The Princess and Her Rogue

by Sheritta Bitikofer

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, looking back to Nate, who kept his eyes on the path they had come down.

  “Go to the trees. Now!” he whispered, “And stay down until I give you a signal.” Nate pulled out his dagger from its sheath and concealed it up his sleeve.

  “Is it a bear or something?” Kiara whispered in response, slowly crawling backwards towards the northbound path.

  “Dad burn it, woman, go!” he scolded, standing up and scanning the forest around them.

  Kiara didn’t waste any more time. She was about to burst into a run for the tree line, but she stopped herself. She quickly rushed back to the fire and picked up the bow and quiver of arrows without Nate noticing. If he was about to do battle with some beast at close range, he wasn’t going to need the bow.

  She then fled to the tree line and began climbing up the steep cliff that she wanted to climb later. She did climb it and when she reached the top, she was completely concealed by a few bushes around the edge of its peak, giving her a safe way to peer down into the clearing to watch the action, while also giving her a birds-eye view of their surroundings. Kiara was tempted to scout out the territory first, as she had planned to do, but she knew she should keep a close watch on the clearing.

  When she first arrived to the top of the hill, she didn’t see anything happening in the clearing. Then, all of the sudden, figures emerged all around the grove and converged in on Nate, only leaving a few yards between them and him. She watched with horror and intrigue as she recognized the shadowy figures. They were the bandits that kidnapped her in the first place. She tried to not worry for Nate’s life, but it was an impossible task to ignore the fact that he was out numbered one to thirty.

  Nate stood tall and strong in the clearing, showing no fear as he stared around at his opponents, sizing each one up and acknowledging what kind of weapon they held in their hands. Most held daggers, but some had clubs with long nails protruding from the wood, making it potentially lethal.

  “And what do I owe the pleasure of this friendly meeting?” Nate announced, holding his hands out as if he had surrendered already.

  The leader of the bandits stepped forth, letting his pot-belly stick out like a huge boulder. “You know exactly why we’re here, rogue! Where is she?”

  “Who?”

  “The princess! Don’t play stupid with us! We know you’re hiding her and taking her back to Malcolm!”

  “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never met any princess. But, if I do, I’ll be sure to send her your way once I’ve had my share of her,” Nate chuckled wickedly, which disturbed Kiara immensely. Was that his intention all along or was he more of a gentleman than that? She hoped he was just playing along and he didn’t mean a word of it.

  “Deceiver knows you have her and he said if you’ll bring her to him, then he’ll reward you handsomely. Five thousand gold pieces, along with becoming a knight in his army and owning your own plot of land right outside of Tau.”

  Nate stopped, let his arms drop and he looked slightly interested in that offer. Kiara crossed her fingers that he wouldn’t give her away. There was something about the way he stared off into nothingness when the leader of the bandits had mentioned Deceiver’s proposal. He looked like he really wanted to accept it. He scratched his jaw and sighed deeply, shaking his head regretfully.

  “That sounds like a really good deal, but, like I said, I haven’t seen or heard of any princess being on this side of the mountains. You must have me mistaken for someone else. I commend you guys for getting this far out in the middle of no where, though, without getting killed or buried alive. But, I’m sorry to say it was a waste… May I get back to my dinner now? I think it’s burning,” Nate said, motioning to his huge piece of deer meat.

  The men of the band just looked to each other with confusion, wondering if this was really all a waste of their time. The leader, however, wasn’t fooled. He walked over to the campfire and looked down to the meat with disbelief.

  “You were gonna eat all of that yourself?”

  “Yes. I ate some nasty berries earlier and lost my last three meals, so I’m pretty hungry. Do you mind?” Nate said, cautiously following the leader to the fire as well, watching him for any sign of a coming fight.

  “Hmm…” the leader thought, twisting the stick between his thick, calloused fingers, “Well, in that case, I guess we’ll just leave you to eat and we’ll be scouring the surrounding woods for any sign of her. So, we’re going to be around for a while. Come on men, get to searching!” he said, waving his saber out towards his crew. Immediately, they lowered their weapons and dragged their sorry, dirty carcasses towards the tree line, feeling demoralized as they were expecting a fun brawl.

