you leave?” We were shoulder to shoulder now, and she could probably feel my shudder as I took a deep breath.

“My little sister-” My breath hitched. “She uh, she died, and my mother blamed me, and I didn’t want to cause trouble in the village, so I left.” The feelings of heartache and sadness reappeared as I talked about home. The pain I felt of missing my friends threatened to overwhelm me, and a deep longing took root in my chest. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes. “What about you? Why did you leave home?” Kiara sighed, and shrugged.

“Restlessness? My father didn’t let me go far from the castle, but he always lets my brother venture out, he always told me ‘as long as I’m in charge of you, you stay here, and once your married your husband can let you trapes wherever you want, he’ll be in charge of you then,’ he was hard set in his ways. He was good to me though, gave me anything else that I wanted, he was kind.”

“Sounds like he was enticing you,” I said. She scoffed.

“No. he wasn’t like that,” She said defensively. I put my hands up. She shivered as I leaned away, so I put an arm around her shoulders.

“Sorry. You knew him better than I ever will.” Kiara sighed.

“I’m sorry.” I smiled softly.

“It’s ok. I think you should try to get some rest.” Kiara nodded, and curled up as close to the fire as possible, without the danger of getting burned. I shivered and curled my knees to my chest in an effort to keep some warmth in my chest. I groaned.

“Well at least I can’t sleep like this,” I mumbled.

After a few hours I woke Kiara. She shivered as she sat up.

“Do you want your jacket?” She asked. I shook my head.

“I just need to rest.” I started nodding off, and Kiara scooted closer to me.

“Here, put your head on my shoulder.” She reached her hand over, and tilted my head toward her shoulder. I did as she said, and fell asleep quickly.

I woke on my side, my back aching more than it had the previous nights, and I cursed myself for losing our supplies. I looked around and didn’t see Kiara anywhere.

“Kiara?” I called quietly. I heard rustling to my left, and I stood, getting into a fighting stance, which probably wouldn’t make much of a difference if I was being attacked, but it was just Kiara returning with some firewood. I sighed, and stood properly, and immediately regretted it, and my aching body stretched out. I groaned, and Kiara laughed.

“I thought I might warm both our bodies by getting firewood,” She said, setting it down. I nodded, and rubbed my neck.

“We shouldn’t stay here much longer though. If bandits found us when there was no fire, they’ll replace us even better with one.” Kiara shuffled.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have gotten any.” I gave her a sorry smile.

“Yeah maybe not,” I said. She sighed.

“Oh well, no use dwelling on it. At least I still warmed up a little by walking.” I nodded.

“It’s ok, it’ll be pretty hot soon anyway.” I mentally cursed Tarni’s stupid weather. It was like a dessert, frigid at night, and sweltering in the day, unless it was winter, and even then it was hot, just not as humid.

I kicked out our small, and dying fire. I furrowed my eyebrows as I remembered Aria’s words. ‘Beware a dying fire,’ I somehow knew this wasn’t the fire she was talking about though. I continued stomping it, as I shook away the thought.

“You ready?” I asked, turning toward Kiara. She nodded, wrapping my jacket tightly around herself. “Oh how’s your throat feeling?”

“Much better. Thank you.” A small weight which I hadn’t realized was there, lifted. There was nothing to pack, so once we put out the fire we left.

We didn’t walk for long before the temperature rose. Kiara trudged slowly behind me as the day grew warmer. We were in desperate need of food and water, but I didn’t think we were anywhere near any villages, or towns, or even any small farms. I clenched, and unclenched my fists, then sighed.

“Are you hungry?” I asked, turning to Kiara. She nodded.

“More thirsty though,” She answered.

“Well I can’t solve the water problem, but I do know some things we can eat if we can replace them.” I had spent enough time in the woods to know what you could eat, and what was nutriciouse. I went over to a nearby stump and ripped the bark apart. Under the bark were three fat white grubs. I smiled. I picked them up, and held them in my palm. “We can eat these.” Kiara grimaced at the fat wriggling bug in my hand. “I know they look gross, but it’s all we got.” She didn’t take it. I sighed, took one of the wriggling creatchers, and put it in my mouth. I bit down on it, and as the skin broke the insides of the grub filled my mouth. I spit its head out on the ground. The taste of the bug reminded me of venturing out into the woods with Zander, and Finley when we were kids, we used to stay out for days, and this would often be all we ate. I smiled at the memory.

“That’s disgusting,” Kiara said, grimacing at me. I shrugged.

“Maybe, but the easiest source of food right now, and we both know we need it.” I held my hand out to her. She took one from my palm, and slowly moved it toward her mouth. She took a deep breath, and shoved the thing into her mouth.

“Make sure you spit the head out. Your body can’t digest it properly so you’ll probably end up being sick.” Kiara nodded, and bit down. She chewed it quickly, spit the head out, and swallowed hard. She opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out.

“That was disgusting,” she said. I laughed.

“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad.” She folded her arms.

“Well I’ve never eaten anything but the best foods provided.” I chuckled.

“Ok princess.” Kiara stuck her tongue out at me, and my smile widened, and although I was hungry, thirstie, and tired, I laughed, and Kiara joined me. It wasn’t long before our laughter died, and had to get moving again. I split the last grub with Kiara as we continued.