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Mara's dress had been torn, laced in muck, tears stains on her face. But when she woke up, she was calm. She didn't scream. She had been sleeping high up in the tree tops, and she clambered down carefully. She had disregarded her shoes ages ago, barefoot now, she held her dress up and walked along the surprisingly soft grass.

She headed for a lake, she had been here many times, on trips with her sister, or just for a long walk, away from everything. To relax and be herself. She kneeled beside it. Looking down at her reflection, which distorted in the water. She reached down and cupped some water in her hands, drinking some.

When suddenly she was shoved forward into the water. She didn't even have the time to let out a scream.

Jerome had leapt out when he saw the girl, he didn't even know if she was the right one. But he pushed her into the water, and jumped in after her. The cold water was shallow and Mara's first instinct was not to breath, no, it was to grab the crown she treasured from the top of her head. She grabbed it and held it tight to her head as she struggled to get back up.

Jerome straddled the shaking girl, holding her under the water. Mara looked up at the stranger through the cold water, and a sudden rush of adrenaline pumped through her. She kicked him hard through the armour and he was thrown to the side into the water. Mara stood, heaving in the air, coughing loudly. She swam to the edge, climbing out, still panting, crown still in her hand.

Her hair hung down straggly, darker now wet. She watched the figure in the water, and she watched him stand, and he looked right at her. Silver armour glittering in the sun light. He raised his arms, and for a moment she had no idea what he was doing.

But then she saw the arrow, and she jumped high into the air, catching a tree branch and hauling herself up, the arrow just missed her. Jerome swore, he himself out of breath. He climbed out of the water, and looked up at her as she was perched in terror on the tree branch.

"Princess Mara," he laughed, running a hand through his wet hair "It's a pleasure to meet you,"

"Who are you?" Mara screamed, clinging tightly to the branch. Her dress heavy, weighing the branch down.

"Why I'm me," and with that he took out his bow, and his arrow, and aimed.

"Please!" Mara cried sobbing "I don't know what you want, please! I haven't done anything to anyone! I swear! I swear I promise!" and the sobs racked her body.

Jerome frowned. She sounded…sincere? He didn't kill people who hadn't actually done anything wrong. But Amber…

"Please," Mara's sobs were quieter now. Jerome raised his head and a feeling of sympathy softened him. He shot the arrow at a place on the branch, causing it to snap, and he caught Mara in her arms. She gasped, eyes tightly shut.

He set her down "What the hell did you do to Queen Amber?"

"Nothing," Mara shook her head, backing away from him slightly "I didn't do anything, she wants me dead, I don't know why. I ran, I ran here," she was stammering now. And Jerome imagined she must be cold, his armour protected him.

Jerome didn't say anything, but he went over to her and tied her wrists together with rope. Mara coughed once

"Um wait a second, before you tie my ankles together," she was smart enough to realise that was what he was going to do next.

"What?" Jerome frowned. She took a large step back and took a deep breath in, as if she was about to say something, but she turned and sprinted as fast as she could into the woods. Jerome stood frozen for a second, not quite believing he had fallen for it. He ran after her, if she escaped….he knew she was smart enough to ruin everything for him.

The branches scraped his armour as he ran deeper. And soon he didn't know where he was, all the trees looked the same, the sunlight being blocked out by the heavy loaded branches. Green leaves glittering the brown bark.

"Mara!" he called loudly "Mara Millington!" he didn't know why he was yelling, it wasn't as if she was going to suddenly run out and let him tie her up. He took a second to think. Think. If he was running…where would he go? And then he realised. He would just keep running.

So he went back the way he had come, back to where the river was gushing and jumped over it, looking around. There were fields and fields of green, with the odd white daisy. And where there were fields there were horses. And sure enough as he wondered, he saw a black as night horse. He walked towards it calmly and stroked its face as he neighed and scratched at the ground with his front hoof.

Jerome straddled it quickly and patted the side of the horse and it bolted forward.

Line Break

Mara hadn't stopped running, forward, in a straight line, she hoped she would come out at the end and be free. Where she would go from there? Okay, she had no clue. She let out a quiet cry when she stopped running, because there in front of her, was a large white horse. She raised her hands in innocence, walking towards the horse. But the horse trotted towards her and she stepped back, terrified. Riding had never been her thing, she just wasn't very good with animals, the horse knocked against her shoulder….almost playfully. Hesitantly she patted its face. The large white animal had shining eyes. And suddenly an idea struck, travelling on horse would be a lot faster than on foot. She went round to the side, and using the branch or a nearby tree, swung herself on. She didn't know what to hold on to. Afraid she's heart the horse. When she smiled.

She managed to tear at the bottom, the weak part of her red dress, cutting it off just below the knee, and fashioned it into a sort of reign. And then the horse galloped off.

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