"What?" Ballista questioned still panting from running away.
"I saw Alwin." Gildar said in between breathes.
"Are you sure? If he escaped we would have heard something by now." Ballista said.
"Can we go back to the castle? I'm tired." Kook asked.
"No, that will be the first place Alwin will look." Gildar explained.
"So where do we go? If we can't go back to the castle then what do we do?" Ballista asked.
"We find a hotel or B&B somewhere, a few miles out of town and we keep low, we can't use our mobiles, we use phone boxes. This way Alwin can't find us, we wait a few days or even weeks until we return." Gildar explained, "Also we tell no one where we are, we say that I need to get out of town for a while, do not specify a time like a week or something got it?"
Kook and Ballista nodded. After a few minutes rest, the trio got up and found a taxi. Kook put his hood up, so did Gildar while Ballista stayed hidden between the boys.
"The nearest hotel outside of the town if that makes sense." Gildar said.
They all sat in silence figuring what to do. Gildar was positive that he saw Alwin but Alwin didn't see him or did he? Gildar had no idea how long Alwin was at that mall for and they were in that clothes shop for ages, he could have spies everywhere. Gildar's thoughts were interrupted by a vibrating noise. Ballista took out her phone and showed the boys the caller in case the taxi driver over heard.
"Send her a text, don't waste your minutes." Gildar instructed.
Ballista nodded and quickly typed a text saying exactly what Gildar had told them to say. When Ballista finished her text, the taxi had stopped at a hotel somewhere. The trio got out and Ballista got her shopping out of the boot, while Gildar went to pay the taxi driver.
"Come on." He said.
Kook and Ballista followed. When they got inside the hotel, they found it was the perfect place to hide out for a few days. It looked all cosy and had fake fur everywhere.
"Hey can I book a room for three people?" Gildar asked.
"Certainly how long?" The receptionist asked.
"4 days." He replied.
"Okay, if you want to put your credit card in there and here are your keys." She said smiling.
Once Gildar had paid, they want up the stairs as the lift was a risk as anyone could spot them. After climbing 3 steep flights of stairs they arrived at their hotel room. Kook collapsed on the bed while Ballista unpacked her clothes and Gildar went to relax on his bed. He looked out of the window and realised it was pitch black. He looked around the room and found a phone.
"Should I call them or does one of you want to?" Gildar asked picking the phone up.
"You do it, you can it explain it better than us." Ballista said.
Gildar dialled the castle number and waited for a while until Shaiden picked up the castle phone.
"Who is it?" She asked slightly annoyed.
"Shaiden it's me but don't say my name out loud." Gildar said.
"Gildar?" She whispered, "Where on earth are you?"
"I needed to get away from the castle and everything for a while, the bird and huntress wouldn't let me out of their sight so decided to come with me." Gildar explained.
"Why also you don't have any clothes." She said.
"I can buy some also you cannot tell the defenders we had this conversation while not out loud anyway tell them when they are all individually alone also whisper it please." Gildar begged.
"Okay get back soon." She said.
Gildar put the phone down and realised Kook had gone and taken a shower, he looked over at Ballista who was looking at him weirdly.
"What?" He asked.
"Nothing, it's just you seem to know what you're doing the running away, hotel, no contact through phones etc. Have you done this before?" She asked.
"No, it's just on TV a lot isn't it, you know dramas." Gildar replied.
"Right." She said unconvinced.
Gildar decided to put on the TV and lay on his bed. Half way through the movie he was watching, Gildar didn't realise how tired he was, when he looked at the clock, it had only gone 9pm.
"Here's the plan with hotels we sat at each one for 4 nights, keep moving around." Gildar said.
Kook looked over at him while Ballista just kept reading a magazine she found in the room.
"I'm hungry, can we get room service?" Kook asked.
"Might as well as we can't show our faces." Ballista said.
Kook went over and picked up the menu.
"What do you want Gildar? Chicken, salad, beef?" Kook asked.
"I'm not hungry also does it look like I eat salad?" Gildar asked shocked.
"No but you have to eat." Kook whined.
"Yeah come on Gildar eat something, Kook pass that menu over." She commanded.
Gildar agreed he will go with something as long as it wasn't salad then went back to watching the movie. He could here Kook in the background ordering the food and Ballista still reading the magazine.
"So Ballista are you going to wear one of your new tops tomorrow?" Gildar asked.
"Yes and while we're on the subject what are you and Kook going to wear?" She asked.
"I'm sure there will be a clothes shop around here somewhere. What's up?" He asked.
"Oh nothing except I'm in a hotel room hiding from a crazy Saxon with only 5 tops to wear, I can make no contact with anyone and I am reading a magazine which is 2 years old." Ballista said almost shouting.
"Okay so it hasn't been the best day of your life but think about it, it's like a movie in a way." Gildar said trying to raise her spirits.
Kook had finished ordering the food and came to join his two fellow defenders.
"I don't know whether to be scared or excited. It's like an action thriller, we're being chased by a crazy man and now we're on the run." Kook said.
"He's seen the happy side to things." Gildar said.
"Can you believe it this morning we were in a battle, you woke up, stopped the battle found out about the truth about your nan, went shopping now we're on the run." Kook said.
"Wow, today has been eventful, and I guess it hasn't been that bad." Ballista said.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door, the three defenders froze, and they had no idea what to do.
"Room service!" A woman called.
The three defenders relaxed while Kook went to answer the door. He grabbed the food and gave his friends there dinner and drinks. They all ate in silence thinking about the past week and all of the events that had happened.
~OOOOO~
Meanwhile back at the castle after the phone call:
Shaiden put the phone down and slowly went back to the living room where all of the defenders were. They smiled at her sadly as she entered the room and sat down.
"Who was it?" Crocness asked.
"Some idiot thinking we were trying to con him probably an attacker trying to fool us." She said.
"So no word from Gildar then?" Knightriss said.
"Nope, but you know what he's like when he goes shopping, I mean the shops aren't even shut yet so he'll come back soon." Shaiden said.
"Tie her up." A voice said.
Shaiden felt rope go around her wrist very tightly and her legs so she couldn't move just like the other defenders.
"I guess we'll have to wait." Alwin said.