Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Author's Note: Thank you for all those who have read and reviewed so far. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, Happy Holidays.
A Wonderful Discovery
She couldn't believe her eyes. The one person who had initially kidnapped her had found her again. She was stuck and she didn't see how she was going to get away from him now.
"Ahh, Sydney, so wonderful for you to join us." He leaned over and moved one finger along her jaw causing her to jerk away. "Your pathetic Father couldn't get the far when first searching for you. He and that pathetic general were just asking for it. Thinking they knew better than I did. I was the one who should rule the Kingdom. I know all."
He looked down at her, "But you see I need to have a Queen and you are it. So don't worry, we'll bring you back to the palace, rescuing you from your horrible sister who ran away." Shrugging he held her chin in his hands, "Your Father will be so grateful to me, who else could he possibly let marry you?"
Juneston stood up, "Keep a watch on her." He looked back at her, "I'll see you later."
Syd could hardly believe herself.
Kidnapped.
Again.
Z would do anything to find her, of that she was completely certain. But even as she was repeating that line in her head having seen her captor made her less certain. Juneston scared her. And she was sure marrying him would be the death of her. She would rather die then marry him…although she didn't really want to die, she just didn't want to be near him.
Even though she was sitting on the ground tied up she could feel a throbbing in her ankle. She remembered when she was being lifted up onto a horse that her ankle had come into contact with what she assumed was a tree. She was injured and there was no one she was going to be able to get anywhere. She couldn't move it in the slightest without it hurting, how was she going to escape?
If only she hadn't gone down there by herself. But what good did that course of thinking get her. She would just have to deal with things as they were and hope that her sister and Sky would be able to find her sooner rather than later.
A couple days later
Sky looked around the area once more he couldn't see any signs of an encampment. This was both good and bad. Bad because once more this was not the right direction that whoever had taken Syd had brought her, and good because that was one last direction to look in.
"Nothing?"
He looked to his brunette companion and shook his head, "We best go back and go in that other direction."
Z nodded and headed to her horse, "What if we missed something on these that we already tried?"
Sky thought back to all that training that he had been though and just how thorough he had checked everything. He shook his head, "No, I checked it completely." She opened her mouth and then shut it. He nodded to the horses, "Let's continue?"
"Yes."
They still had Syd's horse so they weren't able to go through nearly as fast, but they continued onward. They both got on their horses and started out. He looked over at Z and saw her determinedly looking forward. He was really impressed with all this dedication and love she had for her sister that she was completely adamant about making sure she found her sister and kept her safe. That was one thing his Father had taught him, follow through on everything and keep people you can trust close. It was obvious that though they were sisters and very much different from each other they also were best friends.
He still wondered what they were hiding; especially now with the Syd having been kidnapped and Z insisting she knew who it was that had taken her. He still couldn't believe that she refused to give him anything to go off of. It would help to know all the details. If it was a particular person he might be able to pinpoint the likely location, especially if they were thieves that had taken the young girl.
Although somehow, even though she hadn't revealed any information, he did trust her. He knew that she wasn't going to do anything harmful to him or bring him somewhere bad. He also knew that he could count on her. She did anything and everything, whether it was finding food or catching it, to starting a fire. He still preferred to do most of the things but he still accepted her help when she offered it.
"What if they already killed her?"
Looking around at the trees he quickly focused back on Z, "I'm sure we'll find her."
She exhaled, "Thanks."
He raised an eyebrow in shock but decided not to pursue it and instead focus on keeping an eye on their situation, location and themselves.
Most of the day was spent learning what they already knew, that they kidnappers hadn't gone that way. Surely one would think that they would have come across something soon enough. However there was nothing. He could see that it was weighing on Z, and he found himself a few times wondering what he could do to help her out.
Bridge stopped short, he heard some voices over the small hill. Quickly he sunk to the ground and cautiously began to move through the scattering of trees. As he peaked over a bush that he had managed to find he saw the very man who had been searching for Syd, Juneston. If he found her…well that just wouldn't be a good thing.
