000

Jayne-

The cart that I was travelling in stopped abruptly at the edge of a forest. I could see a vast amount of prairie continuing what would be the rest of the way. I looked over to the two other exiles in the cart to see if they knew where we were, but they gave no knowledge of it. It had been a long two and a half weeks traveling to get to the ends of the country, and I assumed this was it. Why else would we stop in the broad daylight in the middle of nowhere? We had just had a rest three hours ago.

The two soldiers accompanying the driver jumped out of the front to unlock the latch at the back of the cart. The two other exiles grabbed their packs quickly and got out of the cart. I looked around to see if there was anyone around to come meet me, as the queen promised, but I saw no one.

One of the soldiers held his hand out to me, "This is the end, miss." He gave a sympathetic smile at my nervous expression.

I reached down for my own pathetic little pack and took the soldier's hand, allowing him to lift me down. I kept looking around trying to see if anyone had appeared. No such luck. I sighed heavily.

"We have to get going now." The other soldier said, "Take care of yourself, Jayne." I nodded. It was the first time either one of them used my name. They respectfully called me "ma'am or miss" the entire journey. It seemed that this was their way of keeping their job impersonal. I actually felt quite bad for them. They were kind men.

The rocks made a crunching sound as the cart took off back the way it came. I waited at the edge of the forest, staring at it until it was out of sight. I swung around a few times, again trying to catch the glimpse of anyone. But no one was in sight. Even the two men who came with me.

There was a large rock not too far away, sitting in the field. So I trudged through a small amount of prairie and climbed on top of it. I sighed, pulling my knees in and tracing the dents in the rock.

Suddenly I heard the tall grass being stepped on and I turned to see the other two exiles. The look on their face made me jump off the rock. They grinned devilishly, licking their lips.

"Pretty little thing, aren't yah?" The bigger man said, moving towards me as I moved back, "My friend and I have been impatiently waiting for our destination since we saw that you'd be accompanying us. We knew those soldiers wouldn't let us touch a hair on your head, let alone the rest of you. So we were forced to wait." Again he licked his lips as he reached for me.

I ran the other direction just to smack into the smaller, darker man's chest. He grabbed me tightly by my arms, "The King forced us out here, without even a single fruit to our name. Why? Just because we like to take what we want from pretty girls, such as yourself. He knew we would not survive. But at least he gave us a treat."

I kicked him in his groin to try to loosen his grip, but all that landed me as a slap across the face, sending me to the ground. Thankfully I landed on my back and not my stomach.

"Bitch! You'll pay for that." The man I kicked said between gritted teeth.

The other man came over on top of me. I kicked, clawed, hit, bit…anything I could possibly do to defend myself. But his face kept coming closer and his awful breath forced me to turn my face to the side. Sending me off with rapists? He knew and he did it on purpose. Could he really be so cruel as to set me up like this?

Out of nowhere I heard a whizzing noise and the smaller man who had been still trying to recover from the kick to the groin, toppled over. I looked over and saw an arrow standing out of his back.

"What in hell is…" The man on top of me began then all of sudden an arm wrapped around his chest and another hand held a dagger to his throat.

"Get off her now." I heard whispered into my attacker's ear, and he stumbled back trying to prevent the dagger from cutting his throat. As soon as he was off of me the man that held him showed no mercy, he raked the dagger across his throat and blood sprayed everywhere, spotting my dress. I screamed moving back away from what I could only imagine being more danger.

He turned to look at me, grabbing a white cloth from his pocket and wiping the blood of the dagger clean. "I'll assume you're Jayne?" He said nonchalantly. All I could do was nod my head, trying to decide if I should trust him because he saved me, or run because he just killed two men.

He walked a few paces to where a bow laid and swung it over his shoulders, "I'm Drake. I'm here to pick you up and bring you to your father." I'm sure my mouth fell open in shock. Not that he seemed to notice as he walked over to me and helped me up.

"My…what?" I asked. Surely I had to have heard wrong.

"Your father. I'm picking you up for him. The Queen made an arrangement with him. I thought she was to tell you?"

I shook my head, "No…she never said my father." I couldn't wrap my head around this concept. My father who had walked out on us when I was just a toddler, is here? And the Queen knew this?

"Well come on. Let's get going then. So can make it back in time for mid meal." He started walking, but my legs were stuck to the ground I was in such shock. He turned back to me, "Are you coming on your own? Or will I have to drag you? I don't have all day…"

I nodded, reaching down to grab my pack and followed him not sure if I was truly ready to meet this man who Drake claimed to be my father.

We walked about a mile through the edge of the forest just a bit off of the clearing. Drake attempted to keep a conversation going with jokes, but I didn't have much of a response. Not only did I have too many thoughts racing through my brain, but I've never been much of a talker. I learned early on as a slave that's it's better to be quiet and invisible.

"Here we are." Drake announced as the trees opened up into a small village.

I remembered what Lady Queen Bethany said, "Where is the church?"

Drake turned to me smirking, "That's not what I expected to be the first thing to come out of your mouth. Do you have sins you wish to repent?"

I prevented myself from rolling my eyes that comment, "No." I answered without going any further. I wasn't sure if I'd like this boy.

We started walking through a small amount of grass, then onto a gravel road. Drake pointed to a small building on our right, "Well that's it right there. The Father's name is James. You'll meet him tonight."

I nodded, not sure how that would go about. Slaves weren't normally church goers. Most of us believed in God, but we were not religious. We were not welcome at the church. The nobles claimed we'd taint it. If we were allowed in there it was simply to clean or serve food on holy days. Nothing more.

Drake began to point things out as we walked down the road, but I didn't hear much of it. People on the streets said hello to him as he walked by and he seemed to know everyone's name. Which either meant he had a job of importance or the town was just small. From the looks of it I was sure it was the latter.

We finally stopped at the other end of the town where the homes became a little more scattered, and walked up to a cottage made out of stone.

"Here we are." Drake said pushing open the door. I stood still a few feet from the door. "Well aren't you coming?"

I sighed, "I suppose I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

Authors Note: Sorry no Lance in this chapter. I couldn't think of what to do with him sadly. I'm having major writers block as I'm getting back into writing this story. Hopefully the next chapter will be better.