The road of the savages

CHAPTER 4

The road of the savages

Friedrich started leading the way, he took them near the middle point of the east wall and, upon looking down, Friedrich pinpointed some stone fragments that were sticking out and could be used as steps, they were slightly separated to be an obvious route, to get down they would have to give some risky steps, but once they reached the last of these fragments, the fall would be barely a metre and a half. The Major was first, ignoring the cold sweat that accumulated in his forehead; he grabbed the border of the wall and stepped on the first of these rungs, afterwards with increasing security he let his feet fall on the rest until reaching the last one and then got down with a jump that ended in a roll to absorb the fall.

Otto looked towards Friedrich after looking how the Major did it and shrugged, he placed his musket in his shoulder using the sling and started going down as the Major did. At that moment, Friedrich turned towards Erika, who could be seen notoriously terrified by the altitude, but once she realized she was being observed she just let out a ''Humph!'' and turned her head avoiding Friedrich's gaze.

''Are you going down your highness?'' Friedrich said "your highness" in a mockingly way. Perhaps at this very moment, a comforting attitude would be good for her, Friedrich thought, something like some tranquillizing words that would make her feel safe and… No, that would just make things more complicated for me.

''No way'' She was moving her head from side to side in denial while talking.

''Well, good luck with that'' Friedrich started going down through the same route that both his peers took. Erika felt rage and indignation. That bastard, she thought, he means it, he's going to leave me here. Then and there she took the decision of affronting her fear and followed the group that had been escorting her. Friedrich couldn't help a small malicious grin from escaping his face; it resulted just as he thought.

''If you look up, I'll kill you'' Immediately Friedrich didn't reason why would she tell him that, then he remembered that Erika was wearing a dress. Friedrich was the first one to reach the last step, he jumped and fell standing up, slightly flexing his knees to soften his weight, after that he turned and extended his arms to catch Erika; however, she just let herself fall from the last rung, touching the ground with elegance, as if she had been doing a reverence grabbing her dress and inclining her body forward with a knee bend, Friedrich stood with his arms outstretched.

''Very well, we're out'' The Major started looking around him, there were around thirty metres to the south corner of the wall, perhaps if they ran for it they would have a bigger chance to get out of there, or at least make Friedrich and the princess go. He did some hand gestures to indicate his plan, which both cadets understood perfectly. Preparing their muskets, the adopted a triangle formation, keeping Erika in the middle of the three. They ran until reaching the corner of the barn, where in a row they stuck their backs on the wall. The Major poked his head out to see the chaos that covered the entrance to the walls; it appeared that they had not noticed their presence, so it was a perfect time to act.

In a flash an object fell at the feet of Friedrich and the princess, the Major observed it with curiosity and in a matter of seconds noticed that it had a lit wick. Without any thought he threw himself over both, pushing them as far away as possible from the object and, at the same time, he tried to kick it to apart it from himself.

''BOOM!''

The explosion pushed Friedrich and Erika even more. Friedrich instinctively hugged the princess, who was unconscious due to the explosion's shock wave. He fell on top of her, but he concentrated his weight on his arms and knees as if he were to do a push up on top of her. At that precise moment, Friedrich looked close at her face, her golden hair that was resting on the sand, her fine and delicate features; her veneered cheekbones, her soft thin lips that were found under her upturned nose with which she was sweetly breathing and her innocent eyes that lay closed, evocating a sensation of peace and rest. It didn't appear that that girl, with her angelic looks, had the bad character that Friedrich witnessed.

Otto saw the culprit, who he thanked with a warm musket shot, letting out a slight crimson cloud and throwing him a couple of metres to then fall dryly in the sand. Friedrich came back to his senses, got up and carried the princess, placing his left arm just under her knees and resting her back on his right one. Afterwards, he rushed towards the Major who was being attended by Otto.

''He has a couple of open and burn wounds, he's losing blood''

''Then we have to take him quickly to the infirmary, if we both carry him we can make it qui…''

''No,'' Otto intervened before Friedrich finished his sentence. ''That would be a waste of time, you have to go now!'' Otto pointed towards the barn.

