Chapter Eight

 "You want me to go back to my home, where i came from, and try to make us allies," turning around to the council, "My father is ruthless, he won't have it." i shake my head trying to get them to change their minds, but to no avail. I look at Elliott, "Katerina, we have no choice in this." He sighs.

"This mission should only last a week or so at most. You both will be bake here in Kalda in no time." Erik says.

"When do we leave?" i sigh pinching the bride of my nose.

"Tonight. You're going on horse back, it'll take about a day or so." Gia says coming outside.

"I finally feel like im home, but now you are all making me go back to the place i came from." i gross my arms.

"Your people," Elijah says putting air quotations around the words. "Are the reason six of us are dead. Your people killed an innocent child. Now they have to pay, i bet you are just like them putting on your whole innocent abandoned girl act till you can strike.!!!" Elijah yells.

"You don't think i know that!!" I defend myself. "I may be from Briarwood, but they do not represent Who i am!!" i take a step closer to Elijah. "Don't you dare go telling me who i am, when you don't know have the stuff i've been through." I grit my teeth.

"Come on," Elijah laughs sarcastically "You all believe she is who she says she is?"

"Stand down Elijah." Gia scolds her son.

"No, Mom when you all find out i'm right. I hope your alive so i can say i told you so." He walks into the house. I slide town the tree im standing next to and tuck my knees into my chest.

"Katerina, it's not your fault, what happened, happened. This is why we are going to Hillwood, to settle what happened." Elliott sits next to me

"But why cant i help but feel guilty," i run my hands through my hair, a few stray tears running down my cheeks. " If i never came here, never decided to stay. If i decided to leave the night you came to the hut, this wouldn't have happened."

"Katerina, don't say that." Gia says putting her hand on my shoulder in comfort, but i shake it off.

"No,it's true." I put my head into my knees "If i never come that poor child and those people would still be alive, im disscusted with where i came from."

"When we are in Hillwood, i'll make it loud and clear." The sun starts to set, pink and gold colors fill the sky.

"It's time to go." Erik sighs handing Elliott a sack. Gia hold out her hand for me to take. She helps me up. Elijah looks at me through the door, one last time before turning his head and walking away.

"Let's do this." I sigh taking a step up to get on the horse.

"Stay safe," Eerika says coming up to me and Elliott,

"We will." Elliott nods to his little sister. He flicks his reighns and i do the same, making the horse gallop away.

"Follow me, "Elliott shouts and turns a corner.

"Okay," i smile as the wind hits my face. The feeling of freedom sweeps through me as i ride along the brush.

Riding alongside Elliott was an experience so to say, shouting directions every left and right. I understand he doesn't want me to get lost, but I can follow the dirt paths. the thoughts of seeing my family again makes me smile, as well as frown. The interaction between my brother and i this past night makes me anxious to come home. Has he made it home yet? Will he inform my parents of my whereabouts? We rode for what seems to be a few hours when the sun fully set. And he stopped his horse.

"Let's camp here for the night." he says hopping off his horse. I stop my horse and do the same. He takes the bags off the horse and sits down on a nearby rock. He pulls out a loaf of bread and some water. He breaks the bread in half and hands it to me.

"Thanks" I mutter. And take some small nibbles of my bread. We sat in silence as we ate. The tension in the air is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Elliott breaks the silence,

"Why are you so quiet Katerina?" I shrugged not wanting to answer.

"It's about going home isn't it?" I nod putting my bread down on the cloth and tucking my knees into my chest. "What could be so bad?" He laughs.

"Elliott, you do realize my family thought I was dead this past month, right?" i look at him like he's stupid.

"Oh, forgot about that?" he looks down.

"I think I'm going to try and get some sleep." I lay down and face away from Elliott, I hear him sigh.

I didn't get much sleep that night, thoughts of seeing my family won't leave my mind, i wonder if Tatia got married; i wonder if she misses me. I wonder if my brother has told my family of my new name, my new home. The next thing i know the sun is coming up. I look over at Elliott who is sleeping peacefully, at least one of us got sleep. I stand up and walk over to my new husband.

"It's time to get going Elliott." i shake him gentely. He opens one eye and then closes it.

"Just a little while longer." he yawns

"If you want to make it by noon we have to get going." i say loading the bags from last night. I hear Elliott grumble, i laugh.

"Don't laugh, I'm tired." he whines. I laugh even more.

"I swear I heard NIklaus here? Is that him whining." i cup my hand to my hear.

