All I Need ✔️

Chapter 44

Safania's POV

I woke with a start. Something wasn't right - I could feel it. I quickly noticed that the birds were silent, Emalina was gone, and the fire had died. I crawled out from under the shelter and walked toward the stream. Something was definitely not right.

"Saffy!" I heard Emalina cry out.

I turned to see her struggling against a man, who had his arms wrapped around her.

"Let her go!" I shouted at the man.

"Saffy, run!" she yelled at me. The man holding her stabbed her in the neck with a syringe.

"Emalina!" I screamed, watching her collapse into the man's arms.

Three other men on horseback emerged from the woods. I cursed. The four men were all wearing Perian military uniforms. I wasn't sure if this made it better or worse - on one hand, we knew who they were. On the other, the prince would have every reason to execute us or worse. I could try to outrun them. Horses were fast, but they weren't as good at dodging between trees as I was. But that would mean leaving Emalina behind, and I couldn't do that. I would have to try to take them on.

"Stay where you are," one of them commanded, all of them dismounting and now pointing swords at me. I did so. Would they kill me if I tried to resist? I had no idea what orders they were under.

One of them approached slowly with a needle in his hand. "This is just a sedative," he explained. "It's going to help make the travel more comfortable. We're not going to hurt you."

Did they really think I was that stupid? The sedative wasn't for my benefit, it was for theirs. It was a lot easier to travel with two unconscious captives than conscious ones. I kept my hands up until the soldier was close enough, then delivered a swift roundhouse kick, knocking him, unconscious, to the ground. I ducked down and grabbed the needle.

"Get her," one of the soldiers ordered. Even though he looked to be the youngest of the bunch, I assumed he was the leader due to the way the others deferred to him. He was quite handsome and muscular...though not as handsome as the prince. I hadn't ever met anyone who was.

Heavens Safania, Cassius is hunting you down like a deer to drag you back to the castle probably to execute you and you're still thinking about how attractive he is? Pull yourself together, I scolded myself.

They all ran towards me. I ran towards one, easily dodged him, wrapped around him from behind and stabbed him with the needle. "Lieutenant!" he cried out to his leader before falling down easily.

Two on one. Much better odds. I grabbed the fallen man's sword and turned to face the other two.

"Put it down," the lieutenant said.

"No."

"The prince doesn't want to hurt you. Neither do we. He just wants to talk."

I looked at the lieutenant's painfully earnest expression, his brown eyes filled with what almost looked like compassion. But I knew better. "Do you honestly expect me to believe anything you say?" I asked incredulously.

Seeing that his act wasn't working, his tone turned dangerous and his expression steely. "You are smart. They warned me you were. But apparently not smart enough to realize that you can't piss off a prince, flee the castle with his most trusted servant, and think he's just going to let you waltz off into the sunset. You're coming with us."

"No, I'm not."

"I wasn't asking."

"Come and get me then," I taunted.

The lieutenant's eyes flared with anger. He nodded to the other soldier. They both raised their swords. I raised the one I was holding as well. We all stepped closer. Hand-to-hand combat was more my style, but I had practiced with a sword before. Time to see how much I remembered.

The two lunged at me. I dodged one attack and deflected the other. We jabbed and parried, with them forcing me back towards our shelter. I could just about keep up with the subordinate but was definitely not even close to as skilled as the leader. If I was going to escape, I would have to outsmart them.

I scrambled to come up with a plan. My loss of focus came at a price though.

"Ah!" I cried out as the lieutenant's blade nicked my shoulder. I could tell it was a very shallow cut, but it still started to bleed something awful.

"This is foolish," the lieutenant scolded me. "Come with us before we end up accidentally maiming you."

I kicked up the ashes from the fire. Both men instinctively covered their eyes, and I lunged for the nearest one, smacking him over the head with butt of the sword. He crumpled on the ground.

I stood up to face the only soldier left, the lieutenant. We began fighting even more ferociously. I led him all over the terrain, but he was too good. There was no way I could win against him without some kind of plan.

I turned around and ran from him, dodging large branches and weaving through the trees, knowing he would have to follow me. Sure enough, I could hear him coming from behind me. But my years of running had made me agile and familiar with navigating a forest. When I was far enough ahead that he couldn't see me, I effortlessly scaled a tree and waited for him to run by. Once he did, I jumped on his back, knocking him to the ground. Not a particularly sportsmanlike more, but I was desperate.

I wrapped my arm around his neck, and my legs around his waist. He struggled, trying desperately to get me off of him. In an effort to free himself, he slammed my back into a tree. I cried out in pain, but I didn't budge. Finally, he sunk to the ground, motionless. I immediately released him.

Pressing my fingers on his neck, I let out an enormous sigh of relief after feeling his pulse. Thank God. I did not want to kill anyone, especially not someone who was just following orders. "I'm sorry," I whispered. Everywhere I went, I caused people pain and suffering. I was a walking disaster.

I ran back to Emalina by the stream. Two of the three soldiers I had left were still on the ground unconscious, but the first, along with his horse, were gone.

"Emalina, we have to go," I told her urgently. She didn't stir. The first soldier was certainly going to come back with reinforcements, but I couldn't just leave her after all she had done for me. I'm sure Cassius was furious with her as well, and a similarly dark future to mine undoubtedly awaited her at the castle.

I lifted Emalina over my shoulders and started running West. We needed to find a place to lie low. Somewhere as far as possible from here. If we could hide long enough, it would be dark. And I knew I was better at navigating in the dark than they were.

I had made it maybe twenty minutes when I heard voices. I tried to duck behind a large pine tree, but it was too late.

"They're over here!" someone called.

Shit.

I tried running faster, but Emalina's weight was slowing me down, I hadn't gotten enough sleep, and I had just fought off four soldiers. I simply couldn't push myself any further. My entire body way already screaming in pain. At least a dozen men emerged on horseback surrounded us. Dismounting, some of them pulled Emalina away from me. I yelled, kicked, punched, anything to try to fight them off, but there were just too many of them. The sting of what I assumed was a needle pierced my neck. Then the world got blurrier and blurrier until it all faded to black.

Hello lovely readers!

Well, that was a short-lived escape attempt...what do you think Cassius is going to do when he gets her back? He's extremely mad, but he's a nice guy...right?

Thank you to everyone who has added this book to your reading lists. And a super special thank you to everyone who has liked and commented!

Happy reading <3