''But if we don't do it the major most likely will…''

''Even if we do it it'll be just a matter of time for those bastards to take over the academy, there's not much we can do about it. But what we can do is avoid them getting her.''

Friedrich lowered his gaze; the poor light generated a shadow that covered the upper part of his face. It was hard to admit it, but Otto was right. Even though Friedrich didn't feel any compromise as a soldier with Lilisburg, their inhabitants and even less with the royal family, the Royal Academy had been his home for three years, and the cadets in there were his brothers. All of his mates' deaths would be in vain if the princess, the only heir to the throne, was killed. He would have to carry on with his duty even if that meant abandoning Otto, who had been his best friend and had cared the most for him. Otto noticed Friedrich's conflictive thoughts, so he placed his hand on his shoulder to reaffirm that he agreed with this course of action. Friedrich raised his head, and answered with a single move, nodding. Otto smiled and then gave him a big slap in his shoulder.

Friedrich entered the barn and untied one of the horses from the carriage in which the princess arrived. Awkwardly he climbed into the saddle with her, so that she would be in front, facing him, resting her head on his chest. Friedrich was holding her with his left arm that surrounded her waist, whilst with his right hand, he was holding the flange straps. It was uncomfortable since the weight of the musket's sling was squashing his shoulder, but he could endure it. Once more he suppressed his feeling and thoughts, he had a mission and accomplishing it was his only objective. He gave a pull to the straps, which was answered with a whinny and the consequent movement that anticipated the increase of the horse's velocity. In a few seconds, the horse was getting away full speed, and without looking back, towards the Royal Academy, he was going to the east, crossing the road of the savages to reach Fischersville. Otto saw the pair getting further away and he simply nodded to himself waving goodbye with one hand raised in the air, then he started dragging the Major, it was going to be a long night.

With the constant bouncing of the equine's trot, Erika started regaining consciousness, slowly opening her eyes. To her surprise, the first thing she saw was Friedrich's face. In fact, this was the closest they had ever been since they met, which made her sporadically flustered.

''What the hell do you think you're doing?! I order you to put me down in this very instant!'' She was kicking while talking, which made her lose her balance and consequently made Friedrich tighten his grip on her. ''Don't think that you can just kidnap me like that, you're going to pay for this…''

''Shut it.'' Friedrich's sudden interruption took her by surprise. That boy didn't look like the one she had been spending time with the last couple of hours, his gaze had no expression whatsoever, he just had a frown and looked directly to the front. Erika looked behind him; the house at which she had arrived the night before layed on fire, arguably due to her fault. Afterwards, she looked back at Friedrich, now the pieces matched together. She let out a grunt clenching her teeth, looking away from Friedrich and the remains of the Royal Academy. She couldn't help feeling guilty, perhaps Friedrich and his peers would hate her for that.

''And where are we going now?'' Her voice sounded irritated as if she was just annoyed due to the inconvenience that this situation represented. She raised her legs with an agile move; turning herself giving her back to Friedrich. She wasn't going to let those feeling dominate her and even less allow Friedrich to see them.

Friedrich remained silent, with the stare fixed on the front. Erika knew that any other attempt at conversation was futile, a waste of breath. The road of the savages was like a portal to a different dimension, due to the drastic difference to the rest of the territories. Erika observed her surroundings with what little of light the moon was giving, which was situated behind them as if saying ''Follow your path, for I will protect ye'' It was a lot different from the gardens where she was raised; the colourful fields of lilies had been replaced by the occasional cactus or tumbleweed. The green grasslands were nothing more than a memory that got lost in the curves of the dunes. How different that scenery was! Never in her life had she imagined that a place like that existed, even less that it would belong to her someday. All in all, she didn't dislike it as much as she once thought it would.

