Juliet

Goito

The weather was kind to the two as a light cool breeze drifted through. The branches of the trees help shield them from the sun's rays as they continue to traverse through. Juliet winces as she follows Aleron, her feet aching. Hours had passed and Juliet felt they had not made even a dent in their journey. Even bothersome, Aleron's cloak keeps tripping her up, and though they were hidden deep in the forest path, he persisted that she keep the heavy cloth on her to be safe. Aleron did not want to risk her being discovered through arrogance and carelessness, if there was a chance that one of the families even caught a hint of her then all would be for naught. 

As they near the main road to the city, Aleron holds up his hand to Juliet telling her to stay hidden. Looking out from the forest trees, he listens out for any thumping of hooves against the unpaved road. When he hears no one, he slides down the the leafy inclined hill and onto the main road then gestures to Juliet to do the same. Juliet looks at the hill cautiously as she grips a hold of the nearest tree bark and try to ease her way down. She slips, rolling down the hill and hitting the road the road with a thud.

Aleron laughs at her and continues to walk ahead. Juliet spits out a few leaves that had made their way into her mouth.  She glares at Aleron as he keeps walking ahead without bothering to check if she were alright. As she gets up to her feet, she flinches feeling a tinge of pain. She looks down and finds her gown torn and a scrape upon her knee. She looks after Aleron who wasn't stopping even for a second. Even if she told, she knew he would not care for such a thing. Juliet sucks up the pain and hides her wound. She rushes to catch up to him.

"Hurry princess, or it will take another half's day to reach the city." He shouts to Juliet exaggerating the distance.

Juliet frowns at him. "I'm sorry, if this pampered lady is slowing you down, maybe if you had realize the amount of ignorance beheld in your very mind. You would know that a gentleman would never leave a lady behind."

"A good thing I'm not a gentlemen then," He stops for a few minutes until she was only a few paces behind and could easily keep up.

"You might want to change that attitude. The cloak already throws suspicion our way, such distances would make people mob against us."

"So the lady does have a brain." Aleron says with almost a bit of pride. "Do you not know how to hold your tongue in the presence of a man? If not, they will surely think you possessed woman."

Juliet purses her lips. His words and actions were becoming irritating, but Juliet was stubbornly determined not to regret her choices. She made the deal, and she would keep true to her words no matter how much he crawled under her skin. "Touche. I guess we both have something to work on or fail trying."

"I guess we do." He stops walking, making Juliet also stop in her tracks. He turns his head to look at her, "Well, it won't do any good for you to be there." He holds out his hand and she takes it with a nod.

Now the two walk down the main road, side by side. The breeze blows around them as if were helping to shroud their secrets and mask them from the interrogating eyes of others that they were sure to meet.

                                                                                                    ~ ** ~

Guilelmo pats his stead, allowing the mare to rest after already arriving in Goito in a nearby stable that was kind enough to lone him one for the night. He looks for an inn to rest in, seeing his horse was too tired to continue. Guilelmo sees this as his mistake for not switching out his horse before riding off, instead of using the same horse he had been using to get messages back and forth to Lord Montague. Plus, it was nearing dusk and would be too difficult to travel at night. He finds a suitable inn to stay in and prepares for his journey on the  morrow. He removes his shoes from his feet and sword from his waistband. He takes out a leather back journal from his satchel which lay at his feet, its binding unraveling and a few pages sticking with some extra loose paper dangling in between. He does not open it and just stares at the book gripping it beneath his fingers before placing it back in in his satchel. He retires as to get a good head start in the morning. 

Beyond his knowing, one of the Prince's men spies on the young Montague from afar. He keeps his distance while following. He watches as Guilelmo goes into an inn, and decides to search for another in to stay in so as not to end up bumping into him and giving away suspicion. He lucks out on getting a room that allows him to see the people going in and out of the inn. From there, he would be able to see when Guilelmo left. He contemplates whether or not he should sleep fearing he would miss Guilelmo, however, not sleeping held its own flaws and could mess with the mission than rather finding he overslept and could easily catch up while riding. 

                                                                                                ~ ** ~

Juliet and Aleron arrive in the dead of night. Juliet now appreciated the warmth of Aleron's cloak. Aleron manages to catch the innkeeper and get a room for the two to stay in, having no choice but to take the last single that the keeper had. When in the room alone with Aleron, Juliet begins to fidget keeping her distance from him. There was only one man that she had been alone in a room with, and now he was deceased. Aleron takes notice of her sudden nervousness, but pretends not to notice. "Hurry and rests," He orders her. "You'll need it," He turns to leave the room. 

"And where are you running off to at this hour?" Juliet asks with suspicion in her eyes.

Aleron does not answer her question, "Just rest." He says and walks out of the room. He moves to a stable he eyed nearby. If he and Juliet were going to travel any time soon, they would need to move faster than the pace they were going at now. Silently he slips in and takes a couple of horses from the stable. He keeps them calm and trusting, holding his hand up to their snouts as well as showing them that he means no harm and would not hurt them. He eases them out of the stables, and towards the keep. He brings them behind the inn and ties them to a post. He gently pats the two, rubbing across the neck, "Stay here for now, I'll be back in the morn." 

Aleron goes back to his room at the inn, seeing Juliet had already passed out on the bed. His cloak lays on the floor near it.  He frowns when he notices her torn dress. He walks over to the bed and lifts it to see the scratch on her knee. Dried blood was caked around it and on her knee. "Stupid woman." He mutters and goes out to get a pail of water from the town well. Bringing the bucket back inside, he kneels by the bed taking a cloth. He dips it into the well then wrings it out. He cleans Juliet's wound hoping that it had not become infected. 

Juliet murmurs in her sleep at the feeling of the cool cloth on her skin. She awakens, still drowsy, her vision hazy and looks over to see Aleron, "What are you doing?" She asks sleepily.

"Nothing, now lay your head down. You need a proper rest." He says. Juliet, too tired, submits and falls back into her slumber. 

Aleron finishes cleaning the the wound and ties a cloth around it tightly. Juliet flinches pulling her leg back. Aleron sighs picking up his cloak and places himself in the corner of the room near the door, throwing the cloak over himself. He lifts his head to the sky and whispers a small prayer. Leaning his head against the wall, he finally drift off to sleep.