50 The Abandoned Carriage
"Wait here," Rhys commands grumpily, as he still can't get over how harshly he awakened. Half of his face is burning red after hitting the headboard of his seat.
Though, jokes aside as Rhys grabs his sword that laid beneath his seat. He gets closer to the door, moving the curtains aside to take a peek at what's happening outside. Faye and I remained silent; there's no noise from the knights as our coachman or any movement that reveals signs of life.
Could this be another attack?
I grab my bow and quiver with haste but minimum noise, and I move closer to Faye with my heart thumping rapidly on my chest. An attack this early through the journey, I can't even imagine.
"I'm going out-" Rhys announces, but Faye stops him.
She shakes her head, disapprovingly, "I don't think that's a wise idea. Whoever is outside may be in groups and has surrounded the area, remember we're near the mountains. They could be waiting for the moment we step out to attack."
Rhys scrunches his nose and pulls on his hair out of frustration, "so what do you suggest we do?"
The three of us go silent. There is possibly no way we could head out and not get hurt if whoever they are is surrounding us. Would that also mean the knights are down? Whoever Faye and Rhys could be referring to must have an archer in their groups and shot the knights down. I gulp at this realization.
Just as Rhys was about to open his mouth to speak up- a scream replaced his voice, and so did we as someone forcibly opened the door. Out of instinct, Rhys kicks the person near the entrance, and he falls on the ground with a loud cry.
"Calen! What happened?" we stopped screaming as Rhys exclaims upon seeing that it's one of our knights.
"Si-sir, there has been-" he tries to say, but the pain he feels on his stomach is too unbearable, and it shows on his face. Poor guy, Rhys has deadly kicks.
Faye holds out her hand for Calen; he takes it gratefully. He limps, holding unto his stomach as he reports to us, "I believe the mountain creatures have kidnapped three women in a carriage not so long ago. The carriage is left abandoned in front of ours- Tinsel went to investigate to find that they must have camped nearby."
"What mountain creatures?" I ask, clueless, and puzzled.
Faye answers me, "Fauns that went rogue, they kidnap carriages that carry women. They usually do it at night, but why this early?"
"Whatever the case is," Rhys cuts in, "it's none of our concern."
My eyes widen with shock. As Calen has said, they could still be around. The women those fauns had kidnapped must be terrified; Bohr knows what would happen to them.
"The sacrificial night is tomorrow, so I believe that they're frantically looking for celibates," Calen says with his head down. He does not want to show the look on his face, which I know he eagerly wants to save those women.
"No, we have to get to the ocean by sunrise tomorrow. We're already halfway there, we can't stop now!" Rhys argues firmly.
I shoot him a glare, "I can't stand your cruel and callous behavior; we have to save those women!" I argue back.
His eyes widen from my sudden outburst, and he laughs. I'm taken aback by this response, making me want to rip his face off. How could he ignore a kidnapping issue when he's a knight. He's the commander of knights, and he's supposed to protect Dazians.
"Remember that you're also a girl; Faye's bounded to celibacy that makes both you and her targets!"
My cheeks turn red either from embarrassment or anger. Nonetheless, it's not right to ignore this matter. I inhaled sharply, opening my mouth to dominate this argument, but Faye steps in.
"We're going to save them," she says plainly. I look at Rhys with a tilted head and a satisfied smile while his expression becomes furious.
His eyes could bulge off its sockets, "no-"
"Not another word. If Rose and I were in their position, we'd beg for help too. Tell me, would you help us?" Faye lifts her brow at Rhys, and I watch him gulp anxiously.
After a few seconds of staring at his hands, he answers in a low defeated tone, "of course I would."
"Let's put aside all our differences, save a soul when we need to. We Dazians protect our people."
And with that, Faye rested our case. Calen took the message and went to get the other knight that went to investigate on the carriage. Whereas we prepare ourselves, taking hold of our weapons.
"If anything bad should happen before we reach Thapabia," Rhys mumbles out loud while he buckles the straps of his leathered scabbard on his waist.
"I doubt- we've got the best fighters," Faye confidently says, taking a glance at me. My breath catches, feeling overwhelmed. I did push on this matter first, so there's no backing out now.
I grab the jar of Frida's memories, placing it inside the bag, securing it before pushing it underneath my seat. I hope no one will steal our carriage or set it on fire while we're gone. I'm thinking of all the possible scenarios, and it's not easing my worry.
"Let's go," Faye declares, and Rhys goes off first, scanning the area. Faye follows, and she waits for me by the door. I breathe out the breath I've been holding before swinging the quiver on my back and stepped out of the carriage. We're no longer on a cliff, and the woods surrounded us.
It's composedly quiet; the only sound is the sound coming from birds flying above us. I wonder what these woods are named- it's as beautiful as the Kingsto woods.
But I divert my attention away from the beauty of the woods when I remember why we headed out. I look ahead of us where the abandoned carriage is, and the belongings of the women are messily scattered outside. The fauns must have used force to drag them out, and it looks like the women put up a fight.
My blood freezes from the thought. How cruel of fauns to do such a thing. Once I see one, I won't hesitate to bring them down. The courage is coming back to me after the days of hard training- it got me ready for this.
Just then, a figure appears from the bushes near the abandoned carriage. My soul almost leaped out of my body, and I instinctively pull out an arrow, aiming at the person.
Calen raises his hand upon seeing me with wide eyes, "wait- it's just us!"
I apologize, returning the arrow in my quiver and I blush. Another knight appears behind him, and he must be Tinsel.
The three of us approached our knights, and Tinsel speaks out what he discovered, "I found their camp- it's not very far from here. There's about five of them."