It was going to be the longest forty minutes of her life; the incommodity of the silence added to the situation in which they found themselves in was part was enough to make her hair stand on end, asking herself ''Now what?'' Where would he take her? Surely the men that had attacked the academy would go after her. The assault was vital for Lilisburg's armed forces, which had been reduced gradually since the declaration of peace. With the idea that the wars had reached their end, that the enemy had been defeated for the last time; the enlistment numbers had dropped. The Royal Academy represented, approximately, a third part of the army, so that its loss would enough motive to start a new war. The world would tint red once more and death herself would be the gatherer that would collect the debts; blood debts that haunted all the healthy young men; that would have the strength to fight, the strength to die.

Friedrich was trying to arrange his thoughts, taking into consideration all the elements that he had knowledge of. The total destruction of the Royal Academy would make them think that the princess had died and that her body would be hidden by the flames; that would give them some time. It would be a matter of time; however, for them to realize that their supposition was wrong and then they would go after them. Friedrich was now included in this affair. The Kashke people were experts in stealth operations; espionage, assassination, kidnapping, and so on were skills that gave them enough strength to be fearsome adversaries, especially against the military power of such a rich country like Lilisburg. In a conventional battle, they would be in a total disadvantage, but that didn't make them less. They were warriors by nature; indoctrinating them from childhood to defend their values even with their teeth.

Friedrich knew that once they learned that the princess was still alive they would be pursued by waves of assassins. Fischersville would be safe for a while, he was sure of that. Then what? Go directly to the castle, back to the king? That appeared to be the most logical thing to do, without any doubt she would be safe there and the king, if not all of the kingdom, would be in debt with him. Maybe this way he could get out of the arrangement made by the director-general. The shortest way was following the path that merchants used, passing through the most important villages such as Calyx. On the other hand, that way represented an immense danger, since it was the most obvious route to follow. It was decided; their main goal was the capital of the kingdom, Corolla; however, he would go through an alternate route. He knew someone who could help them in the allied country Kholodfiorde, which was situated to the northeast of Lilisburg. At any rate, he had no choice; it was going all-in or losing it all without fighting.

The uncomfortable bouncing stopped and as if they had been transported to another world. The pine trees welcomed them with the shaking of their branches, caused by the blowing wind that gently ran through the backs of both. Friedrich pulled slightly the straps so that the horse reduced his speed to a rhythmical gallop. At that very moment, it felt more like a ride more than a getaway; it was easy to get lost in the moment and forget that the lives of both could've reached its end multiple times that night.

The reached a small hut that was just a few metres away from a lake, in which the moon was reflecting. The cabin was made with stacked logs that formed the walls; with two logs placed vertically in the porch, forming two support columns that helped to hold the tile roof. The horse stopped; they had reached their destination.

Friedrich got down from the saddle falling on his right leg, then he lowered his left and started walking towards the hut. Right in front of the steel trim door, Friedrich took the rusty key from out of his right pocket and placed it in the keyhole; he took a deep breath and then turned it.

''Crack!''

The door creaked open as if it had been complaining of being disturbed after such a long time of rest. Inside there was a bed in the upper left corner, a chimney centred, a small closet in the lower-left corner and two chests next to it. Friedrich was lighting up the chimney's fire whilst Erika followed him in and observed the place. It was humble, but it gave her a sensation of hospitality and warmth that she didn't believe could come from a place like this. Friedrich opened one of the chests and took a pair of blankets and a single pillow, then he turned to face Erika and was about to tell her ''The bed is mine, I'll place these blankets near the chimney so you don't freeze to death.'' But looking at her innocent eyes that curiously looked what he was doing; he couldn't avoid retracting himself before even opening his mouth to speak.

''Take the bed,'' He started placing the blankets in the floor and the pillow on top of them. ''I'll sleep here next to the fire''

Erika saw through Friedrich's thoughts as if he was an open book; she was resigned to sleep in the floor, and no matter how much she hated the idea, she didn't feel with enough mood to object, so that his hospitality took her by surprise. Without realizing she let out a small giggle, almost inaudible, that Friedrich didn't perceive; he was lost in his sleep. Both had to retake their strength, tomorrow would be a long day and they would have to plan their next move.