CONQUERING THE CONQUEROR

pt.5

Rocks, dirt and grass were Gabrielle's primary view as she laid over the back of a moving horse. For how long, she wasn't sure. But all the while, she couldn't help but think of just how much trouble she now found herself in. Because now that she was aware of the identity of the woman whose camp she had stumbled upon, Gabrielle was terrified to even think of what horrific fate might now be awaiting her. After all, Gabrielle had heard stories about the Conqueror. Some were obviously exaggerated to scare small children, such as the Conqueror being some kind of literal monster with fangs and claws. That she could breathe fire. Or that she would drink the blood of her fallen enemies. At least Gabrielle hoped that last one wasn't true. But even putting aside the more outlandish tales she had heard, there were plenty of things that Gabrielle had heard about the Conqueror from the random travelers who would pass by Potidea. And those types of stories were very believable. Such as the increasing number of villages, towns and cities that had fallen to the Conqueror. Gabrielle heard about the utter destruction that would be left in the wake of an attack from the Conqueror's army. Including anyone who dared to even attempt to stand in her way. In fact, at one point there had even been rumors that the Conqueror's army had been marching near Potidea. But fortunately, to everyone in the village's relief, the army had moved on from the area without ever coming in contact with the village. As far as Gabrielle knew, the Conqueror already had long since taken control over the whole area where Potidea resided and stretched far across a very large portion of Greece as a whole. But again that was only what Gabrielle had heard, she honestly wasn't sure if it was true or not. Though she supposed that the validity of most of the various rumors about the Conqueror didn't really matter now given that it seemed that Gabrielle would now be experiencing what the Conqueror was like first hand. And that fact truly terrified Gabrielle as nothing else in her life had ever before.

GABRIELLE
(Thinking to herself) God's with my side already hurting beforehand, that didn't make riding like that any easier.

Gabrielle winced after being let down from the horse when the group made a stop. She stood looking around at the army busy getting their lunch prepared and saw that the Conqueror's attention appeared to be elsewhere as she stood looking out at the others. Gabrielle frowned as she looked down at the shackles still on her wrists, but was glad that at least her feet were no longer bound as well. Apparently before leaving the camp it was determined that it would be easier not to shackle Gabrielle's feet together. This way, no one would have to carry her around every time they stepped somewhere. So as everyone else went about their business, Gabrielle was left standing near the horses. All of which were much too big for her to simply climb on, especially when she had limited use of her hands with them still being bound together. So Gabrielle riding off with one of the horses wasn't exactly a concern. Not to mention that though no one else there knew it, even if Gabrielle wasn't chained she likely wouldn't get far even if she did steal one of the horses as she honestly had no idea how to actually ride. And given her smaller stature, both mounting and riding such large creatures would be a fairly difficult task for Gabrielle to complete without being noticed. So that being a method of escape was just simply out of the question. Instead, Gabrielle stood watching everyone for a bit as they began to eat, including the Conqueror who after getting her off the horse had just left Gabrielle to her own devices. Seeing that no one appeared to be watching her, Gabrielle realized that this might be the opportunity that she needed to sneak away without being noticed and escape. Which was exactly what she did as she slowly backed away. After taking several steps back and seeing that no one appeared to notice, Gabrielle swiftly turned around and began to run. Gabrielle ran, ignoring the pain she still felt from her injuries as she pushed herself to keep going and get as far away from that camp as she possibly could. She had put some distance between herself and the camp, as she briefly glanced back to see the army gradually falling further behind her before looking forward once again and saw that she was coming up on a line of trees. Figuring that she might be able to find a good spot to hide out until the Conqueror and her army left, Gabrielle hurried as best she could to the trees. She ran by the first few trees to try hiding herself further in among them and saw what looked to be a perfect place for her to hide. It was a partially uprooted tree that had a small hollowed out area that looked just big enough for Gabrielle to crawl into and stay until the coast was clear. She closed in and was nearly to the hollowed out tree, when she saw a tall figure step out from behind one of the trees she was just about to pass. Startled, Gabrielle stopped dead in her tracks, losing her balance and falling back. She sat there as she looked up and saw a pair of intense eyes staring down at her.