  “Hey, hey! Wait! Maybe I can cook some up for everyone! You guys look beat. Why not take a break looking for that stupid girl and eat a nice meal for a while?” Nate said, rushing to his bag to pull out more meat in an effort to lure the men away from the woods, “It’s getting dark anyway and it’ll be impossible to find her in these parts after dark.”

  The leader stood up straight and looked down to Nate with a smirk as he was frantically pulling out some more raw meat. Some were fooled and came in closer to have a share. Others just stood still and watched, possibly waiting for a signal from their captain before making a move. Either way, no one left the clearing to look for Kiara.

  Kiara silently pulled out the bow and loaded an arrow, ready to fire from her squatting position as the leader stepped closer to Nate threateningly.

  “You’re hiding her. She’s in these woods, isn’t she?” he asked softly, almost mumbling it so the other men wouldn’t overhear.

  Nate only glared at the bandit, slowly edging out his dagger from under right sleeve.

  “Deceiver knows you’re hiding her, Nathan. It’s only a matter of time before she’s found. There’s no point in hiding her. Give it up, or we’ll have to bleed the truth out of you,” the bandit threatened. Nate didn’t respond. Kiara found it interesting that the bandit knew his name, but she had no time to react. She had to stay focused, aiming right at the leader’s spine.

  The two stared at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. But, it turned out that neither Nate nor the bandit acted first. Kiara’s arm was cramping from holding back the tightened bowstring and finally, her fingers gave out under the pressure. She knew better than to hit the leader, so at the last minute, she let her arrow strike another anonymous bandit that was standing a few yards off to Nate’s left.

  The arrow pierced the man’s neck and the thugs were sent into an uproar of confusion, giving out shouts and questions.

  The leader, too, began looking around for an explanation, giving Nate enough time to draw his blade. He slashed the man’s throat, and then stabbed him in the stomach before running to his next opponent. Kiara cringed and gagged at the amount of blood that had been spilt in the clearing already, but she held down the bile that threatened to spill from her lips until it was all over.

  Kiara drew back arrow after arrow and picked off every bandit that got too close to Nate without him knowing it, while Nate cut and pierced the men, one at a time, until he left them dead on the ground.

  Even though Nate was seriously outnumbered and under-armed compared to the ruffians, he fought valiantly and mercilessly. To disarm whoever he was fighting, instead of harmlessly knocking the knife, sword or club out of their hands, Nate sliced open their wrists or - in a few cases - cut their hands off. Kiara tried to not look at all the blood.

  Along with using his dagger, he picked up the saber from the leader’s lifeless hand and used it to his advantage, all the while, kicking, punching and gouging as much as he could, fighting for his life against the men. It was clear they had no real training by how fast they were taken out after approaching Nate.

  Kiara kept shooting the men in all the vital areas. She tried to avoid killing them, if she could, by piercing them in the arm, shoulder or legs. But, when Nate
would see them withering on the ground, whimpering in pain, he would put them out of their misery and slam his blade straight through their temples. She shuddered, but kept on defending Nate.

  One man, however, crept up unnoticed behind Nate. Kiara was too busy shooting those that were trying to escape the clearing to pay attention. The bandit took his own dagger and took a hard swing at Nate’s ribs. Kiara gasped as she heard his scream of pain and anger, hoping he wasn’t severely injured. For those three or four seconds of earth shattering silence, Kiara held her hand over her mouth and stopped shooting.

  Nate turned around with fire in his eyes and ruthlessly chopped the man’s head off, then continued to fight and kill whoever came up to challenge him, as if nothing was wrong. Kiara tried to convince herself that he was fine and shot the last of the men trying to escape. But, she could see a bit of blood seeping through Nate’s tunic.

