A/N: The chapter after this is technically first, but I had such a hard time getting it out on 'paper' that I wrote this first, which really helped. It just didn't feel right to have them in proper order, so I hope I don't confuse anyone too badly.
~Day 10~
Emma's dreams were filled with valiant battles, the sound of blade against blade filling her ears.
She woke startled, instantly on guard. It was mostly quiet, aside from an odd sound, though she couldn't place it.
First, she noticed the sun was up. Then, rubbing sleep from her eyes, she turned her head and realized that Killian wasn't there. He'd broken their pack to stick together. Odder, still, was his knapsack sitting in the middle of the net. She hadn't seen him remove it this entire trip, he even slept with it.
She was afraid to look down.
She had to look.
She had to pinch herself to ensure she wasn't dreaming.
Rather, having a nightmare.
Soldiers. Dozens of them. And they were everywhere. A larger portion of them seemed to be.. dead.
Her attention was pulled to the odd sound, and she realized it was Yar. He was moaning in pain, which must have woken her, of all things. He was laying in the clearing between the forest and the castle wall. Huge chains had been roped around the creature, and staked into the ground. She did notice that a few of the stakes either weren't pushed into the dirt, or had already been pulled out. Yar was struggling against them, trying to get up and out. Surrounding the beast were the corpses of several soldiers, and the area was saturated in blood as if it had rained down.
No wonder Killian didn't want me near a centicore - he must have known.
She spotted several more men who seemed terrified, and realized many of them were injured, severely. Some of the walking soldiers were bringing the wounded to sit up against the castle wall. Others were moving their dead. She suspected a transport of some kind was on the way.
She hated herself for sleeping through all of this.
Then she heard it, that beautiful voice-
"I told you, bastards, she's already gone. I can't tell you a damn thing!" He was loud, his voice strained. He was hurt.
She looked for the voice, and her heart dropped. He was sitting, on the ground, tied to a tree not far from Yar. She could only make out his profile. In the fresh morning light, he was harshly shaded by lucious green leaves, and he was almost unrecognizable in one of their shiny golden uniforms. She wondered how that had transpired.
She wondered if she could get her own hands on a uniform. It was probably the best way to evade the soldiers. She'd have to cut her hair, but beauty was a small price to pay for survival.
"Look mate, I'm a survivor. If I knew where she was, I'd tell you just so I could be on my way. Blasted princess is a nightmare to be around, anyway."
She could almost hear the grin in his voice. That caused the corner of her mouth to turn up a bit, even though the lie-detector was going off in her head. For a split second, she allowed the realization to hit that he didn't mind spending time with her.
"Because you lot were attacking me! It seemed reasonable at the time!"
Gods, he was loud-
She tried not to make a sound as the soldier smashed a rock into Killian's head. The pirate slouched, and she couldn't tell if he was simply unconscious, or…
The violence caused the centicore to moan in sorrow. Any sounds she had made would have drowned in his cries. She hoped.
"Find her! She must be here somewhere!"
Had they heard her? She didn't know what to do. She was, essentially, alone. But her presence on this trip may have cost him-
Stay calm. She'd just have to figure something out.
She could do this.
She had to think. Even if she moved from this spot, there were too many soldiers to take on her own, especially if they'd already overtaken a professional fighter like Captain Hook. And she had no getaway with Yar out of their way. Unless she made it to one of their horses… but then they'd know where she was, chase her, and she had no idea which way was home, and the horse would tire long before she made it back to the safety of her land.
She could go back into Blackthorn. She had just an inch of a leg up, knowing a portion of the map of the place from their search yesterday. She buried her face in her hands. Every choice she thought of was risky. But she couldn't help anyone if she were caught too. She had to be smart about this.
Her sheer terror was getting in the way of her thinking clearly. She'd never done anything like this before! She had to focus. Not just for herself, but for her companions as well.
She wondered if her best bet was to stay put, lay down like she had been, and hope she blended in enough that they'd search everywhere else for her. Then she could free her companions in peace, and Killian would know what to do. She hated how indecisive she was, but there it is. She had no idea what she was doing.
As quietly as possible, she repositioned herself to sit cross-legged in the middle of the net. She no longer felt secure enough to lay in the thing. Daylight would make finding her easier, but she hoped and prayed that her high position, leafy shade, and her mothers bandit clothes were enough to keep her camouflaged while she decided on what to do.
She tried thinking of alternatives. Her bow was an option, if she could get it quietly. But firing arrows would eventually lead them directly to her. And each arrow took time, time she wasn't sure she had. Did she have enough arrows for all of them? What about her sword? At the moment, her sword would only help if they managed to climb to her. But if they had archers on the ground, or threatened Killian…
She wasn't feeling too optimistic.
It hit her like a slap across the face. She had magick. She just had to figure out a way to use it.
She had heard of Regina's fireballs, closed her eyes, and tried to focus. A few sparks later, she decided perhaps creating fire in a tree while evading the enemy wasn't the brightest idea.
What else could she try?
Thank you for reading!