He looked around the camp and without any trouble he spotted Syd on the ground. She was still just as beautiful as he remembered it even though she was tied up from the looks of it and she had a gag in her mouth and one covering her eyes. As he scanned the area he saw that there wasn't anyone really watching her. There was a rather large tent on the other side of the campsite which he assumed belonged to Juneston. There were different groups of soldiers scattered throughout the area all engaged in different things.
He realized that going and taking her right now would be suicide. However he decided that come night fall he would see where she was and plan accordingly. Their get away would have to be quite lucky, since it was just him and her that could be a problem, but Bridge didn't have anyone else to go to so it would have to be just him going in.
The waiting was brutal; no one went up and spoke to Syd the rest of the day. At evening they didn't even give her anything to eat. That upset him, surely they had plenty of food to at least share some with Syd. However since they gave her no food Bridge hoped, though he felt terrible about it, that she would get left out there. And sure enough when Juneston went into his tent and the other soldiers laid down, Syd sat there still bound and gagged.
He waited a little while before heading around to that side of the camp. Once he made it over there he slowly crept forward until he reached her. Her back was to her so he quietly whispered, "Syd, it's me," He began untying the cloth that covered her eyes. "It's Bridge," He was glad that her mouth still had the gag in it as he heard her gasp, which meant that it wasn't very audible.
He untied her hands and as he worked on her feet he heard her sharp intake of breath. Looking up he saw that she had taken the gag out of her mouth, "Bridge!"
"Not now Syd, later."
"My ankle, it really hurts though."
Bridge finished untying her ankles and then looked behind him. He stood up and held his hand out to her, "Come on, you can lean on me."
She nodded and he took her hand in his. Perhaps if this was another time or place he would have time to think more about how close they were, especially when he wrapped his arm around her waist and she put her arm around his shoulders. Right now he needed to get her out of there. They began their slow walk out of the camp.
Bridge looked up at the sky and realized that it was probably very early morning at this point, this meant that the camp should still be asleep, hopefully. It was a slow journey but they continued moving. He could tell that her ankle hurt a lot but yet she didn't stop him or complain. He did feel her grip tighten every so often.
The sky started becoming pink indicating the rising sun. He looked back and realized that he couldn't see the camp, he was sure that it was out of their sight for a while but neither of them had looked back. Looking around he saw a section of bushes that looked like there was an area hidden. He brought her over there and gently set her down.
"How are you?"
"Bridge. You're here? I don't understand."
He realized that if he had ever found her he would have to explain what he had done, it was better to get her thinking he was crazy out of the way, "When I heard that you had disappeared I decided to search for you."
She looked around and then back at him, "Alone?"
"I wanted to make sure you were safe."
"You came after me, all alone?"
"Yes."
She smiled and leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, "Thank you."
Grinning he looked back from the direction we came, "It'll be slow because you're injured, but I think we can do it, we'll just hid really good during the day and travel at night." He started looking around, "I think…hold on for just a moment." Bridge went and stood on his hands.
Syd looked around and then back at Bridge, "Hurry up, I don't want them to get you."
"Don't worry; I just need a few minutes to think."
But before he was standing on his hands for too long they both heard some rustling coming in their direction. Quickly he got back to his feet and looked down the way he and Syd and slowly made their way up. The soldiers looked up and saw him. His eyes grew wide, "They found us…well at least me. If I go over to them maybe they're stop looking and you can still manage to leave."
"I can't leave you. Besides I wouldn't get far. I need you."
Bridge looked back to the soldiers and then to the Princess on the ground, it didn't take long to figure out what his decision was. He leaned over and held out his hand. Once he pulled her up the two started heading off. He could hear them getting closer and he still didn't stop.
Then he realized that there was sounds of people coming in front of him, there wasn't any way that he could beat them. Carefully he placed Syd on the ground, preparing to defend. He looked over at her, "I'm sorry." Then he turned back to try and do what he could.