  The bloody massacre was over within mere minutes, but when it was finished, the clearing was now a shallow pool of crimson blood, and Nathan was the last one standing. He panted heavily, his chest heaving, trying to get more air into his lungs as he stared around at the mess. Kiara was almost scared to join him down there as he sheathed his dagger and tossed aside the saber he borrowed. All that she had seen would scar her for life. She had no idea that Nate was just a bloodthirsty killer. She had no idea she could have the guts to kill anyone either. Her hands shook violently and her jaw quivered uncontrollably.

  Kiara felt her throat close up as she looked down at the bodies with arrows in them. She killed those men. She began to cry, softly, feeling suddenly guilty for what she had done. Is this what Sir Claude did for a living? This was monstrous. She had never been this close to violence and she could tell she didn’t like it already.

  She slowly regained her composure and looked to Nate as he started limping off to the south, carrying a slightly bloodstained bag and leaving behind their dinner. Why was he limping?

  Kiara quickly ran back down the hill and around to the path to see Nate stumble through, holding his side. It was running with blood. He looked weak and tired, his eyes squeezing shut on occasion to keep them from rolling to the back of his head. She gasped and ran to his side just when he was about to collapse. She caught him with her own body, dropping the bow and quiver so she could steady the rogue.

  “Are you ok?” she asked stupidly, wrapping one of his arms around her shoulders so she could support him better.

  He didn’t reply, but showed her his hand that was covered in his own blood. Lightning flashed in the distance, soon followed by a loud clap of thunder. Kiara looked up at the darkened sky and groaned. It would rain soon and they had no shelter made. Then, her eyes fell on the stone cave that she had spotted earlier. It was about half a mile away, but she felt she could make it with Nate in-tow.

  She quickly picked up the bow and arrows and half dragged Nate towards the cave as cold rain began pelting down from the sky. Kiara was grunting and staggering the whole way, but they eventually made it inside.

  The cave was warm, with lots of small boulders and dry wood, perfect for making a fire. Kiara knelt down and slowly lowered Nate onto a boulder for him to lean against. She took a look at the wound, but it was hard to assess how much damage had been done since the blood was caked on so thickly and made his shirt cling to his body

  He coughed and let his head fall back on the stone, closing his eyes to rest.

  “Hey, don’t pass out on me. Stay awake,” Kiara demanded, combing through the contents of the sack to find some bandages. When she didn’t find enough that would properly dress the wound, she took off her boots and unwrapped her own cloth bandages to use for his.

  “No… Put those back on your feet,” Nate mumbled, pointing to the strips of lightly stained clothe and her feet.

  “Nope. You need them more than I do… Uh… You might need to tell me what has to be done, though. I’m a little clueless about this sort of thing.” Kiara just sat there, looking from the wound to the two handfuls of bandages.

  Without warning, Nate sat up straight to unbutton his vest. Kiara knew what he was about to do and shook her head violently.

  “No, no, no! Isn’t there some way that I could help with your shirt on??” she asked with urgency as he stripped the vest off.

  “No… You have to wrap it around my waist. Otherwise, the bandage will come off,” he replied painfully, wincing as he had to move his side muscles and skin that made the wound even more agonizing, “You have to do the rest. I can hardly move.”

  “Excuse me?” Kiara’s eyes went wide.

  “You need to take my shirt off… If I move more, it’s going to hurt more.”

  She just stared at him, the wound, and his shirt, confused and petrified.

  “If you don’t hurry up, I might bleed to death.” Nate’s voice snapped her out of her shell shock and she acted as quickly as she could.

  Kiara placed the bandages aside and got up on her knees so she could be a little higher than Nate. He watched her movements the way a tired dog would watch his master unlatch his leash. She reached around his torso and grabbed the edge of the back of his tunic. With trembling hands, she carefully pulled it up over his head and towards her to free his arms, revealing the wound in all its glory, as well as past scars and the chiseled muscles - which she had never hoped to see again.

  Nate then leaned back down onto the cold stone and let out a deep breath as he took the shirt and threw it to the side to join the vest.

  “What now?” Kiara asked nervously, trying to not let her eyes wander too much. Her brain was a little shot from all the events of the evening and she honestly couldn’t think of what needed to be done next. However, she was somewhat relaxed by the sound of the pouring rain outside.

