Power and The Queen

Chapter Twenty - Nine. 🟢

Creak!

"Stop, I heard something." She whispered, pulling her brother by the neckline of his tunic.

They stood still in a very awkward stance and listened to the silence of the chill forest. It was almost nighttime. They had to make sure they were safe before they thought of making camp. Her stomach bubbled with hunger and she consoled herself with the knowledge that they still had leftover dried lizard from the previous day.

Other than her stomach, no sound came and her brother shrugged her hands off him, giving her a look while she tried to shake the fear away. For the past few days, of which they lost count; perhaps about eight nights now, they have been in constant fear of being caught.

At first, they had no idea they would come this far. At the moment, they did not know what part of the kingdom they were in, or if they were still in Trevillia.

"There is no one out here." Her brother whispered back, convincing only himself of that fact. "But just to be sure, how do you feel about playing first to the top?" He added, still in whispers.

It was the only way they could communicate since it was possible they were being watched.

"This is no time for games nightfall is here. We need to make camp," she whisper and yelled to him, but he apparently was not listening because he was standing next to a very huge tree with extra large branches. "Did you hear anything I said!"

"Of course I did, and I am not stupid. I was thinking we could sleep in the branches. They look comfortable. Those dumb soldiers would never think to look up." He explained in a low tone.

She processed his idea in her mind and sure enough; it was solid. The soldiers would see nothing but leave if they looked. Looking up, her mind began to picture the possibility of serpents living up there behind the leaves. No one would know what killed them. She swallowed her saliva.

This was all for her brother anyway, to keep him safe and to keep them together. With that thought, she followed him to the tree, grateful he had taught her to climb before today. She was sure that sound was not her imagination. It may not have been a beast, but something was definitely following them.

An arrow whistled by and impaled itself in a tree right next to him. He let out a huge breath of relief and ran to catch up with his sister. He did not see when she got ahead of him and he was always the better runner.

"I told you I heard something." She full-on shouted at him when he caught up. His face twisted in defeat. He hated it when his sister was right, but now was not a time for competition. They had years ahead of them for that, but that is if they survived.

It was no secret now; the soldiers found their hideout. They never even got to climb the tree when the attack started. His plan would have worked if they had time to climb. They had been running all through the night, trying as much as they could to avoid the soldiers.

Now the sun had begun to make its entrance into the dimly lit sky. The boy increased his pace as he considered a series of thoughts playing out. Soon they would run out of energy and the soldiers will catch them. They would take him away from his sister. The thought alone made him sick.

After much thought, he concluded that whatever group of soldiers this was; they were good. How they were able to keep track of them from the Sars was unknown to him. Perhaps their stepfather paid them well enough for the trouble. He never knew the old son of a jover had that much.

More shouts erupted around them and this time he could hear them almost clearly, meaning they would be caught soon. For some reason, the arrows stopped flying, but the shouts became louder. They could hear so well thanks to the spacing in between trees.