Happily Ever After......NOT!

Chapter Six

     I groaned as I sat up early the next morning. My back was killing me from sleeping on the hard cold ground. "Even the hard cot in my cell was better than this." I stood up and tried my best to brush off the dirt and grim that started taking over my beautiful purple gown. What I would give for a hot shower and clean clothes right now! I glanced over to where my kidnapper slept who I still didn't know his name, and what's the deal with that?! He knows where I'm from and he knows my name, but I'm not allowed to know his?? So mysterious.
    Carefully not to wake him I tiptoed till I was next to the fire that was going out. I stirred the coals around till I had the fire coming back to life. Then I sat and watched it. I could run right now and escape, I'll be long gone before he woke up and realized I was missing...... I shook my head of the thought, no I promised him I won't run again. My stomach growled rather loudly. I scooted over to where my companion was sleeping and looked in his burlap for some food, unfortunately I didn't find much food. What did he plan on us eating?? How far was it to the Great Wizard anyway?? And what did he want with me?
    "I'm going to make you a proper breakfast." I said more to myself than the man sleeping. I stood up and looked around at my surroundings, I didn't want to travel too far from camp since I didn't know this place too well.
    There was a small woods off to my right, and a field planted with potatoes to my left. I smiled I was in luck! Nothing tasted better than mush. I dug up two ripe potatoes and then I found a dagger in the burlap sack and started pealing the skin off. I chopped them real fine and sat them on a flat stone close enough to the fire that they'll get hot and cook. To give it a better taste I added a wild onion that I found growing close to the woods. Now I just had to sit back and wait. Pretty soon the potatoes and onion had turned into a nice mush.
    Mmmmm somethings smells good, Haiden thought to himself as he started waking up. Suddenly he jumped and sat up, the princess! She probably ran off while he was fast asleep! Darn it! His eyes darted around wildly, then he saw her standing by the fire stirring it with a stick. With a sigh he laid back down and closed his eyes. Putting his hand over his eyes.
     "Morning Sunshine!" I said cheerfully. Maybe if I acted nice to him he'd open up tell me about himself and I'll finally know his name.
     He lifted his hand and looked over at me, "Did you just call me sunshine?"
     I shrugged, "It was either that or pumpkin head."
     "Yeah Sunshine is much better." He put his hand back over his eyes. I smiled when I saw a hint of a smile on his face.
     I put the mush on two flat rocks that I found in the ditch that didn't look too dirty. Then I picked them up and carried them over to wear he still laid with his hand over his eyes. I nudged him gently with my foot, "breakfast is served."
     He sat up and took the flat rock with the mush on it that I offered him, he watched me as I sat down beside him.
    I stared back at him, "What?"
    "You didn't run."
    I gave him a small smile, "no, I didn't."
   "But you could have. Why not?"
    "Well, I promise you I won't try to run again, and I attend to keep my promise. Even though you did kidnap me. Because I'm kinda curious to see why the Great Wizard wants me." I took a bite of the warm mush.
    "Don't get your hopes up, the Great Wizard isn't all what his name means."
     "What does that mean?!" I asked.
     "Nothing." He looked down at his mush, "A princess who knows how to cook?" He looked at me surprised.
     I rolled my eyes, "Shut up and eat."
     "And attitude." He chuckled and took a bite of mush.
    As soon as the mush was gone we packed up camp and started walking. Oh the view and smells were so lovely!! White fluffy clouds hung in the sky like the big fluffy mattresses we had in the castle. And the sky was so blue! It put my mother's light blue dress to shame! The the left was mountains towering in the distance and to the right was bare fields as far as the eye could see. I closed my eyes and breathed in the sweet summer smells of grass, and clean air.
    He looked over me walking with my eyes closed, he frowned, "What the bloody earth are you doing?"
    I looked at him sheepishly, "I've never been outside of Rollick, it's so beautiful and and peaceful, and the smells are lovely!!"