  “There is a little leftover ointment in the bag.”

  Kiara rushed to the pack and pulled out a little canister, half full of the gel-like lotion that he had applied to her feet.

  “You need to wash the blood off first, then put that on.”

  She looked at the wound and felt herself choke a little on her own saliva, finding that the blood was making her a little sick. Nevertheless, she grabbed their canteen and poured some water over his side, letting the blood trickle down onto the floor of the cave with the rest of the water. She gingerly wiped off the liquid with one of the rags, trying not to cause him any more pain, but she heard him hiss a few times.

  “Am I hurting you?” she asked fearfully, drawing her hand away from his side.

  “No… Just put the stuff on?”

  She smeared the lotion over the wound and swiftly wrapped bandage after bandage around his abs and waist to cover the wound up. All the time, Nate just put on a brave face, staring at the ceiling. Kiara couldn’t tell if the beads of water rolling down his face and body were sweat or rainwater. Either way, it made him glisten like he did when she first saw him like this. Thankfully, she wasn’t as petrified as she was before. She must have been growing used to it. She didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing.

  When she was finished, she handed him his shirt back, but he refused it and shook his head.

  “I’ll do without it for a while. I really don’t want to move right now,” he grumbled.

  “You’re probably too weak to move. After all that killing you did out there, I wouldn’t blame you for being...”

  “I’m not weak,” Nate barked, making Kiara jump a little as she was examining her own damaged feet. She looked up to him, a little frightened by the outburst. He didn’t look at her, but just let his head turn to the other side to rest.

  “Where did you learn to fight like that?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

  “You have to know how to defend yourself if you’re living out here in Deceiver’s territory.”

  “That style of fighting is so… so… barbaric. I’ve never seen so much blood in my life.” Kiara stared off into space, recalling the clearing, whose green grass had been smothered by the blood of those bandit
s

  “That’s just the way it goes sometimes…” Nate turned his head back over to face Kiara. “Where did you learn to shoot like that, anyway?” he asked in disbelief.

  “What do you mean?” She looked back at him, struggling to control her eyes from peeking down at his chest or abs.

  “I know it was you shooting up there on the hill. Where did you learn to shoot a bow like that?”

  “I love archery. It’s one of the things I do back at home if I’m not reading. I was actually going to compete in an archery tournament soon, but that didn’t happen.” Kiara glanced off sadly, missing home again.

  “Well, that was some good shooting.”

  It was silent for a while before Kiara realized that he had just complimented her. She smiled and nodded. “We make a good team,” she remarked with a hint of gladness.

  Nate didn’t reply to that comment, only stared out at the rain tiredly. There was still one matter on Kiara’s mind that she wanted to have cleared up.

  “Why did that guy call you ‘Nathan’?” she asked inquisitively.

  Nate sighed and blinked slowly. “That’s my name.”

  “But, how did he know your name? Do you know him from somewhere?”

  “No… I know I’ve robbed from him a few times, but he shouldn’t know my name.”

  “Then, why did he say it?”

  “Because Deceiver knows my name.”

  Thunder clashed outside. Kiara stared at him, dumbfounded, trying to process what he just said.

  “So… You’ve worked for Deceiver?”

  “No,” Nathan replied with a scoff, “I would rather die than work for that false king.”

  “Then how does he know your name?”

  He wouldn’t reply and Kiara grew angry.

  “Nate or Nathan, or whatever, you need to explain some things right here and now. Why are you taking me back to Aleph? Are you on my father’s side or Deceiver’s?”

  He rolled his eyes and sat up a little straighter. “I’m taking you back to your father, because I don’t like Deceiver and I know if a princess is traveling with a bunch of bandits that work for Deceiver, then something bad is going to happen and Deceiver’s planning something against Malcolm. I’m totally against Deceiver, so I’m on your father’s side and I’ll fight to the death to make sure that whatever Deceiver’s plan is, it will fail miserably. I want to humiliate that no-good reject like he…” he paused.