Quest of the Bounty Hunter: Kidnapped

Elizabeth

Elizabeth woke up to the rising sun, just after dawn. She noticed that Disantia was still asleep, but she knew that they had to get going. She hoped beyond hope that they would manage to catch a ride into Meldest or else it might take them weeks to finish this trip, considering Disantia's current condition.

Elizabeth packed up her bag and adjusted her cloak around her shoulders.

"Leaving?" Aella asked from behind her.

Elizabeth jumped in surprise and spun around. "Umm...Yes. We need to go. As soon as a Disantia wakes up."

A loud yawn came from the mess of blankets tangled around Disantia on the bed.

"I'm awake! I'm awake!" Disantia exclaimed with another yawn as she fell out of the bed. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" She mumbled in pain as the thud shook the floor.

"Good to travel?" Aella asked with a concerned look.

"Yes, I'm alright." Disantia said, carefully rising to her feet. "If worse comes to worse, I can just slide down the whole mountain."

It was a joke but the reality weighed down on Elizabeth. What if Disantia couldn't make it down the mountain?

Elizabeth definitely wouldn't carry her but would she actually leave her to die?

"Let's just leave." Elizabeth with a huff turning towards the door. "Now."

Disantia stumbled after her, grabbing her knapsack and a small loquat off the table.

"Thank you so much, Aella!" Disantia called over her shoulder. "Thanks for saving my life! Sorry about Elizabeth! She doesn't know how to treat kind people!"

Elizabeth scoffed, "Come on, Disantia. Hurry up."

Disantia followed her around the house and only turned back once to wave a farewell to Aella.

"God bless, friends! Safe travel!" Aella called after them with a brisk wave of her hand.

"Disantia, can you try to be more reasonable? More agreeable?" Elizabeth asked without looking at her.

"Me? I'd say that you're the short tempered one." Disantia said with a light hearted laugh, as if she was trying her hardest to be nice today and to grit her teeth through the pain. It was admirable but for some reason Elizabeth had never liked Disantia.

"Whatever. Let's just make it down this mountain alive." Elizabeth said as she grabbed another sturdy stick for Disantia to use to help her down the steep, endless slope.

Together they skidded and slid their way down the gravelly mountain side, luckily this journey was easier than the one up.

They passed through thickets of bushes and groves of mighty trees, their trunks thicker than both Disantia and Elizabeth's arms wrapped around the tree together.

They stopped once at a stream to eat a few sweet loquats and drink some fresh, clean water, or as clean as a forest creek can be.

It was much more dense on this side of the mountain than it had been yesterday on the other side which caused it to be much darker.

They had travelled for about two hours when suddenly Disantia collapsed. There was no warning and it caused Elizabeth's heart to jump with fear. She immediately hurried over to Disantia's side.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked urgently, ready with the medical supplies in case anything would help.

"Too far. Can't walk." Disantia heaved, wiping the clammy, feverish sweat of her forehead.

No, no, no, Elizabeth thought, Don't get a fever, please.

Elizabeth took some of the water from her water skin and sloshed it over Disantia's face, hoping that it would help in some way.

Disantia spluttered but the glassy sheen that had been a film over her eyes had disappeared.

"We're almost there. Can you just make it a few more miles?" Elizabeth begged.

"A few more miles to Meldest?" Disantia asked hopefully.

"Until we're off the mountain." Elizabeth said disappointedly.

"I can make it. Help me up." Disantia said with determination.

Elizabeth allowed Disantia to grab her shoulder and than slowly with some grunts of effort she pulled Disantia to her feet.

Disantia leaned heavily on her but slowly they began to walk on down the slope. Elizabeth slipped a few times on dry pine needles, which almost ended up as more disasters, but soon enough the trees began to thin and the light pierced through the branches more easily.

Disantia yelped with joy and almost knocked Elizabeth over.

"We made it! We're alive!" Disantia exclaimed with joy and Elizabeth was sure she'd be jumping up and down if it weren't for her near-death condition.

Elizabeth released a long sigh of relief. They did it.

"There's the road! I see it!" Disantia said pointing through the last small cluster of bushes. She pulled on Elizabeth's arm to get them moving again.

They stumbled through the ferns and greenery and burst out into the blinding sunlight.

Sure enough the road lay about a hundred feet from them. Unfortunately there would be nothing to hide them as they tried to jump aboard a carriage or wagon. It was just a bare plain with small clusters of grass and weeds, but nothing large enough to conceal them.

Disantia seemed to come to the same conclusion. "We could just ask someone politely for a ride."

Elizabeth shook her head. "This is a path used by mostly nobles. They wouldn't offer us anything for free. That's also why it would be so devastating if we got caught. We'd be arrested."

"What if we hide there and cover our bodies with our cloaks?" Disantia suggested while pointing to one of the slightly bigger clump of weeds. "Then when we hear a wagon go by we take our chances and hop on the back. There's got to be someone who's not carrying any passengers."

Elizabeth nodded, but she was a little skeptical. "We might as well try that. We've had almost as much bad luck as people should be cursed with."

Disantia laughed, "Come on!"

They struggled their way along until they sat about five feet from the dirt road in the tall grasses.

"Getting on quickly while the wagon is moving may be tricky." Elizabeth said, realizing that Disantia couldn't walk on her own just yet.

"Let's throw something in front of the wagon so that the driver will be forced to stop for a second to move it or just to avoid running it over." Disantia said with a cunning smile.

Elizabeth was amazed at the idea. "That just might actually work. But what do we have that's big enough?"

"I hadn't really figured that part out." Disantia said a shrug.

"The water skin!" Elizabeth exclaimed as the light bulb went off in her head. "If they run over it, it will pop and explode. We could dye it red to look like blood with that one herb salve Aella gave us."

"That's genius!" Disantia said slapping her on the back. "But we'll only have one shot to get this right."

Let me know if you are enjoying this book and if I should update it!