Escape!

*POV* Cassy Iris Aleera

The next afternoon we rode into a village that sat beside the great river. It bustled with life as farmers and shopkeepers went about their work, Tucker set me on my feet and I was allowed a little privacy to freshen up and relieve myself before we started out once again.

We crossed over a different bridge than the one we had come over on, and Tucker explained that there were four great bridges that crossed the great river, two in Hilldren and two in Elesor. I hadn't learned much from the village teacher about geography so I listened intently to Tucker's words.

There were three kingdoms, but that is because Elesor had split into two ruling kingdoms 10 years earlier, and as for Hilldren it stands alone. Hilldren is like the problem child of the continent.

We passed the white city with only one stop for another unit of 20 men to join us. Then we continued on until nightfall. As the soldiers set up camp I sat beside Tucker as he chewed on a blade of grass.

He seemed to be placed as my designated guard, but by the looks of it, his

friends saw it as more of a babysitting duty.

I wouldnt have minded it if they would have just let me go. But I knew that wouldn't happen, no contact with Monique had me lonely. I had to make my move as soon as the guards fell asleep, they didn't usually post a lot of guards.

I had gathered from my intent watching that only two guards were placed and changed only once at midnight. How was I going to get away? Well the thing is.

Tucker just so happens to be a very deep sleeper, I had been able to almost get the rope around my ankle untied before he awoke. I was sure I could do it tonight so all I had to do was wait.

I waited and waited but soon my eyes began to close and my body started to relax. I shook myself and rose onto my elbow to check if Tucker had laid down yet. But he hadn't yet, he sat against a tree reading a book from the light of the moon.

I heaved a sigh and layed back down. I waited again for him to finally fall asleep, I stared at the bright moon and waited some more, my mind turning to my family so far away. I wondered if they were going crazy like the time I went out late at night to try and practice controlling water. My mother had gone crazy and had got the whole village to search for me.

I wondered if she would find me, if I would ever be about to see her again. I had made friends on this journey but I missed my mother. I missed her cooking and her hugs, her love. The feeling of home.

I felt the tears coming to my eyes but I did not dare move to wipe them away, seconds later I heard Tucker move to get comfortable. I felt excited as I waited for him to fall asleep and his breathing to even out.

I reached carefully for the rope when Tucker finally fell asleep, It took me a while to untie the tight knot. The knot was tight, really tight. My fingers throbbed when I got the knot untied I slowly set the rope on the ground.

A loud snort from behind me made me stop short and looked over my shoulder, one of the men shifted in their sleep and then continued to snore.

I slowly got to my feet and stepped lightly towards the edge of the camp.

I slung down before a tree and waited for the woman that was standing guard, when she passed I snuck past. As soon as she had her back towards me and I slunk into the trees after a few steps I told off running holding my hands out in front of me for balance.

I ran until my heart was beating so hard that my chest hurt, I leaned against a tree and took deep breaths to slow my breathing. Slumping down to the ground, I closed my eyes tightly to collect myself.

"She is right here." I awoke with a start and to my dismay four soldiers came trudging towards me, I stood up quickly and turned to run again but stopped my hand still on the tree as I saw four more coming from the opposite direction.

"Looks like you aren't the smartest, huh?" One questioned as he reached out to grab my arm. I pulled my arm away and turned to slip beside him and run, but I didn't get even a step before I slammed head long into an invisible wall tears sprang to my eyes and I turned to glare as Tucker came marching up to me.

"Stupid move." He grabbed my hands and pulled me back towards camp. I wanted to yell at him to scream. But I couldn't. My head hurt, I wanted to curl up and cry.

I kicked at the back of his knees only to slip and fall onto my knees. I glared up at him as he turned around to yank me to my feet. "I advised you to quit trying my patience." He hissed close to my ear.

I colored and pulled away and put some distance between us. He pulled me all the way back to camp where the rest of the soldiers were packing up. "Good you found her." The captain smiled as he came to meet us.

He wore the traditional captain's black and blue uniform with fancy buckles and a white sash across his chest. There were four star pins on his chest too. I guessed he was a big shot captain with a lot of experience under his belt.

"Yeah, we found her about half a mile away." Tucker reported. The captain nodded. "Great, let's get moving." We mounted once again.

I wondered how they had found me so fast as the morning started to turn colors as the sun began to rise.