"You will never get away, Alexis! I will find you! I will have you! You will. Be. Mine!"
Alexis covered her ears and continued to run. She didn't want to hear that voice any longer. She had been hearing it all afternoon. It was getting on her nerves. She glanced to where Walnut was riding. She had felt his tight grip loosen. He too was covering his ears with his front paws. Neither one of them could wait until they reached their next safe-haven.
"You will be mine, Princess Alexis! There is no escape for you!" Not much farther now. She was almost to the grove of birch trees – her next safe-haven. She hoped this on lasted longer then dawn. She needed at least another day to recover from her weeks of running. She was so tired.
Absently, she wondered if that was the voice's plan. To make her so tired that she couldn't run – or walk – another step. Then she would be his because she would not be able to escape him. She was certain that if the wind – who she now realized was the Goddess of the Wind herself – hadn't helped her when she did, Alexis would be the voice's. She didn't think she could have made it this far without the safe-haven of last night. She had slept well and deeply – something that hadn't happened in over two weeks.
She burst through the edge of the grove of trees and sighed in relief. She felt as if a burden had been lifted from her thin shoulders. She knew she was safe once again. But only for a short while. She nudged the chipmunk with her finger and he toppled off of her and on to the grass where he lay shivering.
Alexis rolled her green eyes and smiled. "You're fine, Walnut, we're both fine for the time being." She stopped and looked at the brown creature. She sighed and shook her head fondly. "Do you want any nuts?"
Walnut's head shot up and he was on her knee in a matter of seconds. His dark eyes were huge and he had a sort of grin on his face. He nodded his head fiercely. He held out his tiny paws. Alexis gently handed him a nut. He grabbed it from her hand and promptly began gnawing on it.
"Walnut," the princess asked as she handed him his third nut. The chipmunk looked up at her and cocked his head. "How long does this safe-haven last? I need more than a few hours to recover. I'm not going to make it to No Love if I don't rest."
The little brown rodent swallowed his nut and wiped his face with his paw. "Dawn. But not tomorrow. Dawn of the next day."
The princess nodded tiredly. "There wouldn't happen to be a stream anywhere nearby, where I can wash tomorrow, is there, Walnut?"
But the girl didn't get her answer. The chipmunk had already fallen fast to sleep on her knee. Alexis smiled and pulled her blanket out of her bag. "Good night, Walnut," she murmured, as she pulled it over herself and lay down, carefully placing the animal on the top of her bag.