Safe At Last

Katarina's POV

Exhausted and frazzled from fleeing the forest for so long, that had to be the only explanation for how I wound up stumbling right into the very clearing where the kidnappers had made their camp.

Their craggy faces quickly twisted into equally dangerous grins at the sight of their present delivered right to their doorstep. "Well well, look what followed us home," laughed the largest man gruffly. My mind raced as they approached, thinking desperately of some trick or distraction to make another bid for freedom.

But I stayed frozen as they loomed before me, weapons hanging unsheathed in their hands. "Now don't look so scared, girly. We ain't going to hurt you," the leader mocked in a false soothing tone. I recognized him as one of the men who had been chased back by the prince the last time. 

"My men are just looking after you 'til we find where you belong, that's all."

"Please let me go," I pleaded on my knees as the men kicked me away while I doubled in pain. 

This was how I would die.

If only the prince had listened to me. I would not be in this mess.

Suddenly I decided that I was a modern woman. It was not in my nature to wait for anyone to save me. I would save myself. My world was not easy and so was Jane's world but I wasn't going to give up. It was time I saved myself.

Rage and fear battled within me, but I knew better than to antagonize them further with useless denial or begging. 

My eyes darted around for any avenue of escape, any weapon I could try to seize. But they'd boxed me in, circling with torchlight. 

"Fuck," I muttered. This was bad.

"You won't be running off again, you hear?" the leader growled, all pretense of kindness gone. "Got too many lords wanting slaves to let some brat slip through our fingers." His sneer flashed in the flickering firelight as he drew his rusted sword slowly with a grating scrape. 

Panic overwhelmed reason as the cold metal emerged. 

"At first I wanted to keep you for myself before killing you but right now, I think I'll just obey your step mother and take you out. She paid us good money to rid you of this world so that is what we will do."

With a wordless yell, I swung my free fist wildly, feeling it connect solidly with a jaw. Then I was bolting through the circle of light and bodies as fast as my pounding heart could drive me. Behind me rose furious roars and the tramp of heavy boots giving chase through the dark woods.

"Get her!" I heard the man yell before hearing hundreds of angry screams behind me.

Onward I fled into the night, somehow keeping just out of their grasping hands. Freedom laid somewhere ahead - I had to find it before these villains caught me once more.

***

My lungs burned as I crashed through the forest, branches whipping at my face and limbs in the darkness. 

Behind me I could hear the heavy footfalls and curses of the kidnappers giving chase, driven to rage by my escape. 

Every instinct screamed at me to run faster, to put as much distance as possible between us. 

But exhaustion was taking its toll after so long on the run. I stumbled over fallen logs and scraping brambles in the poor light, feeling my pursuers gaining. 

Desperation lent me new strength and I plunged onward, praying to take some advantage or hiding place up ahead. 

Just when it seemed my legs might give out, a faint glimmer through the trees revealed moonlight filtering down onto a wide stream. 

Without hesitation I splashed into the icy current, gasping at the shock but loving the way it soaked and obscured my tracks. Wading downstream, I moved as silently as possible beneath the boughs hanging low over the water.

Behind, the men's voices echoed closer through the forest. "She went this way, I know it! Find her before she disappears for good!" I cringed but did not dare make a sound, breathing slow and shallow. 

My life was on the line here. It was up to me to save my life and Jane's body.

Peering upriver, my eyes had adjusted just enough to pick out three hulking silhouettes charging along the bank, frantically scouring for any sign. 

One stooped to examine something in the mud and cursed loudly. "The trail ends here! She must have taken to the water." Fear shot through me afresh but I held perfectly still, letting the current slowly bear me further from their searching torches which burned the air. 

As I drifted, ideas stirred - if I could make it to the cover of deeper woods unseen, then maybe, just maybe, escape was not yet impossible. 

Sound carried far in the still night air, and soon the crashing footsteps and voices receded into the forest behind me. 

Still I remained in the water another hour, floating numbly downstream mile after mile until only the faintest glow of their distant campfire illuminated the southern treeline. 

At long last, when certain no eyes watched from the darkness, I dragged my frozen body onto a secluded patch of mud and collapsed shivering. 

The cold had numbed my limbs almost to uselessness, but inwardly a small flame of hope now flickered against the panic and exhaustion. I had evaded them, for the moment.

As feeling gradually returned in painful tingles, I decided to risk a small fire built beneath an overhang of brush. 

I needed the heat.

The warmth revived my spirits along with my flesh, letting me think about my situation with a clearer mind. 

I decided to take a chance and continue downstream at first light, following the water's course and keeping movement between the trees. 

If luck held, it might guide me to some village or road where aid could be found. And so through the long night I decided to rest fitfully, listening always for any hint of pursuit renewing its hunt for the fugitive hiding in their woodland realm.