Poor Ame-chan!! *sniffle* This chapter is long again... read...

When Amelia woke up again, she wasn't in the same place. They were in a field now, surrounded by tall grasses, and it was getting dark out. Groaning, she tried to sit up, but couldn't. Her ankles and hands were still bound together behind her back. Pulling against her ropes, Amelia felt them give a little. She brightened, and kept tugging at them. The bindings must have come lose while they were traveling.

After a quick look around, Amelia saw the gang occupied around their fire again, drinking and eating and laughing. She prayed that they would stay busy for just a minute longer. She almost had her hands lose... There!

With her hands free, Amelia untied the ropes around her ankles, and got to her knees. When she was down, the grasses were over her head. So, on her hands and knees, Amelia crawled quietly away from the campsite. She paid close attention to the ground in front of her, making sure not to hit anything that would make any sort of noise.

Amelia looked up for a moment, looking for a place where she could get up and run. She spotted the end of the woods ahead of her, and she made hastily for it. Once hidden by the trees, she could run back to Seyruun.

As soon as Amelia reached the trees, she stood up, and looked around. it was then that she realized she didn't know which way Seyruun was. She was lost. She didn't know how for the gang had taken her, nor in which direction.

Suddenly, Amelia heard something. She held her breath, and listened. Faintly, she heard someone shout, "She's gone!" Amelia knew it was the gang leader finding out she was gone. Amelia couldn't waste a second. She just picked a direction and started to run, hoping she was going the right way. She dodged between the trees, leapt over bushes. She ran into a thorn bush once by accident, and came out again all scratched up, her clothes torn in a dozen places. Particularly, a cut on her cheek stung the worst. But Amelia didn't have the time for a recovery spell. She didn't miss a beat, and kept running. She couldn't hear the gang behind her, but that was no reason to assume that they weren't there.

Pretty soon it became too dark for Amelia to see where she was going. She considered a light spell for only a moment before dismissing it again. A light spell would be too easy to notice. So Amelia just ran blindly through the woods, keeping her hands in front of her. Branches slapped against her hands and face, burrs clung to her clothes, and sticks and leaves got stuck in her hair. Amelia stumbled into a freezing creek, and struggled to get out again. Her pants from the knees were covered in mud after she got out of the water.

When it got even darker, Amelia found herself tripping and falling more than she liked. But she couldn't stop. She didn't know how close the gang was behind her. She slowed her step a little, but didn't stop. But eventually, Amelia couldn't keep going. She was exhausted from running, and she was hurting all over. She tried to keep up, but her legs collapsed from under her, so she backed into a stand of trees and curled up.

Try though she did, she couldn't sleep. Every time she heard a branch snap or a tree move in the breeze, she thought it was the gang coming back again. This kept her up all night. When the sun came out again, Amelia was on her feet and running.

After just a few minutes, the woods ended, and Amelia found herself at the edge of a town. She headed there, intent on asking people for directions. She approached a store and was about to ask the manager which direction Seyruun was in, when she overheard him talking with another person.

"...can't stand Seyruun. They force us to live the way they want us to. It's awful, really..."

Amelia gasped a little, and dashed to hide between a few shelves. This place was against Seyruun. That meant if they found out who she was, they might try to kidnap her like that gang did. Or maybe even kill her, like her stewards said.

Looking around, Amelia saw a mirror hanging up, and tentatively looked in the mirror. She started when she saw her reflection. She had a deep cut along one cheek, her hair was a matted mess of twigs and leaves, dirt smeared her normally pretty skin. Looking down, she saw her outfit was ripped and muddied. Her cape was about half the length it used to be, torn to shreds by something. She was hardly recognizable even to herself.

Hardly recognizable! That was it! She'd take up a different identity! She would change her outfit. She'd have to do something to her hair, too. She didn't want to, but she'd have to. She would pretend to be a mere traveler heading for Seyruun.

Grinning with her plan, Amelia dug through her pockets. She had plenty of gold in there left over from her wanderings with Lina and the others. With that in mind, Amelia looked about the store she was in for some things she'd need. She found a pair of scissors for her hair, and reluctantly picked up some bleaching color. At the clothes rack, Amelia reached for a white outfit, but stopped. She should wear something less conspicuous. Definitely not black, but maybe green or blue.

After settling on a pretty green shirt with a brown collar, green pants, brown leather boots, a belt pouch, and a brown cloak, Amelia took everything up to the counter, hoping the storekeeper wouldn't recognize her.

Apparently, he didn't. "That'll be fifty gold, miss," he said, smiling down at her.

Amelia made a show of counting up her small coins, digging through her pocket for more, and counting again, making it look as though she weren't sure she had enough. She then handed the storekeeper the money, smiled, and left with her things.

From there, Amelia went back to the woods. She knew she wouldn't be disturbed there, and wouldn't risk being recognized.