Keep Her Safe Chapter Seven
Lady Prin
Disclaimer applies.
She didn't know how long she'd been running, but Mina's legs were getting really tired, and her pace was slowing.
She didn't have a clue where she was, but it looked like the heart of the city.
Mina ducked behind a corner and tried to keep her fast breathing as quiet as she could, as she listened for the footsteps of the two guards that were following her. After a minute she saw them run past her and down the street, and turned to the right, away from her.
She sighed in relief.
She turned to her left, and ran a few more steps before her legs collapsed beneath her. As she fell she twisted her ankle with a loud crack! She muffled her yell of pain as she hit the ground.
She attempted to get up, but was just too exhausted to move. After standing on the podium for four hours, then running for Serenity alone knew how long, there was just no energy left in her.
She laid there for a few minutes longer, urging herself to move, but nothing would.
Then a shadow fell upon her.
"My lady, are you okay?" A man asked as he knelt down beside her.
Mina heard the sound of metal scraping leather. And figured him to be removing a dagger from it's sheath. Her suspicions were confirmed a moment later when the bonds around her wrists were cut.
It was then she had a burst of energy, and flung her arms wide.
She heard a whack and the man cry out in pain, and she figured that she had hit his nose.
She pushed herself up from the ground, and leaped forward, but fell again.
Her ankle just couldn't support her weight.
Her eyes half closed, as the man leaned over her again, this time wearily.
With one hand he held a handkerchief to his nose to stop the bleeding.
"Ma'am?" He asked.
"Let. . . me. . . go. . ." Mina whispered as her eyes closed a bit more.
"I did..." The man responded in confusion.
He took a chance and leaned over Mina again. But this time Mina's energy had run out entirely.
The man's expression was worried.
"I'm going to take you to our medicine women. It's going to be alright." He told her.
"No. . . I have to. . . find Serena. . . I have to. . . find. . . my princess. . ." Mina whispered as her eyes closed completely, and she slept.
The short blond haired man stared at her with his deep green eyes. Confusion etched in his every feature.
With a shrug he picked Mina up in the wedding hold, and carried her away.
Meanwhile, Serena had been running in the opposite direction from Mina.
She felt like she had lost her captures some time ago, but wasn't too sure, and wasn't willing to risk it. So she had kept running, but like Mina, her pace was slowing.
Her cheeks were flushed from running so long, and her legs felt like lead, but her eyes were as bright and alert as ever.
Finally she just had to stop to catch her breath.
But a second later she heard footsteps coming around the corner behind her. She didn't know what to do.
"Pssssst!" A voice sounded to her left.
She looked and saw a small boy of about twelve, dressed in rags, and covered with dirt, waving at her to follow him.
She did, without hesitation.
She followed him through backyards, and down more streets, till they finally came to rest in the shadows of a low bridge that was built over a shallow river.
Serena's captures ran over the bridge and never knew that their quarry was right under their noses.
After a few minutes of getting their breaths back, the boy helped her to break her bonds.
As she rubbed her wrists to get the circulation back into them, she studied her rescuer.
He had short brown hair, and dark teal colored eyes that looked at her with curiosity. He had quite a few scrapes and bruises, and looked slightly too thin, but apart from that, healthy.
"Thank you!" Serena said cheerily to him.
After a minute, he smiled at her too.
"You're welcome!" He replied. "My name's Sammy. What's your's?"
"It's Se-...Rena." She corrected herself hastily.
"Serena?" He asked.
"No." Serena shook her head. "It's just Rena."
"Oh..." He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, thinking that she wasn't telling him the truth. But here on the street, it was safer not to tell the truth. So he let it go.
"You're bleeding." He gestured toward her wrists.
"Uh?" Serena looked down.
Indeed her wrists were bleeding slightly.
"Oh..." Was all she said.
Then she promptly wiped them on her dress. This left Sammy in shock.
"You. . . just. . ." He couldn't find the words to express his shock.
Serena looked at him kindly.
"I was put in this dress for the sole purpose of being sold. There for, I do not give a moon monkey's foot that I bleed on them or not."
"Oh, I understand." Sammy said, his eyes slowly receding to their proper size.
"You should get that looked at." Sammy said.
"Where?"
"I know someone at the medicine house. She'll take a look at you. For free too. Come on!"
He took her gently by the hand and pulled her along.
When they entered the two story house, it was full of people, very busy, yet organized.
Sammy and her stood by the door for a moment.
Then Sammy spotted someone.
"Hey! Auquesta!" He yelled.
A pretty girl, with dark blue hair, and light blue eyes hidden behind large glasses came over to them, holding a writing tablet.
"Oh, hello Sammy!" She survade him up and down as Sammy looked upward and blushed. "Been in trouble again haven't you?" Auquesta asked with a smile.
Sammy answered with a shrug.
Auquesta smiled a bigger smile at him, then looked at Serena who smiled at her nervously.
"Who's your friend Sammy?"
"Her name's Rena. She was almost sold as a slave, but got away. Her wrists are bleeding. See?"
Sammy lifted Serena's wrists up so Auquesta could see them.
Auquesta took them from Sammy and looked at them closely.
"I can mend these easily. Don't worry."
CRASH! BOOM! "AAAAHHHHHHH!"
All three of them jerked their heads in the direction of a closed door in the back of the house, where the sounds were coming from. Everybody else was looking there too with curiosity.
"I AM NOT GOING TO LET YOU STICK THAT INTO ME! NO! CALM DOWN? CALM DOWN? I'LL GIVE YOU CALM DOWN IN A MINUTE! I HATE NEEDLES! GET AWAY FROM MEEEEEE!"
"Mina!" Serena whispered.
