Chapter 9

Kidnapped Again

As Jeremy healed the horse to move forward, Clair thought she heard someone shouting and running after them. As she turned to see who it was, she saw Nicholas trying to catch up to them, yelling at Jeremy to let her go. Since she had promised Jeremy that she would not say anything, she looked at Nicholas with pure terror pleading with him to help her, but all she could really do was pray that he understood her look.

Racing through the woods, Clair tried to think of ways to get away from her actual kidnapper. Oh this is real great. First I pretend to get kidnapped to get someone out of prison, and then the same psychopath does kidnap me! How in the world am I supposed to get out of this? Nicholas can't go to my father, because he will probably get killed, or at least will never be let out of the shackles in the dungeon. He can't follow because he is on foot and will never be able to catch up to the horse. I guess it is up to me to rescue myself. But how in the world am I supposed to do that?

Lost in thought, she never even noticed that the horse was slowing until they had stopped. How long had they been ridding? It only seemed like a few minutes to her. Looking around, she saw that they were in the foothills of the mountain range creating the border of Trinadell and the neighboring country of Cashinday, which meant they had been riding for several hours if she remembered her geography correctly-probably not since that was her worst subject. In front of where the horse stood was a small path leading up the slope of one of the mountains. Clair could make out a roof peak poking out of the tree line about a forth of the way up, but she couldn't be sure because she was going off of how much light the moon gave off. "Welcome to your new home Princess! I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I will enjoy your company." Jeremy said to her cackling. Dismounting, he took the reins and started to lead her up the path, still on the horse.

When they got about halfway up to where the cabin was, Jeremy turned to her. "You have to walk from here. It gets to rough for the horse to carry anything but a few supplies past this point. But mark my words, if you try anything funny, I will hunt you down, and I won't be nice about it. Now start walking and keep to the trail."

Hopping down of the horse wincing because she had lost both of her slippers, Clair did as she was told and walked the rest of the way up to the cabin. Once they got there-it couldn't be much after midnight, Jeremy tied up the horse to the tiny porch railing. Grabbing her arm, he half dragged her into the cabin. Practically throughing her into the smaller of the two rooms, her quickly walked in behind her. "Don't you think this place is pretty Princess? Or do you prefer Clair, because that is what that lousy little lord ling calls you. Clair; I like the sound of that. Well Clair, do you find your accommodations suitable enough? I think you will grow to like it." Wrapping his hand in her hair, he pulled her up from where she lay sprawled on the floor from when he had pushed her into the small room. "Well, I am going to find some food for us to eat. Just remember though, I will find you if you try to run. Here is something to remember my promise by." Pulling her in, her pressed her tightly to his body and hissed her hard.

The kiss didn't last more than a few seconds, but it was the worst few seconds of Clair's life. Gathering all of her strength, she pulled away from him and slapped him with all her might. Stunned, Jeremy stepped back. After realizing what had happened, he hit her as hard as he could, sending her flying across the room onto the bed and tumbling off. "Not a smart move. When I get back, we are going to have a talk about that." And he stormed out.

Shaking, Clair pulled herself up onto the bed. She noticed that he didn't bother to lock the door. Obviously he is very confident of his tracking skills! Well we shall see just how good they really are. So she set to work on coming up with a plan to get herself out of this mess.

Back at the manor, Nicholas raced back into the ball room to find his father. Looking around, he saw that most everybody was still dancing, including his father and mother. Rushing over to them, he was stopped by a hoard of young women and some of their male escorts, asking where the Lady Saline had gone, how old she was. If she was courting anybody, where she had gotten her dress. Bla bla bla. "You can ask her yourself, but now if you will excuse me, I must talk with my father." he said shoving through them.

Finally reaching his parents, he pulled them aside. "Father, I need to talk with you. Could we possibly go to your private study?"

"Why yes of course my boy! But could it at least wait until the ball is over? I know that you have a lovely young lady friend waiting to dance with you." his father replied, trying to go back out onto the dance floor.

"But father, it is urgent! Clair has been kidnapped!" Nicholas half cried as he tugged on his father's arm turning him around again.

"Yes I know that already, and so do you. I know that you two were good friends, but there is nothing you can do about that. Now please Nicholas. You are making a scene. You go back and dance, or at least let your mother and I go!"

"Father! You have to listen to me! She was here!"

Stopping dead in his tracks, Lord Chase turned to look at his son. "Obviously you know more about this than I do. Please excuse us darling, but I think that our son had better explain himself, in my study. Please tell our guest that they may stay as long as there is still music playing." Turing to Nicholas, "Follow me. I don't want to hear a word out of you until we are in private.

Once the door was closed behind his son, Lord Chase went over and sat down behind his desk. "Explain yourself. And don't leave anything out." he demanded firmly. So Nicholas started to tell his father what had happened, starting with Clair coming to see him when he was at his uncle's cottage in the city.

"A very interesting tail you tell, but how do I know that you are really telling the truth? I trust you son, but you have been getting into a bit of trouble as of late. So, what proof do you have?" Nicholas' father questioned him. Holding out his hand, Nicholas showed his father the bracelet that he had given her and had later found in the dirt, and her dropped slippers. "Yes, you told me of these, but what else?"

"There are struggle marks in the dirt where Jeremy took her, and then hoof prints where the horse had been." he answered.

After showing his father the marks, Nicholas and his father talked about ways to approach the king. "We have to go and talk with him. That is the only way I can see him ever agreeing to letting you look for her."

"What? I'm not going to look for her! Have some of the Royal Guards go after her! Clair has already caused me enough problems, so let her cause problems for someone else now." Nicholas growled.

"How many times do I have to tell you to call her by her title? She is a princess, so you call her princess! And you are going to look for her, because you are the reason she got kidnapped in the first place! Yes, you have told me that it was not really a kidnapping, but it really was! Now you listen to me young man, you are going to come with me and talk to the king. Then you will go out with Lord Randal and some of the Royal Guard, and you are going to find that girl! Now go saddle up the horses. We leave as soon as I can tell our guests that I must bid them goodnight, and tell your mother when she will be able to get a hold of us again. Move boy, move!"

So Nicholas went up to his rooms to gather some clothes in a bag, and then down to the stables to saddle up his and his father's horses. When his father arrived in the stables, he had a bag of food with him and had changed his clothes. Why didn't I think to do that? So off they went, galloping as fast as it was safe to go in the middle of the night.