7 Red

Sam's troops made it to Degarthy in the afternoon. Instead of showing up straight away, the rebel thieves took their time about it. Sam saw this as an ominous sign. When they went a little deeper into the forest, the rebels started showing up. In the beginning, they came in groups of two and three and it was easier to take them on, but just when they seemed to have solved the problem, a whole group came out of nowhere and began to attack them.

Sam knew she was in trouble, but escape seemed impossible. So she ordered her soldiers to charge and engaged herself in a fight. She was up against three rebels who had surrounded her. "****! Am I going to die this way?" she wondered. From the corner of her eyes, she could see her soldiers falling one by one. She heard the sounds of troops behind her, and she thought,"****! There are more?".But she saw that it was Prince Edgar's troops, but there were not many in his team either. Were they ambushed before reaching there.?

The rebels charged against him. Sam wounded two of her attackers and rushed to the prince's side. If the Prince got killed, how will she face the King and the people of her country, how will she face her sister? The very thought brought her fear. She cut through the circle of rebels up against the Prince, while doing so, one of the rebels made an attack on her which she managed to dodge, but she could feel a sharp pain below her knee. "Escape while I try to distract them." she breathed as another rebel made an attack. But the Prince did not seem to listen. They continued to fight, and there were sounds of swords clashing and moans of the wounded in the air. Sam was soon thrown off her horse. But there were fewer rebels standing now. They fought for several more minutes before some of the rebels retreated to bring in more troops. 'Nows the chance', thought the Prince and dragged Sam on to his horse. Sam could see some of the soldiers still fighting. She wanted to stay but she was afraid the Prince was wounded. There was also the fact that she could now barely walk.

They made their way quickly to the east through the forest. Going back to the capital seemed like a risky business. There would be more of them waiting on the way there. They fled at top speed.

After they had covered a distance, Prince Edgar asked Sam whether she was doing alright.

"Why the hell did you have to come?" she asked angrily.

"If I hadn't you would have been dead," he replied.

"It would have made no difference!" she said. They were going fast and her words were lost in the wind.

Sam was angry at herself. The thought of the wounded and dead soldiers added to her pain, the wound in her leg was nothing compared to her mental misery. She tried not to think about her horse. Her beautiful Friesian! She looked at her blood-soaked feet. They had narrowly escaped death. If the Prince had died she would have been branded as the one who brought tragedy to her country. These were her thoughts as she silently sat behind the Prince as they passed through the forest... She looked up, the sun was setting and the sky was a deep red. ' Very much like blood' the Princess thought before she closed her eyes and passed out.