Author's Note: Oh my god I'm so sorry. I thought I posted this but I made a mistake and didn't. I mentioned it before, I will probably do this a lot. Anyway sorry.

Chapter #4

As I jogged a little distance behind the horse riders I looked over and in the distance I could make out two figures. One was Buttercup, still dressed in an orange gown. The other was dressed all in black, all the way up to the black mask he wore which covered his face. They appeared to be arguing but at hearing a whiney from one of the horses I was following they looked over.

While the man in black was distracted Buttercup marched right over to him and gave him a powerful shove to the back. He went toppling out of our sight, down the steep him that led to a foreboding cluster of trees which I could recognize as The Fire Swamp.

"As..." he shouted, "you... wish!" Buttercup stared down at him for a second. She said something but her voice didn't carry to us. A second later she threw herself down the hill after the man in black. The men on the horses stopped and I ducked into a bush.

"They've disappeared," announced Prince Humperdink, "he must've seen us closing in." I snorted softly, it hadn't looked like they were concerned about us. "Which might account for his panicking into error. Unless I am wrong, and I am never wrong," I snorted again the guy was full of himself even for a prince, "they are headed dead into The Fire Swamp." The men urged their horses forward and I began to leave the bushes I had hidden in. Suddenly a hand grabbed me by the shoulder. I made to scream but the other hand covered my mouth cutting off any noise.

The only sensible action my startled brain seemed to think was to attack but I didn't think to go for my knives. Of course that would have been the smart thing but what I choose to do was to ram my elbow into my attacker's stomach.

"Ouch," a familiar voice groaned, "calm down I'm not going to hurt you."

"Fezzik!" Well actually it came out more like mezkik because his hand was still over my mouth. He let go and I turned around to reassure myself that it was really him. But then again who else had hands that gigantic? "How's your head?"

"With the pain in my stomach I almost forgot," he grimaced and rubbed his head, "it still hurts. A lot."

"You deserve every second of it," I was being cruel but my heart was still pounding at triple time, maybe faster, "you scared the crap out of me. You nearly gave me a heart attack! Are you trying to kill me?" I gave him my best angry stare but then we both started laughing.

"Where is Indigo?" I looked over at Fezzik and thought for a second before answering.

"I don't know." We both looked out over where the horseback riders were disappearing in pursuit of Buttercup and the man in black. "We should go after them, they can lead us to Indigo, maybe."

"Indigo lost," Fezzik argued, "there's no other explanation. That means that the Prince won't lead us to him."

"I know," I sighed, "but we don't really have another lead. Where should I meet you back here after I find out what's going on?"

"This isn't a good idea remember we're still the people who kidnapped the princess. Where did you leave the boat?" I told him and we agreed to meet there in a few hours.

I arrived at the edge of The Fire Swamp and waited up in a tree to see if Buttercup and the man in black came out of the swamp alive. I must have waited for hours.

And suddenly they appeared, striding out from the depths of the forest, just as I had begun to think that they might never come out. Both looked worse for wear and the man in black no longer was wearing his mask. Their cloths were dirty and disheveled. I could just hear them from my hiding place.

"We did it." They turned and looked at each other, grinning ear to ear.

"Now," the man in black asked, "was that so terrible?" She gave him an exasperated look and they leaned close to each other for a kiss. The loud whiney of a horse stopped them and they turned to see Prince Humperdink and his men ride up. The man in black drew a long sword out and held it defensively in front of them.

"Surrender!"

"You mean you wish to surrender to me?" The man in black asked Humperdink, "Very well. I accept." I grinned, you got to love those born comedians, no situation puts a damper on their wit. Humperdink merely smiled.

"I give you full marks for bravery." Then he became serious. "Don't make yourself a fool."

"Ah" the man in black answered him, "but how will you capture us? We know the secrets of The Fire Swamp. We can live there quite happily for some time," Buttercup didn't look as if she thought this was the best plan, I wouldn't think it was a good plan either, "so whenever you feel like dying, feel free to visit." Suddenly, just below me, several archers armed with crossbows stepped forward. From the direction of Buttercup's eyes I knew that she could see them too.

"I tell you once again," the archers aimed as Prince Humperdink spoke, "surrender!"

"It will not happen." Several more archers aimed their weapons at the man in black and Humperdink tried once more.

"For the last time," Prince Humperdink drew his sword, "surrender!"

"Death first!" From the look on those soldiers' faces he just might get his wish. He might not have noticed the archers but Buttercup had.

"Do you promise not to hurt him!"

"What was that?" Humperdink asked as he looked down at her for the first time.

"What was that?" The man in black echoed Humperdink as he turned to face Buttercup.

"If we surrender," she spoke to Prince Humperdink while the man in black stared at her blankly, "and I return with you will you promise not to hurt this man?"

"May I live a thousand years and never hunt again." Was it just me or was that the weirdest verbal agreement I had ever heard.

"He is a sailor on the pirate ship Revenge. Promise to return him to his ship." Wow, in two minutes Buttercup had just gone against the man in black's promise of death before surrender.

"I swear," answered Prince Humperdink, "it will be done." The man in black was still staring at Buttercup blankly. The archers approached the two as Prince Humperdink leaned over to the man on his left and whispered in his ear so that Buttercup and the man in black couldn't hear. But I could.

"Once we're out of sight take him to Florin," well so much for his honesty, "and throw him in the Pit Of Despair."

"I swear," answered the man, "it will be done." This time I could tell that the promise would be held. Meanwhile Buttercup and the man in black were saying a tearful farewell. Humperdink rode over and grabbed Buttercup, pulling her up in front of him, and rode off. The archers closed in around the man in black. It occurred to me that I should find his name out because calling him the man in black was becoming redundant.

"Come sir," the man in black looked up at the man on horseback, whose name I didn't know either, "we must get you to your ship." The man in black was urged over to him.

"We are men of action, lies do not become us." I was glad that he could see through the false act.

"Well spoken sir." The soldiers began to tie the man in black's hands behind his back. The man in black looked over at the man's hand. "What is it?"

"You have six fingers on your right hand." OH MY GOD! A person had to be deaf not to know about 'The Six Fingered Man' from talking to Indigo. This was the same guy he had spent, of just his entire adulthood, searching for. "Someone was looking for you." The six fingered man drew his sword and brought the hilt down onto the man in black's head, knocking him unconscious.

I leaned forward trying to look into the six fingered man's face so I could describe him to Indigo exactly. All of the sudden there was a sharp cracking noise and I saw the ground coming at me. The broken tree branch and I tumbled down and hit the ground with a crash, causing the six fingered man and the soldiers to turn around. I told myself that sitting very still was just a clever plan to trick them into thinking that I couldn't move. The truth was I really couldn't move, the wind had been knocked out of me.

"What are you doing there?" I shakily sat up and took a deep breath. "Answer me," said the six fingered man, "now."

"Bird watching."

"I think you're fibbing." Oh crap, I was in trouble now. I reached for the knife hidden in my left sleeve.

"Who are you guys anyway?"

"I am Count Rugen. And you are under arrest." I threw the knife and ran, not bothering to see where it had gone.