"Shut up," he laughs, he playfully slaps my shoulder. I laugh at him.

"Come on," I untie the horse from the tree and mount it,

"Are you coming or not?" I laugh. He does the same with his horse and pulls the reins making the horse take off galloping, and I did the same.

"Let's race!!" I shout. Picking up speed, passing him.

"Not fair," he laughs trailing behind me. We catch up with each other for a little bit, laughing at each other. We pass a small meadow, and in the center of it i see a figure, sitting on a log, whoever it is looks fairly small.

"Hety Elliott." I say stopping the horse.

"Yeah?" H says back stopping his as well.

"Do you see that?" i ask pointing to the small figure, He nods.

"Let's go check it out." i say dismounting the horse.

"Katerina, you don't know who or what that is, it's not safe." Elliott says with authority in his voice. I roll my eyes at him and continue to walk to the figure. I hear him groan and dismount his horse as well. I smirk in victory and turn to see him jogging to catch up. Once he is close enough i turn around and continue to walk with him trailing behind. Once i start to see the figure clearly, I see it's a little girl and boy. Gasping i take off in a sprint.

"Katerina!" Eliott yells chasing after me. Once i'm about 2 yards from the duo i start to walk up to them.

"Hello," i say trying not to startle them, they turn around with a scared expression.

"No im not going to hurt you, i want to help you." The small boy peaks behind the girls leg.

"Sissy." He tugs on her dress, the girl squats down to what i assume to be her brother hight.

"Yes Cam?" She says

"Maybe they can bring us back to mommy." he says with a smile.

"Cameron, she's the one who left us here, she doesn't want us." The girl snaps at the end.

"Katerina what's going on?" Elliott asks walking up to me. I pull him a side

"They were abandoned, i can't just leave them here." i tell him.

"Katerina, we are a day away from the village and so close to Hillwood, we cant turn around now."

"I can't leave these kids here," i walk back over to the children. "My name Is Katerina Thornhall." I turn my head to see Eliott smiling because i used his name. "What are your names?" i ask. The older girl looks skeptical to answer.

"I'm Narcissa, and this is my brother Cameron." She answers for him.

"Im Three," Cameron says holding up three figures. I smile at his cuteness.

"I'm seven," Narcissa says. Looking at her brother, she steps to the side, and picks up a basket, to reveal yet another child, this one looks not even three months old.

"This is no name, our mother never named him." She tells me. I frown at that.

"Elliott!!" I turn my head to get his attention. He walks over to me.

"Yes?"

"We cant leave them here, we have to bring them back to Kalda." I look into my newly husbands' eyes. He looks at the kids and bends down to their levels.

"We are going to bring you with us home, you can have a new family there." He smiles.

"Okay we will go with you." Narissa says confidently, the young boy walked up to me and pulls on my dress just like he did to his sister.

"Are you going to be my new Mommy?" Cameron asks with childhood hope in his eyes. Not being able to crush him i nod my head.

"Y-yeah." I smile. He then turns his head to look at Elliott,

"Are you going to be my new Father?" All Elliott could do was nod.

"Okay so i think this little cutie needs a name," i say taking the unnamed child out of the basket. And cradle it. "Any Ideas Narcissa?" i ask the young girl. She thinks for a few seconds

"How about, uhhh, Jensen Fabian." she says.

"That is a great name Narcissa," I smiled at the young girl.

"Please call me Nar or Cissy." She tells me.

"Okay Nar," i pat her head.

"Okay, so Cameron goes with me, Narcissa can you promise me to hold on to your brother as tight as you can." Elliott says walking over to me and Narcissa.

"Yes, you can." Says standing up straight, i laugh quietly and take the baby in one hand, and the young girls hand in the others, while she carries the basket Jensen was in. It was a relief that the horses were where we left them, Elliott picks up the young boy and places him on the white horse, he then hops on the horse behind him holding him on. But wrapping his arms around him and grabbing the reins, I place Jensen in the basket and hand it gently lay it on the ground while I help Narcissa on the horse and then hand her the basket with her baby brother in it.

"Hold onto this carefully," I tell her. She nods with a smile, i then mount the horse, wrapping my arms the same way Elliott did grabbing the reins making sure i have my arms securely wrapped around the children, lightly pulling on the reins to make the horse start galloping, Elliott does the same. It was silent for a few minutes before Cameron spoke up.

"I need to go to the bathroom," He doesn't whine like someone his age would do her just says it

"We can stop in a few minutes okay?" Elliott tells the young boy, He just nods and goes back to being quiet. We came to a stop near a woody area, Elliott jumps of his horse then picks up Cameron, and places him on the ground.