    "You've never been outside of Rollick??"
    I shook my head, "Mother and Father would travel around to other Kingdoms and villages, but they always insisted on me staying in the castle."
    He shook his head, "That must have been horrible." We were both silence for awhile, "How did you learn how to cook?? I thought princesses wore pretty gowns, and crowns, and learned how to dance and attract young suitors."
     I laughed, "You make princesses sound like they'll here just to win over men's hearts! But answering your question I leaned to cook by our head cook, I didn't have any siblings growing up and mother and father were always too busy ruling the kingdom or traveling. So I spent most of my time in the kitchen with Zora." I paused then asked, "Did you have any siblings?"
     "One, a younger brother. But that was a long time ago."
    "But you're only twenty! Where's your brother now??"
    He stopped walking and turned to me, "Will you ever stop talking?!" His face was blank no sign of emotion.
    Boy he hide his feelings and his personal life well.His dark eyes were like daggers as they stared right into mine.
    "I'll stop talking once you answer this question." I said, though he wasn't going to keep me quiet for long.
    "Fine! He's dead alright?" He turned and started walking fast.
   I followed slowly behind him letting him have his space. So he had a younger brother who died, clearly it upsets him to talk about it. And he has all these walls built up around him that he doesn't let anyone in. Why would he do that to himself? Is he afraid of getting hurt?
   I felt bad making him get upset so I didn't ask anymore questions and hardly talked to him as we walked down the narrow dirt path.
   The sun was setting when we finally stopped for the night. "I'll go find firewood , and you can try to find something to cook." He said before going off across a field to some trees that stood nearby.
    I looked around me, what could we eat? My eyes caught sight of yellow flowers, dandelions!! Fried dandelions will be perfect! I picked as many as I could find. "Oh good you're back!" I said smiling.
    "Why did you miss me?" He sat down with his sticks and started preparing a fire.
   I rolled my eyes, "Not even close." I held out my hands filled with dandelion tops.
    "I go off to gather wood to keep us warm and the best thing you come up with is flowers for us to eat?"
     "Oh stop whining, these will taste delicious once they're cooked. Now I need a frying pan to cook them in, and egg yolks, flour, and salt and pepper."
     "And how do you expect to get those things? If you haven't noticed we're in the wild far from any villages."
    "Well do you happened to have anything in your burlap?"
    He sighed and looked inside, then pulled out a stone bowl, "Would this work?"
    "It's not exactly a frying pan, but it'll work! Thank you, umm."
    "I'm not telling you my name." He said turning back to the fire.
    "Fine, then your name is kidnapper." I turned and dumped all the dandelion tops into the stone bowl and sat them close to the fire, "May I have a few pieces of beef jerky?"
    "Giving you a bowl wasn't enough?"
    "I just want to give it a better flavor."
    He handed me a few pieces and then ignored me until dinner was ready.
    "You eat the ones on your side of the bowl, and I'll eat the ones on my side."
   "Ok, but you better stay on your half." He took a bite and his face expression changed, he looked at me, "This is amazing, Amaya!"
   I smiled, "You called me my name instead of princess, or your majesty."
   He grinned, "Don't expect it to happen too much, your highness."
   "Ha-ha."
    After supper we both laid down on opposite sides of the fire to get comfortable for the night.
    "Ummm, hey. I'm sorry if I upset you early when I asked about your brother. I'm just all alone in this big world, and the only person I can talk to is a guy I hardly know."
  Firelight danced on his face as he turned on his side so he could see me, "It's ok, princess. You won't have to see me much longer anyway, the Great Wizard's cottage is about a day journey."
    "Cottage!" I sat straight up, "You mean a guy that has a name such as the Great Wizard lives in a simple cottage?!"
    He laughed, "Yes, a cottage. Now if we're going to get an early start tomorrow I suggest we get some sleep, goodnight your majesty."
    "It's Amaya." I retorted.
                                                              ~