Chapter 14

"Now what?"

Terry looked over at her pale face, "Let's stay here for a while to see if Abram comes to pick up his bag. I don't want to stay too long because we might have people looking for us." He paused thinking about all his late night conversations with John and Patrick. "John and Patrick told me that if we got separated that we should move on to the first meeting point and wait there. So let's stay here for another 30 minutes before moving on."

Cassandra looked blankly over at him and nodded. They sat there for what seemed like an eternity, then it was time for them to pick up their bags and move on. She looked at Abram's bag and asked, "Should we take it or leave it?"

"Leave it." Terry said over his shoulder, he was already on the move, "Abram might still come by and pick it up. Hurry up, so you don't get too far behind." He said distractedly.

After walking for almost an hour, Cassandra finally asked, "Do you think they are alright?"

Terry shrugged his shoulders, he didn't want to think about his friends that he left behind to make sure she was safe.

She stopped and demanded, "Why are you being so cold? Don't you care that we left friends back there?"

Terry stopped and slowly turned around to look at her, She was standing with her hands on her hips, and anger blazing in her eyes. Her expression softened for a moment as she caught the haunted expression in his eyes. Then it hardened again as she demanded, "If you feel that way, why did you leave them?"

His emotions were starting to come unbound, anger being the first one, "I didn't want to leave them, but I did because I promised that I would keep you safe. They can take care of themselves, we should see them at the meeting place. Now come on." The last part he was almost yelling but he didn't care, he was getting yelled at by the girl he was trying to keep safe and he still felt horrible for leaving everyone.

They walked for the rest of the day, in an anger-driven silence. The few words they spoken to each other came out as clipped barks that didn't help the current mood at all. By night time, they were both exhausted as they quickly set-up camp. Terry told Cassandra to get some sleep and he would wake her up to take a turn to keep guard when he was tired.

Cassandra woke up the next morning to find Terry asleep slumped up against a tree. Awakening some of her rage she opened her mouth to yell at him for falling asleep. She stopped at she looked at the side of his face, there was dried blood on it. She tried to remember when he had gotten hurt, then she remembered the guard hitting him as he tried to escape them yesterday. He had gone all day without even cleaning it, and she hadn't even noticed. He hadn't even noticed. Her anger melted away as she realized that it wasn't his fault that everyone seemed to think that she needed to be kept safe. Although she was relieved that she wasn't with that slime ball Chance at the moment, they had kept her safe from him. Cassandra in an attempt to make peace, started rummaging through the packs to make some breakfast before she woke up Terry. He needed the rest, especially if they were going to be walking all day, she wished that they could have grabbed the horses before running off, it would make traveling much easier.

She shook his shoulder to wake him, when he finally opened his eyes she told him to get up and moving, she had some breakfast of bread and sausage before they started moving for the day.

Terry noticed a difference with Cassandra when he had woken up, he decided to try and talk with her as he ate. "If we keep a good pace we should be at the meeting place by tonight."

"What is the meeting place exactly?" She asked.

"It is a farmer's barn that we passed on our way here." Terry answered her.

"Why didn't I know this before?"

Terry at least looked a little sheepish as he answered, "We didn't think you would need to know."

She found her anger rising again, "Why in the blessed world did you think I wouldn't need to know?"

"Well… we…. Thought that you would be with one of us, so we didn't worry you over it." He tried to explain, finishing with a nervous smile.

"What do you think would have happened if you hadn't been able grab me before fleeing? I would be by myself." She spat out.

Terry feeling his guilt and anger for leaving his friends come back, snapped back, "If I hadn't left with you, I would not have left them."

"Then why did you?" Her temper easing as she looked at his guilty eyes.

"People are… People are funny," He started, slumping back up against a tree, "They seem to think that if either one of us dies, or gets captured, then that is the end. Our little resistance falls." He looked away before continuing, "They don't realize or don't want to realize that we have a capable council that can actually think for itself. Everybody I saw in camp made me promise that I would bring you back. It was almost the only way they let us go." He finished with a ghost of a grin.

Cassandra wasn't quite sure how she felt about that and to keep herself from saying anything back that she might regret later, she grabbed a cloth from her bag and poured some water on it. Walking over to him she gestured that he turn his face, he looked at her surprised, she finally said, "You have a cut on your face from where the guard hit you yesterday. I just want to clean it."

Puzzlement, quickly replaced by realization as he touched his face was plain to read. "I had forgotten about that. Thanks." He muttered as she softly wiped away the dried blood.

"He must have been wearing a ring," She murmured as she cleaned it, "You probably won't be able to shave for a few days, while it heals." She commented, her other hand holding his chin, "You are probably going to get a beard like Abram, you're already on your way." She finished brushing her fingers against the day's worth of stubble he had, before laughing as she turned around to put everything away.