"Do either of you need to go to the bathroom?" Elliott asks, Narcissa shakes her head, and so do I.

"Do you want to get down and walk around?" I ask the young girl, she nods her head. I carefully dismount the horse and pick her and her brother up and gently place them on the ground. I take the basket containing Jensen out of her hand so she can run around. She runs straight to Eliott,

"Can we play a game?" She asks in a sweet voice, looking at him with puppy dog eyes.

"of course, what do you want to play."

"You hide, I count." she says pointing to him then her.

"Okay," he smiles being familiar with this game as he played with his brothers when they were younger.

"One, Two." She starts to count as she places her hands over her eyes. Elliott smiles and walks behind a thin tree obviously trying not to hide well. I chuckle at the sight; I cradle Jensen in my arms.

"Ready or not, here I come." Narcissa shouts, uncovering her eyes. She scans quickly before she looks at me, i laugh and point to the tree he walked behind, she nods her head quickly and skips over, she pokes her head around the tree. "Found you!" She giggles.

"Dang it," Elliott frown jokingly.

"I'm done." Cameron comes out of the bushes,

"Okay kids, lets wrap it up and get on our way." I say walking to the horses with Jensen in my arms, gently rocking him back and forth.

"Where are we going?" Cameron asks.

"Well we are going to your new home, Kalda." Elliott states proudly of his village. I laugh slightly.

"Eliott come here," he walks over to me. "Hold Jensen for a second." I place the baby in his arms as I help Narcissa up onto the horse, I hand her the small straw basket and take the baby from Elliott's arm.

"Do you think we'll make it by night fall?" I ask placing the baby in the basket,

"Yeah, if we don't stop again, as well as not slowing down." He answers placing Cameron on the horse.

"Wel lets get going." I sigh, mounting onto the horse, I take ahold of the reigns.

"Katerina," Elliott starts. I look over at him. "Stay next to me." I nod and pull the reigns the same time. The horses take off galloping, one next to each other, going down the path we previously came up on. The same trees, bushes, rocks, blur by as we try and make it home before night fall. The Sun already past its peak and slowly but surely going down, racing to make it before sundown, Elliott and I ride as fast as we can. We ride what seems like only minutes when Elliot holts to a stop, confused I do the same.

"What's wrong?" I ask, "why'd you stop?" He places his finger to his mouth signaling to be quiet, he gestures to the left of us which in a distance is a group of men with swords walking near us. I look down at Narcissa to see her with a confused face.

"We have to stay quite okay?" I whisper to the young child. She nods her head and lays against my chest, clutching on to the basket that holds her little brother, I look at Elliott and Cameron with worry filled eyes. Eliott nods to me, he takes his reigns and I do the same, in sync we pull on them making the horses take off, we pull again trying to make them go faster, turning my head to see the group of men running towards us I pull even harder, after what seems like forever we finally lost them. We continue going, passing now familiar trees and brush. I look over at Elliott and smile. We are back in Kalda, we slow the horses down and gallop home. We spot Erika and Gia outside the house tending to the garden, Erika is the first to spot us.

"Mother, look who's back!" She shouts with a smile; Gia snaps her head up and looks over at us, a wide smile spreads across her face. Elliott and I make our way over to them. Once we reach them, Elliott and I dismount our horses and carefully pick up the children and place them on the ground. Erika is the first to engulf me in a hug, she starts to shoot out a million questions.

"How are you back already? What happened? Who are these Kids?" She says all in one breath. I look at her with a smile

"We will explain all of that when we are with everyone else, but this is Narcissa, she's seven, she's holding her little brother Jensen, and that's Cameron with Elliott. They were abandoned in the middle of nowhere and I couldn't just leave them there." Gia walks over to me.

"You dd the right thing." She smiles out at me. "Now let's get these kids some food and water, as well as some rest." She walks us into the house I have learned to call home.

"Katerina!" Niklaus runs and gives me a hug as soon as he sees me, I laugh at the young boy and give him a kiss on his head.

"I missed you too buddy." He pulls away and gives his older brother a hug.

The next few hours are spent cathcing up on what we missed the past two days and explaining all about the kids and how we are going to take them in as a part of our family. Erik pulls me and Elliott aside.

"Did you ever make it to Hillwood?" he asks us. Elliott shakes his head no.

"We got caught up with the kids and brought them back here as fast as we could."

"We will leave as soon as its dawn tomorrow."