"Who?" Sammy and Auquesta asked, but Serena was already across the room and trying to open the door.
"You can't go in there!" Auquesta yelled. "My Mistress is working with a very. . . mental patient!"
The door was locked.
"She's only mental when it comes to needles." Serena replied.
She backed away from the door.
'If Mina can kick down a thick wooden door in high heels, then by the moon so can I!' Serena thought.
She kicked the door. It opened with a bang! And Serena crouched down holding her ankle with a yell of pain. When she looked up she saw that three people were in the room, surrounding the bed, holding Mina down. They weren't doing a good job of it.
Serena limped in.
Auquesta and Sammy followed her in. Auquesta looked really nervous and was fiddling with her glasses.
"Auquesta I told you to keep people out! This is a very mental patient!" A plump older women on the left side of the bed cried, as she held onto Mina's arms.
"Mistress Taknisha, I tried." Auquesta replied.
"For goodness sake! Let Mmmm. . . her, go!" Serena yelled with her hands on her hips.
Mina quit struggling at Serena's voice.
"Rena?" Mina asked, looking at her with joyous eyes.
"Mani, it's me!" Serena replied with a smile as she limped over to her.
"You know this crazy women?" A black short haired man, with dark blue eyes asked, while breathing heavily. He was holding Mina's feet.
"One, yes I know her. Two, she's not crazy. Three, let her go please." Serena replied.
He and a short blond haired man with deep green eyes stared at each other for a moment. Then as if in unspoken understanding, they let go at the same time and jumped back to avoid any beatings from Mina.
Taknisha also let go and stood back.
Mina relaxed with a sigh.
"Are you okay?" Was her first words. She spoke them at the same time that Serena spoke them.
"I'm fine, what about you?" They spoke at the same time again.
They stared at each other.
Then looked each other up and down.
"You're hurt!" They both cried when they saw their ankles and wrists.
They both slapped their foreheads in frustration.
"What is this? An echo room?" The black haired man said, looking toward the ceiling.
"Might as well be." Serena and Mina said again.
The blond haired man and Sammy turned away trying not to laugh. Auquesta put a hand to her mouth, trying not to laugh.
Taknisha stood aside looking at this with a tired half smile.
"Listen, I need to give this women," She pointed to Mina. "Some medicine to stop the pain of her broken ankle."
"And I'll tell you again, I'm FINE!" Mina shouted.
In a flash she jumped from her bed onto the floor. Seconds before she had a broken ankle, now she didn't.
Everyone was in shock.
"But I saw. . . .?" Was their main words. The rest of them were mumbled too badly to be made out.
Serena was in shock, but she remained silent.
Mina sat down on the bed and hung her head.
'What did I just do? I just used my magic to heal myself just so I wouldn't have to get stuck with a needle, and I could've just alerted Baryl to Serenity's presence here! I am so stupid!' Mina thought.
Serena came over to the bed and sat down beside Mina.
"Well, now that that is taken care of..." She started to say.
Everyone in the room became silent and looked at her.
"We can now take care of your wrists." She lifted up Mina's wrists. "At least there's some work for the medicine women to take care of." Serena stated with a smile.
"And there's still your wrists and ankle..." Sammy offered.
"Yeah, that too." Serena admitted. "But Mani first!"
"I'll be right back then..." Taknisha stated. Then she left the room.
"So... who are you two?" Serena asked the black haired man, and the blond haired man.
"The blond guy is named Andrew. By the way, I'm sorry about your nose! And I don't know who the other guy is." Mina volunteered.
"You don't recognize him?" Andrew asked, pointing toward the black haired man.
"Nope." Mina and Serena said at the same time, both shaking their heads, though in opposite directions.
"He's Endymion." Andrew stated looking like he was expecting them to jump up in recognition.
Mina and Serena became silent, trying to remember why the name rang a bell.
Andrew, Endymion, Auquesta, and Sammy all stared at them in disbelief.
"Oh, hey, isn't Endymion the name of the Prince of the World?" Serena asked.
"Yeah, it is!" Mina confirmed. "At least you learned something!"
"That's what you told me on the ship on the way here." Serena reminded.
Mina shrugged.
Endymion was getting a slight smile on his face.
Serena and Mina looked over at him.
"Nice to meet you, your highness." They both said.
Andrew nearly fainted.
"What's wrong with him?" Mina asked.
"You're the first girls who haven't swooned at the sight of me. You're also, the only people who have not jumped up and bowed so low you could be eating dirt for all I know, as soon as you hear my name." Endymion explained.
Mina and Serena stared at each other.
"Then maybe we've done you some good." Serena told him with a smile.
Endymion's smile grew and he held back his laughter.
It was then that Taknisha arrived again and began to treat the girls remaining wounds.
No one noticed that it was dark outside. No one noticed that a black cat had gotten up on the outside windowsill of the room, and was watching them.
It jumped down and when it was sure that it was alone, jumped and did a somersault in the air. When she hit the ground, she wasn't the only thing that did.
A small dark blue compact computer clattered to the ground.
Luna opened it up and punched a few buttons.
Artemis's face appeared on screen.
"Artemis, I found them!" Luna told him excitedly.
"Found, 'them'?" Artemis asked.
"Yes, not just Ami, but Mina and the Princess!" Luna cried.
"YES!" Artemis cried.
His face left the screen for a moment as he did a leap of triumph in the air.
"Where?" He asked.
"In Japan! Tokyo. I'll follow them and keep an eye on them. I'll report regularly."
"Great! I'll report to Rei, and the Queen's! Thank you Luna! You're brilliant!"
The screen went dark, and as Luna closed her computer, she said smugly:
"I know I am!"