As he watched her get her pack ready, he brought his hand up to touch where she had brushed her fingers, fighting off the urge to blush. He stood up and got ready himself.

After they had walked for a while, Cassandra wanting to break the silence asked, "This is going to be the longest trip if we don't pass the time with some talking, Pick something to talk about." The last part came out as an order.

Terry laughed under his breath, "Let's see, How about you tell me about your part in the camp when Luke was still alive?"

She made a face and replied back, "Not right now, I will later. But first let's have dive into your past. I don't know much about you. When you were sent away, where were you?"

"I was sent to my Aunt's place. She is actually my father's sister, although they don't have much in common. She married a Baron and moved there when she was still very young. She has two daughters, Adele and Beth. Both are older than me, so I had two very bossy older sisters to keep me in line. We were all taught archery, I made a competition out of it and practiced until I knew I was better than Adele."He stopped and laughed, "I don't think she ever saw it like that, but all I knew is that I had to be better than her."

When he stopped talking for a long moment, Cassandra prompted, "What was your Aunt like?"

Losing himself in the memories of growing up to a very stern but fair Aunt he explained, "She was one not to be crossed, we learned to do everything by her exact standards, but we had fun too. There was a lot laughter in that home, which I missed after my mother had died."

Cassandra looked thoughtful for a moment before asking, "What was the King like before she died?"

After a long pause, Terry finally answered, "I don't remember much, I didn't get to see him often and when I did he usually ignored me and paid attention only to my mother. He used to laugh a lot when he was with her… he was devastated when she died."

"Is that what made him like he is now?"

"I don't think so," Terry answered, "He was sad and sent me away for some reason, but he wasn't mean. That happened after I believe."

Cassandra nodded, "I wonder if it was Lord Pos, then?"

"You think that Pos could have influenced my father so greatly?" Terry asked. "I know that guy is a snake but why would he listen to him?"

"I can't say for sure because I wasn't at the palace at the time, but I know that your father doesn't do anything without him. They are like two bullies that love to have everything their way." Cassandra answered.

Terry scowled, before shaking his head, "Anyway, let's talk about something else, something that is not quite so depressing." He thought for a moment, "I know I will tell you about something that happened when I was a child. When I was about eleven or so, Adele who was 14, challenged me to a horse race. The race was from the horse stable to the middle of the wood that is by the house. Adele always tells me that I remember it wrong but the way I remember it is that she cheated and started before me. In an attempt to make up for the lost time, I tried to take the short-cut through the woods. You haven't seen this short-cut but it had a nice path for awhile and then it got smaller and smaller until it disappears. From there you have to follow several landmarks to find the right places. Let's just say that I forgot what several of those landmarks were… Many hours later, I was still wandering through the woods trying to find anything that looked familiar. I was cold, dark, scared and hopelessly lost. And when they finally found me, Adele teased me mercilessly about getting lost until Aunt finally commanded her to stop."

He paused smiling at the memory, before saying, "Alright that was one memory from me, it is your turn to tell me about the camp."

Cassandra thought for a moment, "I don't remember saying anything about that…" She looked over at Terry who was smiling at her and she relented, "Alright, Alright. I will tell you how I got wrapped around with this scrabble of a camp. I was coming back from a trip and the carriage stopped, this was the second time in two days during this return trip that something like that had happened, so I remember being very nervous and hiding in the carriage not even brave enough to peak out the window as I heard shouting and fighting going on outside. The door opened and a man in a mask came in and quickly captured me. I was too afraid to give up much of a fight. A sack was thrust over my heard and I was carried off.

When the sack had been removed, all I saw from the blinding light was a halo of red hair and a quirky smile. I was so annoyed at that smile and being carried off, I forgot that I had been afraid and demanded to be let go. The man with red hair just laughed at me and walked out with me yelling at him.

The next person to come barging in was another red head, only this time it was an older woman. She was yelling at someone behind her. I was curious despite myself and tried to hear what she was yelling only to find myself enveloped in a hug. I couldn't see her face and was startled when she yelled in my ear. "I'm taking her!" The then led me out of that building and into another one.

That was when I finally got my first look at Red Sal. I wasn't allowed to leave her hut for almost a week. Several people came every day to visit me thought, and the first red head, whose name was Luke, came everyday. I have to say that he turned on the charm and I found myself around him more and more." Cassandra paused and looked around almost as if she was trying to decide what to say next.

She looked over at Terry and saw a look she couldn't quite interpret, he saw her looking and smiled at her, saying, "So that is how you first met him. What happened then?"

She looked away and quickly remarked, "I made friends in the camp, I think that qualifies as one story, so that means it is your turn."

Making a face, Terry decided not to fight this battle and let it slide, starting on another story from his childhood.

Author's note- I don't really want to stop there but this chapter is bigger than I usually do, and it has been a while since I have posted. I hoped you enjoyed it. Please Review!